He looked around the parking lot; the tree nearby, the wall, the store across the street, the park, and the liquor store, before calling at her house.
She called at the door and shook her head. "What do you want?"
Ricky was shivering a bit. "I came to apologize."
She was wrapped in a blanket, and her pajamas; a t-shirt, and sweatpants. "It's a bit late."
Ricky looked into her eyes. "I went looking for you. I was concerned."
"Where you really?"
Ricky nodded, and she glared into his eyes. "I swear I was."
She tried not to smile. "Really?"
"I swear." He wiped his eye. The coldness was cutting through it. "Can I come in, please?"
She nodded. "I guess. Electric Tacos is open until midnight tonight."
Ricky walked in. "Great, are we going into your lounge or the kitchen?"
"Or my room?" Marisol said. "You're cold. You need a blanket."
"Throw me one on your floor?"
Marisol nodded as they walked into her room.
There was a comfortable-looking lounge chair in the corner of her room, a desk, a mirror, small TV, a record player, a bookcase, a chest of drawers, a bed, and a bedside table.
Everything was neat, and the room smelled pleasant from the air freshener.
It was nicer than Mateo's room (and actually smelled good).
She threw him her blanket, and he walked over to the chair and sat down to face her. She wrapped herself in her duvet.
He faced her. "Hey, I'm sorry for saying those things to you. It was uncalled for."
She looked at him for a moment and then smiled faintly. "Look, it's okay, thank you for actually coming to apologize."
"No problem." Ricky looked around her room, and then at her. "Look, I think you're cute. Aight, like really cute, and that whichever guy you find will be lucky to have you."
"Thank you–"
"--But I'm not that guy, okay? I want to be your friend, Marisol. You have a good personality, and you work hard, and thank you for going all out tonight, and I understand if you're upset at me for that, and that you might need a couple of days for the feelings to cool down."
Marisol slowly nodded. "Thank you for being honest with me. I appreciate that."
Ricky nodded back. "No problem. You deserve it. We can still hang around at lunch, in the library, and wherever else you want to go. If you wanna do that."
"Yes, we can do that." Marisol nodded. "Can I get a hug please?"
Ricky walked over to Marisol and gave her a hug. She held onto him for a moment.
"You can sit down on my bed if you want." She said as they let go. "You don't have to sit over in the corner of the room away from me."
"You sure?"
Marisol nodded. "I'm not gonna stay mad or upset at you because you genuinely apologized."
Ricky moved beside her more on the double bed. "I didn't wanna see you mad. When someone makes an effort, they deserve the recognition."
"At the very least, you're more self-aware than Chuck, and Johnny Loko. Johnny's nice, but he doesn't really talk much, and Chuck's a dick. He doesn't get it."
"Chuck doesn't get a lot of things. He rushes into things, doesn't think them through, and thinks that brute force is the best solution."
"Yeah, he punched Johnny Loko when he wanted to talk to me. I got mad at him, and we broke up. And now he doesn't talk to me in the same way, but whatever. He never apologized."
"If you want, I can talk to him."
"Don't bother, it's between us two. If he apologizes, then that's on him."
"Okay." Ricky smiled. "So, do you like football?"
"You inviting me to the game tomorrow night?"
"Why not?" Ricky asked. "We can go and get some food before. Or go for a walk."
"Sounds good."
______
Ricky stayed and slept in Marisol's bed. They woke up early the next morning, and Sr. had already gone out to shop for some supplies. Mateo had gone out for a run, and they were the only two left. They had some breakfast, and Ricky borrowed some of Sr.'s clothes.
He looked awkward in a white shirt, khaki shorts, and knee knocks.
They decided to get some coffee on the way to school, and sat around in the library for a while, talking about the play, the soccer game, and classes. They had a free period because Mr. Lancaster had called in late, and they couldn't get a substitute teacher.
Mateo joined them too, later before the second period, where they had a Science test.
Ricky got an A, and Mateo got a B. Mateo was delighted, and wouldn't shut up about it during recess, and kept annoying Ricky about it during Art, English, and Drama.
Ricky couldn't wait for training and to get out of class an hour early to prepare for the game, and listen to Coach Lopez talk tactics after snacks. And do some more warmups.
"This is our last game before Christmas, so gift us with a place at the top of the table." Coach Lopez said to them all when they were huddled around for a final pep talk. "Try your best, and enjoy the game."
"GO ANGELS!" They yelled as they all placed their hands on each other, and then threw them up in the air.
Coach Lopez yelled. "GO ANGELS!"
"ATOMIC, TOMIC ANGELS! GO, ANGELS!"
"GO GO OUT AND PLAY!" Coach Lopez said as they all ran onto the pitch. "LET'S GO!"
Captain Lopez kicked them off and passed the ball down to Ricky, who lobbed it over to the fast-moving Mateo, who managed to head the ball into the net.
It was one of the quickest goals ever in the league. Fourteen seconds.
He ran around the pitch cheering, and celebrating topless for a brief moment until the referee blew the whistle for exposing his chest. Mateo sighed and put his jersey back on, after being carried away in the moment.
Ricky smirked and ruffled his hair. "Good job."
Mateo smiled. "Thanks."
George kicked the ball back into the air for a kickoff and ran back to his net, where Chuck was defending for a moment. They swapped places, and George kept his eye on the ball as Chuck passed it back up to Ochoa, then Cabrera, and back to Castro.
The Winterhaven Whips looked strong, despite their shortcomings.
Johnny Perez, Oliver McCourt, and Raymond Sanjuan were the ones to watch. The three Lions upfront were ready to tear through the defense when they let their guard down.
But thankfully, the Angels had Ricky, Max, and Mateo playing upfront for this game, and Castro and Jonas playing the wings.
Jonas was as fast as Mateo, which gave them a good advantage.
They were missing someone to run the ball to, who was as fast as Mateo. Ricky tried his best, and so did Max, but they were powerhouses, instead of speed merchants.
They were missing the spark of lightning that connected the ball to the net most of the time.
Now he was back, and they were ready to defend their lead.
Mateo passed the ball to Max, who gave it to Jonas and then passed it back down to Mateo, who took a shot. He almost scored again, but smacked it against the crossbar.
The crowd let out a groan.
Marisol could barely watch:
"This is so tense!" She yelled. Fur Ass looked at her funny. "What?"
"I didn't realize you were so into soccer, Dearie."
Marisol nodded. "I like it, yes. I've been keeping up with the Angels in my free time."
Yelena looked at her. "Since you started liking Ricky?"
"We've tried to date, but we're just friends now."
"Ah, I see."
"How are you and Max going?"
"Good, steady."
"That's good." Marisol looked at her and watched her rub her stomach. "Are you alright?"
Yelena smiled. "Of course."
"You sure?"
Yelena nodded. "I'm fine, thank you."
Marisol looked back at the pitch and sighed. "Okay, whatever you say."
Henriquez passed the ball to Expósito, then Max and Ricky, who fired a spectacular shot into the right-hand corner of the net at thirty minutes.
They were fired up for the next fifteen minutes, until half-time. Coach Lopez was so happy, he gave them a banana, pinole cookies, and some chocolate at half time:
"You were gonna get the chocolate as a Christmas gift at the end, but since you've all done so well now, you can have some." Coach Lopez smiled. "I got nothing much to add except to FOCUS and keep our lead."
Ricky nodded as he took a bite of the chocolate. It was delicious.
They enjoyed their snacks for the next fifteen minutes before the second half kicked off.
Mateo became distracted as they ran up the pitch. He tried his best not to stare at Ricky's strong legs, broad shoulders, and strong cheekbones and forced himself to look at the ball, and the grass without looking at Ricky.
He'd been holding back for as long as he could, but he started to feel uncomfortable. He could feel a tingle and was distracted by it, but the harder he tried to ignore it, the more horny he became.
The white and black ball was his focus.
Nothing but the ball, nothing but the grass.
Follow the net, follow the feet.
Nothing else.
Ball, ball, feet, feet, feet, grass.
Grass, now it's finally over here.
"Mendez, pass the ball! Aqui!" Expósito yelled, to snap him out of his thoughts.
Mateo passed it back to Expósito, who passed it to Max, and then to Ricky, who took a shot that deflected and bounced back to Mateo, who closed his eyes and took a shot in the dark.
"What the hell was that?" Ricky asked him, as he shook his head. "What are you playing at?"
Mateo opened his eyes and saw how close he was.
He'd missed an open night, past where the keeper was standing.
Max let out a sigh. "Come on, focus and finish, Mateo."
Mateo looked down at the ground and said. "I'm trying."
"Try harder." Ricky hissed back. "Don't be a loser."
His face started to boil up and he started to sweat heavily as the burning sensation crept down his neck. He started to pant, and his heart started to beat faster as he passed the ball back to Ricky, and quickly ran away to the other side of the net and focused on the keeper, Ronson, who was looking at his defender, Ortega.
Ortega glared back at Mateo, who sighed back. He then focused on Max and the corner flag. And following Max as he kicked the ball back to him.
Mateo took another shot and groaned when he missed.
Ronson fired the ball up the pitch, and Mateo waited for Expósito to pass the ball to Ochoa, Chuck, and then Henrirquez, and back down the wing to Castro, who gave it to Ricky.
Ricky looked at Mateo and passed the ball to him.
Mateo froze on the spot.
He couldn't take it anymore.
He started to shake and could feel the chicken and fries he'd had for dinner creep up his throat. It was burning, and he started to dry heave. He started to breathe heavily and tear up.
He swallowed as hard as he could, and started to step backwards as Ricky moved closer to him. He made his way over to the sidelines and started wobbling his legs.
He felt dizzy and overwhelmed.
Everything around him was moving beneath him.
He felt disorientated as his head spun, and his mouth filled with acidic bile.
He moved as fast as he could to get to the bathroom, ignoring the crowd and all his team members' concerns.
He pushed the bathroom door open and kneeled over.
He vomited it for the next couple of minutes. Then, he gagged for water and put his mouth in the sink, and turned it on. He drank some from the tap before peeling his hair back from his face and splashing water over it.
The heat had calmed down.
He took a deep breath and wiped his eyes, and stared at himself for a moment, wondering about what he was becoming and where things were going to go in the future...
... To him, this was the soccer match that changed everything.