Waiting on Forever (9 page)

I look like shit!

My face is as pale as a ghost and the circles under my eyes are so pronounced that I look like I’ve been punched. Even though I’m not much of a make-up wearer, I’m thinking today may be the exception.

After scrubbing my face clean and brushing the cotton ball taste from my mouth, I take a nice warm shower, ridding myself of the gross bowling alley smell coating my skin and hair. Stepping out of the shower, I already feel less disgusting and more like a person. My headache is still lingering, but nothing a little Motrin can’t fix.

“Your phone has been beeping like crazy,” Kayla notifies me as soon as I walk in the door.

My stomach flutters, hoping one of the beeps is from Matt, but noticing the time on the clock it’s already 10:30 a.m. so I highly doubt any are from him. Putting my dirty clothes in the hamper and my caddy back in my closet, I pick up my cellphone to see three missed text messages waiting for me. Opening them up, I have two from Collin and one from Matt.

Yay, Matt!

Of course, I click on his first.

He got me a shirt?

Weird as that may be, at least I don’t have to worry about picking out something to wear today. I’m hoping Matt knows me well enough that he wouldn’t choose anything crazy for me to wear, so I’m going to trust him that it’s something suitable for my wardrobe.

I click on the messages from Collin.

Holy shit, 11 a.m.?

Noticing the lack of time I have, I text back a quick, “Yup, that’s fine.” before throwing a t-shirt and jeans on. Grabbing my blow dryer, I quickly dry my hair and apply some cover-up under my eyes, and mascara on my eyelashes. Doing a quick look in the mirror, I decide this will have to do.

“Whoa, are you actually going to the game?” Kayla chimes in while applying her loads of make-up.

“Yup,” I answer, short and sweet.

“I seriously need details. Something has clearly happened to you.”

“Maybe later,” I wink, picking up my cellphone and jacket before practically running out the door.

Surprisingly, I make it to Matt’s with two minutes to spare. When I walk in the house it’s again like a ghost town with all the guys already gone. Hearing voices in the kitchen, I dust off my shoes before making my way in that direction and find Summer and Collin sitting around the kitchen table eating.

“Can I just say that I’m loving Matt with a girlfriend?” Collin says between a mouthful of food.

Girlfriend?

“What Collin is trying to say is that he’s never seen Matt go out of his way for a girl like he does for you,” Summer says with a smile.

Wait. Girlfriend?
I’m still stuck there.

Maybe this is the information I’m lacking that Collin and Summer know and I don’t. I could tell by their faces yesterday that they know more about Matt’s and my story than I do, but girlfriend? He refers to me as his girlfriend? Not that I’m complaining. Hell, I’m ecstatic, but it would’ve been nice to fill me in on this.

“When did he tell you I was his girlfriend?” I just come out and ask as I take a seat next to them.

“Um, this mornin’… before he left he peeked in our room and said “Breakfast is on the table, make sure you leave some for my girlfriend.” Judging from how he’s talked about you, and after last night, I’m assuming you’re the girlfriend,” Collin responds with a smirk and shrugging his shoulders.

“Of course she’s the girlfriend,” Summer chimes in, giving Collin an irritated look. “Did you not know this?”

“Uh, no. I mean, it’s fine. It’s not a bad thing. He… or we, have just never talked about it, is all,” I answer, stumbling on my words.

“Well, he’s definitely head over heels,” Summer adds with a grin.

Head over heels? Seriously, when did this all happen?

“Alright. Are you girls gonna eat or what?” Collin interrupts.

We don’t have much time left before we have to leave, but I can’t deny the grumble called starvation in my stomach, so I put the questioning on pause with a smile. This conversation is far from over, though. I need to know what Matt has said to them, since he clearly fails to talk to
me
about us.

Chapter 12

Walking up to the stadium, my stomach knots seeing the hundreds–thousands–of spectators gathering and filling in the stands. There’s no way on god’s green earth that I’d ever be able to stand center stage with that many people looking at me. Last night was bad enough just having Matt, Summer, and Collin watch me bowl. Before today I was well aware of Matt’s popularity status and the fact that he’s a good football player, but witnessing this crazy chaos in front of me makes me feel like I’m going to a pro football game that my
boyfriend
is the star of.

Suddenly I’m feeling a little uneasy wearing the long sleeve t-shirt that he left me, Cortaga Jug on the front and Team Jacobs on the back. This morning when I was rushing to Matt’s house, I was thanking the lord above that he graciously provided us with an abnormally warm fall day. I was not looking forward to sitting out in the cold for the duration of the game, but now I’m wishing it was cool enough to cover my Team Jacobs shirt with a jacket. When Summer told me that the sorority girls make these for the football players to give to their
special
person, I was floating on emotions that I had been his
special
. Now, even though I’m still excited to be given it, I’m worried that every person known to man will be looking at me wondering why this nobody is wearing a Team Jacobs shirt.

“This is insane!” Summer shouts in an excited tone as we make our way to the gate.

My thoughts exactly.

“Right?” I respond with a half grin.

Once we reach the gate entrance, one of the many pledging sorority girls is standing there collecting money and stamping hands.

They obviously didn’t think this out, having a sorority girl handle the money and being expected to make change.

“We have reserved tickets under Leah Bennett,” I tell her.

Flipping through the stack of envelopes, she pulls one out with my name written on the front. I try to sneak a peek, seeing if there are any other envelopes that say Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs, but of course I can’t make any of them out.

Giving me a once over and a haughty look that I’m sure to get all day, she hands me the three tickets and tells me to go towards the left to get to the family section.

“I love seeing snotty bitches faces go blank when they find out who their one and only has been claimed with,” Summer comes beside me, loops her arm with mine, and whispers in my ear with a devious laugh that makes me smile.

“I know, right? I think she just shit her pants,” I laugh back.

And just like that I go from sour and scared shitless to proud girlfriend, ready to watch her boyfriend kick some Ithaca ass.

Taking our seats in the section labeled “reserved” that is front and center to the field, I skim the people around us wondering which ones are Matt’s parents. Realizing I have no clue what I’m looking for–
maybe an older looking Matt or a female version?–
I give up and just come out and ask Collin.

“Are Matt’s parents here yet?” I ask.

Collin gives me a confused look before responding, “No, they won’t be here.”

My stomach knots seeing the sad expression on Summer’s face and it dawns on me that they either never come to his games or they don’t exist at all. I know that no matter how much shit I’ve put my parents through, they will always support me. Feeling my heart break in two, I look back and forth between Collin and Summer in question, hoping that they will elaborate.

Collin stares at me with an unreadable expression. “He hasn’t had it very easy–”

“…And let’s hear it for our Cortland Red Dragons,” the commentator announces over the intercom, interrupting our conversation to announce the football player’s entrance to the field.

As much as I want to hear the rest, my eyes are immediately drawn to number twelve leading the pack with the quarterback, Justin Phillips. My heart is pounding in my chest as a wave of chills spread throughout my body, seeing Matt’s perfectly sculpted butt in his uniform.

Sweet Jesus!

“The image never gets old,” Summer softly says, nudging my arm with a grin.

“Not at all,” I answer, eyes still glued.

My heart skips a beat when he spots us in the crowd, giving me his signature smile that never gets old and a wink that makes me melt as he jogs towards the home team benches seated right in front of us. I never imagined I’d be the lovestruck girlfriend in the bleachers eating up any glance or acknowledgement from her sexy, hot shot boyfriend. If someone had told me just last week that I’d be sitting in the family section at Cortaga Jug cheering for my now boyfriend, Matthew Jacobs, I’d have told them to crawl back into the hole they just came from, because there wasn’t a chance in hell that that would ever happen.

How much things can change in just one week!

I’ve learned two valuable lessons so far today.

One, being at a sporting event is much more interesting than watching it on TV.

Two, the anxiety I feel when I actually know the person in almost every play is enough to make my blood pressure rise, putting me at high risk for having a heart attack.