Lucas ✔️

Thirty-Four

"Whatever," I said softly, watching as he dabbed my grazed knees. It hurt, but not enough for me to care.

It wasn't even my fault that I tripped over. I swear, she put her foot out in front of me. She had to! I had been following Cole and Janie, they literally walked past her just before me, yet I was the one who ended up almost face-first on the rocky concrete. Knees peeled, one elbow skinned to oblivion, and a perfect-looking girl saying, 'I'm so sorry'.

"Cole, you're putting it on wrong," Janie complained, holding her hand to her cheeks. "Not that way, the other way! You want the long side there," she explained, pointing to my knee and concentrating, even though I knew she was feeling sick from the blood.

"God, woman, why don't you just do it then?" Cole complained, throwing the packet on the ground and glaring at her.

"Come on, I would do it but..." I trailed off holding up my bandaged hand, which promptly shut them both up. Cole grumbled as he picked up the packet and ripped open a new Band-Aid, using Janie's instructions to place it on properly.

He moved quickly then, bandaging up both knees, the small scuff at my ankle, and the one on my forearm before he moved to my elbow, bandaging it up as good as he could. I inspected his work and smiled, standing up slowly as the Band-Aids crinkled into place.

"Nice!" I grinned at them and moved around, showing them I was fine. "Look, good as new."

"Great," Janie said, rolling her eyes and moving to the mirror to wash her hands and wet her face, as though she was washing away the experience.

"You look a bit like Frankenstein's Monster," Cole mused, looking at me, scarred face, bandaged hands, plasters across my skin. I whacked him with my good hand and tried not the smile.

"Gee, thanks. What's the time? Do you need to be getting ready?" I asked Cole, watching Janie as she fluffed her hair up in the mirror, her eyes catching mine.

"Yeah, thank god we got here early. I'll meet you guys in the usual spot after?"

"Sure," Janie smiled and turned around, grabbing my arm and dragging my along gently. "Good luck!" In a bold move, Janie blew a kiss in his direction. I looked away before I could see if he caught it or not, dying internally at the cringe-fest if he did. They weren't even officially dating yet, I can't imagine how horribly ostentatious they were going to be when they finally did.

"You do realise I am going that way too, right?" Cole said awkwardly as he stopped next to us at the locker door. "This is the women's locker," he explained, pointing to the sign as he held it open for us.

"What were you doing in there?" Janie asked accusingly, only slightly joking.

"Hey, the men's locker is full of half-naked soccer players. This one was empty."

He shrugged and waved goodbye as he pushed his way into the correct locker room, a loud array of cheers rolling out from the players as their beloved captain joined them.

"Come on, let's go get out seats," Janie said happily, smiling at me as she looked around for a good spot.

Once we sat down, a nice spot halfway up the bleachers with and empty seat for Memphis, if he turned up.

"So, tell me about this Memphis again," Janie said happily, pulling two foldable seat cushions from her bag and placing them down for us. As usual, she was prepared, and I wasn't. I gratefully took the extra padding, knowing just how hard these seats got without them.

"Seriously, I told you everything. I just ran into him one day and I've only seen him like three times total. He's some new kid who's being home-schooled and I felt bad for ignoring him because I think I might be the only person he's connected to properly here." Janie looked interested but didn't push for more details about our meetings.

Cole's team ran out onto the field and we jumped up to cheer for them, Janie enthusiastically yelling out Cole's name. He threw his hands up and pointed at Janie and I (although, I am sure mainly her). They ran off, taking off around the field for a warm-up lap and we sat back down.

"Good looking, though, you said?" Janie continued the conversation smoothly. I didn't say, but Janie could tell.

"Yeah, tanned skin, red hair, blue eyes. Very unique."

"Sounds like a hottie – oh, is that him?" her voice dropped an octave and she leaned closer to whisper in my ears, jutting her chin in the direction of Memphis looking around at the bottom of the bleachers.

"That's him," I agreed, standing up and waving to catch his attention.

Memphis' face lit up when he saw me, a large, perfect-toothed smile gracing his skin, eliciting an 'oof' from Janie next to me. I sat back down, feeling bad that this good-looking guy who was my age couldn't make my heart flutter. I was far too gone on Lucas, to the point I was almost annoyed at myself.

"Hey," he said, plonking down next to me. "Nice to meet you, I'm Memphis," he said to Janie, holding out his hand in front of me.

"Janie," she said with a flirtatious smile that made me shake my head. Here she was, head over heels for Cole, and she was flirting with Memphis. "I've heard a lot about you from Lilith!"

"Really?" He looked surprised and raised an eyebrow at me. "I wouldn't have taken Lilith for much of a talker."

"You'd be right there," I said with a shrug, sending Janie a wide-eyed 'what the hell?' look, asking why she was lying. I mean, I had told her about him – just now.

My eyes met Cole's on the field, his eyebrows furrowed as he watched Janie and Memphis talk as though I wasn't sandwiched between them. His eyes caught mine and I smiled hesitantly, sending him a small shrug as though to say 'hey, it's nothing'. He pulled an awkward smile and shrugged one shoulder up, turning around and kicking the ball with all his might.

God, it was going to be a long game.