The Game Changer (11 page)

We continue talking as we walk home. I’m happy she isn’t angry about Luke. She’s happy for me and glad it all worked out. As we near the house, Alexis’s car is parked in front of their house. I can’t help but feel a stab to my heart.

“There she is, getting her last night of you know what before he leaves. I probably shouldn’t say that about my brother, but she doesn’t have the best reputation anyway. Alexa thinks if she sinks her claws in deep enough, he won’t stray when he’s away. Ha! That’s a joke!” Deanna says. I nod my head in agreement, not really wanting to be thinking of him with her, or anyone else for that matter.

My dad is home when I get in. I didn’t realize how late it was. He’s asleep on the couch so I wake him up.

“Hey, Dad, I’m home.”

“Hey, Sweetie, did you have fun?” he asks groggily.

“Yeah, I’ll talk to you about it tomorrow. I’m tired, too.” I kiss him goodnight.

He stumbles up to his room, still sleeping, I think and I am glad. I don’t feel like talking. I want to get in bed and replay tonight in my head.

Once in bed, I hold on tightly to Luke’s sweatshirt, breathing in his scent. I can’t stop thinking about earlier tonight. What was that? It felt so good, but what was he thinking? Was it no big deal to him? I’m sure it wasn’t. Instantly I am reminded that he is with her right now. Doing who knows what. I’m jealous that she gets to be that close to him. To think that he kisses her like that all of the time. I don’t even want to think about it...

***

(Luke)

I’m lying in bed with
her
, and all I’m thinking about is JJ. What am I going to say to her? I have to set things right with us. Alexa senses I’m not into her tonight. She wants to know what’s going on so I tell her I’m just thinking about leaving tomorrow. She just keeps kissing me, telling me to think about her instead. She’s right. I should be thinking about her. I force myself to focus, the quicker I’m done, the quicker she leaves. I really am a terrible person... Okay done. She whispers she loves me; I answer, “Me, too,” knowing this is just something we say after the fact. Knowing neither of us mean it...

All I can think about is how I’m going to get over to see JJ... If I don’t make things right something horrible is going to happen…The plane is going to crash or I’m going to be punished big time. I whisper to Alexa that it is getting late, she
better go. I tell her my dad will be in to wake me in a couple of hours; anything to try to get her out of my bed. I throw on a pair of shorts, practically pushing her out the door. Is she even dressed yet? I don’t even notice. I don’t care. I only have one thing on my mind and it isn’t her.  Okay, put her in the car. Kiss her good-bye, “Yeah, I’ll miss you, too.” Sure I will... Yep, I’m going straight to hell.

I cannot believe I’m doing this right now, but my feet are leading me in the direction of JJ’s house. I’m literally stalking the girl next door, or actually, across the street.

“J... JJ, are you up?” I call through her bedroom window.

“Luke, is that you?” she asks sleepily.

“No, I’m a robber. Can I come in?” I say sarcastically.

Moments later, she lifts the screen. “Sorry, Luke, not that many people call my name at two in the morning from outside my window.” She shoots back. She’s right, I lost it. God, she looks hot. Okay, get those thoughts out of your head. Why the hell did she let me in?

“David’s sleeping, right? I don’t want him walking in your room with a shotgun or something,” I say, stumbling in through the window, trying to be quiet.

“Yes, he’s sleeping. What are you doing here?” she asks, walking back to her bed.

“I had to talk to you before I left. I didn’t want to leave things weird between us. Plus, I told you I would explain later about
you know
...
the second one
, do you remember?” I sit down next to her, my heart pounding through my chest.

“It’s a little hard to forget.”

“I know. I’m sorry... I know I’ve been confusing you lately… I don’t know... maybe sending you mixed signals sometimes? I think I may be a little overprotective. I just feel really close to you, I guess it’s the time we spend together in the morning. It means a lot to me. I’m not used to having a girl for a
friend
and I think I get a little jealous because... I think someone is going to take you away from me. I don’t want to lose you...
as my
f
riend
.”

(Jesse)

It is barely dawn when I am awakened for the second time that night by the sound of a car door being shut. I don’t need to peak out to know what is going on, I know it is Luke leaving for the airport. I’m really going to miss him.

The next morning I keep replaying Luke’s visit to my room last night in my head. He emphasized the friend part, over and over. He uses the term
friend
at least five times. I get it; he was clarifying things for me in case I got the wrong idea. At least he’s honest. “I get it, Luke. I feel the same way. You’re a good...
friend
and I depend on you and De a lot. You both get me.” I replied when he said that us being friends is more important to him than anything. I know, he feels sorry for me, it was a pity kiss, but I refused to let him get away without making him squirm for once. I do know enough to realize that I wasn’t the only one that was left breathless after our kiss.

“So, why shouldn’t I kiss guys like our second kiss, again?” I asked him innocently, baiting him. He actually turned a few shades of red.

“Definitely not! I mean... you DO NOT want to go around kissing guys like that, they
might
... NO…
THEY WILL…
get the wrong idea! That’s not an innocent kiss, that’s a
... I want more than a kiss!
” he exclaimed.

“You started it. I just followed your lead. That’s what you told me, right?” I questioned, again, with the innocent look on my face.

I had him stuttering and smiling. “I… I know, I... I got carried away. Sorry. You just smelled so good, you… you… looked so good. I got caught up in the moment. Give me a break, I’m a guy. Guys will do that, but… but you can’t give it right back, J. God, I don’t even want to think about it! I’ll kill Lidell. Do you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I do. I’m teasing you.” I laughed, letting him off the hook.

“See, that’s what I love about you, you always call me on my attitude. Anyway, I better get going, I’m leaving in less than 3 hours, but seriously, you get it, right? That cannot happen again between us.
Friends
definitely do not kiss each other like that. I will not lose you as a
friend
over stuff like that, you’re important to me. So, if I’m confusing you in the future. Call me on it.”

“I know, I get it. You’re right. I’m glad you came over.”

I wish him luck. We hug each other good-bye, he kisses me softly on my lips, a quick kiss, not a lingering kiss.
I don’t believe friends should be kissing on the lips either
, but I’ll take it. Then, he’s gone, but at least I know where we stand, he sees me as a friend and nothing more. That’s good enough for me.

***

(Luke)

I’m out of it on the ride to the airport. I keep my eyes closed, pretending to sleep as I listen to coach and Mikey talking about the upcoming trip. Coach Briggs is chaperoning us at the East Cobb National Tournament in Georgia. Coach is great; he keeps an eye on us, making sure we stay out of trouble. He even fields all of the phone calls and emails from the scouts and coaches wanting information about us. He gives them our tournament
and
game schedules. He also schedules and answers all of their crazy questions. They want to know what kind of guys we are off the field, whether or not we get in trouble.

He’ll stay with us for the first week, then we’ll go from there to a couple of showcasing events, work out with some teams and wrap up the third week in August with the East Coast Professional Championship. Normally, I would have been just as hyped up as Mikey, but I haven’t gotten any sleep and my mind is exhausted. I stayed up the rest of the night, still so rattled and confused. I was trying to sort it all out. I can tell JJ anything, she gets me.

I know I have Mikey, we’re like brothers. We share a lot, especially for guys, but this is different. This feeling I get in the pit of my stomach when I’m close to her, electric shocks feel like they’re running through my body when I touch her, even now, just thinking about her makes me crazy. What is going on with me? I’ve never had this happen to me before. She’s way too nice and innocent for me. This is a busy year for me. Not to mention, I’ll be leaving at the end of the school year, there’s no time to start a relationship. Relationship? What the hell am I thinking? I need some sleep.  I’ll crash on the plane. Probably not a good choice of words
crash – plane
. Especially after all the crap I pulled last night.

(Luke)

I fall asleep as soon as I sit in my seat. Mikey has to wake me when we land. The hour and a half nap doesn’t seem to be enough. When we got to our hotel, I still want to crash. Mikey and I have our own room while Coach is in the room next to ours. I can tell that my exhaustion is annoying Mikey. “What is your problem today?”

“Nothing, I’m tired. I didn’t sleep last night.”

“Oh… Alexa kept you up all night?”

“Not really, I kind of pushed her out the door as soon as I could.”

“I don’t get it. What’s up?”

“Nothing, I just need to get some sleep.” I lie across the bed and pretend to fall asleep. I want to avoid more questions. I don’t know how to explain it anyway. Again, my mind drifts to kissing JJ. I must have finally dozed off, because the next time I wake up it’s four o’clock in the afternoon and Mikey isn’t in our room. I shoot him a text saying I’m starving. Within minutes he returns to the room from the hotel fitness room. He is focused; this tournament is really important for us and need to get my head in the game.

“Hey, look who’s up? Man, I thought you were dead. At one point I actually put my hand on your back to make sure you were still breathing,” he jokes as he enters the room.

“Really? You’re funny,” I say sarcastically. “Did you eat? I’m starving.”

“Not really. Coach and I had a late breakfast. Let’s go get something.”

I feel better now that I have rested. This is the second year Mikey and I are attending these tournaments. They’ll be loaded with scouts from all over watching us, especially since this is our senior year. It’s important we’re in the right frame of mind. I know this. That’s another reason why I’m so pissed about what I did last night. I need to be focused.

There are a ton of restaurants and fast food places within walking distance of our hotel. We go to Chili’s and we both order the flame-grilled ribeye, choosing to stay away from the fast food.

“So, are you going to tell me what really happened last night? I think I know you better than to believe it was lack of sleep.”

Being best friends since we were little and Mikey practically living with us for a good part of his life, there’s not much hiding things from each other. Plus, we both know what the big picture is; we keep each other on the right track.

“I did something really stupid last night, and I’m having a hard time clearing my head,” I say sheepishly, barely looking up from my plate.

“Well you better have your head on straight by tomorrow. So… get it off your chest. Does this something stupid have anything to do with a certain hot little neighbor?”

“What do you know about it?” He surprises me; there was no way he could have known.

“Not much… last night after the fireworks, I happened to see JJ stumbling out of the woods, her cheeks were all red and she was breathing a little heavy, if you ask me. I looked over, saw you and Alexa not too much further ahead of her, I made a comment to her and she bit my head off. Judging by your mood today, I put two and two together.” He
sounds pleased with himself for assuming he had it all figured out.

“What comment?” I glare.

He’s laughing at this point. “It just looked so funny, the way she came tripping out of the woods, brushing the leaves off right in front of me. It was no big deal; I just said she was looking a little flushed. She told me it was sunburn, I told her she didn’t look sunburned earlier, she told me to shut up, and that’s it. She kept walking.”

Now I was laughing, picturing the scene. “You’re an asshole.”

“I know... so what happened?”

“Well, you know a little bit of her background. She’s shy... and you know how Lidell has been trying in the worst way to hook up with her?”

“I’ve noticed. He follows her around like her shadow.”

“Yeah, well, he decided to make his move last night, she was sort of expecting it, but when he asked her to take a walk with him… she ran off.”

“What? Why? That sucks for him. She doesn’t like him?”

“That’s the thing, I think she does, but... she’s shy.” I don’t want to spill her secrets to Mikey, but I really need to get this off my chest. “You know how I spend a lot of time with her at the docks?”  I whisper as I lean across the table. “We talk. We tell each other things. Anyway, I see her walking into the woods; I can tell she’s upset. My first thought was to flatten Lidell, but then I decide to check on her first. She finally tells me she ran off because she’s nervous about...” I paused because this is kind of embarrassing for her and Mikey can be a pain in the ass and bust on her sometimes. “...and this is between you and me.” I gave him another look so that he knows I’m serious. “It’s her first kiss and she’s nervous about it.” I pause, waiting for his reaction, knowing what is about to come.