Jamdown

Chapter 27

Irwin Pristine

I sat wallowing in the distant pain that was ribbing me then. A radio buzzed old romance songs. The smell of liquor permeated the wood counter I laid my chin on.

A cup of chased white rum stood before my once tall stature.

The bartender was focused on her phone.

I would probably get shot down again. Other than her, it was me and another grizzly old man in the corner.

"Yo Irwin, wha gwan?!" Leon's voice shook me out of my gloom.

I turned to the entry of Leon. "Sup?" I asked. Turning back to my dismal staring match with my alcohol, he sat next to me.

He looked between me and the drink. "You and you drink break up?"

I groaned. "Well, you half right."

Leon seemed surprised. "I was joking," he replied, slow and unsure.

"Replace the drink with Vanessa and you would be right."

Leon leaned back. "Vanessa-What happened?"

"She and this fat guy. She was kissing him."

Leon smirked. "And?"

I stared at him. "Yeah, she must be his gyal."

His face twisted into a scowl. "So?"

"Whe you mean so? So it done dada. Can't do nothi-"

"So? Dog, you can still link her. Also, that's something you need to care about. Woman always give way the thing behind their boyfriend's back. Regular thing that. Just look her and take a piece when she ask. You a the star eno. She can't hate you."

The idea of that irritated me. Leon had been fine with such arrangements, but I wanted more. "I don't want to be a side dude. I want her."

"Nothing wrong with that. If you perform a better job, she will choose you over the main dude."

I would assume that because the man was a fat slob. Obviously, I looked better than him and was probably superior to his slow ass.

Maybe I could pull it off, but I hated sharing. I wanted all of her. Every ounce of her. Anything less than that would not satisfy me.

"I doubt that." I chucked the rest of the rum and the bar wobbled before my eyes, while I gathered my thoughts.

"Hey, I am just saying. Anything you want to do."

We sat there for several seconds in silence. "Hey, you coming to training?" he asked. Leon should have kept silent.

Why? "We won't be playing for months," I said.

Leon said, "Dude, you still need to practice. Besides you have some areas you need to improve."

I groaned out aloud. "I will do that when things ready to start up."

"Yeah, but we gunning for March dog. If you are training within the next two months you will improve my youth."

I was not being paid, so I felt no urge to go to that madness they were planning, besides it was hopeless. "I thought you did not have the team? Man, better you stop talk. Me is not training just to hear I trained for nothing."

"Your sister working hard to get the new people. I feel like she can do it."

I leaned up straight. "My sister? Nodelyn? How?"

"She offered to help."

How the hell my sister got involved in this. "Why?!"

Leon shrugged. "She felt sorry for him I guess."

Nodelyn feeling sorry for someone was not a possibility. Wait, was that why she left the house that early this morning? It made sense. She was a house bird. Nodelyn would never leave the house unless she had to.

Something about this rubbed me the wrong way. Putting that aside, I said, "You do realize people will probably only join just to see her."

"Nothing wrong with that. She will be the team manager from now on."

"I thought you said she was helping out, how she become team manager?"

"Donavan said it was better someone separate deal with that part. Take some stress off him."

I kissed my teeth. "Him nuh have nuh stress. Him just a claffy."

Leon frowned. "I-wouldn't say that."

"Whatever man I trying to make a change yah now. Money on my mind, not Football. Donavan Two grand cannot hold me."

"You don't work all day, two hours of training is not impossible for you. You just too lazy to go after what you want."

I looked up at Leon shocked, but he already got up. He said, further to that. "Things are earned. You can earn a higher wage from the team, just like you can earn other things. Whether it be Vanessa or anything else. I play and get six thousand a game. You can easily work yourself up to that." He waved his hands towards me. "But hey, what are you doing right now? Nothing brotha, nothing to it than that."

What, Leon got how much?

Leon walked off and left. I looked back at the empty cup.

"Need anything else, sir?" The bartender asked. Those eyes she gave sickened me to my stomach for it was laced with pity. Great, now the bartender felt sorry for me.

I wiped my face in frustration. "Nope, nothing, nothing at all."

Mini-Glossary

Claffy - idiot or simpleton

Link - meet with someone

Look - flirting or flirt