Game Theory × NH

041 | niobium

× Horan

There are two places on campus where I could be free and let my mind relax from anything that might be going on at the time. The first place was the football field. There was something about kicking the checkered ball and hearing the swoosh of the net that seemed to set my mind to rest. The second place was the gym. The sound of medal clanking against medal and the sweet satisfaction of feeling good as I ran on the treadmill or doing fifty push-ups was my escape from reality.

Or it was until my phone rang from my bag and I saw the caller ID.

I stared at the device for a few seconds, bracing myself to answer. I knew this call was coming, I was the one who provoked him to get back to me... but it was still hard. I haven't talked to him for years. I was pretty sure our last conversation ended with a fuck you or a I hope you rot in hell.

"Yes?" I finally answered into the receiver.

"Hello, Brother," Greg responded monotonously. "Long time no chat."

Hearing his voice made me miss home. That was a lie, if I had the choice to never go back to Mullingar, I would make it my mission to never see that place again. What I missed was the happy times before things went sour.

"I got your message," Greg continued. "It's a weird request. Can I ask why?"

I hesitated to answer. "It's for a girl."

Greg busted out laughing and if I was in the same room as him, I would have punched him in the face. I had the desire to just hang up on him, but I needed him to call me back for a reason and I didn't think I had the guts to call him again. This was a one-time thing and after I got Greg to do what I wanted, I was happy to go back to ignoring each other.

"Ah, now I understand," Greg said. "I'm shocked, really. I thought you would be in this hole of shag and ditch forever after, um, Alina..."

I chose to ignore his carelessness with the mention of her name because I really needed this to happen, and soon. "I did something shitty and I really need to make it up to her somehow."

"Now that sounds like the Niall I know. Fucking up and desperate enough to win the girl back that you would even talk to your own brother."

"So can you do it?"

"I can do what I can. Talking to Matty is the easy part; it's finding him when he's in a good mood that's hard. You're going to owe me."

Jace walked into the gym right then, holding a newspaper in his hands.

"I have to go. Keep me updated. Sooner the better." I hung up before he could say anything else and stuffed the phone in my bag again and pushed it aside.

Jace threw the newspaper at me.

"Page nine," he sternly said and took a seat on the bench in front of me. "It's the Lion's Den and I really think you should take a look at it."

Taking the newspaper, I flipped through the pages until I got to the right one and quickly scanned through it. I remembered a small girl coming up to me in the library last Sunday asking if it was okay to interview me for the school's newspaper. I didn't realize it would be out so soon.

At the top of the page was the headline: "For the Love of the Game" and attached below was a picture of Lynn and I standing together with wide smiles on our faces. The picture was from one of our first games playing together, before things got complicated. Below the picture was the subtitle: "Red cards and the green light?"