The Red Zone

by Knight, Amie

  “Let’s start with the vocabulary section for this chapter.”

  “Let’s start with the crush 411 instead.”

  “Let’s not,” I sang back, trying to sound bored when my heart felt like it was going to run right out of my chest. “And you sound like a girl. Pshhh. The crush 411.” My eyes rolled.

  “Jesus, Scar. I thought we were friends. You can tell me about you and Jamie. I saw you hanging with him at lunch the other day.”

  And I was choking again. Only this time Luk didn’t hop up from his chair to help me. He only laughed his big guffaw deep laugh that boys in my grade didn’t have yet. Thank God. Or I’d probably be flunking all my classes because that laugh did all kinds of things to me.

  I sipped my water, stunned that he had somehow come to the conclusion I liked Jamie. Jamie was just a friend. And then I rolled my eyes because it turned out that even seventeen-year-old boys didn’t have a damn clue. And I counted my lucky stars.

  After I set my water on the table, I shook my head with a smile and pointed to the French book. “Can we stay on task, please?”

  He pursed his lips. “We always stay on task.” He was pouting and it was pretty darn cute. His puppy dog eyes were back. “So, you’re not going to give me the dirt on you and Jamie?”

  “I didn’t think big, strong football players cared about ‘the dirt,’ Mister Quarterback.” I smirked.

  That lip hitched up on one side again and I licked my suddenly dry ones. “You couldn’t be more wrong, Ms. Knox. We are the worst gossips. Locker room talk and all.”

  “I’d rather not be locker room fodder for the football team, Luk.”

  Shaking his head with a smile, he said, “Sometimes you talk like a school teacher. You know that?”

  “Thank you.” I pretended to write something in the notebook in front of me.

  He chuckled low and I cursed the goose bumps that sprang up all over my arms.

  “I guess I’ll just have to ask Jamie.”

  My head flew up. “Do not even think about it.” It wasn’t my business to tell him that Jamie would have more interest in him than me. We were friends and that was it. I was horrified at the prospect of him asking Jamie about us, like I’d implied it instead of Luk just assuming something was going on.

  So I turned the tables. “Why don’t you tell me about all your girlfriends since we’re friends and all now?” I grabbed my Skittles out of my bookbag because this was quickly turning into a Skittles emergency. I shook the packet and a few escaped onto the dining room table.

  My plan to change the subject wasn’t working. He just grinned that charming smile that made all the girls at school drool. “There’s only one girl I date, Red. Her name’s football.”

  I raised my eyebrows for effect. “And will you marry her, too?”

  “That’s the dream.” And he meant it. “Dibs,” he finished, grabbing my Skittles that had landed on the table. He had this far off look on his face that said it all. He wanted football more than he wanted anything in the world. And for some reason that brought me immense pleasure. It meant I wouldn’t have to deal with the boy I was crushing hard on being with another girl. I could settle for friends, just so long as I didn’t have to watch him swallow another girl’s tongue in the hallway. I could deal with Luk dating football. That was totally doable.

  “What are you smiling so big about over there?” His question interrupted my thoughts.

  “Who, me?” I looked around the room like he could have possibly been talking to anyone else when we were the only ones in the house. “I’m not smiling.”

  His eyebrows popped up. “Yes, you are. And you’re still smiling.”

  “I’m not.”

  “You totally are. Are you thinking about your boyfriend, Jamie?”

  My face got hot. “Absolutely not.”

  “I hope not. You could hurt a guy’s ego thinking about another dude and smiling like that while you hang out with him.”

  “Like your ego couldn’t stand a little hurting?” I doodled on my paper so I didn’t have to look at him and pursed my lips, but secretly I was thrilled at the prospect of him being just a smidge jealous. It was only right. Because I couldn’t think about anything but him lately and I hated it. God, I wanted clueless, oblivious Lettie back. Not this flustered, hot for quarterback Scarlett. She could take a damn hike.

  He threw the last of the Skittles into his mouth and I asked, “Why do you always do that?”

  “Do what? Steal your candy?” His mouth was full of Skittles and I giggled because I somehow actually understood what he said.

  “No. Call dibs.”

  He nodded. “Ah.” His face grew serious and his forehead wrinkled right between his brows. “It was something me and my dad used to do.”

  “Used to?”

  He ruffled the pages of his textbook, his eyes anywhere but on mine. “Yeah, he died a couple of years ago.” A slow smile crossed his face like he was remembering. “My mom used to joke about never making enough food for me and Dad no matter how much she cooked. Her growing boys, she would say. We’d fight over the last of everything. The last bowl of chili, the last pork chop, the last brownie. We’d call dibs and grab it as quickly as we could.” His smile was so melancholy my chest ached. “When I called dibs, I always ate it all, but Dad never did. When he called dibs he always shared it. He was a really good dad.”

  I let out a long sigh, knowing only one thing to say. “I’m so sorry, Luk. He sounds like he was a great dad.”

  I couldn’t imagine at my age losing either of my parents. It made me incredibly sad for him.

  His anguished eyes finally met mine over the table. “He was. He was amazing.” He grinned big, his teeth on full display. “He would have liked you, Scarlett. A lot.”

  My breath caught because I didn’t think anyone had ever paid me such a huge compliment. What was Lukas trying to do to me? Didn’t he already know I was madly in love with him? This seemed like the final nail in the coffin.

  I went back to doodling because I couldn’t look at him. I just couldn’t. He didn’t say anything for what felt like a full five minutes but in actuality was probably only a few seconds, but it made me stop my doodling and lift my eyes. And he was looking at me. And he wasn’t smiling goofily like I’d grown used to.

  He was studying me. Like a puzzle he’d love to solve. His perfect pink lips serious, his eyes zeroed in on mine. His deliciously square jaw ticked and the silence between us was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.

  I thought maybe I stopped breathing because all of a sudden I could hear his inhale, his exhale. Was that his heart beating or mine?

  “We’re home!” a woman’s voice said from the front of the modest home and it scared me so badly I jammed my knee into the bottom of the table.

  “Shit,” I whisper-yelled.

  “Wow. Watch that mouth, Red.” He winked at me and my banged up knee was long forgotten because holy shitake mushrooms that boy was hot.

  I was staring at him in a teenage girl daze when a woman with dark hair and dark eyes like his came into the dining room. “Hey, Lulu. You have company, I see.” She eyed me and I could immediately see the resemblance. She was a female version of Lukas. She was gorgeous.

  I smiled with my mouth closed to hide my damn braces and pushed my frizzy hair behind my ears because this woman intimidated the heck out of me. She was too pretty to be someone’s mother.

  I didn’t miss her nickname for him, though. I bit my lip and grinned at him at the Lulu bit.

  “Give me a break, Mom. Stop calling me that. I’m not a baby.”

  She saddled up next to him, a toddler with dark hair on her hip. “I’m Diana,” she said to me. “You must be Scarlett, Luk’s tutor.”

  “That’s me,” I said quietly.

  She turned to Luk. “Can you take Ella for a bit? I’m worn out and this cold is kicking my behind. I’d love to lie down if you guys are about done.”

  “Sure, we were just wr
apping things up.” He grabbed the little girl. I couldn’t really see her face well, but he held her up in the air and stuck his nose under the hem of her shirt and pressed his lips to her belly and blew hard. She giggled loudly and I sat there like a fool, swooning my dang face off.

  He pulled her down until her face was level with his and even though I could only see the back of her head, I could see Luk’s plain as day. And it didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that he was totally in love with this baby girl.

  “Hey, Ellie Bellie.” He kissed her on the mouth with a loud smack that made her giggle again.

  “Lulu,” she cooed so he smacked his lips to hers again.

  I could feel my cheeks hurting I was smiling so hard when he finally turned the child and placed her in his lap facing me so I could see her.

  “This is Ella,” he said as he sat her down on his knee. I felt my smile fall as I took in her face. Something wasn’t right. Ella didn’t look like most of the children I had seen. I studied her features while she took in mine. All the while, Luk was strangely quiet.

  And even though Ella wasn’t a traditional looking child, I couldn’t say that she wasn’t stinking adorable. I just knew that something wasn’t quite right and when my eyes finally lifted over Ella’s head and found Luk’s, my thoughts were confirmed. He looked at me like he’d die for this child and if I said or did anything crazy to upset her or him that he would throw me the hell out of his house so fast my head would spin.

  “Ella, this is Scarlett.” He was speaking to the baby, but he was definitely talking to me. His eyes never left mine. His face was serious, grave even. His shoulders were high and tight and that gorgeous jaw of his was ticking again. He was waiting on me and I knew that whatever I did or said next would determine the rest of our friendship and how it was going to play out.

  I surprised him and myself. I’d never seen a child like Ella before and I wasn’t exactly sure what to do, so I just went with my gut. I stuck my finger out near her hand.

  “Hey, Ella,” I said softly and gave her a smile. She wrapped her tiny fist around my finger and promptly brought it to her mouth and gave the tip a good gnaw. “Does that taste good?” I cooed and giggled and she smiled back at me from behind my finger and her fist and a ton of slobber.

  I looked up, my eyes hitting Luk’s above her head. His eyes were heated on mine. Almost like he wanted to eat me right there at the dining room table. I had no idea what that look meant then. I was too young, too inexperienced, too childish.

  But finally he smiled and his shoulders dropped and I could see that whatever I’d done, I’d passed some test. Because he was easygoing, goofy smiling Luk again.

  “She has Down syndrome,” he said softly.

  I shrugged. “And I’m a ginger.”

  Pursing his lips, he shook his head. “No, Scarlett. Ella has Down syndrome. She’s really different.”

  I nodded even though I’d never heard of it, but I studied her face. Her teeny tiny nose. Her big, slanted eyes. Her perfect little mouth. “She’s really cute.”

  Luk smiled like I’d given him the universe. “Cuter than me?” he questioned.

  “Definitely.”

  “Well, damn. You’re stomping all over my heart today, Red.”

  “I didn’t think you had a heart, Lulu.”

  “Ah. You’re not playing fair now. That nickname is top secret.” His cheeks were pink and for once I’d managed to turn the tables. For once he was at my mercy, all embarrassed and flustered. And it was adorable.

  “I can’t imagine why,” I said through laughter before pulling my finger from Ella’s mouth and holding both of my hands out palms up. “Can I hold her?”

  Luk passed small Ella over to me with only a slight look of apprehension and the smallest bit of hesitation, but she didn’t mind a bit. She stood on my thighs while my hands cradled her up under her arms.

  “All right, Ella. I’m Scarlett.” I stared down at Luk’s eyes peering up at me from Ella’s face. And my heart melted just a little bit more. She smiled at me, her grin wide for such a small mouth, her little square teeth perfect. My eyes darted to Luk’s quickly before returning to hers. “But ole Lulu over there likes to call me Red.”

  Luk scooted his chair around the table and forward until his knees pressed to mine and his body towered over me. I wanted to move mine back, but I was caged in by his long legs, broad shoulders, and long arms. He reached around Ella and grabbed her tiny hands, leaning closer to speak into her ear.

  “Can you say Red, Ellie Bellie?” When she didn’t say anything, he repeated, “Red.”

  She turned her head and sweet eyes met Luk’s over her shoulder. And I just stared on, totally enraptured, completely, utterly losing my heart to none other than Mister Quarterback.

  Ella uttered a sound I couldn’t be completely sure was Red or not, but Luk moved his hands back and placed them over mine under Ella’s arms and lifted her high over our heads.

  “That’s right! Touchdown!” he yelled, while Ella threw her head back and laughed high above our heads.

  I made my way to the locker room feeling like I had been hit by a Mack truck and that wasn’t too far from the truth. Because I’d been sacked no less than twenty times in the last two hours by dudes who were almost twice my size and I wasn’t a small guy by any means.

  But I was starting to get used to it. It seemed that the team hadn’t quite warmed up to me yet.

  I felt a hard shoulder push mine and then all of a sudden Jackson Wells, the team’s tight end and also the biggest pain in my ass, brushed past me and entered the locker room in front of me like I wasn’t even there.

  “Lukas, Last Minute Lucy my ass, man,” he muttered, throwing me a quick look over his shoulder like I was shit on his shoe. “I’m still waiting on that last minute. Any minute, really.” His low, sardonic chuckle hit my ears like acid. “When are you going to throw the fucking ball, Callihan?” The motherfucker was laughing at me.

  I gnashed my teeth together and pretended to not hear him. I didn’t need these guys. This was just a job I was here to do. If anything, they should be kissing my fucking cleats. I was their best shot at any kind of hope for a playoff game. I’d definitely taken a step down or maybe five, but you didn’t see me giving them shit nonstop.

  These assholes. I knew what they were doing when we were running plays. For the last two months they’d been kicking my ass. Hazing me. The offense wasn’t blocking me and the defense damn sure wasn’t taking it easy on me. And I had the bruises to show for it. I thought for sure that shit would be over now, but no, it was still happening and it didn’t seem like it was going to be changing anytime soon.

  I’d do what I did every evening after practice and ignore them. I’d grab my shit from my locker and get the hell out of there, opting to shower at home where I didn’t have to listen to second rate players heckle me.

  “Or hand the ball off or something,” Wells continued as I undressed as quickly as I could so I could pack my shit up.

  I just had to get out.

  “Hah. He’s not vertical long enough to throw or pass shit,” Trevon Childs, wide receiver, piped in, laughing. “Someone needs to teach him to stand up first.”

  The gnash of my teeth turned into a full-on grind. I’d teach him something. Like how to keep his fucking mouth shut.

  Fuck.

  Motherfucking fuck. Teach. I totally forgot about contacting Ella’s teacher. After our talk last night, we’d had dinner and I’d fallen asleep with her on the couch. I’d woken up alone this morning when the timer on my phone had gone off. She’d obviously gotten up and gone to bed on her own. I’d meant to contact Ms. Lettie last night during the special hours that she deemed appropriate in her letter but between football and Ella, I was fucking worn out and I’d just passed out.

  It was okay. I’d call her tonight.

  I grabbed my phone out of my bag and closed my locker. It was 4:00 p.m. Ella should have just gotten off the bus from school, so I sh
ot her a text to make sure she got home okay. Allison, the sixteen-year-old who lived next door, chilled with Ella until I got home. She usually sent the thumbs-up back to let me know she was okay and home, so I stood there patiently waiting and freaking out at the same damn time.

  I didn’t get home long after her, and Allison was a great help, but I liked to know that she made it off the bus and into the house okay.

  “Fucking Christ,” I said under my breath while I wiped my forehead with my shirt. My entire body screamed in pain, but I somehow managed to stop the groan that was sitting right on my lips.

  “Waiting on a call?” the big linebacker from beside me asked someone in a low, growly voice I’d only heard on a few occasions. Mason didn’t talk much at all from what I had seen over the last two months. And he definitely didn’t talk to me. He wasn’t an outright asshole like some of the guys, but he sure didn’t mind clobbering me on the field.

  I kept checking my phone while I put my shit back in my locker and grabbed my bag.

  “Lucy, I asked if you were waiting on a call.”

  I slowly looked away from the phone and up at him. Yes, I said up because Mason Stark was huge at freaking six-foot-five. “Are you talking to me?”

  His blue eyes twinkled back at me. “I’m looking at you, Lucy. Ain’t I?”

  Feeling like I still wanted to be an asshole since the man hadn’t talked to me since I’d been here, I turned around and checked behind me before looking back at him. “I’m sorry. You sure you’re talking to me?”

  “Quit being a dick.” He took off his pads and nodded at my phone again. “Who you waiting on to call?”

  I rolled my eyes at him. “You wanna gossip like fucking girlfriends now? When you haven’t had the decency to even speak to me in two months?”

  He turned and positioned his body right in front of mine. “The street works both ways, brother. You came here with a chip on your shoulder the size of fucking Africa and you want to act like we’re the problem?” He stepped away and pulled a clean shirt over his head.

  I got the thumbs-up from Ella on my phone and relief coursed through me. She was home. She was safe and now I needed to get there and make dinner, but first I’d deal with this.