Falling In Love With My Best Friend (Watty Award 2011)

Chapter 6

© Copyright Nicole Nelson, 2011

Brandon's POV-

The fight song was ringing deafeningly in my ears and the ground beneath my feet was vibrating as the band played in the stands above me. Me and the rest of the team were all geared up and moments from being on the field in front of hundreds of boisterous fans for the first time in nearly a year. The pre-game exhilaration was surging through my veins and making my heart pound. All the nervousness I had been feeling over the past week had suddenly disappeared.

The stands were bursting with people; students, teachers, parents, kids; dad; Gracie. I knew I needed to get my mind in the game but I couldn’t stop thinking about Gracie. The entire bus ride to the stadium was spent stressing about her instead of this game. And now the knots in my stomach and throbbing heart reminded me of her and the way she made me feel just last night. I thought the feelings I had for her died long ago but apparently I was dead wrong because they all came rushing back unexpectedly as if I was being shocked back into life by a defibrillator.

What the hell was she so mad at me about? I pondered, hoping she hadn’t discovered my embarrassing crush on her.

It was really no big deal and I desperately didn’t want her to know.

Ever.

It would ruin everything. I was perfectly content with being friends. My thoughts and feelings were just jumbled up. This secret was dangerous and I needed to get a grip on myself before I stepped on a land mine. Before I got the chance to solve the mystery of how handing her a pillow she threw at me pissed her off, we were on the field in the middle of the first game of the season and everything else, including Gracie, would have to wait.

                                                     * * *

Standing in the musty locker room after the game, I pulled a clean white t-shirt over my head and sprayed some cologne on as a last minute touch before tossing the bottle into my locker along with my gear. I had just taken a quick shower and was heading to Joe’s house, our quarterback, for the first after-game party of the season to celebrate our win. Joe, as well as the majority of our team, had already left for the party that was waiting for us down the street. I invited Gracie but, as always, she opted out of partying the night away in the name of school spirit and chose to peacefully ride home with her parents instead.

She wasn’t a partying kind of girl but that was what made her so different from all the other girls. That innocent nature along with her light brown hair, bright blue eyes and tanned skin had me constantly needing to remind the other guys at school not to put any moves on her. By now most of them seemed to understand she was off limits.

Todd, Paul, and Tony, a sophomore who recently made varsity and spent the entire game sitting glumly on the bench, were the only teammates left lagging behind with me by the time I was ready to leave. After deciding to ride there together we all five squeezed into my truck and within minutes pulled alongside the curb in front Joe’s house. I parked my truck behind Kristy’s brand new yellow convertible and we all eagerly spilled out and trekked through the crowded yard, going our separate ways.

Paul had decided to spend the night at Joe’s because he planned on drinking and getting some alone time with either a girl named Alexis or her sister Amanda who conveniently lived right next door, whichever one he happened to run into first. Todd wandered off to search for Kristy inside the house and I brushed past students who were lingering in the yard which was now lightly littered with red cups and pushed open the gate the encircled their spacious backyard.

Girls in bikinis and tiny jean shorts were dancing around the edges of the sparkling pool while others dangled their long tanned legs in the chilled water. By the end of football season the weather would be too cold for pool parties and everyone always took advantage of the pool as much as they could while the opportunity was there. A keg stood next to the sliding glass door at the back of the house with several guys from the team taking turns being lifted towards the night sky and tilted upside down as they drank their weight in beer. Couples seeking a quieter area were strolling in the house at their leisure, brushing past others who were making last minute attempts at smoothing their crinkled clothes and tugging at disheveled hair on their way back outside. In other words, a typical “party at Joe’s” was taking place.

In desperate need to cleanse my mind of Gracie and the growing feelings that were making their way back into my life, I grabbed a red cup off the patio table and strolled towards a group of my female peers who were dancing with each other by the pool. They stopped swaying their hips to the beat of the music that flowed from the nearby speakers upon seeing me. I gulped down my first beer as I basked in the attention I was receiving from the three tipsy girls.

“Do you want another one?”

I nodded and watched as the blond, Becca, slowly turned and sauntered off into the crowd, returning with a red cup in her hand and a smile on her face. She licked her lips seductively as she looked me up and down while handing me the cup, filling me with sinful thoughts and a burning ache. I gulped down my second drink significantly faster than my first. At some point, her friends had disappeared unbeknownst to us and we were left standing alone. As alone as two people could be in the middle of a dancing, screaming mass of teenagers that is. Excited and feeling slightly light headed, I tossed my cup into the nearest trash can.

“Want to go upstairs?” I bluntly asked.

She was the kind of girl that would know exactly what that question meant. Becca promptly grabbed my hand and led the way through the sliding glass door with me in tote, staring at her bottom sashaying with each step we took. Although I already knew this about her, the way she led me straight to the stairs in the pitch black living room made it crystal clear that she was no stranger to being taken to Joe’s second floor for more private parties. Curious to know the truth behind all the locker room hype, I followed her to an empty bedroom and shut the door tightly behind us.