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She laughed until she fell onto the stone next to me. I covered my face in humiliation.
“Please Jules! Don’t remind me!”
“It’s okay. I’m loathe to confess it but I was incredibly charmed by you that day.”
“Thanks Jules. You know? I’ve never dated anyone like you. Truth is, I’ve never dated anyone really. I’m trying really hard......Perhaps, a little too hard?”
I rubbed the back of my neck trying to distribute the blood but she wasn’t fooled. She grabbed my hand and laid it in her lap. She traced the outlines of my palm and fingers. It tickled, but not on my hand, this time in my stomach. I could feel it rising into my throat and messing with my head. I could barely concentrate.
“It’s not possible to try too hard Elliott. Truth is, every girl deserves someone who tries hard. Personally, I couldn’t spend time with anyone unless they did. When I start to date someone,” she cleared her throat, “they need to be as fervently interested in me as I am in them. I wouldn’t take anything less, because that’s what I deserve and so do you.”
“I will never stop trying hard Jules. Never.”
“Neither will I.”
“Here comes the sun, Jules.”
Yes, my sun had definitely arrived.
The next day, I picked Jules up for school. It was Friday and just happened to be my first game of the season. I was nervous about asking Jules to come to my game. I couldn’t have imagined her not being there now that we were together and I was quickly becoming aware of whom she really was to me.
“Good morning sweetheart,” she said, locking her front door.
“Good morning dear.”
I grabbed her bag for her and threw it into the bed of the truck along with mine, then helped her into the cab. On our way to school, I decided to just come out with it.
“So, uh, today’s my first game.” Well come out with half of it, at least.
She had her right elbow rested on the car door and was running her fingers through a large curl. She turned her head toward me and smiled.
“I know.”
She kept her smile wide and her green eyes on mine.
“Well, are you gonna’ make me beg Jules?”
“No, there’s no need baby.”
“So you’ll be there?” I asked, hopeful yet skeptical.
She laughed out loud. “I didn’t quite say that Elliott.”
“Jules! Come on! Please?” I begged anyway, knowing full well that Jules didn’t do anything she didn’t want to.
She was a firecracker, literally and figuratively.
“I would love nothing more than to watch you play, but I have a feeling that showing people at school who we are to each other today will cause enough of a brouhaha. Let’s take this one step at a time, shall we?”
“By people, do you mean Taylor Williams? And Marisa Hartford?”
“And Jesse Thomas doesn’t seem to be that fond of me either. I just don’t want to ruffle any feathers. If you lost this game, they’d all be screaming ‘Yoko’ my direction until we graduated. Football is like a religion here baby and I’m not too keen on being the only one labeled sacrilegious.”
“Jules, that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard but listen, although I’d love it if you came, I can’t nor do I want to make you.”
That was a lie. If I could have made her, I would have.
“Thank you sweetheart. Don’t worry. I’ll be cheering, no pun intended, for you from our kitchen table at home. Old reliable local channel nineteen.”
