Nevermind [90s fic]

Chapter 10: An Eli Martin Party

'Oh Mickey, what a pity,
You don't understand.
You take me by the heart when
You take me by the hand.
Oh Mickey, you're so pretty,
Can't you understand?
It's guys like you, Mickey.
Ooh what you do Mickey, do Mickey!
Don't break my heart, Mickey!'

As long as the crowd responded well, Karla felt she did her job good enough. Her skills as a cheerleader weren't close to stellar like Normani or Carlie's was but the fact that she was beautiful and a cheerleader period didn't give anybody a reason to look into it, judge or care too much. 'Pretty' was skill enough.

The cheerleaders went into their final formation, did the motions nice and clean, then ended with Normani on top of the pyramid with the Eagles mascot running back and forth shooting purple and white confetti into the air from a launcher. Breathless, Karla remained posing as she scanned the bleachers for any sign of Lauren and her friends. She had hoped they'd be here but if it's a no-show this far into the game, it was no use in trying to find them anymore.

"Goooooo Eagles!!"

Karla dropped her arm and immediately hunched over from exhaustion when the show was finally through. Eli visited from the sidelines for a good luck kiss and to dish out compliments that he always gave her—never anything new or different. But she was a good sport. Karla mirrored his attitude and fed him the same compliments and words of encouragement before he went back out there. Could she be any more bored?

//

[Breathe and Stop by Q-Tip plays for this scene]

So you're probably not going to believe this but...yes. The boredom scale was Mount Everest high and rather than climbing it she had a free lift to the top. The Eagles won tonight's game, Eli gave the winning throw to August who had the winning touchdown. A (not so) special party was in order and coming along to that party wasn't just the jocks, preps and few cool kids on Eli's good side—college boys and girls, even gross older men still living out their douchebag high school days, would surely show up. Of course, leaving to go straight to Eli's ridiculously luxury mansion was never how these guys did it. Karla had to endure the car hopping, unnecessary pit stops and sudden decisions made on the road, off the road, picking up new people or dropping somebody off because they changed their mind about tonight last minute.

Eli drove his Jeep with Karla in the front seat with Andy, August and two college chicks in the back pre-gaming. The quarterback turned up the dial on the car's stereo, increasing the vibrations from the bass in the speakers. Karla's discomfort went undetected to him. He'd glance at her from time to time but not out of concern or with intentions to see if she was fairing well, the boy just liked looking at her and knowing he had her.

"These days I'm lacking inspiration. I'm afraid the world has come to an end, my friends," Andy announced.

"Oh not again with your depressing existential dramatic bullshit. What is it this time?" Eli checked the rear view mirror Andy looked at him through.

"It's not what you think," said August. "What he means is he ran out of good stroking material. You know what that sort of thing does to a man."

"What's the problem? Miss Oksana back there doesn't do it for you?"

"She likes to catch, not pitch. No offense, sweetheart."

"Non taken."

They stopped at a traffic light, being the only car with loud music disturbing the neighbourhood until another car pulled up beside them. Normani, Carlie, some girl called Dinah and three boys were all packed into a small black Nissan, two girls sucking on lollipops, everyone talking excitedly over one another and passing around a change of cassette tapes or a large bag of trail mix. Carlie bent over to wind down the windows then stuck her head out of it, kissing the air at Karla and waving the boys down.