Just Play Along

Thirteen & Fourteen

PART THIRTEEN

At promptly half past one on Sunday I was stood outside the Will Call booth of Stamford Bridge, tapping my foot on the ground as I waited for Jess to arrive. 

I couldn’t help but whistle under my breath when a very nice Rolls Royce pulled up in the parking lot; it looked like something the Queen would ride in. And then a girl in a cream colored dress with a fancy hat and tall heels climbed out of it. She looked positively regal.

I definitely did a double take as I saw her walking towards me. It was Jess.

“Hey,” I said awkwardly as I took in her look.

“Sorry I’m a few minutes late,” she said.

“It’s like two minutes, don’t worry about it,” I said, surprised that she even cared, “Nice outfit.”

“I’m changing inside,” she replied shortly, pointing at her bag.

“And you’re wearing this because?”

“Went to a charity event,” she shrugged, “Just this breakfast thing in a family friend’s garden.”

“Must have been fancy.”

“It was stuffy,” she said, digging in her bag for our tickets as we approached the turnstiles.

“Good afternoon Miss Rego,” the ticket attendant said.

“Hi Bill,” Jess replied, “You ok?”

“Yes, great day for some football! You coming from a family thing.”

“Yup! Freddy had to stay behind.”

“Ah! Was wondering who your friend was,” the attendant winked.

"You know him?" I asked as we passed through the turnstiles.

"Been coming here since I was five, pretty much every home game. I know a lot of people here."

"Shit..." I said quietly as Jess excused herself to go change in the Ladie's room.

While I was waiting I popped over to the concessions stand, purchasing two beers and a big order of chips. I didn’t know if she’d eat them, but I’d remembered drinking the beer with her the last time I watched football so I was hoping she wouldn’t mind.

“What you got there?” asked a voice behind me as I pumped loads of ketchup onto the chips.

“Oh hey,” I said, turning to see Jess stood in front of me. It was an absolute transformation. Gone were the fancy clothes and in their place was the Chelsea jersey I’d seen the previous weekend and a pair of denim shorts, her hair in a loose ponytail. She looked like the girl I’d first met again. Did she have some sort of evil twin or something?

“Need help?” she asked as I tried to juggle everything.

“Take your drink,” I said as I passed it to her.

“Thanks for this, I’ll pay you back.”

“No need to,” I replied, “You left me twenty pounds the other day. I’m still in debt to you.”

“Oh right,” she sighed, as if she couldn't care less, “Let’s find our seats.”

I followed her into the bleachers and together we picked our way down closer to the pitch.

“Front row?” I asked, as we slotted in to our seats. We were just to the left of the center of the field, with an excellent, unobstructed view.

“Got a problem with it?” 

“Not at all…” I said, sitting down, “Nice outfit change by the way.”