Nicole
“As much as I’d like to return your beloved teacher OF A PEST the favor, I have to cancel the training tomorrow because of the conference in Berkeley. So you seniors could go home free after that lab test. As for other classes, you’re welcome to free-will training and helping Rod with the trials.”
His announcement was met with some cheerful remarks from the seniors.
And yeah, much to Craig’s disappointment, Coach and Rodriguez, his assistant, had decided to recruit at least one more player as the keeper.
“Okay, wrap it up, guys. Let’s call it a night.” Only a few complaints followed as it was nearing midnight and we were a little tired. It wasn’t like we were drunk since all we had as drinks were orange juice and blackcurrant cordial courtesy of Rebecca. But it was fun, a lot of fun. Coach had his wife bring the Karaoke set and we spent half of the evening driving away every bird that could’ve been nesting in the trees nearby. But of course, that was only us to who music is only for listening. Pro’s like Tris and Kevin showed off some and let us know they were ready for their regular visits to the Farmsworth soon.
After about 20 minutes of us helping Becky put away the stuff while the rest of the crew got ready to go home, we three were back in the car in the same order as we came. When the headlights were on and we were ready to go, an adorable nasal squeak came from near the window on the side where I was sitting.
I peeked out from the window and looked down to find Coach and Becky’s bundle of joy.
“Aww, it’s Phillip Phillips himself.” Aaron was a six-year-old walking example of cuteness.
He didn’t blush at my tease. I guessed he’s had his fill, after all the teasing he’d received during and after he sang ‘Home.’
He just huffed, making me chuckle, handed me my phone back, which I’d forgotten this whole time, and trotted back to the compound, which we all laughed at. We watched till he disappeared into the doors and then Jeremy drove out of the parking space while I rested the back of my head onto the seat.
And of course, just I was about to have a quick slumber, the damn phone had to ring. Who the hell was this calling at this hour, I thought, as I sought for the phone where I put it on the seat.
“Yeah.” Not bothering with the ID, I answered.
“Hey, it’s me.” it took me a moment to register the voice but as soon as I realized who ‘me’ was, disbelief took over my senses. But of course, it was her. The one that made me realize. The one who ditched me after doing so.
“Yeah.” I replied, trying to sound as bored as I could.
“It’s me, Maggie.” She stressed. Yeah, like I’d wag my tail and run to … crap, what am I saying, degrading myself. I sighed, finding myself stuttering, internally, again. Then again it wasn’t just anyone. But it’d been, what, over a year? What did she want?
“Yeah.” I said, again as nonchalantly.
“How’s your fiancé?” the moment those words left my mouth, I started beating myself up, internally of course. I didn’t want to give her the impression that I still cared. And I didn’t care, right?
“Yeah.” She paused a little before saying, “We broke up.”
She must’ve thought she’d hear some cheerful tone in my response. So did I. But that was the moment that made sure I was over her. And I was instantly proud of myself for not feeling glad for her mischance.
But I did sit up in the back seat of the car. Just out of curiosity, I asked, ”What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“No, it’s okay. We just realized it would never work out for both of us. So we called off the engagement.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m fine. Actually, I was kinda glad it was over so don’t worry about it.”
“I don’t believe you called to tell me about this, did you?” I asked and waited as she took a moment to answer.
“Well, kinda. I’m here and …”
“Wait. Wait, what? You’re here?” I was surprised, to say the least.
“Yeah, and I’m in trouble, sort of.” She paused as if waiting for me to say something. I didn’t. Now I knew, not only I was over her, I also didn’t want to have anything to do with her. And it looked to me like she was trying to get back into my life. Or was it just me?
She continued, realizing I wasn’t going to say anything.
“I’ll tell you when you get home.”
What? “What do you mean when I get home?”
“Well, I’m at your front door right now.” She said with some kind of an amused tone.
Shit, how do I get out of this, I thought, and realized Adam was looking at me intently. I placed a hand over the speaker securely and nodded him a curt ‘what’, which he replied with a meek shake of his head still eyeing me.
“So I’ll talk to you when you’re here, okay?” Maggie spoke, drawing my attention back to her.
Well, like I had any other choice. “Alright.” I grumbled and hung up before she did, quite surprised at the sudden change of feelings towards the one who practically made me gay. But I guessed it wasn’t out of the blue like it seemed.
It just must have been hiding since I buried every thought of her in the back of my head the day she left and never tried to dig it up again. And it just resurfaced now. Yep, that was it. But I still felt the prying eyes on me.
“What?”
“Nothing.” Adam said, surrendering his hands in the air with that stupid grin across his face.
“You gonna be at the practice tomorrow?” I asked Adam as he got out of the car.
“Yeah, that’ll be the day.” He scoffed, waving us goodbye and we drove out again, this time to my house.
“What, you going?” Jeremy asked as he looked back at me in the rear view mirror.
“Probably. But I guess I’m gonna be alone with Rod. No one would come.”
“Yeah, I would come too if I didn’t have the test.”
“Dude, if you don’t have the test, everybody has to come. What’s with Grumpy anyway, having you guys take the test in the evening? Doesn’t she know the game is in just a few days?”
“Heck, consider yourself lucky if she was hit by a ball and didn’t use it to make up an equation.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, the old hag knows practically nothing about soccer, or any sports for that matter. And she just has the thing for coach. They must’ve been husband and wife or something like that in previous life.”
“I would say ‘divorced’ seeing they’re always at each other’s throats.” He mused as the car turned into our street.
“Hey, thanks.” I said as I got out of the car.
“No problem. Just take care of her for me, will you?” He added, looking over my shoulder at the house.
“Get out of here!” He laughed and nodded. I lingered there till the car disappeared out of sight and took my time walking over to what awaited me at the front door: trouble…, sort of.
“Well, that sucks.” I replied, going through the fridge looking for leftovers from the party.
She didn’t say anything back as I handed the beer to her. She looked sad, kind of.
“I am sorry. That came out wrong.” I apologized. ”What I meant was he was a total bastard. That he missed out on someone he’ll regret the rest of his life losing.” I blurted out, apologizing but not quite sure if I meant the last part.
“No. I’m not upset about what you said. You are right. I mean, he slept with the wedding planner in our former new house.” She said it so immediately and calmly that I couldn’t think of anything to say right back.
“Okay.” I leaned back onto the fridge slightly and studied her. She hadn’t changed a lot. Well, she got hotter! Her long black hair seemed to have grown longer. She looked paler than the last time I’d seen her but it suited just fine, if not finer. And she just knew how to show herself off. She had on a simple white blouse with a subtly generous neckline and a short skirt that didn’t go beyond her knees, fitting her assets snugly, making them look … mouth-watering.
“I was just thinking about you and I.” She paused to look back up at me from sipping her drink while it took me a moment to register where this conversation was going. “What we had, before I left.”
Was she really talking about …? No, no, no. No way in hell.
“I know what I did, Nikki.” She continued taking in my expression. ‘Here she goes’, I thought as I watched her get up and made her way over.
“And not a day goes by that I don’t regret what I did to you. And I don’t want that anymore.”
“Mag, don’t!” I said curtly. “This is me helping out a friend, nothing more.”
“I want you back, Nikki. And you know you want me too. I made mistakes, some serious ones. But I want to make up for it.” Wow, a lot of makers-up these days.
“Come on, Nikki. Just give me a second chance. Everybody deserves one.” All this time, I hadn’t moved. No, I wasn’t surprised. I kinda knew this would come when she told me she had nowhere to sleep tonight. But I had to see where this was going. I mean, ever since we’d met, it’d always been me who was following her around so it’d be fun to see it the other way round. That’s what I thought anyway.
Then she leaned down and crushed her lips onto mine. Well, TRIED to do so because I didn’t wait for that to happen as I got out of the way. Even if I was enjoying the show, I would never fall for her. Not again.
She lost balance but the fridge was there as she controlled herself again. “Come on, Nikki. Don’t play hard. I know you want me as much as I want you.”
“Yeah? You really think I’d wag my ta…” shit, “I’d run to you once you are FREE?”
I knew she caught what I almost said because she seemed to have stifle a chuckle as she went on.
”That’s not how it is. you know it.” She said and made a move on me again but this time I didn’t run away but caught her wrists in mid-air.
“Look here. I admit I was whipped two years ago but that was, like I said, two years ago. Truth be told, I was being extra-polite to let you stay the night here. So get out. Now!” I stated what I wanted, clearly and quite loudly. But to my surprise, she wasn’t surprised, let alone shocked.
She just played a knowing smile, which I gotta add, really pissed me off, and easily loosened my grip on her and, irritatingly, took hold of my hands.
“I get what you’re saying. But one thing is for sure. You’ll be back. Soon.” She smirked. That would’ve melted me when I was so hooked on her but now it was just another drum of fuel to my burning rage.
I was about to snap my hands out of her grip, planning to push her off some in the process, she being a girl or not. Yeah, I’m like that if you catch me in the bad mood and the chick was just pissing the hell out of me. But she got off the hook in time, loosening the hold on me.
“See you around, hottie.” she winked, picking up her handbag from the table. Fuming, I watched her sashay towards the door and as she reached it, she turned on her heels slowly, which was supposed to be seductive in her definition but certainly not for me, at least not right now.
“And the luggage was lost. I wasn’t lying about that. But the no-money part I told you, that was lame.” She smirked. Again! “Why did you even offer to put me up for the night anyway?”
“Maggie, just get out.” I said, exasperated.
She just shrugged and walked out the door, closing it, which was fortunate for her because if I had to go near the door and near her again, I would’ve done something pretty stupid. I was never good when it comes to managing anger.
Had she been like that the whole time since we’d first met and I just couldn’t see it? Or did something happen to her during this the time we hadn’t seen each other? I vouched for the first. I know how crazy I could be when I’m in love, or when I think I’m in love!
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Rina
Could this day get any worse?, I sighed, at the biting cold that was the first to greet me as I stepped onto California soil again.
“Hey, welcome back.” And it was the first time in a long time that I felt so much joy hearing someone’s voice.
“Hey. Thanks.” I said, turning and smiling at him.
“You thanking me makes me think you don’t like me as much as I like you.” Steve pouted. I would’ve laughed at his expression any other time but not now. And he, like the nice guy he’d always been, noticed my state.
“You look … dead beat.” He stated, taking the bag from me.
“Yeah.” I mumbled as I got in the front seat beside him.
“Just rest, okay. I’ll wake you up when we get home.” He assured as the car purred to life and soon we were on our way home. I thanked him with a smile and sank back, well tried to sink back into the rather stiff piece of material the seat was made of.
“Can’t sleep?” I heard him ask when we were about half way home.
“Yeah.” I replied hazily sitting up. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to sleep. I was dying to, in fact. But about 6 hours of on-and-off deafening screams will do that to you.
“What made you like this?” I heard him ask as we came to a stop at the light.
“I didn’t get a wink of sleep. There was this little kid that cried half way through the flight.”
“What, wasn’t the mother there?” He turned to me, trying to start a conversation.
“Out of everyone within earshot, she was the only one in her own promised land, knocked out.” I grumbled. He chuckled as he stepped on the pedal again.
“And I hadn’t had anything since breakfast except for some juice.”
“You wanna have something? I know a diner that opens all night. The food is just great.”
“Thanks. But I just wanna go home.”
“Alright.”
I didn’t feel myself get out of the car. I mean, I knew I did but it was like a dream, like I was watching me from a distance and my body was processing on its own while I watched blearily, through.
“Mind if I don’t come in? Nik won’t be too happy to see me right now.” He asked coming around and handing me the backpack.
“She’s back home?”
“Yeah. That’s what I heard anyway. She still wouldn’t talk to me.”
“Sorry. I know you guys …”
“Hey, stop it.” He scolded. “It’s not your fault, she was just being hard-headed. But she’s actually quite nice once you get to know her.” I just gave him a slight nod.
“I could tuck you in if you need.”
“No, I could manage that.” I managed a playful glare. “Thanks for picking me up, Steve.”
“Hey, what did I tell u?” He paused to give me a once-over again. “You don’t seem like you could make it tomorrow. Do you want me to tell the school?”
I thought about it for a second. The morning classes surely were out of the question. I had to sleep this off. After all these years, another chronic period of insomnia was the last thing I wanted, needed!
But, I still had to report to the soccer coach. Thanks, Jen!!
“Can I just call you in the morning?”
“Alright. Just sleep it off. I’ll tell the teachers if you don’t show up tomorrow. And don’t get up to call me if you can’t.”
I went to say ‘thanks’ but he played out a glare. Exchanging chuckles, we both said goodbye. I heard the car door open and close when I reached the front porch and didn’t hear the car leave until I was inside the house, which made me smile at the thought that I’d probably found some true friends. And it was only after I closed the door behind me that I found out the door wasn’t locked. She’d probably gone out. So I decided not to lock the door and made a beeline to the guess room.
Again I found out that this room wasn’t locked the way I left it, either. So she’d been here. But I paid no mind to it as I closed the door and dropping the bag carelessly on the floor. The room was quite dark and I didn’t bother with the lights as I entered. But the dim light of the moon that shone through the cracks of the curtains was enough to deny the darkness of hiding from me …my prince charming, my knight in the shining armor, my savior, my … , it was the bed. See how tired I was!
It was almost like I was sleepwalking when I made to climb onto the bed, almost as if this whole day had been nothing but my imagination. But then again it’d been like that even before the flight landed. My left knee was already on the bed and I was leaning down on my left hand ready to fall in when I heard the door open. Had to be Nicole, I thought!
There was a thud when, I guessed, her stride met my bag which was lying on the floor but she didn’t stop. Such sign of apoplectic nature would’ve made me snap back up and around any other time, and I did! But I was just too slow.
I’d thought I’d see a black look on her face when I faced her completely but I didn’t. Why, she was really close, like noses-touching close. Besides the room was too dark. I couldn’t even squeak out a ‘Hey, it’s me’ which I’d been planning to say once I was facing her because she didn’t stop at that distance and next thing I knew, I was pushed back down onto the bed. And this was all so sudden, so unexpected that I was starting to doubt the reality of the situation.
What the hell is wrong with you? I screamed, … inside my head as my back hit the bed. I was too stunned, and too tired from lack of sleep and food, to make a reply. At that moment all I wanted was rest. What she was doing wasn’t helping the situation.
The total buggered state added by this bewildering act turned to disbelief and confusion when I felt her jump on top of me. Maybe I wasn’t awake, maybe I was in bed right now and having a dream. No, nightmare!
And I started seriously doubting the reality of the situation when I felt her lips crush onto mine followed by her roaming hands all over me. And I slowly dreamily drifted off under her fierce kisses and desirous touches
That wasn’t NOT a rhetorical question when I asked earlier if this day could get any worse!!
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