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Jensen nodded, continuing to eat. “Yup.”
“Yeah. Well, this is my chance to prove it will be a career and I’ll be able to take care of her. He’ll respect me if I don’t yank her out of school early.”
Jensen’s eyebrows shot up, as the bus doors closed. “You think so? He’ll think you’re a selfish bastard to choose soccer over his daughter and you know it, Chase.”
He was right, but I’d never be happy pushing a pencil, and I didn’t want to resent my life. “I know, but what can I do? I don’t want to be a fucking banker.”
“I know. It’s a bitch for sure. But get one thing clear… you won’t be ‘letting her’ do shit. You’re acting as if you’re the only one who gets input on this decision. Have you met Teagan Tessler?”
I could see respect and admiration for Teagan in his eyes, and I could hear it in the tone of his voice. We were all good friends and I was thankful we were friends. He’d be here to watch over her for me in my absence and it made me feel easier. He and I met her at the same party at the beginning of my sophomore year, though I’d seen her around campus a couple of times before that.
She was a nursing student and I was in business so outside of a few cores, we didn’t share classes. She was happy and laughing, her dark brown eyes sparkling. Her body was softly seductive, gently curving in all the right places, and slender, but it was her face and personality that drew me to her. I spent half the night staring at her from across the room, mesmerized by how perfect she was. I’d never been nervous around girls, but I was with her, and I was determined not to fuck it up.
In the end, it was Jensen who walked up to her, tapped her on the shoulder and with his usual casual confidence, turned; pointing in my direction, said a few words, and then wearing a casual smile; waved me over. He’d cornered me, but what could I do? I wanted to crawl under a rock, but if I didn’t want to look like an asshole, I had no choice to go over and say hello. Her beautiful face lit up when she smiled, Jensen left us alone, and the rest was history. We were inseparable after that night; instantly crazy for each other.
“Yes. I get what you’re saying, J, but she’s also the smartest person I know. Her heart might want to follow me to Europe, but her brain will know she has to finish school. We have to look at the big picture.”
My friend could see the sadness behind my words, and he nodded solemnly. “You’re a stronger man than me. I could never leave a woman like that.”
“It isn’t what I want, man. I could be selfish and beg her to come along. She would, but she deserves her degree, and to not alienate her dad. We have the rest of our lives to be together. The time will fly by.” Even as I said the words, I knew I was lying to myself. Joining Arsenal and traveling would be amazing, playing professional ball against the best teams on the planet would be the experience of a lifetime, but I would miss my girl more than I wanted to face. It would be hell and I’d seen more than one long-distance relationship fall to crap.
Jensen was right, I owed it to Teagan to ask her what she felt and make her tell me the truth, and then figure it out. I told myself right then and there, that if she didn’t want me to go, I wouldn’t.
TEAGAN
My hand touched my stomach below my navel knowing it was too soon to notice anything different about my body; too soon to feel any fluttering of life.
Less than a month ago, the condom Chase and I were using broke and the entire tip of it came off inside me; Chase had to get it out using his long fingers. I prayed, we both did, that we wouldn’t get pregnant. We loved each other and I had no doubt that, one day, we’d be married, but this wasn’t the time. We were both in college, Chase had big dreams of a professional soccer career, and my father would never forgive me. I shuttered at the thought.
I lost my mother in a car accident when I was fifteen, and Dad and I only had each other. He’d been my whole world until I met Chase. I was not concerned about Chase’s family being supportive; I knew they would be. He had the perfect nuclear family that all rallied around each other and would help out, but my dad… another story completely. My face crumpled as I sank down on the edge of the bed. I didn’t want to disappoint him, but I was going to have a child, and to get an abortion was not something I wanted to consider. I knew two other girls who’d done it and were fine, and one who had a nervous breakdown a year later.
My best friend in high school got pregnant on prom night and she had her sister take her to another state that allowed underage abortions without parental consent. It was as if she’d never even gotten pregnant at all. Life went on. No one knew. Maybe it was the best decision for Shelly because the guy was a loser who left her high and dry, but Chase would never do that to me. I knew I could count on him; so much, he’d give up anything or everything to do the right thing for me. I closed my eyes and two fat tears squeezed out from behind my closed lids and tumbled unceremoniously down my cheeks.
I felt so guilty. He only had one semester left, but I had three, and I was scared what my dad would do. If he kicked me out now, Chase would have to give up his scholarship and get a job to support us. We already stayed together most of the time, but we’d need a bigger place to live with a baby, and for sure, my father wouldn’t help and his family wouldn’t be able to.
Dad was already so down on Chase because he dared to want a professional soccer career when he thought he should get, to use his words; “a real job” since soccer was a “pipe dream that had an ice cube’s chance in hell of paying the bills.” He had no reservations about pointing that out whenever my boyfriend was around.
I could see the defeat written all over Chase whenever my father would lecture him about it, and how every time he had to be around my dad, he steeled himself for the onslaught that would always follow.
I hated that this would only make their relationship worse. Already, it was so awful that it made me uncomfortable. I mean, how could my dad not see in Chase, the amazing, hardworking guy that I saw? It blew my mind. Chase was incredible in every way and I couldn’t love him more, or be prouder of him. He woke up at 5 AM to work out and do extra drills to hone his soccer skills, and he kept a 3.5 GPA to keep his scholarship at Clemson. He’d graduate debt free, and he did every bit of it on his own. His family didn’t have money, he didn’t have the privileges growing up that I did, but he did have amazing parents that were behind him one hundred percent. He should be admired, not chastised.
And now… this. My heart was breaking. My father would place all the blame for the pregnancy on Chase, and the chasm between them would only get worse. I loved and admired my dad. It was just him and I against the world for years, but Chase was everything I wanted and needed for the rest of my life. I didn’t know how I’d ever be happy without either one, but Chase never asked me to choose.
My phone rang, breaking me out of my thoughts. I quickly brushed the tears away with both hands as I ran to rummage through my purse to pick it up. I’d thrown the purse down on the desk after coming back to the hotel after Chase’s game ended.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Hey, babe,” Chase’s soothing, but weary voice came through the line.
“Hi, there. I’m so proud of you. MVP.” My heart was smiling, despite my internal struggle.
“Not a big deal,” he brushed off the honor like it was nothing. “We’re on our way back, now. Are you hungry?”
I wasn’t really. My stomach was in knots. I needed to tell him about the baby, but he deserved a night to bask in the win. “A little. Do you want to celebrate? You have to be tired. You were up and down that field like a crazy man today.” I tried my best to clear the tears from my voice. “And that one aerial kick; I was afraid you’d break your neck when you landed.” He’d flown into the air to kick the ball o, and backward, into the goal and then crashed to the ground hard. The attempt was good, the crowd roared, and Chase got up as if he hadn’t just dropped straight onto his back.
“I am tired. Maybe just a low-key dinner, and then an early night,” he said. “Just us.”
“Maybe a rub-down?”
