Anyone But Her

by Everhart, Allie

  "Sometimes opposites attract."

  "Not those two. If they were alone together for more than a few minutes, they'd kill each other."

  He smiles. "Okay, well, I have to get back to the shoot. It was good seeing you."

  "You too." He walks over to the weight machines where they're shooting video of Luke.

  I can't believe Garret knew about Luke and me. If he figured it out, other people might too. Then again, he could've just been guessing. He thought Birdie and Cal were a couple too which couldn't be more wrong.

  Birdie and Cal dating? I'll be laughing a long time about that one.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Luke

  It's the last hole. The very last hole of the best golf game of my life. Albert is definitely shining down on me today. It started with the first hole—a freaking hole in one!—and ended with me having the best score I've ever had. I just have to do well on this last hole and I'll win the tournament and tie for having the lowest score ever played on this course.

  I'm playing like a pro today. I even heard one of the announcers say that. Lou told me people would be watching me today, seeing if I was good enough to go professional, and so far I've proved that I am.

  "This one's for you, Albert," I say as I approach the tee. I take a swing and instantly know it's good. I could feel it. I watch as the ball soars in the air, then lands on the green and rolls until it stops just inches from the hole.

  "Holy shit," I mutter. It was almost another hole in one.

  Looking over at the crowd I see Taylor waving at me and smiling. When our eyes meet she mouths the words 'you won' and her smile gets even bigger. I've never seen anyone get so excited for me. Albert wasn't someone who'd show excitement. When I did well in a tournament he'd smile and say I did a good job but he didn't wave his hands around and jump up and down like Taylor's doing right now.

  Barb is also smiling and waving and Cal is giving me a thumbs up. Lou is sitting there with his arms crossed but is grinning from ear to ear. He's proud of me. They all are. Over the years they've become like family to me, and now that I live with them, I really feel like I am. Except when it comes to Taylor, my secret girlfriend who's acting more like a real girlfriend with the amount of enthusiasm she's showing for my win. But no one seems to notice other than Birdie, who just nudged Taylor and whispered something in her ear, probably telling her to tone it down.

  When I get to the green I tap the ball in the hole and the game is over. I won the tournament, and not just any tournament but a major tournament that gets a lot of press.

  Sports reporters swarm me as I walk off the green. A young guy with dark hair and the whitest teeth I've ever seen shoves a microphone in front of me and starts asking questions about the game. As I answer, other reporters follow us, shouting out questions.

  "When are you going pro?"

  "Has anyone approached you for a sponsorship?

  "What's your arrangement with WaveField? Are they planning to sponsor you when you go pro?"

  "How much longer can you afford to be an amateur?"

  The last question is one I get asked all the time but one I don't answer because I really don't know. The truth is, I'm running out of money. Golf is one of the most expensive sports to play but amateurs aren't allowed to be paid for playing golf or winning tournaments or basically doing anything related to golf, which is why I couldn't be shown golfing in the WaveField commercial.

  Working the past few years I've saved some money but it's running out fast. Before Albert died, he'd pay me to help him around the house and I'd use that money to help pay for golf, but now, with Albert gone, I'm going to be broke soon.

  Back at the clubhouse, Lou greets me with a congratulatory handshake. "You made Albert proud."

  It's the best thing Lou could've said to me because today's game wasn't about me. It was for Albert. He was with me for every shot.

  Lou leans in and smiles. "The rest of us are proud of you too."

  I smile back. "Thanks."

  Cal comes up to me. "Awesome job, man. After a game like that you gotta go pro."

  "Yeah...eventually."

  "You can't keep waiting," Cal says. "Sponsors would've been all over you today if you were a pro. If you keep waiting, they'll lose interest."

  "Let him be," Lou says to Cal. "We can talk about that later. For now, let him enjoy his win."

  Taylor appears with Birdie right behind her.

  "Great game," Taylor says, hiding the excitement she showed earlier.

  "Thanks."

  "You won!" Birdie fakes her enthusiasm and gives me a hug, playing the role of the girl I'm supposedly dating. I don't like this fake dating thing. It feels wrong.

  "You two should go out and celebrate," Lou says to me. "Take her out for dinner tonight. My treat."

  He wants me to have dinner with Birdie? I get along with her fine but I don't want to have dinner with her. This charade is getting out of hand.

  "Why don't we all go?" Taylor asks.

  "I can't," Lou says. "Your mother and I have plans tonight. But you kids go. It'll be fun." He gets his phone out. "I need to make a call. I'll be right back."

  After he leaves, Cal says, "I can't go tonight. I have a date."

  Birdie looks at him. "With who?"

  "This girl I went out with last spring. I met her at school. She called the other day saying she wanted to get together."

  "Bring her along," Birdie says. "It'd be interesting to see what type of girl would actually go out with you."

  "Birdie!" Taylor scolds.

  "What? I was being nice. I invited him to dinner."

  "You should come," I tell him. "If we're celebrating I'd like you to be there."

  "Okay. I'll call her and let her know. But that'll leave Taylor the only one without a date."

  "That's fine," she says. "I don't mind."

  "Hey, I'll set you up with Noah," Cal says. "He's on the golf team at school. He's been begging me to introduce you to him. He's got a huge crush on you."

  "He does?" Taylor says, surprised. "Why haven't you ever told me about him?"

  "Because I didn't want him dating my sister."

  "And now you do?"

  "It's just dinner. It's not like it'll go anywhere."

  "What if it did?" I ask, glancing at Taylor.

  Cal shrugs. "It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Noah's a good guy."

  "You're actually okay with Taylor dating?" Birdie asks. "So you're finally going to stop being a controlling jerk and let Taylor date whoever she wants?"

  "She still can't date assholes but Noah's not an asshole."

  "He could be," I say, then realize I probably shouldn't be commenting on this.

  "He's not, but if he turns out to be I'll kick his ass. At least I don't have to worry about him trying anything with her. He's a virgin and saving himself for marriage."

  Birdie rolls her eyes. "He sounds great."

  I laugh, suddenly feeling much better about this date. "Then I guess we're all set for tonight. It's a triple date."

  Garret walks up to me. "Congratulations!"

  "Thanks!"

  "Going out to celebrate?"

  "Later tonight."

  "Hey, if you have a minute, I wanted to talk to you about something."

  "Sure."

  "We have to get going," Cal says. "See you tonight!"

  As the three of them leave, Garret says, "That was a huge win today."

  "Yeah, I can't believe I got a hole in one."

  "You played well on every hole. You're going to get a lot more attention after today. A lot of companies will be showing interest in you. That's why I wanted to talk."

  "About what?"

  "About you doing more for us. Golf's a big part of our business and we're trying to attract younger customers so you're the perfect fit for our brand."

  "Yeah, but I can't do it. I'm not allowed."

  "Not yet, but you can when you're playing professionally."

  "I
'm not ready for that."

  He smiles. "Did you not just win the tournament?"

  "Yeah, but that doesn't happen every time."

  "No, but the way you played out there today proves you're good enough to move forward. It's time to take the next step, Luke. You can't keep putting it off. Other guys your age already playing pro and you're better than them."

  "But I'm not rich. I don't have the kind of money it takes to enter those tournaments and pay for the travel. The travel costs alone would clear out my savings."

  "Which is why you need a sponsor and WaveField is ready to commit to being your first one. When we talked last spring I was already prepared to give you a sponsorship deal. I haven't changed my mind. I'm serious about this, Luke. If you go pro, we'll be there to support you. Money won't be an issue."

  "Garret, it's a lot of money. The sponsorship won't be enough to cover it."

  "It will. I've already run the numbers and as long as your travel plans don't include five star hotels and champagne every night, you'll be covered."

  I laugh. "I've never even been in a five star hotel. Cheap motels are more my style. And I don't drink, so champagne won't be an issue."

  "Then you'll have more than enough money, and if you win some tournaments, money will be even less of a concern. You can stop worrying about it and focus on your game. So what do you say?"

  "I need to think about it. I know I keep saying I'll go pro but...I don't know. I guess I keep thinking I'm not at that level yet. I'm not good enough."

  "You are. You're playing better than some of the pros who've been doing this for years." He puts his hand on my shoulder. "Luke, this decision is up to you but if it were me, I'd go for it. What's the worst that can happen? You end up losing every tournament and have to quit? You're going to end up quitting anyway if you don't start earning some money, which you can only do if you declare yourself a professional player. The other thing that could happen is you go pro and end up broke."

  "Which I basically already am."

  "Right, so you know what that's like and if it happens you're a lot more prepared for it than others players would be."

  "Yeah, I guess."

  "So what's holding you back?"

  I don't answer. I didn't expect to have this conversation with him and now I don't know what to say.

  "You're afraid," he says. "You're afraid of losing."

  I look at him. "Maybe."

  "So let's talk about that. If you fail at golf, what happens? How will it affect who you are? How you feel about yourself?"

  "I'll feel like I failed. I'll have no clue what to do with the rest of my life. I'm afraid I'll—" I don't finish the thought, realizing I shouldn't be saying all this to Garret. He's a business colleague, not a friend.

  "Afraid you'll become your father?"

  Shit, he's good. How did he know I was thinking that?

  "I felt the same way when I was your age," he says. "I was scared to death I'd turn into my father. My dad's great—I love him—but I didn't want the life he had. When I was growing up, all he did was work. He was almost never home and the rare times he was, he was in a bad mood. I promised myself I'd never be like that."

  "But your dad was running a company. Giving people jobs. Making something of himself. My dad lies, cheats, breaks the rules. Whatever it takes to make money. Then he gambles it all away."

  "You're nothing like that, Luke. You'd never become like him."

  "But I'm not smart. I couldn't even make it through a year of college. I barely made it through high school. If I don't make it in golf I'll be back working at the shipyard, just like my old man."

  "There are other jobs you could do. You don't have to go back there."

  It's true but I feel like it's my only option. It's what I have the most experience doing outside of golf and it pays better than most other jobs I could get without an education.

  "Give it some thought," Garret says. "You don't have to decide right now, but you do need to decide soon. You can't keep waiting."

  "Yeah, I know."

  "You have what it takes. I know you think you don't but you do. You've already proved that to everyone else. Now you just need to prove it to yourself and the only way to do that is to challenge yourself. Stop being afraid. Stop making excuses and just do it. Do it and don't look back."

  "I'll think about it."

  He walks away and I go to the locker room to change.

  As I'm closing my locker to leave, a guy walks up to me.

  "Are you Luke?" he asks.

  "Yeah. Why?"

  "Someone told me to give this to you." He hands me a small cardboard box then walks off.

  I open the box. Inside is a yellow golf ball. I pick it up and see a smiley face drawn on it. I smile, knowing exactly who gave this to me.

  There's a note inside and I take it out and read it.

  It's time, Luke. It's time to live your dream. Albert may be gone but I'm still here and I'll support you every step of the way. Albert believed in you and so do I. So does Cal and my dad and mom and so many other people. You're not alone in this, Luke. We'll all be there for you. And if it doesn't work out? I heard they may be starting a pro tour for miniature golf. I'm actually considering that myself.

  I laugh. She's always making me laugh. I love her sense of humor.

  The note continues. Seriously, though, it doesn't matter how it turns out. What matters is that you went for it. So stop waiting. Live your dream.

  I get out my phone and text her, Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me. And how much YOU mean to me.

  She texts right back. Does that mean you'll do it?

  I wait to reply. I want to say yes but something keeps holding me back. I think it's what Garret said. It's the fear. The fear of ending up where I started. By not going pro, I'm avoiding the possibility of failure, the type of failure that would result in my worst nightmare, which is becoming my father.

  But putting off my dream is just making it farther away, making it more impossible to achieve. It's now or never. Maybe today's win was a sign telling me to take that next step.

  I let out a long breath and text Taylor back, Yes.

  My phone rings. It's Taylor.

  "Hey."

  "Oh my God, you're really doing this? You're going pro?"

  "I'm doing it. Well, not like next week, but soon."

  "I'm so excited for you!" she squeals. "By the way, you were amazing today. I haven't seen anyone play that well in a really long time."

  "Thanks. It felt good. The whole game felt good. I wasn't nervous at all."

  "If you can keep that up you'll be the best golfer ever. Not many people have the mental toughness to make it." She doesn't say it but I know she's referring to Cal. "There was a lot of pressure on you today and you did great."

  "I'll do even better now that I've got my lucky ball." I pick up the ball she gave me.

  "You like it?"

  "Love it. It's going to come along with me every time I play."

  "It wasn't meant to replace the one from Albert. I just thought you might want another one, from someone who's still here."

  "It's great. I love it." And I love HER but I don't think she's ready to hear that yet.

  I can't believe I'm even thinking it. But if I'm honest with myself I've loved her for a long time, just not in the way I do now. Before I knew her I loved her from afar. I loved her smile, her eyes, her spirit, the way she made goofy faces on TV when her dad was doing interviews. I knew back then she wasn't like other girls I'd met. She was different in ways that made me want to meet her. And when I did, there was no going back. She had my heart.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Taylor

  I'm dying to tell everyone Luke's news at dinner tonight but he made me promise not to. He wants to do it himself, when he's ready, which I totally understand but I'm so excited for him I want to tell the world.

  "Can't I just drop a hint?" I say to Luke as we wait outside the restaurant. Luk
e and I drove together. Birdie is meeting us here because she's coming straight from work. And Cal had to pick up his date. My date, Noah, couldn't make it. I was so happy when Cal told me that. Being set up is bad enough but it's even worse when you're on a date with a guy while the guy you really like is watching.

  "No hints. I'm not ready." But he's smiling, which says he's excited about the decision. We talked about it on the way over here and even though he expressed some doubts, that smile was still on his face.

  "I just have to tell you again how impressed I was with the way you played today." I step closer. "And turned on."

  "Turned on?" he asks, lowering his voice.

  "Like really turned on."

  "You can't say that stuff here, when I'm nowhere near a cold shower."

  "Let's go around back."

  "What? Taylor, no. I'm all for being adventurous but we can't be making out when your brother's about to show up."

  "But I really need to kiss you."

  "I need to kiss you too. So damn bad."

  "Then let's go." I take his hand but he takes it right back.

  "Your brother just pulled into the parking lot. And Birdie's here."

  Turning around, I see her walking toward us. She's changed out of her uniform and is wearing an aqua blue sundress and sandals. She looks really nice, like she should be on actual date, not a fake one.

  "Sorry I'm late," she says. "I had to go home and change and then I hit traffic on the way here."

  "You're not late. You're right on time."

  She stops in front of me. "What's up with you? Why are you so smiley? Did you guys just go around back and do something?"

  "No!" I whisper. "Birdie, you can't make comments like that, especially around Cal."

  "Obviously, but Cal's not here."

  "He's right behind you." I lean down to her ear. "Be nice."

  She turns around and says in her fake nice voice, "Cal, how lovely to see you again. And you must be..." She holds her hand out toward his date. "Sorry, but Cal didn't tell us your name."

  "Alecia." The girl doesn't shake Birdie's hand. I don't think she noticed it. She's too busy looking at her phone.

  Cal puts his arm around her and points to me, "Alecia, that's my sister, Taylor, and my friend, Luke. And that's Birdie, Taylor's friend."