AllFreeNovel
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I find the place empty, which must mean training’s over and everyone must be in the conference room. I put on my performance shirt and grab my things to join them. The coaches are reviewing a video from a game last year that features the team we’ll face tomorrow. Fortunately, no one pays me any mind when I sit in the very back row.
Unfortunately, nothing sticks in my head. It’s empty.
Before I’m able to leave the conference room, Coach Green slides up to me. “So, what did she want?”
To absolutely screw me over.
What I say instead is “Just to hash out some details about sharing the facilities.”
Yeah, we shared the facilities of our mouths.
“Oh yeah?” If suspicious was a person, Coach Green would be it.
“Uh, Coach.” I clear my throat because my voice sounds foreign. “If you don’t mind, I have to go shower. I have plans tonight.”
What they may be is yet to be seen.
He gives me one more look. “Fine. See you tomorrow. Don’t do anything that will get you in trouble today.”
Too late.
Like a sheep, I follow my teammates to the showers. At my stall, I turn the water as cold as it can get. It sprays on the guy beside me, who turns out to be Boucher.
“Jeez, dude. Are you trying to freeze over?”
“Yes.” I grunt. I need to turn into an icicle so every cell in my body forgets what it feels like to have Luz Rodriguez pressed up against me, devouring my mouth like it’s dessert.
A few minutes later, I’m getting dressed, and Garcia tries to invite me to another party. But all my brain can process is one leg through one hole, the other leg through the other hole. One arm through one hole, the other through the other.
The ritual of getting dressed is interrupted by a buzzing in my pants. I must’ve left my cell phone in the pocket.
I pull out the device. The words on the screen take another moment to break through my subconscious. Then I grimace so hard I turn into a raisin. Just when I thought today couldn’t turn any more tragic.
I press the green button, and the second I place the phone against my ear, my mom screams. “Massimo Cassiano! Are you planning on never seeing your mother again?”
“Hey, Ma?—”
“Don’t give me that, boy.” What am I even giving? But she doesn’t let me guess before she continues. “Leo has already dropped by twice since the start of the semester. Twice! And his college is farther than yours.”
The guys nearby give me looks. They can probably hear every single word with how loud she talks.
Hanging up on her mid-conversation is not an option, unless I want to die at eighteen years old. The only way to cut this short is to give her what she wants.
“Fine, I’m coming over.”
“Right now?”
“Yeah, see you in half an hour.” Better to rip off the Band-Aid today, while I already feel like stepped-on gum.
She harrumphs. “Va bene.”
The call ends just like that. I stare off into the distance.
“Your mom?” Mahoney asks.
I mutter as I finish getting dressed. “Yeah, it was good knowing you all.”
There are several reasons why I haven’t gone home. And as I shut my locker and bid a good night to my teammates, I regret living so close to it. I should’ve taken the partial scholarship offer at a west coast college instead of coming to St. Cloud. The debt to distance ratio would’ve been worth it.
