"I have practice," I say. "But I can come by after."
"Fine," she says.
"It's a date."
I turn and walk away before she can argue with me or my statement. It's definitely a date. She'll call it what she wants, but I stand by what I said. Now I just have to make it through the next few hours until I see her.
"GET YOUR HEAD IN THE game, man."
Timothy finds me in the locker room after practice. I'm standing in the showers, letting the water fall down over me. I know that he's right, but he's forgetting who the top dog is around here, and I shove him away.
"Stay the fuck out of my shower."
He ignores me and comes right back.
"What are you doing? You're thinking about that girl, aren't you?"
"Leave me alone."
"You're going to lose us the fucking game if you don't get it together. You missed two easy passes that you could have handled with ease if you'd just been paying attention."
"I said, get away from me," I grit out.
He needs to leave.
I'm so not in the mood for his crap today. I'm not in the mood for anything from anyone. I'm still reeling from the information my mom gave me and what I want right now is to find Emilia and just spill my damn guts. I can't do that, though, because Timothy is invading my space. A few other guys from the team appear, but unlike my "friend," they're staying back out of punching distance.
Smart guys.
"She's just a stupid girl," he continues. "I don't see what your weird obsession is. I mean, so your dads both died. Who cares?"
"Timothy..." I'm gritting my teeth, trying my best to hold back I do not want to punch this asshole in the face, but I'll do it. He takes another step forward, and I know what's coming next. He's going to call her a name, and I swear that'll be the end of it. He's going to say he hates her and that she's an idiot or a slut or something like that.
If he does that, then it’s over between us, and I’ll start a fight right here and now.
Neither one of us wants that because it’ll basically be career suicide. If the two of us start fighting, we’re going to be out of the game tomorrow, and the team needs us. Hell, the whole school needs us. It’s down to the wire and if we don’t get it together, like, now, then it’s all over.
Everything we’ve worked for will be for nothing.
“Let it go man,” Jared pushes his way to the front of the crowd and stands next to Timothy. “It’s not worth getting benched.”
“He started it,” Timothy says.
I ball my fists. I’m naked in the fucking showers and the entire team has gathered around to flip me shit. All they want to do is harass me and make me fit into some mold of what they want. I’ve been an asshole for a long time. I should have realized that falling for a woman wouldn’t fit into anyone’s plan of who – or what – I should be.
“More like I’m finishing it,” I say, and I turn back to my shower. I ignore them blatantly, letting them know that yeah, this is totally over. I hear voices and murmurs and eventually they leave, but I look over my shoulder to see Timothy spitting in my general direction.
Apparently, our friendship is over.
He’s not even wrong. I was distracted on the field tonight, but he’s wrong about why. I was busy thinking of my dad. I was busy thinking about all the ways I didn’t understand who he was or what he was about.
Emilia is important to me, but I wasn’t caught up about her tonight.
I am now.
I finish showering, get dressed, and leave the locker room without speaking to anyone else. I can feel their stares at I gather my shit, and I know what they’re thinking because I’ve been them. Anytime someone starts dating or gets a girlfriend or finds something that distracts them from the game, that’s it. That person is viewed as the worst kind of traitor. They’re viewed as horrible.
And now I’ve done that.