Beautiful Lessons

by Rebecca Brooke

  Climbing on the bus, I sit in my normal seat in the front. Whatever Chaz decides to do now, he’s not going to do it with Coach Bryde on the bus. Chaz’s dirty looks come every time he sees me. Now, I’m just waiting to see what other shit he might pull.

  Once we get to the field, we head into the locker rooms to get changed. I’ve been keeping my eye on Chaz, there’s no way what happened earlier isn’t going to go without retaliation.

  We make it out of the locker room without incident. The warm up even goes well, with Chaz hitting the target for me each and every time. Nothing about this seems right. It’s not until the game that his passes begin to get screwy. Doesn’t he get that the scouts are watching him too and they are never going to give him a chance if he looks like an idiot when he plays?

  By the fourth quarter, his balls are still erratic, but I caught as many as I could. We’re down by four points. All we need is one touchdown to win the game. Coach calls the play, it’s one we’ve run a hundred times with nothing but success. The snap is called and I take off running down the field, cutting left and turning to catch the ball. When I look for it, I see it spiraling on the other side of the stadium.

  Dammit. What the hell is Chaz thinking? The timer buzzes and we’re out of chances. The boos from the home crowd are deafening. We should have won that game. The rest of the guys head toward the locker room, with me trailing behind. The silence in the locker room says so much about the atmosphere.

  Chaz eventually shows his face and for once, the looks of disgust are aimed at him, not me.

  Coach Bryde comes storming through the door and right for Chaz. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You’ve run this play a hundred times at practice. Thanks to your shit, we’ve lost the game.”

  That’s when the taunting starts. Some of the guys boo him while others curse.

  “Settle down now.”

  The noise finally dies off and Coach turns back towards Chaz. “Let me make something very clear, Mr. Hartman. You are very lucky that is not one of the teams that hurt our chances at the team championship game. I will not risk another occurrence. The next time you throw a pass in the wrong direction, no matter the circumstances, you will no longer be my quarterback.”

  He nods and walks back to his locker, smirking at me. Asshole threw the game just to get back at me. He’s dumber than I thought he was. The mood is sour in the locker room as we all shower and change, getting ready to get back on the bus. It would have been nice going into the weekend with a win, but I’ll take a weekend with Seona any day.

  The ride home seems longer because of my excitement. Once we get off the bus, we head inside to put our equipment away. Finally, I walk out of the locker room to see Seona waiting for me. Our eyes meet and something happens. I instantly feel better. She walks up to me, wraps her arms around my neck and hugs me. My arms wrap around her waist and we stand there for a minute.

  “I’m sorry about the game today,” she whispers.

  “Yeah, it sucks. At least I get to spend the weekend with you,” I respond, pulling her in closer. We walk to my truck, holding hands, and I let it go and open the door.

  “Why thank you handsome,” she says with a smile. Shutting her door I go around the front of my truck and hop in. “What’s wrong with Chaz, anyway?”

  “I think he’s trying to punish me for not staying away from you.”

  “Are you telling me that asshole threw the game just to get back at you?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “What the hell is wrong with him?”

  I entwine my fingers with hers as she rests her head against the headrest. The rest of the car ride is quiet, with the exception of the music on the radio. We get to the house and it smells delicious. There’s a note from Travis that he already cooked dinner for us; all we need to do is heat it up.

  While she’s in the kitchen, I find a photo album to look through. The oven beeps and suddenly she’s in front of me, stealing the album from my hand.

  “You were cute when you were little.”

  “Ugh, I wasn’t. I had short hair and was chubby. Not that cute.”

  “Well, it doesn’t matter what you say, because I think you were cute when you were little and now you’re beautiful.” I wink at her and she sits down next to me.

  With a content sigh, she snuggles closer into me, our faces are only inches apart. My eyes wander to her lips and I can’t help but to want a taste.

  “What are you thinking about?” she asks

  I answer honestly. “How pretty you are and how much I really want to kiss you right now.”

  “Well, are you going to kiss me?”

  “I want to.”

  “Then do it.”

  Without hesitation, our lips collide and her body clings to mine as if she needs it to breathe. As her tongue explores my mouth, she climbs on top of me, pushing me back on the couch. Her core slides across my straining erection and I know the time has come to have the conversation I’ve been dreading.

  “Seona?” I ask, breathless. My hands are in her hair as my forehead rests against hers.

  “Why did you stop?” Her head tilts to the side.

  “There’s something you need to know about me.”

  “This again? Didn’t we do this the other day? I’m already your girlfriend. Can we get back to kissing now?”

  Here goes nothing just spit it out. “I’ve never had sex before,” I say in a rush.

  Her eyes open wide. “Never?”

  “Never. But, I don’t want to rush things. Right now, I want to spend tonight with you. Kissing you. Holding you. I don’t care about anything else.” I rest my hand on one of her thighs. “I just want you. You’re everything to me. I don’t need us to go further yet. Right now, I’m enjoying the pace we are at. I’m not sure how things went in Michigan, but I want you to make sure you absolutely want to sleep with me before you do.

  “How can I be sure that what you’re saying is true?”

  “Because I don’t lie.”

  “But this doesn’t make sense. Guys want sex. It’s simple.”

  “That’s true, but this guy wants to know the girl without the sex first. You’re more important to me than that.”

  “Really?”

  Seona smiles, and I place kisses on her forehead. “You are so beautiful and I want to tell you every single day, so one day you can believe it, because you will see what I see.”

  “What do you see?”

  Leaning forward, she places a soft kiss on my nose. My hand moves to her hair as I pull her in closer and my mouth opens for hers and there’s no urgency to the kiss. Just savoring the sweet taste of her lips.

  The oven dings, interrupting our perfect kiss. “I have to get that before I burn down the house.” She laughs. I stand and pull her up from the couch, kissing her again.

  “Let’s do it together.”

  “Okay,” she smiles again.

  Getting the food out on platters, she makes both plates and meets me at the table. My hand finds hers and I thank her for tonight.

  “Hey, after we’re done eating, do you wanna go to Vanessa’s? She said the whole team is gonna be there and I mean, we should go for like an hour?”

  The minute she mentions going to the party, my stomach clenches and I have to do everything I can to force down the food in my mouth before I answer. After all of the shit that happened the last time I was at Chaz’s, I don’t want to go there again. Then again, I also don’t want to upset Seona either. She’s the first girl I’ve ever had such strong feelings for so quickly.

  “Ah…yeah…sure if you want. But we shouldn’t stay too late,” I answer. If we can get in and out quickly, it may not be that bad.

  We finish dinner and I offer to clean up the table while she gets ready to go. I use that time to settle my nerves. There is no way things can end as bad as they did last time. That’s when I think about Seona. Going to the party with her would make all of the crap worth it. Tonight was a step forward for bo
th of us I think. And since we established that this is more than about sex, I like the fact that I can say she’s mine. Thinking of her as my girlfriend is real freaking exciting.

  I hear her small footsteps coming down the stairs, I turn and all of my thoughts fly out of my head. If she looked good earlier, there was no description for how she looks now.

  “You look beautiful.”

  But even her looks won’t keep me from thinking of all of the things that could go wrong tonight.

  Chapter 14

  Seona

  Driving to Vanessa’s house, I can sense Jayceon’s hesitation. I’ve never been to a party here and have no idea what to expect.

  Holding his hand, I rub my thumb softly against his hand, hoping to calm him down and relax him.

  “If you don’t want to go tonight, we don’t have to. I thought it would be nice for you to get out and have fun with your teammates. I know Chaz has been a dick and being around him is probably the last thing you want to do.”

  “Seona,” he starts to say, “It’s not a big deal. You wanted to come and I think it’s a good idea. I texted Brendan and he said it’s pretty low key tonight. And if it gets too wild, then we’ll leave.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me.”

  He parks his car on the side of the road and we walk to Vanessa’s house, holding hands. The front door is open and the screen door is unlocked, so we walk in and are immediately tackled by Claire.

  “You’re here!” She squeals, jumping up and down. “Can I get you something to drink?” She hands me her red Solo cup.

  I shake my head. “Not tonight. Thanks, though.”

  “You sure?”

  I nod my head. “Yeah, I’m sure.” I have to be strong, I tell myself. Drinking and I do not go hand in hand. I’ve been doing well and I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of anyone, especially Jayceon.

  Brendan comes over, slaps Jayceon’s hand and gives me a hug. “Hey guys.”

  “Hi,” I smile, “Where’s the bathroom?”

  Brendan tells me where it is upstairs. I lean over and kiss Jayceon’s cheek and tell him I’ll be back. Heading upstairs, I close the door and take out my phone.

  Me: 911

  Kendall: What’s wrong?

  Me: At a party...Jayceon looks uncomfortable I think...When I asked him if we could go he seemed weird about it..

  Kendall: Well it’s not like he’s popular or anything...Prob cautious...Make him feel comfortable and don’t leave him in situations he could feel out of place

  I don’t want Jayceon to be uncomfortable and I understand his reservations about being here, but this is his team too. He shouldn’t have to feel left out. Tonight’s going to be fine.

  Me: I wish you were here…

  Kendall: Seriously I know...My dad said I can go visit you soon so be ready for the best reunion ever!

  Me: LOL can’t wait! And I can’t wait until you meet Jayceon. He’s so sweet and you’ll love him!

  Kendall: Remember...Cowboy! LOL

  Me: Got it

  Kendall: Text me in the morning <3

  Me: <3

  I put the phone back in my pocket and open the door to go back downstairs. When I walk out, Jayceon’s sitting down against the wall.

  “Babe?”

  He looks up at me and stands up. “You okay?”

  “Yeah. Sorry I had to text Kendall. I’m fine though.” I smile and kiss his lips. “Come on.” We walk back downstairs and head to the dance floor with Claire, Brendan and some other people from school. The music flows through the makeshift dance floor in the living room. I can tell Jayceon’s hesitant and I’m not sure why. Taking his hand in mine, I lead him towards the middle, my back against him and place his hands on my hips. Moving to the music, he finds his rhythm pretty quickly and soon we’re both moving together. His hands are curiously moving up and down my sides while my arms are wrapped behind his neck. He turns me around, resting his forehead against mine.

  “I love dancing with you.”

  “Me too,” I lean up and kiss his lips.

  The song ends and I’m getting thirsty. We walk to the kitchen and Brendan’s talking to some other guys. He sees us and comes over.

  “Having fun you guys?”

  “Yeah, actually we are,” Jayceon answers.

  There’s a cooler nearby, so I go over and grab two bottles of water. I’m about to walk back to the guys when Chaz stops me.

  “Well, well look who we have here.” I roll my eyes and see Jayceon and Brendan walking over. “This is a surprise. Jayceon Ashworth at a team party. Wow. That’s impressive.”

  “Hi to you too, Chaz,” I seethe, handing Jayceon his water.

  “Water?” He laughs, “There’s beer and liquor and you both drink water.”

  “Does it matter what we drink?”

  Chaz holds up his hands in defeat. “Okay. Okay. Playing it safe. I can be cool with that.” Chaz extends his hand to Jayceon. “Sorry about tonight man. You played pretty damn good. No hard feelings, right?”

  Brendan and I look at Jayceon, waiting to see if he’ll shake Chaz’s hand. To my surprise, he does.

  “Good man. Why don’t you join us in a game of pong and I’ll even let you drink water since I’m sure you’re DD?”

  Jayceon looks at me. “Go, babe. Have fun.” I give him a kiss. “I’ll be back there with the girls.”

  “K,” he answers and gives me another kiss.

  It’s been an hour and the girls and I have been dancing in the living room since I left Jayceon with Chaz. I didn’t hear anything break or anyone yelling, so this is a good sign. Tonight I feel free and I’m having fun. Sober.

  Vanessa pulls me and we walk outside on the deck. “So, tell me what the hell is going on?” She asks with a hint of bitch to her voice. I have no idea what I did to Vanessa to make her hate me or whatever, but it’s been noted. Two can play this game.

  “Jayceon and I are official.”

  Vanessa quickly grabs my arms and turns me around. My jaw drops and I’m frozen. My eyes don’t move from the scene in front of me. How is this happening? “No,” I mutter shaking my head. This doesn’t make sense. We were having a great time at my house. Maybe since I didn’t try harder to put out he got bored, but that’s not Jayceon. I know we haven’t known each other for a long time.

  Claire’s lying on the counter and the guys are cheering for him to lick her neck, which he does. I can’t do this.

  “I have to go,” I whisper, pulling away from Vanessa and running towards the road. I heard her yelling my name. I don’t turn around or stop. I need to get out of here. When I’m at a safe distance away I get my phone, but stop. I don’t want to bother Travis on his date. The walk shouldn’t be too bad and I’ll be home before I know it. As I’m walking down the dark sidewalk, I wrap my arms around my chest and wipe the tears flowing from my eyes. This is why I don’t fall for guys. They’re nothing but players and liars. They don’t deserve a good girl in their lives. I know I’m not the best girl and I have a bad past, but I’m human. I have feelings and I hurt just like any other person.

  Finally, I make it home and walk upstairs. Travis still isn’t home. The house is quiet and dark, just the way I like it. Pulling the covers off my bed I climb in, hugging my pillow to my body, and letting out my emotions.

  Maybe Jayceon isn’t the guy I thought he was. All I can think about is his tongue on Claire. He’s laughing and doesn’t seem to be bothered by the fact we’re dating. I should have gone up to him and said something. Shock took over and I ran. I don’t want to feel this broken kind of pain and I shouldn’t. We haven’t been together for long so I shouldn’t care.

  But I do.

  My phone vibrates on my nightstand, waking me up. I pick it up and see it’s a text from Brendan.

  Where are you?

  Me: Home

  Brendan: Well wtf is there any way you can come back? Wait how the hell did you go home if you and Jayceon drove together?

  Me
: I walked

  Immediately, my phone rings and it’s Brendan.

  “Why the hell did you walk? I could’ve taken you home. What’s wrong?”

  I sigh, sitting up on my bed. “I saw what Jayceon was doing to Claire.”

  “Fuck,” he hisses. “Well, I don’t know what the fuck got into him. He’s wasted and about to pass out. I’m outside with him. He keeps asking for you.”

  I roll my eyes. “Don’t care.”

  “Don’t be like that. I know you care.”

  “Brendan,” I let out. “Just take him back to your house, please?”

  “Fine,” he answers. “You owe me,” he lets out a laugh.

  “I’ll give you a big hug on Monday.”

  “Deal.” I hear rustling on the phone and Jayceon’s moaning. What an idiot.

  “I’m gonna go. Thanks for taking care of him.”

  “You’re welcome. It’ll be okay Seona.”

  “Yeah.”

  Putting my phone back on the nightstand, I pull the cover to my chin and force myself to close my eyes and fall asleep. I just want to disappear.

  Chapter 15

  Jayceon

  The sun shines in through the open window, pulling my out of sleep. I open my eyes to unfamiliar surroundings; I knew something was wrong. Looking around the spare room, I recognize the furniture. Somehow, someway, I ended up at Brendan’s house. There are flashes of memory, but not a whole lot to work with. The problem is, a few of the pieces I can remember make me want to puke and it has nothing to do with the alcohol.

  “I was wondering if you were ever going to wake up.” Brandon comes strolling in, looking irritated and flips on the light.

  My arm flies up and across my eyes. It feels like an entire marching band is playing through my head. “What the fuck happened?”

  He shakes his head. “You mean, besides you doing body shots off of Claire?”

  “Fuck.” I was hoping all of that was just a bad dream. There are vague images but there aren’t enough of them to make sense of anything.

  “You can say that again.”