Snapped: A Sports Romance

by Meghan Lockley

  “Sean!” She waves and bounces, almost jiggling out of her top.

  “Gotta keep pace,” I say with a wave, and I don’t stop. Nothing good can come from talking to her. She’ll just try to wiggle her way back into my life, and she only drags me down. Any random from campus would be better than her.

  “Who’s that?” Mike asks, and I am annoyed by all of his questions.

  “My ex,” I say with no emotion. It wouldn’t bother me if they hooked up, but she would only use him the way she used me. We run in silence for the next few minutes until we are back at the drive that leads to my parent’s house.

  In the distance, I can see the silhouette of Breanna as she crosses the street. I could recognize her figure anywhere. She must be on her way to see Sophie. It is a familiar sight, one that always got my blood pumping because it meant she might be spending the night. The feeling was no different now.

  Suddenly I feel compelled to see if I still have an effect on her. When we were younger, sometimes I'd catch glimpses of her watching me as I mowed the lawn. Or maybe she'd glance in my room as she passed through the hall on her way to see Soph. Once, after a shower, I didn't know she was over and I stepped into the living room wrapped in just a towel. The look she gave me almost made me need another shower.

  Maybe I can recreate the situation.

  We run up to the house and Mike leans against my truck.

  “I’m gonna shower,” I say over my shoulder.

  “You aren’t even going to cool down?” Mike says, and he sounds a little grossed out. But he doesn't know that I have a plan.

  I open the front door just a crack so I can hear if Sophie and Breanna are in the living room. Thankfully, they are. That will make this easier.

  With eyes cast down, I walk inside and strip off my shirt. I'm silently willing Bree to watch as I drape the shirt over my shoulder. Then I purposefully look at her.

  I must have mind control or something, because when I do, her dark eyes are fixed on my flexed abdomen.

  “Oh, hey Bree,” I say, as if I didn’t know she was there. I don’t bother acknowledging Sophie, who I can feel glaring at me for interrupting their conversation. I just watch Breanna’s face as her eyes travel the length of my body.

  “Hey,” she answers before tearing her eyes away. Now she is looking at the door, like she’s disinterested. It was a song and dance we're used to, stealing glances and then looking away. I was sick of it.

  Once I'm in the bathroom, I finish stripping down. Her velvet voice carries through the walls, and knowing that she's close makes me throb. We both want it, so why don't we just let it happen? We're grown.

  Although I certainly didn’t feel like it, because now I'm standing in the shower, gripping my hard cock and imagining what it would be like to be inside her.

  It's my go-to fantasy. Despite having it for years, it never loses it's thrill.

  Breanna

  What's Sophie saying? My thoughts are disjointed, and for a moment I no longer feel part of this world. It's like Christmas came early, and I got the package of my dreams. Well, it's more like I saw the package I wanted through a store window. A tease. It would be a completely different experience to unwrap said package and experience it with my curious little hands.

  But I’ll take what I can get.

  The heat in my face is unbearable, and I feel Sophie’s eyes on me, waiting for a reply. Thankfully, my best friend is bursting with topics to talk about. She is forgiving of my faux pas.

  “Really?” I offer weakly, trying to tune out the sound of Sean turning on the shower and the image that comes with it.

  Apparently this was an appropriate response. She nods vigorously and continues chattering excitedly.

  “So I’m going to start my classes in a few weeks,” she says, squeezing my hand. Right. Her excitement jogs my memory. She's starting classes at the community college.

  “Oh, that’s awesome, Soph!” I say with a smile, genuinely happy for her. We all had gotten a bit worried when everyone began receiving their acceptance letters and she hadn’t even applied anywhere. She said she wanted to take a semester off, first.

  What she needed a break from, I have no idea. Her life wasn’t exactly strenuous. She coasted through high school as a ‘C’ student, and is very gifted socially. Just two years younger than Sean, she was able to garner from his status as star quarterback. She was already well liked among our peers, but this elevated her to a whole new level. There wasn’t a party that she wasn’t invited to or an event she wasn’t involved in. This always irritated Sean in high school. Especially when it came to his friends.

  But I'm grateful for her small town celebrity. We were each other’s first and closest friends. Without her, my shyness would have rendered me isolated in school. Instead, I reaped the benefits of being in the “in crowd” without much effort. Sophie’s charm macheted any social barrier that stood in my way.

  College had been a challenge without her. I had made a few friends in my classes, but they were just people to call for a cup of coffee, or maybe to study with. Leaving made it easy to see just how much I need her. She's where the fun is.

  “So are you going to stay the night? Like old times?” She asks with baby blue eyes. “We can open a bottle of wine or something.”

  I nod, wanting nothing more than to slip back into the comforts and routine of home. My best friend smiles and squeezes my hand again. I know she has missed me as much as I've missed her. We had plans to visit each other more during the semester, but it just passed so quickly that neither of us scheduled anything. Plus, her family was traveling for one of Sean's games during the week of Thanksgiving, so we didn’t have a chance to reconnect during my brief break.

  I'm about to ask if I should bring anything from my house when Sean’s friend walks in. From the look on Sophie’s face, I know better than to interrupt her thoughts. She is undressing him with her eyes and imagining him in various positions, but all of them involve her.

  He gives her a smile, acknowledging her stare, before allowing his eyes to travel up and down her body in reciprocation. The heat between them is palpable, and I feel intrusive for just being in the room. I shift awkwardly in my seat and wonder where I should look.

  Thankfully, the moment passes and he walks down the hall towards Sean’s room.

  “I see you have a new prospect,” I say to her with a grin.

  “You have no idea how much I need him,” she says, her eyes lingering after him. “Things have really dried up since graduation. Everyone moved away and I was left alone in this shitty town. I’m going through a major dry spell.”

  I laugh, knowing she knows nothing about dry spells. She seems to remember who she’s speaking to and turns to face me, her blue eyes probing.

  “You still haven’t . . . right?” She asks, her voice barely louder than a whisper. I shake my head and shrug. “Why?!” She continues, demanding now.

  “I haven’t found someone I like well enough, yet,” I say truthfully. “It seems like a waste to wait this long and then throw it away on someone I don't really like.”

  Her eyes scan my face, as if trying to comprehend. “You’ve been out though, right? I remember you had a couple date over the last few weeks.”

  “Yeah. Darren, from Chem. He took me to dinner. He was nice,” I say, wishing I could add, "His voice doesn't pierce my heart like your brother’s does.”

  Instead I shrug again, hoping she’ll change the subject. But she is still watching me, waiting for more details.

  “He, uh, he kind of smelled musty, you know? Like he doesn’t know how to wash his laundry." I lie, looking at the carpet.

  “So you didn’t like him because of his laundry habits?” She asks contemplatively. “I guess that’s fair. What about the other guy?”

  I shrug again, feeling like we're back in high school. Sophie would pepper me with questions about who I liked and I would come up with excuse after excuse. Sometimes I would forget what I had already used. I
went to great lengths to prevent her from knowing the truth: that I’ve been in love with Sean for as long as I’ve known what love was. That he's my first thought when I close my eyes, and even moving away for college didn’t change that.

  “He was just, ugh, I don’t know, Soph,” I say, wishing I could drop the facade. “He was clingy and he didn’t even offer to pick up the check. His breath was so garlicky that I could almost taste it. He licked his thumb before turning the pages of his history book. His legs were super spindly, like a spider. He had a tribal tattoo around his wrist and it looked like a bracelet.”

  Sophie bursts out laughing, and I can’t help but join her.

  “He makes the laundry guy sound like a catch,” she says between gasps for air. I nod in agreement.

  “I know how to pick ‘em,”

  “I think your problem is that you are almost too pretty,” Sophie says, her voice becoming serious.

  “Stop. That’s what all girls say when no one is into them.” I wave my hand.

  “No, for real,” she continues. “All the guys from high school had you on their ‘would do’ lists, but none of them asked you out. Why would that be?”

  “Let's see, because I’m picky?” I offer. “They knew I’d say 'no'? I’m unapproachable? I give off a Frigid Bitch aura? Should I go on?”

  “I honestly think people are too intimidated. Except guys like Garlic Breath who are too socially inept to know you're out of their league.”

  “So I guess I’ll just die a virgin,” I say, flopping back onto the couch. Sophie laughs and stands, pulling me up with her.

  We head down the hallway to her room, and I can’t help but try to sneak a glance into the cracked doorway of the bathroom as we pass. I can see the muscular frame of Sean through the steamy shower glass and a shiver passes through me. I am struck with the same thought that I always had when I stayed the night at their house.

  What would happen if I went to him?

  It was so tempting, and it would be so easy. Once everyone was asleep, I could cross the hall to his room. He would be sleeping half-naked, as he always does. It's like he lives to tease me. I could peel off my own clothes and climb into his bed. No one would know. The only barrier was my own mind.

  It was probably for the best, though. If he was interested, he would have made a move. Lord knows he isn’t shy. He probably thinks of me as his kid sister’s friend, nothing more.

  But still, sometimes I catch a glint in his eye, a deep piercing look. It makes my breath catch and my stomach tighten. It's always brief. Just a flicker. Like he won’t allow his mind to go any further.

  My mind knows no bounds when it comes to him.

  Sophie clicks the door closed behind us, much to my disappointment. I had hoped maybe I would catch a glimpse of Sean walking to his room across the hall, wrapped in just a towel. But he had already been generous today. The image of him coming in from his workout will sustain me for weeks.

  I flip through a magazine on Sophie’s bed as she turns on music. Her long blonde hair has been painstakingly curled and side swept. It was a look she used to attract men, and it was effective.

  “You’re pretty serious about your brother’s friend, huh?” I ask with a smile. She turns and stares at me pointedly.

  “You have no idea. There is no way Mike’s leaving here without some,” she says. If she applied half of her romantic ambition to her studies, she'd be in good shape.

  “Well, he seems to have the same idea,” I say, and she lights up.

  “You got that impression, too?” She runs her hands through her curls and glances at her reflection in the mirror.

  “Uh, yeah. What happened between you two in the living room? I shouldn’t have even witnessed that,” I say with a laugh.

  “Whatever." She waves her hand, but her smile tells me that she knows it’s true.

  She sits on the bed next to me and looks over my shoulder at the magazine. We settle into our comfortable routine, as if I had never left. We show each other new videos and gossip about people from our town. We slip into pajamas. Her mom eventually comes in with a few brownies, and once we're sure she's asleep, we sneak a bottle of wine.

  But then there is a knock on the door, and we both look up. Standing in the doorway is Mike, a mischievous grin plastered on his face.

  “Want to go to a party?” He asks, looking more at Sophie than me.

  Sean appears over his shoulder, overhearing the question. I expect him to dissuade Mike, to tell him that he isn’t taking his little sister to a party. But instead his blue eyes smolder into mine, and he waits for a response.

  I don’t have to look at Sophie’s face to know that she wants to go. There isn’t a party invitation on this Earth that she would decline if it meant possibly getting to drink and dance. But she is looking at me now, also waiting. All three pairs of eyes are on me, but the only one that matters is Sean’s.

  I force myself to keep his eye contact and nod. Sophie and I barely have time to change and redo our makeup before the four of us are squished into his single cab truck, rumbling down the snowy countryside.

  Sean

  Bree’s so close that I can smell her lilac perfume through the diesel. Every bump causes our thighs to brush, and I've never been so grateful to be on a dirt road. We're crammed so tightly on the single bench that Sophie is practically in Mike’s lap. I thought about switching the order, but doing so would just put Bree next to Mike. Besides, Sophie will do what she wants regardless of my efforts, so I might as well do what I want. And what I want is to get close to Breanna.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I watch her. She is looking straight ahead, trying to avoid listening to Sophie giggle and play with Mike’s hair. Bree looks exceptionally pretty tonight. Her lips are a dark red, and her eyeliner does the swoopy thing, like a vintage movie star. Her curly hair is long and loose, and it’s easy to imagine how it would look cascading down around me.

  The snow starts falling harder, so I try to concentrate on the road instead of imagining her in my bedroom. The throbbing below doesn’t subside, though, and it’s useless to pretend otherwise.

  “Are you liking college, Bree?” I break the silence. She squirms at my words. I had almost forgotten how shy she really was.

  “Yeah, I do. It’s different though. I like the classes better, but I wish Soph was there,” she says. “I bet college isn’t all that different for you.”

  “Not really, I guess,” I say, although I hadn’t really ever thought about it. The attention I received was at a national level now. The adulations were greater and the mistakes more scrutinized. But attention from girls, well, some things never change.

  “Congratulations on the opportunity to play for the championship, by the way,” Bree adds.

  “Thanks. I didn’t know you followed football,” I reply. She looks away and then down at her hands.

  “My father keeps mentioning it,” she says as she looks at her nails.

  I nod and don’t say anything. Of course that's why she's aware. He's been asking me about it almost every day since I've been home.

  “I pay attention when it’s you, anyway.” She adds so quietly that I almost think I imagined the words. The only proof I have is that she’s closing her eyes tightly, like she can't believe she said it.

  I bite my cheek to keep from smiling and grip the steering wheel tighter. Again, I feel the stirrings of hope that we could be something. Afraid of saying too much, I do the worst possible thing and say nothing. I know that she'll be analyzing my response, and it leaves me paralyzed.

  Silence is thick between us, and I hate myself for not speaking. If I change the subject, it will be even worse. Thankfully, Mike breaks the silence. For once, I'm thankful for one of his questions.

  “Damn, are you taking me in the backcountry to kill me or something? Where is this place?”

  “We’re almost there,” I say, and the lights from the cabin appear as I follow the barely visible bend in the road.

 
It’s the spot we always used in high school, Vince's family's hunting cabin. It's tucked far enough in the hills to be great for scouting game. We've had so many good times here, but for some reason, I don’t feel excited. There is a knot in my stomach from missing my chance to say something to Bree. I almost grab her hand to keep her out in the truck with me.

  But as I put the truck in park, she’s already gathering her things, anxious to escape the awkwardness of her admission. I run my fingers through my hair and watch as she scampers out the door after Sophie. She doesn’t even look back. Mike is lingering by the truck, waiting for me.

  “Looks legit,” He says as he takes in the cabin. It’s not the most modern, but it’s well hidden. Police never patrol the area, especially with this weather, making it perfect for parties. White wisps of smoke churn out of the chimney, and the trucks parked outside tell me that we’re among the last to arrive.

  “It’s my buddy’s place. I’ll introduce you,” I say as I trudge through the snow towards the door. Sophie and Bree’s footsteps are already getting obscured by fresh flakes.

  Inside, dozens of familiar faces light up as I cross the threshold. A few people clap and someone from the back starts singing "We are the Champions."

  “Not yet, don’t jinx it,” I say, with a smile. A cold beer is thrust into my hands. I should be feeling the epitome of acceptance and adoration. Instead, I find myself wishing that they were genuinely happy to see me, not just the starting quarterback.

  “Just a matter of time,” Vince says as he claps my back. “How’s it going, man?”

  “Not bad, just trying not to get fat over break. How about you?” I say, cracking open my drink.

  “Just don’t start drinking that light shit. Things here are good. Well, kind of. Amy and I broke up,” He says, and his eyes look sad.

  “Shit, man. I’m sorry.” I mean it. They were a good couple. Been together since high school.