East Down South

by Eliza Freer

  Riley laughs and runs back onto the field and leaves me on the sideline. I walk towards my dad shaking my head.

  Dad looks over at me. “What now?”

  I giggle. “Riley changed my phone code to his birthday thinking I don’t know it. Ye of little faith.” I type in Riley’s birthday and unlock my phone. Riley is leading warm ups on the field but I scream his name anyway. He looks my way and I wave my phone back and forth showing him it’s been unlocked. He throws his head back and laughs and gives me a thumbs up. Blake, Simon and Paul all look up and see me and smile.

  Dad gets an impatient look on his face. “I know I’m pretty, but you’re making me self conscious. I would be more than happy to add some stairs to this warm up.”

  That’s all it takes for the guys to get back to their warm ups. I grab my dad’s arm and lean into his shoulder. He wraps his arm around me and kisses the top of my head. “Told you, distracting. Now, go, sit, be good.” He smacks my side and shoos me towards the benches.

  I sit and pull my phone back out. I am glad Riley went ahead and deleted those messages, but I am a little curious about what he had to say. I notice the messages from Izzy and Tassie, increasing in panic the longer I went without answering. I sigh and put my phone in my pocket. Going a couple days without it, whether intentional or not, was a good move. The urge to text or call Wilder or Kyle would’ve been too strong, and I am a little bit of a reactionary person. Thank the goddess for Riley.

  It only takes about twenty minutes for me to realize how bored I am. Contrary to popular belief, watching a bunch of guys, no matter how attractive, do calisthenics isn’t thrilling. After the burpees but before the field sprints, I pulled out my phone again. Time to text Tassie.

  ME: Tass! i’m bored. save me.

  TASS: What’s up?

  ME: First day of my punishment. at practice. can’t watch any more jumping jacks

  TASS: Wow. you’re right. your life is really hard. for your punishment for underage drinking you dad is making you watch a bunch of buff, hot men work out.

  ME: Stop it with the rational stuff and feel bad for me.

  TASS: Nuh uh. you know what my last punishment was? grounded unless i was at school, or helping my packrat grandma clean her house. there were dead animals in that house. not the stuffed kind either. the kind you don’t know are there because you’re crazy.

  ME: Gross. okay. on that note. i’m going to find something else to occupy my time.

  TASS: Ok. Love you

  ME: You too

  After that backfired in a real and unfun way, I figured I’d entertain myself by giving the guys something to read when they got out of practice. I started with Riley. I was lining up a beautiful shot of him passing downfield when my dad whispered in my ear.

  “What are you doing?”

  I snapped the photo and started writing a message underneath. “Letting Riley know he’s sitting in the pocket too long.”

  Dad shakes his head and gives me a confused look. “One, no he’s not. Two, how would you even know that?”

  I shrug and continue composing my message. “Heard you guys yelling it at the TV one time when you were watching a game.” I’m about to press send when Dad grabs my phone.

  “Hey! Give that back!”

  Dad shakes his head and deletes the message. “No. East, you can’t get in his head like that. What if he changes his game because he thinks he’s actually in the pocket too long?”

  I grab my phone back from him. “Fine, you ruin my fun. But, I will say if he changed his game based on something I said, he’s taken one too many sacks and should be getting a CT scan.”

  Dad laughs. “Fair point. But no more of that, okay? How about I give the guys a water break and then you’ll have someone to talk to? Even at practice you manage to get yourself in trouble.”

  Dad yells to the guys they have ten minutes for a water break. After running over to the tables and grabbing water cups, Blake, Riley, Simon, Paul and Tony come running up to my perch on the bench.

  Blake smacks a kiss on my forehead. “East. Saw Coach yelling at you. What were you doing?”

  I wipe my forehead. “Sweaty, handsome. You’re very sweaty.” I point my finger at Riley. “I was sending Ry a picture of himself passing downfield and letting him know he’s sitting in the pocket too long.”

  I see my dad whip around upon hearing that. “East! Stop it!”

  I laugh and look at Riley who looks confused. “I don’t really know what that means, so don’t take it to heart. I’ve heard you guys yelling it at the TV and I watch Friday Night Lights.”

  Riley smiles. “And Coach thought you’d mess with my head if you sent me that?”

  I nod slowly. “I told him if you’re not smart enough to know that I don’t know what I’m talking about then we have bigger problems. But, yeah, anyway. That’s what he was yelling at me for. I can’t even keep out of trouble.”

  Simon and Paul take a seat on either side of me. They drape their arms over my shoulders knowing they’re coating me in their sweat. I shudder and try and slide out of their grip but they hold tighter. Seeing my discomfort, Tony kneels in front of me and gives me a big hug, laying his head on my shoulder.

  “Guys this is super horrible.” I glance up at Riley. “You’re the Captain. Please make it stop.”

  Riley shakes his head. “Nope, not the Captain right now. This is touching.”

  I glance at Blake who shakes his head. “Sorry, E. It’s affection. Deal with it. You’re lucky it’s just them, Ry and I would be so much worse.”

  Tony pulls back and smiles at me. “Hey there good lookin’. Heard you and I both had some fuzzy fun at my birthday party.”

  I laugh and tap his nose with my finger. “That sounds like we’re into the furry movement, which I don’t remember from your party.”

  Tony pulls back with a quizzical look on his face. “Huh? What’s a furry movement?”

  I tilt my head and furrow my brow. “Ya know, that kinky weird sex thing where people dress up like stuffed animals and then-“ I stop myself and wave my hands back and forth in front of my face. “You know, never mind. But, yes, we both got drunk at your birthday.”

  Tony stands up when the Assistant Coach calls for their return to the field. “Well if this is your punishment, we should get you drunk more often.”

  “I wouldn’t suggest it.” My dad rumbles lowly behind the guys. They all snap to attention and Tony slowly turns around.

  “Just kidding, Coach.”

  Dad nods. “I assumed as much, son. Let’s go. Back on the field, boys.”

  Simon and Paul give my shoulders one last squeeze and run on the field with the rest of the guys. Dad laughs at my boy sweat coated body. “Now that seems like a fitting punishment for you messing with my players’ heads.”

  I shudder. “Shut it. I’m going to shower. You still have stuff in your office?”

  Dad nods. “Knock yourself out. There’s some sweats in there too if you wanted to change your shirt or something. You do smell pretty ripe now.”

  I glare at him as I head back towards the locker rooms. “I hate you all.”

  Dad blows me a kiss and turns back towards the field as I sprint through the tunnel into his office so I can grab the supplies and clean the smell of sweaty boy off me.

  One shower and two hours later, practice was finally called. As the guys made their way off the field, Blake and Riley sauntered up to me and my dad.

  Blake stood with his hands on his hips and looked to my dad. “We still on for tonight?”

  I frowned up at my dad. “What’s tonight?”

  Dad looks down at me, feigning innocent. “Oh, did I forget to tell you Blake and Riley are coming to the house? Slipped my mind, maybe.”

  I glare at him. “Yeah, maybe. Or maybe tonight isn’t one of your standard film watching sessions and you’re trying to keep me distracted and occupied in a controlled location.” I spear the three of them with glares and they all avert their ga
zes.

  Ry winks at me. “So what if it is? You complaining about our company?”

  I roll my eyes. “No. Fine. But, Dad, I want Greek food. Chicken shawarma, lamb gyros, falafel, baklava. The works.”

  Dad shrugs. “Fine. You call it in on the way home. But, I get to pick what we watch. And, yes, you three, you get my company tonight also. You’re welcome.”

  I sigh. “We’re not really watching game tape are we?”

  Dad smiles. “No, honey, I wouldn’t do that to you. But I am feeling something in the Hitchcock cannon.”

  Riley perks up. He loves thrillers. “How about Vertigo?”

  Dad nods. “Perfect. Now, boys, into the showers, East, into the car. See you boys soon.”

  I shake my head and smile as Dad puts his arm around my shoulders and leads me off the field. “I love you.”

  Dad smiles down at me. Always knowing what I need even when I’m sure I don’t need it. I got really lucky with this guy. “Love you too. I got you, kid.”

  I wrap my arm around his middle and hug him as we walk. “I know. I’m a lucky girl.”

  Dad snorts as we reach the car. “Don’t you forget it.”

  Chapter 26

  The next morning I’m up with Dad having a quick breakfast before we head off to practice. Today is flip flopped from yesterday. Practice in the morning, work in the evening. Today’s my last shift before school starts next week.

  I pour coffee into two to-go coffee mugs and hand one to my dad. “I have to drive separate today. I’ve got work, so I’ll need to leave practice a bit early.”

  Dad nods and heads out the door behind me. “Okay. See you there, kid.”

  Dad hops into his car and I make my way out to Cory P. I slide in and take a giant sip of my coffee and watch my dad pull out of the drive first. I follow him out and make the short drive to the stadium. I use my bluetooth to listen to some Elle King on my way there. My new ‘exes’ playlist is usually pretty incredible, but right now my chest feels like it was just visited by Vlad The Impaler and my eyes are suddenly all watery. I grab my sunglasses and quickly pull them on. Obviously, it’s a reaction to the UV rays, and not that just a few days ago a guy that I maybe felt a four letter word for broke me. Stupid emotions. I’d been so good suppressing them until now.

  I pull in behind Dad, taking a regular parking space in the lot since I don’t have a fancy one like him. He waits for me by his car so we can head into the entrance together. He frowns as he notices my face, but quickly recovers. I have less of a skip in my step today than I did yesterday. The novelty of practice just isn’t doing it for me today.

  Dad grins at me, noticing. “Like riding a roller coaster two days in a row huh?”

  I smile. “For three hours at a time, yes.”

  Dad sees his Assistant Coach, Coach K, up ahead and calls out his name. Coach K stops waiting for Dad. “I’ll see you on the field, East.”

  Dad runs ahead to catch up, and I make my way lazily to the field. I pass by the training offices and peek in, noticing Paul on one of the tables with Ari, one of the trainers, stretching his left leg.

  I run into the office. “What the hell, Paul? Are you hurt? What happened?”

  Paul shakes his head and grimaces. “I’m fine. Tight muscle, they’re just working it out for me. Glad to see the concern, though.” He points to the the table behind where he’s being stretched. “Sit.”

  I walk over and sit on the table beside the one he’s being stretched on. I lay on my back so our faces are at an even level. “If I pretend to play football and hurt myself can someone come and stretch me too?”

  Ari shakes his head and smiles. “I don’t think you’d have to twist too many of these boys’ arms to get a little special treatment.”

  My smile widens. “In that case. Ouch my ACL! My MCL! My…tendons?”

  Ari laughs. “You should be a doctor with all that medical jargon you know.” He shouts over his shoulder to another trainer reviewing some paperwork. “Brian, do me a favor, and stretch out Easton for me, will you? She’s got tight…tendons.”

  I chuckle. “Yes, so, so tight.”

  Brian smiles and makes his way over to me. I know I’m abusing the services here, since I don’t actually play and my muscles are fine, even if they do get tired standing all day at work. Brian grabs my left leg and starts stretching. I moan into it and start laughing, remember my spa day with Tassie.

  Paul looks over to me. “What’s so funny?”

  I snort. “Last time I had a guy massaging me, Tassie and I took a walk down memory lane. High school was gross looking back.”

  Paul laughs and then gets a little more serious look on his face. “Yeah, well, I don’t think you need memory lane to remember that, love.”

  I give a small smile. “No, guess not. But, Brian here is a much better sport than Colossus was. I don’t think he thought we were very much fun.”

  Paul smiles. “Colossus?”

  I look over at him. “Don’t remember his name. He was large. And tattooed. And had very thick thighs.”

  Paul gags. “Okay, we can stop there.”

  I giggle. “Right. But you’re really just tight? You’re feeling okay?”

  Brian has switched to my right leg and I moan again. It’s sounding downright pornographic in this training room.

  Paul sighs. “Fine. Really. But, how are you? With everything?”

  I sigh right back. “Everything is fine. I’m fine. Crap like this takes time, but I’ll be okay.” I swivel my head to the side and notice Paul’s sad eyes. I hate pity, but in fairness today I feel a little pitiful.

  “The biggest relief about the whole thing is I don’t have to go to this dumb dance tomorrow night anymore. Wilder wanted to take me. It was going to be one of those ‘let’s go to this thing that sucks, but we’ll have fun anyway’ events. Now, I don’t have to.” I see Paul watching me. He frowns. “What?”

  Paul’s eyebrows raise. “I can take you.”

  I shake my head. “No. I didn’t even want to go before, and I still don’t. Plus, you’re an upperclassman, a football stud, and well known. You don’t want to go to some stupid school kick-off dance that only freshman go to.”

  Paul shakes his head. “Maybe not with anyone else, but I’d like to go with you. Come on, go with me East.”

  I shut my eyes tight. I really don’t want to do this and I know he’s just trying to be nice. “No, Paulette, it’s fine. Leave it.”

  I feel an arm wrap around my middle. My eyes open in shock. “What the…”

  Paul is standing over me with his arm trapping down my waist. “East, shut up. Go with me. It’ll be fun. It can still be a dumb thing we do, but it’ll be a good time. Please, East. Come on, love.”

  I sigh and let out a groan. “Fine. Fine. I’ll go with you. Let’s just not make this a whole big thing okay? It’s gonna be lame and dumb and we can leave right away, because this is all on you now. But, we don’t need to tell the other guys and have more people deciding this is a fun thing to do. It isn’t. You just seem desperate for my company.”

  Paul laughs and gives me a quick kiss on my cheek. “Wearing you down one day at a time, East. Pretty soon, I won’t even have to try like Riley and Blake.”

  I roll my eyes and sit up since Brian has finished stretching my legs out. “Oh, they still have to try. We just all know which battles to pick.”

  Paul pulls on his cleats and grabs my hand to drag me through the tunnels onto the field. “Oh, I chose my battle very well, thank you. Now you’re trapped. I trapped you.” We make our way to the edge of the field where the guys are in the middle doing practice drills.

  I laugh. “Fine. You used your Jedi mind tricks on me and won me over. Whatever you need to tell yourself. Now, go, practice.”

  Paul smiles and walks backwards onto the field. He gives me a wink and I know nothing good is coming. He opens his mouth and yells, “I can’t wait for our date tomorrow night, East. Wear something pretty. Coach will want
pictures.”

  I can feel my face turn red as what feels like the entire team turns to face me. Paul makes his way to the center where Simon, Riley and Blake saunter over to see what’s going on. I put my face in my hands and walk towards the benches. I sneak a peek to Dad who is smiling from ear to ear. I can tell he’s just itching to find out what that was all about, but in the meantime, he’s fine with my embarrassment.

  After my incident with Paul, I kept a low profile through the rest of my time at practice. Luckily, I had to work so I wasn’t around for any questions when they were finished. I waved my hands to my dad to let him know I had to leave and dashed out of the stadium.

  A short drive later, I was at work awaiting another slow day since I’m not with Izzy or Cam. I step into the shop throwing my purse on the rack in the back when I hear a familiar grumbling from the floor of the shop. I peek my head into the main area and see Izzy at the espresso machine scoffing angrily.

  “Iz! I didn't think I was working with you today! I’ve missed you!”

  Izzy smiles. “Femme! I swapped with Kelly so I could work your last shift with you before school starts. Take this as proof of how much I love you.”

  I giggle. “Right. So, what’s the grumbles?”

  Izzy rolls her eyes. “These dummies ordered caramel macchiatos and I tried to tell them that’s not at all what they think it is. This ISN’T STARBUCKS!” She calls loudly enough for the customers to hear.

  “So are you making them caramel lattes or something?”

  Izzy groans. “Hell no! I’m making them macchiatos with caramel in them. I’m not compromising my coffee integrity because they’re idiots.”

  I laugh and watch Izzy finish the drinks and slide them over to the waiting customers. They look disappointed as Izzy puts her hands on her hips and looks at them defiantly.

  “I told you. Not what you think. Now drink it and understand real coffee.” She spins around in a huff and the customers walk away confused and annoyed.