come from it because I was a total mental head case, but still, it was nice to think I was capable of liking a guy. It gave me a tiny spark of hope and I wanted to latch on to that hope and water it and load it down with sunlight so it could grow.
“What is that look about?” she asked with wide eyes.
“What look?”
“Oh my God, don’t even try to play me! I’ve seen that look before, just never on you.” She giggled. “So, spill it, woman! Who’s the guy?”
I tried to school my face, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get the smile to go down. I tried to smooth the sides of my mouth down with my fingers, but still the goofy smile remained.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I looked out the window since I couldn’t keep a straight face.
“Oh come on, Pay. As women it’s our job to talk about boys. Tell me about him. Anyone I know?” She tapped her fingernails on the steering wheel.
“Okay, so you have to swear not to say anything.” I sighed.
Her eyes lit up at the prospect of some juicy gossip.
“I swear I won’t.” She turned into the school parking lot and barely missed another car. They blew their horn at us and Megan flipped them off.
After I unlatched my hand from the dash, I ran my fingers through my hair and took a deep breath. This was the first time I’d ever confessed being in like with someone.
“So, you know I’ve spent the last few days at the Boy’s Club with Zeke,” I started.
“Oh my God, did you and Zeke make pre-babies?” Her eyes were so big I was afraid they were going to pop out of her head.
“Did me and Zeke what?” I’d never heard anything of the sort.
“You know! Did you guys bump uglies? As in, did you have sex?” She was motioning with her hands for me to hurry up and tell her.
“God, no! Geez, Megan. What I was going to say, before I was so rudely interrupted, is he’s been taking me home afterward and I don’t know… I guess I kind of like him.” My face felt like it was about to combust.
“Well, of course you like him, Pay. He’s hotter than hell. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that he’s amazing with a guitar, which has to mean he’s good with his fingers, but you know me. I have a thing for tattoos and rock stars. I didn’t think you did, though. I’ve never even heard you say a guy was cute before. Honestly, I was starting to think you were into girls.” She shrugged.
“I am not into girls.”
“Hey, no hate over here. You know I don’t care about shit like that.” She held up her hands palms out. “But I just figured…”
“Yeah, well, you figured wrong.” I jumped out of the car and started toward the school. Within seconds, Megan was right beside me.
“So, Zeke, like, talks to you? Because Chet says he’s not much of a talker.”
I laughed thinking about all the stuff that came out of his mouth.
“Yeah, he talks some. He’d never admit it, but he’s not a bad guy.”
“Tell that to all the girls he’s left behind. Although, it’s not like they didn’t know any better. Chet says Zeke is pretty upfront about only wanting one-night stands.” She waved at some guy as we walked by.
“Yeah, that sounds about right. I don’t know. We’ve only talked a little. I’m not, like, in love with him or anything. I was just saying I like him.” I instantly started to worry that Megan would tell Chet and then Chet would tell Zeke.
Oh my God, he’d never let me live that one down. This whole talking about boys thing was new for me and I didn’t know if I could trust Megan to keep her trap shut.
“Listen, Megan, please don’t say anything to Chet, okay?”
“Cross my heart, hope to die!” she shouted across the hallway to me.
We parted ways as she went to her homeroom and I went to mine.
After a long, exhausting day of school, I went to practice and sweated my ass off. We played a scrimmage to get ready for Saturday’s game and I left practice with twelve goals. Damn, I loved playing soccer.
Since Megan was spending more and more time with Chet, I had Casey take me to the Boy’s Club after practice again. It worked since it was on the way to