by Remi Rose
“Fine. Friends at work. But that’s it.”
My mouth lifts into a goofy smile and I finally feel like I’m getting somewhere with her. I open my mouth to say something, but feel the weight of someone crashing into my side.
“What you doin’ talkin’ to my girl, Fitzgerald?” Travis winds his arm around my neck like we're good buddies, but all I feel is the urge to push him off me. The fucker grins ear to ear while his hungry eyes devour Becca whole, ignoring the fact we were having a conversation before he butted in.
“Definitely not your girl.” She twists her face like she just tasted a lemon.
Suppressing a laugh, I knew if I couldn’t get her to be my friend, there’s no way in hell Travis was.
“I see you’ve met my boy Wes.” Travis drops his arm from my shoulder and stands beside me.
After taking Travis’s spot as starting quarterback, I’d say we were far from being each other’s boy. He made it his mission to make football as miserable as possible for me.
“Yah, we’ve met.” She mumbles, but I catch a certain twinkle in her eye as she looks me over. She peers around Travis like she’s ready to run for it.
“We’re gonna be working together now.” I throw, in mixing the pot. And by the way Travis beams holes into the side of my head, I can tell it worked.
“Really?” He sounds shocked. “You? Workin’ at Cool Times?” He lets out a forced laugh before smacking me on the shoulder.
“Yah, I thought Becca here could use some friendly company at work.” I say to gauge his reaction, and apparently, I hit a nerve.
Shaking his head, a menacing laugh escapes from his lips. “I bet.”
Standing tall, we refuse to back down as we stare each other down. Intimidating one another until one scurries away. But I knew that wasn’t going to happen, we both wanted the same thing.
Becca’s sultry voice cuts in, causing both our eyes to focus on her. “No need for the pissing contest.” She looks between the both of us. “If you boys don’t mind, I have somewhere to be.”
Her chin lifts high, and her long legs move around us as she scampers away towards the parking lot. Like the guys we are, we both turn to watch her walk away, keeping our eyes zoned in on the way her hips shake with each step.
“First my spot, now my girl, Fitzgerald?” Travis shakes his head, while cracking his knuckles. “The fuck you think you’re doing?”
Chuckling, I wasn’t about to get into with Travis. It wasn’t worth the headache. “She seemed to have made it clear that she wasn’t your girl.”
Taking an intimidating step forward, we're almost chest to chest now as he bares his teeth. “That’s not what she said last night.” He growls, trying to set me off. “When I was sliding in her sweet virgin pussy.” With a clenched jaw, I’m seconds away from knocking his lying ass out when Coach Peterson comes running up beside us.
“What the hell’s going on here?” He shouts, grabbing onto Travis’s shoulder pads and pulling him away from me. We keep our gazes locked onto one another, as the tension between us still sizzles.
“Nothin’ coach, just givin’ the new QB some tips.” Travis grins wide, but his eyes tell me this isn’t over.
“Get on the field, Haynes.” Coach nods his head motioning for him to run off. With one last glance at me, he throws his helmet on and jogs off towards the field.
“You, Haynes and O’Connor have an issue I should be concerned about?” Coach peers down at me under his visor.
“No, everything’s fine.” I relax my shoulders, while staring off towards the parking lot.
“Good, because we don’t need my two best players getting in a fight over some pussy.” He scolds. My fists clench on instinct, hearing him call Becca “some pussy” sent my blood to another level of hot. “You hear me?”
Taking a deep breath, I start to pull the helmet on over my head. “Loud and clear, coach.” I run off before he can say anymore.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Becca
Tonight was the most anticipated game of the year. Not only was it homecoming, but we were playing Westwood’s rival team, the Trojans. The hallways were filled with students dressed in the wackiest spirit wear I’ve ever seen, blue and white painted faces. Some people even took it as far as dressing up as knights.
It was ridiculous.
I couldn’t wait for it to all be over.
As I pass a group of football players who are circled around in the hall, hollering some nonsense, I catch Travis out of the corner of my eye. I haven’t spoken to him since the incident with Wes, but the minute his eyes land on me, he’s pushing himself out of the group.
“Lookin’ good, O’Connor.” He catches up beside me, a little too closely for that matter. I peek at him dressed in his jersey with his dark hair styled back, sadly, he looked good.
“Thanks.” I mumble, immediately regretting not having my headphones on my ears.
“You cheerin’ me on tonight at the game?” He asks in a hopeful tone that catches me off guard.
“I don’t do football games.” I shake my head, while finding Josie at the end of the hall, eyeing us from a distance.
“You should.” I feel his finger lightly brush against my hand, and I immediately jerk back. “There’s a party at Nate’s house after the game. You and your friend should come.” He nods toward Josie whose eyes pop open like they might fall out.
Stopping next to Josie, Travis parks right in front of me. “I don’t really do parties either.” I say, hoping he gets the hint I’m not interested.
“Come on…” He begs, focusing on a frozen Josie. “Tell Becca here that she needs to crawl out of her antisocial shell, and have some fun.”
Frowning, I glare up at his stupid smirk that has Josie star struck. “I like being in my antisocial shell thank you very much.” I snap offended.
Out of nowhere, Nate slides up beside Josie with an interested smile, before winking down at her. “What’s going on over here?”
I stare at Josie’s wide eyes and frozen stature as Nate peers down at her, amused. He seems oblivious at the fact his good looks were literally rendering the poor girl speechless. In the four years she’s crushed on him, I don’t think he’s ever glanced her way once.
“Help me convince them they should come to the game and party tonight?” He nods towards his friend for help.
“Yeah, you totally should come.” He opens his arms wide. “The more, the merrier.”
“As much fun as that sounds.” I start pushing on Josie’s arm, directing us away from both Nate and Travis. “We’re busy.” I shout over my shoulder as we get further away from them.
With entertained faces, they watch us saunter away but not without saying one last thing. “Remember what I said about your shell, O’Connor!” He yells loud enough for the whole school to hear. Confused eyes land on me, and I immediately glare at him before rounding the corner with Josie at my front.
“Did that just happen? Or was I imagining it?” She asks, staring blankly into the hall still in shock.
“Unfortunately.”
Her head jerks to look at me. “We have to go.”
Taken aback, I scoff repaying her words in my head. “Go where?”
I was hoping she meant to leave school, but the hopeful twinkle in her eyes tells me otherwise.
“To the game and the party.”
Laughing, I wait for the “just kidding”, but when I don’t hear it, my laughing stops. “Seriously?”
She bites down onto her lip, grinning off into the distance. “Yes seriously, did you even hear what they said to us?” She stares at me like I'm crazy. “Nate, Nate freaking Hawthorne, the guy I’ve had the hots for forever invited us to his party after the game.”
“Yes,” I draw out the s. “and?”
I knew where this was headed, lots of begging and groveling for me to say yes. I wanted to say yes and be a good friend, but I knew I’d be breaking my most important rule, no distractions.
“And�
�� He winked at me. He practically said “Josie, come to my house.” She sighs dreamily, but all I can do is fake gag.
“Josie, come on. I thought I told you, you could do so much better than Nate?” I groan. Something was always off about Nate, he came off as an entitled brat, who with the snap of his finger got whatever he wanted. He was always dressed ready for a country club in his Ralph Polo shirts, and boat shoes but for some reason was placed in public school with punks like me. You’d think mommy and daddy would be generous enough to put him in private school.
“Please….” She’s now begging like I predicted she would. Pulling off her glasses, she gives me her best puppy dog eyes, hoping I’d cave in. Her bottom lip lifts with a frown, as she tilts her head back and forth. “I’ll go without you. But I don’t want to.”
Exhaling, my eyes shut and my shoulders fall in a jerking motion. “Fine, but this is the only game and party I am going to this year.”
She doesn’t hold back as she squeals in excitement. “Yes! Thank you, thank you!” A bright smile lights up her face as she jumps up and down in joy.
“Yah, yah, yah.” I wave my hand as her jumping dies down. Josie’s eyes widened as if she just realized something. Peering down at her flare jeans and basic tee, she groans.
“Before we do anything, I need to go home and change.” She ruffles through her bag pulling out her car keys. “Leave your car here and ride with me.”
“Fine but that doesn’t mean I’m changing my clothes.”
******
“Sometimes, I don’t even know why I even listen to you.” I grunt, pulling down the black leather skirt that rides up with every step. She somehow managed to weasel her way into my head, and convinced me to change out of my loose sweater and jeans and into a skirt that molds to my ass and a shirt that’s too revealing. Luckily, I had the jean jacket my aunt bought me over the top, , acting as a cover up. Josie begged me to change out of my old chucks and put on sandals, but that was the one thing I wasn’t backing down on.
After riding back to Josie’s house, she was in a state of panic trying to find the perfect ensemble to wear. About twenty outfits later, she finally decided on a flowy sundress with tiny blue flower patterns. It complemented her dark hair that was braided to one side of her head, and her perfect porcelain skin. Once she was satisfied with her outfit, we drove back to school.
Tugging onto my jacket, I pull one side over the other, feeling the interested eyes of onlookers as they take both Josie and I in.
“I should have brought a change of clothes.” I grumble to Josie. I felt uncomfortable to say the least. I wasn’t used to this much attention ever.
She laughs with a grin, clearly enjoying the attention we're getting. “You look hot. Embrace it.” She struts with her chin held high. Her new found confidence was surprising. She put in contacts and looked like a whole different person. Where she wanted the attention and the popularity, I wanted to be invisible to the world.
“I look like a slut.”
“A very hot slut.” She giggles grabbing onto my hand. She pulls me through a sea of people until we reach the stands. My eyes wander over the hundreds of fans that fill the seats and the energy from the crowd is insanely strong.
“How about over there?” Josie points to a somewhat less crowded area at the top.
I nod, ready to get out of the line of vision of these people. Keeping my head down, I follow Josie up the stairs, until I feel the sudden urge to look up. And when I do, my eyes connect with Mr. Fitzgerald.
Sitting alone, he’s still wearing his clothes from today, but his dress shirt is loosened at the top and his hair is a little messier than normal. With his elbows resting on his knees, he’s engrossed in watching the field as the players warm up. With every step closer to him, I silently pray he doesn’t notice me. But when Josie stops at the row below his, his eyes shift over for a moment, landing on me. He seems to do a double take, raking his cold stare down my body, lingering on my legs. Sucking in air, I feel exposed and hot, his eyes weren’t of those looking at a student, but more of as a woman.
“Excuse us.” Josie drags us through the aisle until we plop down onto the seat directly in front of Mr. Fitzgerald.
Out of all the spots on the bleacher, she had to choose this one.
I could sense that his legs were directly behind me, that with any sudden movement, I would feel them brush against my back. It was an unnerving feeling having his eyes burn through me. The loud cheers and chants seemed to fade out as I could only focus on the person behind me.
“Dammit.” Josie snaps, causing my attention to focus on her. “We should have gotten snacks before we came up here.”
“I’ll go get us some.” It comes out quick, knowing this was the perfect opportunity for me to escape, even if it was only for a few minutes.
“You sure? The game is about to start.” She questions staring out onto the field, locking eyes with something.
“Yah.” I nod. “I’ll be quick.” I quickly stand, and wobble through the small aisle until I can hurry down the steps. Finally, feeling able to breathe again, I round the bleachers and head for the concession stand. Ordering popcorn and some drinks, I hold each item in both arms and turn to face the stands when I bump into a solid body.
Popcorn goes everywhere, and my balance is unsteady. Grabbing onto anything in reach, I squeeze onto the forearm of the stranger in front of me and regain my composure. My hand touches skin, rough muscular skin that flexes the moment I press down.
“You okay?” I knew that gruff voice from anywhere and by his tone, he didn’t appear all that concerned that I just almost ate shit.
“I’m fine.” I grunt, immediately dropping my grip on Mr. Fitzgerald, wondering why he’s down here. He stares down at the mess of popcorn, cursing under his breath. “Are you following me?” I ask stupidly, but weirdly thought there was a small possibility he was.
He raises a dark brow amused. “No, Becca.” But the way it came out was as if he was saying “Yes, Becca.” A mixture of sensations tingle down my spine as I gaze up into his dark pools of mystery.
We exchange eye contact, long unmoving eye contact that is soon abruptly broken by the sound of a whistle.
“I uhh. I think you owe me some popcorn.” I raised my chin, seeing that his once curious eyes were now dark again.
“Fine. Just watch where you’re going next time.” He growls while cutting in line and barking orders at the cashier for popcorn. In a matter of seconds, he’s holding out a bag for me.
“Thanks.” I mumble, taking the bag from him. Nodding, he brushes past me in the opposite direction, away from the stands. I twist my head to follow him, wondering why he is leaving.
Was he not going to watch his son play?
His body fades into the crowd of people and I make my way back to Josie.
“Yum. Thanks.” She beams grabbing popcorn and shoving it in her mouth. “There he is.” She points down onto the field to number forty. “My future boyfriend.”
Laughing, I twist open my lemonade and take a sip. “Keep dreamin’.”
“And there’s yours.” She motions to number thirty-two, Wes. Centered in the middle of the field, he stands tall waiting for the play.
“Definitely not my future boyfriend.” I chuckle, entertained by the idea.
“Tell him that.” She snorts. As I’m about to say something, the sound of shouting and bodies crashing against one another interrupts me. Wes is hiking the ball, and he steps back looking for the perfect pass. Once his eyes are locked onto someone, he tosses the ball across the field and it lands perfectly into the hands of his intended target. The loud cheering begins as the player sprints for a touchdown, causing the stands to go crazy. Josie joins in like she knows what’s going on, when in reality she knows absolutely nothing about football.
The game goes by, and the clock’s down to thirty seconds left. We're down two points. We have the ball and are only twenty yards away from the field goal.
; My dad watched a lot of football. There wasn’t much to do in our run-down house other than to watch TV.
As soon as the ball lands in Wes’s hands, the clock starts counting down. Everyone’s on the edge of their seats as they wait for his move. Wes looks lost, looking for anyone open and eventually, throws the ball up. Like in every sports movie when the losing team is making their last play, the ball flies in slow motion. That’s how it feels right now. It twirls through the air, and slowly falls into a pair of extended arms that grab it and fall onto the field for a touchdown.
The crowd goes berserk.
All on their feet, they cheer wildly as the whole team rushes the field, embracing one another.
“Holy crap!” Josie shouts, rising from her seat.
The energy surrounding us is crazy, and almost impossible to not join in. I stand up beside her, clapping my hands and hollering alongside the fans.
After the little celebration, we're back down by the concessions where everyone is standing around, waiting for the players to make their grand appearance. Josie and I are somewhere stuffed in the middle, surrounded by a mix of students, fans and parents.
“I think I see Nate!” She points above the crowd. Her wide smile reminds me of a proud girlfriend who just watched her boyfriend win, when really it was the exact opposite.
“What do you plan on doing? Congratulating him?” I chuckle, imagining Nate’s puzzled face as Josie praises him.
“Not now.” She drops from her tippy toes. “Maybe at the party.” She shrugs her shoulders nonchalantly.
My eyebrows lifted in surprise by her bold statement. “I’d like to see that.”
I wasn’t trying to come off as rude, I just knew Josie too well and the idea of her going up to Nate, at a party, surrounded by all his friends was impractical.
“Oh, trust me. By the end of tonight, he’ll remember the name Josie Eckerman.” She smiles, while my face scrunches up. “Not because of… that. Sex.” She shakes her head, realizing how it came off.
“Excuse me.” A nasally voice snaps as they purposely knock into my side. I’m jolted forward when my eyes catch a flash of a dark ponytail and blue and white cheerleading outfit and immediately register who the person is.