by S. J. Black
“All right, girls. Hurry and get changed. We’ll be playing out in the fields today. Time to test your soccer skills and see who’ll pass this time without any fouls,” said Ms. Kasey, her eyes lighting up in amusement.
“It was just that one time, coach!” cried Holly, a blonde freshman who had difficulty reigning in her temper with some of the other players. A few girls who started to arrive snickered.
“Yes, Holly. I’ll make sure to let the boy’s football team know that the next time you drag their defensive players by their shirts,” said the coach, turning her back to the girls towards the player board. Holly lifted her hands up in exasperation before turning back to her locker.
Coach Kasey turned around and surveyed her surroundings before landing on April. She made her way over to the young freshman, offering a smile to the nervous yet distant teen. One thing Coach Kasey knew was that April was painfully shy and struggled with public displays of – well, anything. Last week she had scolded April in front of her peers for failing to pass the ball to her classmates, despite the fact that April had scored in the match. Ignoring her team’s support could’ve cost her future matches and she wanted to ensure April knew that. However, perhaps the tone was slightly abrupt, for all Coach Kasey remembered of that day was April nodding solemnly with an anxious stare to Coach Kasey’s criticism, while her teammates giggled in the background. After she was done, April had walked right to the back of the group, away from everyone, eyes puffy and red rimmed for the rest of the session.
Coach Kasey made sure to take extra care with that girl.
“Hey, April. I’m putting you up for captain this term. Don’t be scared. You’ve impressed me with your skills and I want you to push your leadership skills on the field,” she said. April’s eyes widened.
“Coach, thank you. Thank you so much but I just, um, don’t think I’ll be able to, with school and assignments –“ April trailed off an excuse. Coach Kasey cut her off quickly.
“I’m not asking, I’m telling. See you on the pitch in five,” she said to April with a stern look. Coach Kasey turned to the girls and yelled for them to hurry up onto the pitch in two minutes. As she left the changing rooms, April leaned onto the locker behind her for support. Just great, she thought.
Do I have a sign on my head that says ‘hey you, pick on me! Come on, go for it I don’t like to be ignored!’
“Fucking fantastic,” she whispered, turning and slamming her locker shut. Holly snorted in response.
--
Playing on the pitch sucked big time when the last lecture was a snooze fest, Aaron thought. His mind was elsewhere and entirely on April. As he mindlessly threw the ball back to Jackson, he thought about her and the fury that grew from her face when she locked eyes with him in the cafeteria. She had changed since their high school days. Her fluffy curls, which had bounced as she walked determinedly to her locker during high school, were now straighter, longer, sitting on her back just before her tailbone. Her thick lashes were still there though, framing the expressive round eyes. The mole sitting on her left cheek was there too. Aaron remembered. He remembered those details, even when he left high school for college. April Solomon was always on his mind back then. The soft look she would get in her eyes when looking outside the classroom window when the class gossiped about who was hooking up with who on homecoming, the way her breathing would heighten when she would lock eyes with him, her soft lips shifting slightly as she hurried away. Aaron remembered all right, April always haunted him.
He thought pushing her away would have crushed his infatuation or whatever his mom called it. A stupid teenage crush, he told her, it was stupid and had to pass. Back then; he was desperate to get April out his mind. She made him feel helpless and he couldn’t feel that way, he couldn’t face the thought that she didn’t feel the same. He couldn’t risk it, not after seeing how his mother pined after his father, all to no avail. So he pushed April Solomon away and pushed her into a place that would ensure they would never be friends. But it cost him everything. God, he was an asshole in high school.
“You okay, man?” said Jackson. Aaron blinked quickly before clearing his throat. His eyes burned at the thoughts that ran through him, Jackson looked at him with concern.
“Yeah, I’m good, just tired,” he said. “Hey man, let’s take a break. Practice’s probably over now, coach is inside flirting with Coach Kasey by now,” he joked.
“He wishes, Alcatraz will be easier to break than Kasey’s love life,” he snorted. Aaron raised his left eyebrow questioningly.
“What? It’s not like I haven’t tried,” he smirked. “Hey, it was either flirt or get busted for talking to the girls during practice. Luckily she took pity on my poor, helpless dimple face,” Jackson smiled with all his might, unleashing his signature dimpled smirk.
“Hm, something like that,” Aaron mused. Jackson exclaimed in mock hurt and hit back the ball to Aaron.
Aaron laughed as Jackson caught him in a headlock, the boys tussling each other for victory. As they tussled, the girls’ soccer team had started gathering on the pitch opposite, with April walking in the centre, tying her hair back into a ponytail.
“Okay, girls! I want two laps around the pitch and no pauses for talking. Holly and April, I’m looking at you two specifically,” Coach Kasey pointed out.
Aaron looked up to find the girls circled around the coach, finding April at the front with her hair in a ponytail. Pushing Jackson off him, he stared at her, eyebrows creased in curiosity. Jackson followed his line of vision.
Is he looking at April?
April made a comical face impersonating the coach when Coach Kasey’s back turned for the equipment, with Evie next to her mockingly strangling her throat. Both girls burst into a fit of laughter while trying to poke each other in the ribs. Holly added to the performance by raising the soccer ball behind Coach’s head. April quickly grabbed Holly while trying to hold in her laughter. The girls stumbled to the floor, their laughter escalating in hysterics.
“Get up before I make that five laps!” barked Coach Kasey, turning to see the mess that had become her soccer team. The girls sprinted away in mock panic before giggling on their way around the field.
Aaron hadn’t seen April look this happy, her wide smile a rare sight before him. He watched her, entranced, at the lightness spreading her features, as she conversed the girls.
Jackson coughed. “Dude, you’re staring,” Aaron turned, all trace of yearning washed from his face as he faced Jackson. He scratched his bicep distractedly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said before walking back to the changing rooms with Jackson following him closely behind.
“Is it April?” he queried. Aaron didn’t say anything for the first ten seconds, continuing to walk straight ahead pretending he hadn’t heard Jackson’s question. Jackson held out his hand to Aaron’s shoulder, stopping him.
“Dude, you can talk to me,” he said.
Aaron stared in quiet despondence before looking back to where April was running. She stopped to rest with Holly, stretching her arms out.
“She doesn’t want anything to do with me,” he muttered. “I don’t know why I still feel like this,”
“Feel like what?” he said.
“The way I did in high school,” Jackson’s eyebrows raised slightly. “Like she has this power over me, like she could destroy me if she wanted to. I don’t know what it is,” said Aaron.
A silence ensued. The girls began their football match, with Holly and April in midfield, shouting instructions to the field.
“Does she know how you feel?” Jackson asked.
Aaron looked down before licking his teeth.
“No. She doesn’t know. I made sure of that,” he said.
Jackson tilted his head in puzzlement. Before he could ask further, Aaron turned and walked back to the locker rooms.
After practice was over, April and Holly were put in charge of closing up the storage shed that c
arried all the equipment – much to Holly’s chagrin.
“Remind me again why I signed up for the soccer team?” queried Holly in frustration. She held her chin in faux wonder while April snorted.
“I’ll let you know when I find my reason,” said April.
Holly exhaled in exhaustion before slamming the storage door shut. Tilting her head slightly, she thought she was dreaming. A football player was walking towards them. Nope, it was the love child of Brad Pitt and Adonis – well, something like that. Boy, he was hot, thought Holly. Aaron was striding along the field, he looked towards April, wearing the same uniform he had when he was on the pitch.
Holly nudged April unceremoniously, to which she turned wincing at the jab. In the corner of her eye, she saw someone heading straight for her. Upon turning right, her fears were confirmed. It was Aaron.
“April, I need to talk to you,” he said.
“I can’t. As you can see I’m in the middle of something,” she quipped back. Keeping her eyes locked on his chiseled face. If the venom in her tone wasn’t evident enough, Aaron made no reaction to it. He continued to stare deeply in her eyes, challenging her to get out of this one.
Holly coughed.
“Well, I think Coach Kasey needed to see me about that thing, super important. I’ll catch you later April, and you too cute guy,” she quickly rambled before winking at Aaron. His eyes widened slightly, face feeling flustered at the quick flirtation.
April caught Holly’s arm before she could escape. “Holly, where are you going?”
“Come on, April. I can’t risk another late assignment and you know, I really need to talk to coach about that thing,” glowing a sugary smile at April before making a dash away from her own stunt. April baulked at the terrible acting.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” she cried as she reached the end of the pitch.
April stared after her in contempt, not quite believing her fate. Aaron’s eyes remained on April, anticipating a violent reaction, something that would elicit the very short temper she seemed to possess lately. April licked her lips, turning to Aaron, squinting her eyes.
“Spit it out,” she said, flitting her eyes between him and the possible exit strategy behind him.
“We need to talk,” he said. April lifted one eyebrow almost in a bored manner. “Properly, I mean. I don’t want us to fight and I don’t want you to look at me like you hate me,”
“But I do,” she retorted.
“Well, you don’t. So, we might as well start being honest with each other,” he snapped.
“Honest? You think I’m lying about how you make me feel?” April countered. Her nostrils were flaring and the fire was licking the corner of her eyes. The amber of her eyes sparkled, glistening in anger.
“I know you despise who I was, the one who tormented you and made you suffer in high school. I remember that and I don’t blame you for how you feel, April. I know you hate seeing my face on campus, I hear you completely,” he countered. Slowly however he took a step towards her, with April matching his pursuit by taking several careful steps away backwards. “But I never hated you. I never have. I don’t want you to be afraid of me. April, I –“ Aaron hesitated as April’s back hit against the storage locker. She looked up at him fearfully before turning her body to make an exit. He stopped any chance of that by planting both his arms on the side of her head, looking straight at her face.
“April, please,” he inched closer to her, both of them less one foot apart as she breathed heavily. His eyes searched hers before looking at her lips. She wetted them briefly, her features trembling at the close contact, causing Aaron to internally groan.
“I don’t want you to hate me. I can’t stand it,” April turned her head away, avoiding all contact. Aaron inhaled in frustration. “April, please look at me,” he begged. April kept her vision to her right, tears burning her vision. He gently placed his hand on her cheek, bringing her back to reality. She stared at him defiantly, at the action that fact made him touch her so intimately, as though they were lovers caught in a heated embrace.
“Aaron, stop it, whatever it is you’re doing,” she whimpered. She held on to his hand to remove any contact between them but he swiftly stopped her. His grip on her hands was unrelenting, his eyes scorching hers.
“I couldn’t get you out of my mind back then, I still can’t,” he whispered. Her eyes searched his beseechingly for any trace of deception. “I couldn’t tell you how I felt, I was afraid. I was afraid you wouldn’t feel the same,” April’s widened in surprise. If she had to imagine scenarios in her mind that made absolutely no sense, this would have been one of them. Aaron Cole had feelings for her? This must have been some kind of sick joke, any moment his friends would come out of the corner and humiliate her for feeding into his twisted game.
She tried to remove her hands from his grip all to no avail.
“Aaron, stop it, I’m not falling for this,” she whispered. A single tear fell from her eyes, the emotions threatening to overwhelm her.
“Does it look like I’m joking, April?” he demanded, holding her face in his hands. His warm hands enveloped her completely, leaving her breathless.
“I need you to know,” he said before sealing his lips with hers, kissing her hard and fiercely. She made to move away but he softened his stance, caressing her cheeks in an attempt to communicate the intensity of his feelings for her. April couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe as he kept kissing her like that. He was nipping at her lips, coaxing her to let him in.
She didn’t respond for a few seconds before slowly returning back his kisses. Gently she took his top lip into her mouth, kissing him tenderly. Aaron moaned softly. He pushed her further back into the wall, running his hands through her thick hair. April needed to come up for air, she pushed her lips away slightly but this didn’t deter Aaron; instead he directed his attention to her neck, leaving open kisses on her throat, teasing his tongue out.
“April,” he groaned. The sound of his voice shattered any inkling that this was a dream and indeed her reality. She was making out with Aaron Cole outside the gym storage locker dressed in her dirty soccer kit. The worst thing was that she wanted to kiss him again. What was wrong with her?
She lightly placed her hands on his chest, pushing him back gently. Her hair was tangled, lips swollen creating a reddish pink hue, her eyes glistening, doe-like. Aaron thought she never looked more beautiful than the way she stood before him. The temptation to go back and kiss her again was too strong.
“I have to go,” she rushed. She looked up at him, his curly locks glowed in the sunlight, illuminating different shades of honey and gold; he had never looked more handsome. His intense eyes held her hostage, different shades of amber brightened, coated in bewilderment, hunger and anticipation. If she had been terrified of him before, she was undoubtedly terrified of the emotions he was laying bare before her; it was frightening to witness the extent of his true feelings.
“April,” he uttered, moving to hold her closer to him. April mustered the will to push him back.
“Aaron, please just - just let me go,” she whispered, exhaustion creeping into her voice. Today was too much for her already and with the one man she thought she hated more than anything in the world, decided to kiss her like a dying man fulfilling his last wish. On a scale of weird days, this topped the chart. She needed time and a big tub of ice cream to process it all. Being this close to him, however, was not helping matters; his presence, his scent of peppermint, honey musk and cologne overwhelmed her. His presence filled up her senses and April couldn’t
understand what was happening to her, or her body for that matter. It was though she wanted to be near him, wanted to kiss him until he moaned her name again.
Noticing that he offered little resistance in trapping her, she cautiously made her way out of the embrace, practically running back to the changing rooms. As she paced, she could heard Aaron shout something behind her.
“This isn’t over, A
pril. You can’t run from me forever,” he proclaimed.
April didn’t turn back.
CHAPTER THREE
The next morning, Jackson and Aaron were sitting outside on the campus benches, waiting for their Psych class to start. A couple of students were starting to wake up from a hard night of partying last night, walking cautiously across to grab their ritual coffee.
“So, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess you’ve got a fetish for girls who think you’re a plague of the earth’,” Jackson queried, munching on a bag of sugar hoops.
“Hardy ha ha,” Aaron looked at the campus building, unamused.
Jackson threw a sugar loop straight for Aaron’s head. “I mean, if we’re going for unattainable to the point where you’d get arrested, wouldn’t Coach Kasey have been easier?”
“I tried. She’s still traumatised from your flirtations, lucky she didn’t press charges” he quipped. Throwing the food back at Jackson, to which he successfully shielded.
“Look, you’re better off forgetting about April. The bright side of being an adult with a bleak future is that this campus is a river flowing with variety my friend,” he smiled.
Aaron grimaced. “And you wonder why half the girls knock you back,”
“Okay, crass. I’m just saying, April’s not in a forgiving mood. We treated her like shit, you know that,” Jackson fiddled with the carvings on the bench, distracted in thought.
“You didn’t treat her like shit,” Aaron said questioningly.
“I didn’t stand up for her, you mean. I should’ve, I mean maybe it would helped her, I don’t know,” Jackson scratched his head, laughing emptily.
Aaron patted his hand on Jackson’s back, with Jackson holding his hand in return. “Don’t worry man, we’re not the same people we were in high school anymore,” he said. “I mean, we can say that again for you, you’re a ladies man,” he said, Aaron puffing his chest with pride. “- In training,”