Chapter Ten
Eli
“Clear the crease! Clear the crease!” I shout at the top of my lungs. It’s almost all rookies out there on the field—most of them juniors, except for Tex.
Koviak jumps up and down next to me. “These assholes can’t play!”
He’s right.
“Fucking Tex is the only one out there who has any game,” he complains. “We’re so screwed!”
“All right, keep it down.” Some of these players come from select clubs, and some of them I’ve played with. They have skills, but not if they think we don’t believe in them. The game is like that, which Koviak knows well. You get too much in your own head and you might as well give up.
It’s Saturday, we have a tough game on Tuesday, and some of us are still hurting from the beach party yesterday, including Koviak, who somehow managed to sneak in a cooler full of “fruit punch” bottles that he’d spent way too much time spiking with whatever booze he’d managed to scrounge up. Dude’s pretty resourceful when he wants to be.
Of course, I didn’t have a drop, thanks to Nora Reid and my boxer-shorts-wearing cop father. Not that I’m an alcoholic or anything, but it sure would’ve taken the edge off of yesterday—and there was an edge, at least from my view. Out there in the water, I was doing my thing, working my plan, and I almost kissed her. I wanted to so badly, and my body started to respond accordingly, and I didn’t know what to do.
I’ve never been so glad to have a bunch of assholes interrupt my alone time with a pretty girl. And damn, yesterday, that’s what she was. Not just Nora—she was someone else.
I didn’t let that scare me off, though. In fact, after that I was probably in her face too much, trying to keep Tex out of it. Caleb, that’s his name. What kind of name is that? Dumbass stupid Texas cowboy name.
Now, back in the locker room, I’ve cranked “You Can Call Me Al,” an old Paul Simon song that my dad loves, on the sound system. I’ve picked it to be this year’s team song. It’s one of my jobs as captain.
“Yo, Highlanders!” I call to the mass of my sweaty, near-dead and hungover teammates. “Listen to this song. This is the song, brothers. You hear this song, and you remember that ‘you ain’t soft in the middle, you ain’t got a short little span of attention.’” They stare at me like I’m crazy as I quote the weird lyrics. “‘When you want a photo opportunity—you need a shot at redemption. Not gonna end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard!’ You hear this song, and you remember that together we’re unbeatable—that we have each other’s backs, that we are the Highlanders, and this is our season!”
The whole team erupts like a volcano, waving shafts and helmets in the air, and I crank the music up while they dance around like idiots.
When it ends, Koviak nudges me as I head to my locker. “Weird song. But catchy.”
“It’s no ‘Dancing Queen.’” I say, remembering the seniors from last year who picked that song. It was stupid, too, and it caught on. Whenever the team song plays, no matter what the climate of the practice, or the game, it puts a smile on everyone’s face and reminds us why we do this—to have fun and kick ass.
“So…” Koviak nudges me. “You have a good time yesterday?”
I sit on the bench between the lockers, thinking. “Yeah.” Though Nora couldn’t wait to get away from me in that water. Then afterward, she acted totally normal, like nothing happened. None of that was good.
His eyes bore into my skull. “You’re into her again, aren’t you?”
“Why? You gonna give me some love advice?”
He screws up his mouth and lifts a shoulder. “You want some?”
“No!” I slam my locker shut, towel wrapped around my waist. “Dude, you know we go way back. She’s just a friend.”
He sniffs. “Didn’t look like just friends to me. Out there in the water, the two of you.”
“Oh yeah, and what exactly does just friends look like, as if you’ve ever been just friends with a female?”
He inclines his head toward me. “Just friends means you don’t look like you’re about to make out.”
My jaw tenses. “I gotta hit the showers.”
“Fine, fine, go take your cold shower. Just be aware, Tex is most definitely on the move.”
I don’t look back at Kov as I walk away, and when I pass Tex at his locker, I have to once again check every impulse to slam him into the lockers.
I shower off quick and work out my next step with Nora. If Koviak is right—and he knows everything—Tex might ask her out. I don’t have time to waste.
I don’t want to say I’ve become obsessed with this challenge, but yeah, okay, I’ll say it. I’m going to prove this hypothesis wrong. What will it take? I’m sure as hell gonna find out.
I get back to my locker, and it’s like a lightbulb flips on in my head. Pie. The one thing that fixes everything.
Out in Michael Jordan, I take a minute to Google the place I’m thinking of, then I text her.
You busy?
Why?
Time for another lesson.
By the time I get home, she hasn’t responded, so I get out of the truck and head for her back door. Her mom opens it before I can knock.
“Eli! I haven’t seen you in forever. Come on in!”
“Hey, Ms. Reid. Is Nora home?” I go inside the kitchen, where the wall is burned up above the oven. I know she’s worried about the money, but she needs to get that fixed.
“Nora!” she yells out into the depths of the house. Their house is old, probably over a hundred years, and Gigi lived in it forever. I think of all the time I spent in the kitchen with her before Nora even moved here. When Ari was little and Mom and Dad were taking him from doctor to doctor, trying to figure out what was wrong, trying to get him the help he needed, Gigi’s is where I went. We had some good times in here, and made some awesome pies.
Nora slides into the kitchen in her socks, a tank top, and short shorts. I have to look away again. What’s with me?
“Yes?” When she sees me, her mouth drops open a little. “Oh, hey, what’s up?”
“Did you get my text?”
She’s thinking of a reason to say no. “Oh, um yeah, except I have to…”
Don’t even try it. I’m not taking no for an answer. “You ready to head out?”
“Where you going?” Ms. Reid asks.
I flash her the Costas dimple. Even she can’t fight it. “I need to run an errand for my mom.” Which isn’t even a total lie—she asked me to pick up dessert for her book club meeting. “Up the coast a little. MJ’s been giving me a little trouble, so I thought we could take Nora’s car. If that’s okay?”
Ms. Reid bites her bottom lip, just like her daughter does. “Okay. Just be careful. My ex supposedly has it insured, so he says…”
Nora crosses her arms, looks at the floor. She doesn’t like it when her mom trash talks her dad, even if it’s all true.
“No, I’ll be careful. Don’t worry.” So will your kid, who will be doing the actual driving.
I don’t like lying to her. She’s a good person, Ms. Reid, but I have to stick to the plan. Nora still hasn’t said a word to her about the driving, or Emory either, I’m guessing. I’d be an idiot if I didn’t take advantage of that. I can totally blackmail the hell out of her. “I’ll meet you outside, Nor.”
Just like that, I’m out the back door. I’m not going to stop my plan now, even if it did get weird yesterday. It’s time for the full-court press.
She’ll thank me when I prove her theory wrong.