by Jay T
I point at the girl I passed on my way in. “That one needs a cab.”
Robert groans, “Oh I know. She’s up next. I told her to wait by the road,” he says. “There’s a keg in the back, cups on the table inside on the bar. The easiest way to get one is by going in through the door on the side.”
“Alright, thanks. I’m going to go check it out. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Robert nods as a yellow taxi pulls up the driveway. He trots down to the road and makes sure the girl gets in it.
I open the front door and the first thing I see is Eva. Her hair is bouncing as she dances and giggles with Amy. Her body moves and sways and there are hands on her waist and a guy pressed to her back. I recognize him. He’s another hockey player, the other co-captain. She has a type, doesn’t she. I feel a pang of jealousy as I turn and walk back out the door.
Knock it off, Evan. Don’t be a jealous dick.
Tristan comes around from the back yard with two full red cups and hands one to me.
I take it and down it.
“Rough day?” he asks.
“Meh,” I say, “good and bad. I’m gonna fill this back up. Robert said it was around back?”
Robert comes back. “Yeah next to the side door on the deck.”
I leave Robert and Tristan talking as I make my way to the keg. I fill my cup, down it, and fill it again before going back to the front porch with the guys. Ryan and Brent have joined them.
“Evan, come over here, we gotta talk about something,” Brent says.
I make my way up to the porch and lean against the railing. Brent starts in, “We might have a real paying gig.”
“Really? When?” Ryan asks.
“They liked our demo tape but we don’t have it yet. I was on the phone with another manager who’s putting together a tour for her client. Guess who her client is?”
We all look at him and wait.
“Centuries!” They’re a very famous band who has music in the same taste range as us.
“They had four number one hits last year!” Ryan exclaims.
“But we don’t have it yet. They want more videos of us actually performing. So, I hired someone from the photography class to video us tomorrow at the pep rally. You guys really need to bring it,” Brent says.
“How much does it pay?” Tristan asks.
“Twenty thousand for four nights.”
I smile and take a drink. I see Eva out of the corner of my eye but I don’t look up. I want to smile and wink at her, but if she wants to move on….I don’t want to finish that thought. The image of them together is still too raw.
The guys are still talking excitedly.
I do the math. That’s $3,300 each for four nights or $830 per night per person. Either way, that would really help my current financial problems.
“Guys, we have a bit of a problem,” I say. They look at me. “I can hardly breathe. I can’t dance and sing by tomorrow. There’s just no way. I wasn’t really taking this whole pep rally thing that seriously. But now you’re saying our future is going to depend on the video we produce from it?”
“Why did you have to let that sack of crap break your ribs, man?” Ryan jokes.
I ignore him.
“Alright, I got an idea,” Brent says. “You can’t do both, so how about we do the demo tape, pull everything but your vocals off that, and play that over the speakers while the rest of you actually play. Evan, you’ll be lip syncing.”
Not a bad idea. “You can do that?” I ask.
“Man, I hope so. I gotta get home and get to work on it though. I’ll grab the next ride home.”
“How long is the tour?” I ask.
“They’re going to give us four days and then decide if we can keep going with them or not.”
Relief washes over me.
I see Eva get in the cab and leave with Amy.
“Anny, can I talk to you for a minute?” the head cheerleader asks. I think she said her name was Sandra.
I look at Robert who raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything. I slowly walk down the stairs to where she’s standing.
“Can we walk?” she asks.
I indicate that she should lead the way.
We walk towards the water. There’s a bonfire that looks like it’s dying down.
“I’m sorry about hounding you over practice this past week,” she says. “We’re just under a lot of pressure. The coach has us in a competition coming up and if we can’t even get a pep rally routine down, we won’t have a very strong attitude going into it.”
“Oh, I didn’t know,” I say. “I’m sorry. Are you worried about our side of things?”
“I’m worried about all of it. You barely know where to go and if you’re not where you’re supposed to be, you could throw the whole thing of.”
We make it to the water’s edge and stop walking. I turn and look at her. She’s short and very petite. She has brunette hair in a pony tail high on her head. “How about I come in early tomorrow before the pep rally and we can get it down so everyone is comfortable?” I ask.
She smiles, “I would really appreciate that. Thank you.”
I think our conversation is over. My drink is empty and I start to head back to the keg.
“Can I ask you something?” she calls out.
“Shoot.”
“Why do they call you Anny?”
I shrug. She doesn’t need to know, it’s not her business. I start to walk again and she follows me to ask another question.
“Why Eva?” she says.
I turn to look at her.
“You like her, don’t you? But you guys aren’t really together?”
Zing. Ouch.
When I don’t answer she keeps talking. “Why her? You could have anyone in the school but you chose her. Why?”
“She’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen, both inside and out,” I say.
She scoffs. “She’s pretty sure, but,” I can tell she’s looking for the right words, “do you know about her and her last boyfriend? Do you know what’s happened to her?”
I turn and look her squarely in the eyes. “I know everything. And what makes her beautiful to me is watching her face light up with a smile after everything she’s been through. She’s strong and kind and I’d be lucky if she let me in someday. I’ll be working towards that day for as long as it takes.”
She’s taken back by my response. She nods. “Fine,” she says. “Then we’ll be professional. We make it look good tomorrow but we’re strictly friends.”
I nod and hold my fist up for her. She bumps it and I’m finally released to get another drink.
36 eva
I wake up with a huge headache. I groan and roll over on the air mattress on Amy’s floor.
“Why did you let me take all those shots?” I whine.
“Shhh,” Amy replies. “Sleep.”
I lie there and try to go back to sleep but my mind wanders to Evan. Did he find someone to spend the night with after I left?
“I gotta go,” I whisper into the silence.
“Shhh,” Amy says.
I pull the plug on the mattress and the air whooshes out. I gather my stuff and leave. When I get home, I take a long shower and eat a bagel with cream cheese.
“Can I have one?” A little voice from behind startles me. I turn around and see little Ethan.
“Of course, bud. I have blueberry or onion.”
“Blueberry!”
He hops up on the barstool next to me and his little feet swing in the air.
“Eva?”
“Yeah, buddy?”
“You didn’t come home last night. Were you scared?”
I turn around to look at him as he draws on the counter with his finger. “I was out with friends. I wasn’t scared.”
“Were you with Anny?”
“I was at the same place but we kind of just passed each other.”
“Do you like him?” he asks.
“Do I like Anny?�
��
He nods.
“Of course I like him. Why do you ask?”
He shrugs. “I like him and I think you should too.”
His bagel pops up from the toaster and startles him. I pull it out and put cream cheese on it. “Well, he brought you to us. So, whatever happens, I’ll always be grateful to him for that.”
He nods and I hand him his blueberry bagel with cream cheese. He smiles and takes a big bite. “You know how to work the remote?” I ask.
“I’m seven,” he says. “Of course I know how to work a remote.”
I chuckle. “Ok, remote is here.” I set it down on the counter beside him. “I’ll be in the garage on the treadmill if you need me.”
“Yeah sure.”
I run back upstairs, get dressed, put on my pink running shoes, and head for the garage. I look at my phone wishing there was a message from Evan, but there’s nothing. I stuff in my ear buds, turn up the volume, and run.
***
I’ve just finished straightening my hair when Aunt Kami yells from the bottom of the stairs, “Eva, Amy’s here!”
“Ok.” One last check in the mirror and make my way downstairs.
Amy’s sitting on the couch next to Ethan and they’re playing a game where you slap each other’s hands. Ethan is giggling hysterically and Amy’s telling him to be still. I smile at them for a moment and when the giggles subside I ask, “You ready?”
“We could skip the pep rally you know and just go to the game,” she says.
I raise an eyebrow at her. Keeping me away from the guys performances was something Naomi did, probably at Evan’s request. I do not want to start that game all over again. “I’m the supportive kind of friend,” I say.
Amy whispers, “I can say I tried.” To me she says, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
We get to the school and the bleachers facing the practice football field are filling up. It’s a little chilly out; I’m wearing a hoodie and Amy brought a blanket to sit on. We pick a spot in the middle so we can see the performance.
Brent is running down the sidewalk with a cord in his hand. He runs it out to the center of the field and plugs it into the equipment set up there. There’s a loud buzz over the speaker system for a second. He pulls out his phone and looks at it with his back to us. It looks like he’s texting someone. A second later he puts it away in his pocket and looks over at us. Amy’s phone vibrates. She pulls it out of her sweater and looks at it, then holds her hands up for him to see.
I can see him rolling his eyes from here and he jogs back to the high school building.
The cheerleaders come out next and start the pep rally off with typical cheers. I eventually chime in with, “Go, Fight, Win!”
Once the crowd is warmed up, the guys make their way across the field. Evan has a head set on with a cord going around to his back. “Hello, Kenai High!” He says into the microphone. He doesn’t look nervous at all. He looks like he was born to do this. “Give it up for the cheerleaders!” The crowd claps and cheers as the band gets behind their instruments. Ryan bangs his drumsticks together and counts off. It’s an upbeat tempo. The guys first song is really good. It’s a remix of an old song I grew up listening to with a new twist. The cheerleaders are sitting on the field watching as they let the guys have their song.
“They’re really good, aren’t they?” I whisper to Amy.
She nods but doesn’t say anything.
The crowd cheers when the song is over. “He’s so freaking hot!” a girl says to her friend behind us.
“Which one?” her friend asks. The girls giggle as the crowd quiets down.
The cheerleaders stand up and take their positions. They’ve made a large V with the cheer captain closest to Evan.
The next song starts and it’s pretty much what I expected. There are girls dancing and doing cartwheels, backflips, and pyramids until the middle of the song where the girl in front and Evan meet up. Her hands go to his chest and slide down him until her ass is in the air. The angle of her face is very provocative. She doesn’t stay there but it makes my breath hitch. He reaches down and pulls her upright but doesn’t let go of her hand. He puts her hand on his chest. She trails it all over him, up and down his side as she circles him. The rest of the girls file in front of her and continue the choreography. She wraps a leg around him and leans way back as he supports her. He flings her leg out and spins her and catches her with his other hand and she jumps back in with her team. I sigh but the reprieve is short-lived before she’s tossed back in the air and Evan literally catches her. He doesn’t just put her down, she slides down his body slowly as he sings to her and her fingers trail his jaw. I swear she looks right at me as she’s bent over with her ass on his legs and her arms in her hair and she flings it around.
Amy reaches over and grabs ahold of my hand. I hadn’t realized they were in fists. “Breathe,” she whispers.
This is by far the sexiest dance I’ve seen from the cheerleading squad and it would actually be really cool if I wasn’t so pissed that Evan was in the middle of it looking like he’s deeply in love with the head cheerleader. They’re so convincing I’d think they were dating. I really don’t know him. By the time the song is over, I don’t think there’s a place on Evan’s body she hadn’t been all over.
“Please tell me it’s over,” I whisper to Amy.
She releases my hand so she can clap. “It’s over. You made it.” She cheers for our friends and I glare.
“I think I need a shower,” I mumble.
“Stop it, Eva. He didn’t want you to come and see that. He felt bad he had to do it.”
“What?” I yell louder than I intend to. “So, he told you to talk me out of coming?”
“No, Brent did,” h said. “He thought it would be less distracting for Evan if you weren’t here. They have a lot riding on this tonight. They had to do it.”
“They had to do that?” I spit, pointing to the band leaving the field. The crowd is dispersing. We have thirty minutes until the JV game starts on the main field. A couple of people turn to look at me.
Someone walking past says, “Hot and talented. They’re amazing!”
“Yeah, that was so cool! I hope they do that again at halftime. I should have recorded it.”
I groan. Everyone else loved it. The band is off to the side talking to each other. “I’m going to the bathroom,” I tell Amy.
“I’m coming with.”
We make our way down the crowded bleachers and towards the school. I walk right by Evan but he doesn’t look at me. I feel like this is becoming a thing, him completely ignoring me and it stings deeper than I’d like to admit.
“Eva?” Amy asks once we’re inside.
“Yeah?”
“The guys were recording that today for a gig. It wasn’t just a high school pep rally. They were basically auditioning.”
“Hmm,” I grunt. I hear her but I don’t want to hear anymore. I wash my hands and she drops it.
We go back to the football fields and start up the side of the bleachers. I spot Andre who’s waving his arms calling us over to the empty spot next to him. I turn to Amy and smirk. “Eva,” she warns. I ignore her.
I take a seat next to Andre and pat the seat next to me for Amy to sit. She looks at me and sits down reluctantly. The game is about to start and the JV team takes the field. We clap for them and the JV cheerleaders start a cheer. We won the coin toss and will receive the kickoff. The team lines up and the other team kicks the ball and they all take off running at each other.
Brent climbs up the bleachers followed by Robert, Evan, Tristan, Ryan, and Liam. The attention from the game moves to all of them as a few people yell out, “Great performance!” and “You guys are really good.” Ryan and Liam take a bow in front of everyone and make some faces that get laughs from most of the people. Brent leads them to us and takes a seat beside Amy. The only open spots left are right behind us. Robert sits directly behind me, Evan to the side, then Tristan, Ryan and Liam. Ev
an’s ridged and he looks like he’s out of breath. Eventually the crowd refocuses on the JV team playing.
The game continues. We’re six minutes into the first quarter when I start to shiver.
“Oh, you’re cold, here, take this, I’m plenty warm,” Andre takes off his jacket.
I know I should stop him right there. I know it wouldn’t be right of me to take it but I’m still pissed at Evan’s performance. He could use a taste of his own medicine. I let Andre wrap his warm letterman’s jacket across my shoulders and I see Evan shift behind me. Andre then places his hand on the inside of my knee. I should move it but Evan huffs behind me and I smile instead. Amy looks at Andre’s hand then up at my face and back down at his hand. She’s clearly not happy about it but I leave it there.
Three plays later, Evan says to the guys, “I’m out. See you later, guys.”
“Yeah, I’m coming too,” Robert says as he gets up to follow him. Tristan also gets up to leave.
Brent and Amy are holding hands and Brent starts to fidget. “Oh fine, go” Amy says.
“Thanks, baby,” Brent kisses her cheek and yells, “Hey wait for me!” as he jogs down the bleachers after his friends.
Amy turns and looks at me when the guys are out of sight. “Do you think you made your point?” she says quietly so Andre doesn’t hear.
I shrug. “I’m not sure he really got the message.”
“I think he heard you loud and clear,” she says.
I roll my eyes at her, pick up Andre’s hand from my leg, and deposit it back in his lap, then shrug off his jacket. “Thanks, I’m all warmed up now.”
He smiles sweetly and says, “Anytime.”
“Let’s get some nacho’s,” I say to Amy.
37 evan
I wake up at home and look at the clock. It’s past 9 a.m. I got home last night around 2. I avoid stretching and make my way downstairs. The girl from the other night is standing at the coffee pot. “Morning,” I say.
“Good morning,” she replies.
“I don’t think I’ve caught your name yet.”
“Sammie,” she says as she picks up the coffee pot and pours herself a cup. “Coffee?” she asks.