The Bartender and The Injured

Prologue: Kaylee

Prologue:

Kaylee

"And it's possible. Last two minutes of the game. Lost. Ridgetown scores another touchdown. Impossible but amazing! Croweville loses," the announcer spoke.

It truly was impossible. How could this have happened? We should not have lost! I knew what this meant. Luke lost his chance at playing. With a bad knee and a bad attitude, his chances at getting sponsored were now out the door. All he had to do was win this game. It was clear now that that chance had been stolen from right under his nose tonight.

I don't know why I even decided to come tonight. Just to see this? Definitely not worth it. Yet I still waited for Luke, knowing that he would be pissed and aggravated. I was hoping I would at least get to make sure he was okay. The guys all left the locker room, some with shirts, some without, but all lost in morale.

45-7. Final score. The two worst numbers our school saw this season. We were undefeated. That was the main reason we shouldn't have lost, but somehow we did.

So as I waited, knowing he'd be a while, I wondered. What would he look like? Would he be angry, upset, sad? I wondered. And then wished I hadn't.

Luke came out of the locker room with the worst expression I've ever seen on his face in the last nine years I'd known him.

It wasn't even sad, or angry. It was a façade, that much I could realize. He looked tough, his crew cut glistening with the water from his shower. His shorts hung on his hips and his white wife beater let me see every single muscle his body had.

But his facial expression stood out to me the most. He was tough, but if you looked into his eyes, you would realize that they were glistening because he wanted to cry, and realize that he was resigned.

I knew what would come next. I'd heard the stories around school. It was normal for seniors to have parties and drink and do drugs after a game. It was all good and fun, celebration. It was an after-party when we lost that things got dangerous. The drinking became excessive and people fainted. The drugs were taken in high amounts, making overdosing way too common.

And so I feared for this guy. I'd known him for too long not to. I'd even been his best friend at some point in our lives. That was before we drifted apart. Now, out of nowhere, I decide to come to this football game, the one that I wouldn't get to see him at his full potential. Because to say the truth, we'd never been this out of control on the field.

Our team was good. And Luke, although he wasn't the quarterback, still held a major role in the team. He was the one that gave people morale, headed pep rallies and always had a smile on his face. I looked up to him when I saw how big a role he had.

I was smart, always smiling and laughing, even at my own expense. But not in the same way he did. I laughed because I loved it. Luke acted like everything depended on him being happy for everyone else. I fit more with the nerds than with the jocks. We didn't talk enough for Luke to know much about me anymore.

And now, as he exited the locker room, I honestly wished that he did know me again, just so that I could be there for him. No one else waited for him. Everyone was focused on their own loss. And I was scared that with everything riding on this one game, Luke would become one of those casualties at house parties.

But I quickly stored that thought away. I had to get to work. With one last glance at his sorrowful face, and bruised body, I left.