AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Grace replied, “I’m not good with numbers.”
This was true. Brilliant and pre-law though she was, Grace was barely operating at an eighth grade math level. I think she might have some kind of numerical dyslexia, but it wasn’t my business.
So we turned on the house’s twinkly lights, and at the stroke of ten, the girls arrived.
They ranged in age from eighteen to twenty-two, and in experience from barely had a sip of beer, could do a half-minute keg stand.
I grabbed Grace’s sleeve, and whispered, “Listen, I don’t mind that you are doing this, but I don’t wanna babysit, okay?”
“Sure, sure,” she replied. “Take a load off.”
Besides not wanting to watch after whichever girl inevitably got too drunk, I also wanted to take the time to personally indulge. It had been a hard couple of days, ones filled with too many emotions, too many obstacles, and certainly not enough sex. I was horny and frustrated and in desperate need of a stiff drink — though I would settle for shitty beer.
One of the girls, maybe Beth, began blasting Cardi B and the pre-game quickly became full-blown ‘game.’ In less than two hours, we played beer pong, king’s cup, flip cup. I wasn’t even sure how we got through so many games, but I could tell by the contents of my stomach and the tilting world before my eyes that we most certainly had.
Drinking with the girls was always fun. They were stout partiers, always down for a dance or a dare. And for those few hours, they managed to actually take my mind off Simon. Well, them and the six or so beers I’d consumed. I guess those didn’t hurt either.
By the time we’d decided to head out, I was soused. Not tripping over myself, or barfing in the bushes, but drunk enough that I doubted my ability to kick a ball head-on. Looking around the room, it seemed that the same could be said for most of my teammates.
Well, this ought to make for an interesting practice.
“All right, ladies,” I gurgled. “Let’s go.”
At least, that was what I thought I said. In reality, it sounded closer to, “Aight laddies, leggo.”
Yeah, my words had started slurring. Yikes.
Everybody shouted their approval at my obvious intoxication, somebody grabbed the remaining case — why?! — and we headed out of the house.
It didn’t take us all that long to stumble across campus to the lesser soccer field, the practice field. Luckily for everyone involved, we were a few minutes early and Simon hadn’t shown up yet, giving Riri time to stash the beer under a nearby bench. Personally, I thought that was pretty damn conspicuous, but I was also in no place to be giving advice about… well, anything, really.
The girls gallivanted around the field while I made a half-assed attempt at stretching. As I bent down to touch my toes, I could hear some shoddy renditions of Taylor Swift’s “Love Song,” as well as some very untoward burps.
I was arising from my shaky stretch when I glimpsed Simon striding onto the field. My heart pattered, and not just from the beer.
“Heyyyy,” shouted Rose.
Neidin rejoined with, “Sup Coach?”
Even from a distance, I could see Simon raise one perfectly shaped brow, then lower it.
“Uh, I’m good,” he replied, skeptical. “Though not quite as good as you lot seem to be.”
Tanya giggled, then hiccuped.
Simon’s head turned slowly around the loose semi-circle that had formed, surveying us all.
“What’s got you all so happy?” he asked.
The circle went quiet, and with a beer-fueled confidence, I said, “We’re all just excited to be here.”
Oy. Horrible answer. Especially because it drew Simon’s blue eyes right to me. He looked away immediately, as though embarrassed to even glance in my direction. My stomach sank. Why wouldn’t he look at me? Had I done something wrong? Was he ashamed of what he’d seen last night? So many questions, so few answers.
Those eyes examined the rest of the girls, waiting for somebody else to pipe up. But they were good folks to have in the trenches, meaning that none of them revealed we’d been drinking. This agreement had been loosely formed in the DOU house. We’d agreed that we would keep our traps shut about the booze, not least of all because it would get Simon in heaps of trouble.
But I was uncertain if the freshmen would be able to lie through their teeth to Simon. Happily, they were proving me wrong — the group stayed dead silent.
“Well, okay then,” Simon said at last. “Let’s start off with a few laps around the field.”
Oh no. Running? Right, I guess I’d forgotten that was a big thing we do in soccer. The one or two girls who’d remained relatively sober took off at a speedy clip, while the rest of us stumbled behind them like horses who had thrown a shoe.
