Chapter Twenty-One
Dominic
“Ah, Dad, why are you so upset? I thought you’d be okay with this,” I said to my father. I’d called him to find out if there had been any more news of someone lurking around near his work. Then, after some more discussion, I decided to finally tell him the whole story. I hadn’t expected him to be quite as upset and surprised as he was.
“Why am I upset? Are you really asking me that question?”
“Yeah, I’m really asking you that question. I’m an adult now. Surely I should be able to do whatever I want.”
“Dominic, it’s exactly because you’re an adult that you should realize that what you are doing is wrong.”
“Wrong? Why the hell is it wrong?”
My father sighed. I could picture him now, sitting there with his thumb digging into his temple. He had always suffered from headaches, but they seemed to get worse when something went wrong.
“Dominic, don’t raise your voice to me like that.”
“I’m sorry, Dad. I just don’t understand why you are so upset.”
“Look, we left for a reason. You know that. I know you were too young to understand it then, but you’re not too young to understand it now. Lionel is not the sort of man I want you hanging around.”
“But I’m not hanging around him,” I said. “I know what he’s like.”
“I know. But I just don’t want you mixing with her family again. They caused so much trouble for us in the past. I was worried about coming back here, but I didn’t think that you would actually try and meet up with her again.”
“Well, I hadn’t planned to. But I couldn’t help that she ended up in the same school as me, in the same class, and working on the same project.”
“I guess not. Well, what’s happening with the two of you? Are you an item or something?”
It was my turn to sigh. And as I rubbed my own temple I realized just how much like my father I really was.
“No, we’re not. There’s nothing to worry about anymore, Dad. We’re through. There was something, but I ended it. You were right, I suppose, it was causing too much trouble. And I don’t need trouble in my life. I need to concentrate on my sport.”
“Good. That’s what I like to hear. Why didn’t you tell me that in the first place without giving me so much reason to worry? Are you trying to give your old man a heart attack?”
“Well, it would’ve been nice to know that if things did actually work out that you would’ve supported me.”
Another world-weary sigh came through the receiver. “Dominic, my boy, I will always support you, but I’m also always going to look out for you.”
“Thanks, Dad. I guess.”
“So, what’s all this trouble then? Who is this person lurking around?”
“That would be Candice’s boyfriend. Or, her ex-boyfriend, should I say.”
“Ah,” my father said. “Jealousy can cause a good man to turn bad.”
“Yeah, well he wasn’t very good to begin with,” I said.
“Then be careful.”
“I am. That’s why I’m not seeing her anymore. Anyway, let’s change the subject. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. How’s life with you?” I said, and I was grateful when my father didn’t argue the matter. He launched into some story about one of his friends that was obviously supposed to have me rolling with laughter. But I wasn’t in the mood to laugh, and he could sense it. So, eventually, we said our goodbyes.
I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting. Maybe I had hoped my father would tell me to go after Candice despite the circumstances. I just hadn’t expected him to be so against the whole thing. I wasn’t sure who was worse: my father or hers. I put the phone down feeling more than angry. Lately my emotions had been all over the place, which I knew wasn’t good for my football. But I couldn’t help myself. I was confused, mad and more than a little heartbroken. And all I wanted to do was to see her and to make sure that she was okay. I only had one class with her, but I avoided it completely. I went to speak to the professor and told him that I had to concentrate on football. I asked him to give me my assignments to work on in my spare time rather. Professor Jackson had given me a funny look and seemed like he wanted to say something more to me, but in the end, he had agreed and told me that it was fine.
But even the professor couldn’t complain. I threw myself into my schoolwork and ended up being so ahead of the class that I had to ask for more work. Between football and school, I barely had time to do anything else. Every now and again I would look around campus, wondering if I would bump into Candice, but ever since I had broken up with her, I hadn’t seen her at all. It was a big school, but I still thought that I would see her. But weeks went by without not seeing her once, and I was starting to wonder if perhaps she had left the school. Maybe I had been avoiding someone that wasn’t even there. I thought about asking someone. I sat in the cafeteria now, eating my sandwich and looking out at all the people. Who would know where she was? Nobody had bothered to make friends with her so I wasn’t even sure if anyone would know. The thought of her being alone made me feel sad. I was the one friend that she had here, and I had abandoned her too.
And then I saw her. She was sitting across the room, alone, eating her sandwich and reading a book. No wonder I hadn’t noticed her. I had been looking for a redhead, but she’d gone back to her original blonde color. She looked more like Bridgette Bardot than ever before, and she reminded me of the little eleven-year-old that I had known all those years ago. Seeing her there, with her new hair, made me sad. She looked so beautiful. The red hair had suited her, but it had given her a wild and almost unapproachable look. The blonde hair changed that. She looked like the sort of person that everyone would want to hang around. She looked sweet, and kind, and everything that I knew her to be.
I couldn’t stop watching her. I thought of going to try to talk to her but then saw a young girl sit down beside her. The two of them began to talk, and I saw a small smile playing on Candice’s face. She had a friend. Maybe I had done the right thing by breaking up with her. I looked around for any signs of Derek but could not see him.
“Penny for your thoughts.”
I jumped up at the voice and then laughed when I saw it was Harry wearing the most ridiculous flamingo t-shirt I had ever seen.
“Nice shirt,” I said sarcastically.
“Thank you,” he said completely missing my sarcasm and taking it seriously. “Why are you so serious today? You looked a million miles away.”
“I was just thinking about practice later.”
He groaned. “Don’t remind me. That Coach Bane is working us to the ground. I barely have any time to go out these days. I’m the party guy, man. But lately, I’m the party guy that just wants to sleep.”
I laughed. “Yeah. I know what you mean. I feel the same. That and school work is keeping me way too busy.”
“Don’t even talk to me about school work. I have like three assignments due next week, and every time I want to do them, I find myself drifting.”
“Yeah, same here,” I said.
“Oh, I saw your girlfriend this morning. She’s gone blonde. I almost didn’t recognize her. It looks good.”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” I said. “But yeah, it does look good.”
“Ah, shit, I should’ve known. You’ve been acting weird lately. And even she looks depressed. What happened?”
I shook my head. I didn’t want to talk about it. “Mind if we don’t talk about it?” I said. “Don’t mean to be rude, but it’s not the easiest conversation.”
“Yeah, man. Of course. Anyway, I have to rush to my next class. I have to get there early to copy some work from someone.”
I laughed. “Good luck.”
“Come on, let’s go for a drink afterward. Screw all this work. We need a break.”
“Sorry man. I have too much to do.”
“Well, okay then, but you know where to find us if you change your mind.”
I watched him walk away and turned back towards Candice, but she was gone. I felt disappointed. I was suddenly angry with Harry. Why did he have to come and ruin it all? I had been perfectly fine sitting and watching Candice. Then I felt guilty because it really had nothing to do with Harry at all. The poor guy was just trying to be my friend. I knew I should go and spend time with him and the other guys, but I just felt like distancing myself from everyone as much as possible.
The only person I did see was Axel. He had tried to get me to try my hand at racing, but as tempting as it was, I decided not to.
“Come on, man. You’ll love it. And that adrenaline is probably exactly what you need right now to feel better about everything. It’s the best feeling in the world. If you think riding a bike is fun, you won’t believe how good this feels. It takes it to a whole new level. Come on.”
I shook my head. I wished that I could. Getting my mind off everything sounded like a wonderful idea, but I couldn’t give in to it. Not when things were already so shaky with me. “No. I can’t. It’s tempting, but I really can’t afford to get caught and lose out on my chance of playing in the NFL. That’s still my dream, and I don’t want to ruin something I’ve worked so hard at getting.”
“Yeah, you’re right. So, other than football, how’s life treating you?”
I told him all about Candice, about her new blonde hair, and about how I had been avoiding her. Then I told him about the conversation I’d had with my father and how disappointed he had been to hear that I had met up with her again. It was nice to let it all out. I knew that the other guys at school wouldn’t really understand. They would just tell me to ignore my father and her father and to just be with her. They would tell me that football wasn’t as important as I made it out to be. They would give me all the wrong advice.
“I just can’t understand it, man. I know he doesn’t want me hanging around her because of her father, but why do they have to make their problems our problems.”
“Ah, you know what it’s like. The union and Candice’s father have never seen eye to eye.”
“Yeah, and now that Pop is head of the union, it’s made it even tenser. I guess I do understand where he’s coming from. I don’t have kids, so it’s hard for me to really put myself in his position. But it still sucks. Anyway, I’m not seeing her, so I don’t know why I’m so bothered by it all.”
“You just miss her, that’s all.”
I looked at Axel and nodded. I was glad to have someone to talk to about everything.
“Yeah, that’s exactly it. I miss her.” More than I thought possible.