Scars

Football Games and the Scrawny Boy

"I'll be back around eight to pick her up" I told Nick in a monotonous tone.

Nick smirked, Ren tight in his arms. "Where are you going tonight?" He asked me as if he didn't at all noticed I was angry with him.

"None of your business" I snapped at him like a child.

Nick put up his free hand in surrender. "Wow, Brin. What's up?" His smirk only made me more annoyed, causing me to cross my arms in frustration. "Oh wait! You're still mad because you kissed me?"

That set me off. "I kissed you? You're kidding right? You're the one who kissed me!"

Nick laughed, "True, but as I remember it, you kissed me back." Ren started laughing as well. I rolled my eyes and walked off down the hallway. Anyways, I had to get to school.

The whole way there, I couldn't stop thinking about what he had told me that night. "Brin, I'm still in love with you" wasn't the kind of thing that slipped your mind so easily. But what bothered me most is that he didn't remember anything he had told me then. He has no idea I know he's still attracted to me. It made me sort of uncomfortable to know that he loved me without me knowing, but at the same time, me knowing and not being able to love him back.

Kristie waited for me in first period, her feet on my chair even though it was a known fact that no one wanted to sit where I have been anyways. "We still going to the football game tonight?" she asked me as I sat down.

"Yeah. Of course."

***

It was freezing and the metal bleachers didn't do us any justice. I was glad Sam was there to put his arms around me and be my only source of warmth. Sure the football game was interesting, but I was much more occupied by the arms around my shoulders and the lips kissing my forehead every once in a while.

From what I could hear according to the crowd around me, our team was winning. Unless the stands liked cheering when the other team scored.

Kristie seemed to be half asleep in her boyfriend's arms, and her boyfriend seemed to be content with just that. But I had to be curious of how the noise around us didn't affect her in the least.

The crowd cheered once more, and I decided the game might be interesting enough to look at. The players were scrambling across the field and taking positions I didn't understand. I could feel Sam's chest move as he chuckled at my confused expression. "What?"

"You don't understand this game at all, do you?" He laughed again.

I shook my head, "Not even in the slightest bit." Sam laughed yet again and pecked my forehead lightly. He placed his chin on top of my head and held me closer to him. That's when I saw him.

"Holy crap, Kristie, it's the scrawny boy." I said turning to her.

She shot straight up. "The one who threw that football at you? Ha where?" Kristie looked around, leaving James sitting behind her, his arms empty and his face confused. She caught sight of him as he took his position on the field. I was surprised they were even letting him play at all. The team must have been far enough ahead that they could afford to lose a couple points.

I looked up at the clock, which stated that there was only a minute and four seconds until half-time. A whistle blew and the ball was passed around a few times, giving scrawny boy a wide berth. The ball made it a couple yards before it the guy carrying it but the dust. Then the timer buzzed as annoyingly loud as it could possibly be.

All of the players, yelling and jumping up and down/ on top of each other, filed noisily into the locker rooms. People around us started to get up and walk around, which made Kristie feel like she needed to live up to them. "Brin, let's go catch the guy when he comes back out."

"Why? What would you say?" I asked, trying to avoid as much confrontation as possible.

Kristie waited a moment as she thought about it. She shrugged, "Not sure. Guess we'll have to make it up as we go." She grabbed me by the hand before I could protest and pulled me to my feet. The two boyfriends sat there awkwardly, suddenly unsure of what to do then with their hands.

I was quickly pulled down the bleachers to the entrance to the locker room under the bleachers. It didn't take long for the boys, more excited than they were before, to come back out, making inhumane noises and punching each other in the stomachs. It was quite a sight to see actually. At the very back of the gaggle was none other than scrawny boy himself. Kristie decided to pounce.

He looked as if he had just snapped out of a daze as she tried to get his attention. He looked around himself to see if we were really calling him, but even after he noticed no one around him, he still seemed to be convinced two girls were not calling him over. Kristie had given up and ran to him, cutting him off from the chain of jocks headed onto the field.

He was at a loss of words as she spoke, "Hey you were that guy at practice a couple of days ago weren't you? You almost hit her with a football. Oh well hi I'm Kristie and this is Brin." She finally took a breath, and sighed, waiting for an answer.

The boy was only a couple inches taller than me and the lights above and his helmet made it hard to tell the details of his face. "uh... I-I'm sorry about t-that" he stammered as if he was aware I could beat him to a pulp if I wanted to. "See I, uh, was sending a pass and it kind of went..." he tried to explain hurriedly, but was at a loss of words.

I stopped him. "It's okay. No big deal." He looked relieved and I could hear him sigh quietly.

I felt a presence behind us approach and I turned to find James coming up behind Kristie and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. He was fully aware scrawny boy was there, hence what came after. "Hey, babe" He said loud enough for him to hear. She smiled and he placed a long and "passionate" kiss on her lips. His face was proof that the reaction from scrawny boy was satisfactory.

Scrawny boy's face seemed to deflate some and his eyes shifted to the ground.

James and Sam must have timed it perfectly because in that moment, two hands slipped around my waist and a pair of lips pressed against the top of my head. "Hey, babe" he said in the same way James had. Definitely planned. I decided to let him have his fun. I turned around only to meet his lips, warm in the freezing weather, pressing against mine.

The boy was now, starting to inch away, his face completely deflated of all enthusiasm at this point. James stopped him. "Who's this?" he asked as if he had just noticed him standing there.

"Oh this is, uh..." Kristie tried to explain, but fell short.

"Cook" the boy filled in.

"Oh yeah, this is Cook, and almost nailed Brin with a football the other day" she said as-a-matter-of-factly. The two boys looked him up and down, only making him even more nervous.

"I gotta, uh, go" Cook tried, but inadequately failed.

"Now? Half time isn't over for at least six more minutes. You've got plenty of time" said Sam in a sarcastic tone.

James continued on in the same tone, "Yeah. Stick around. Better yet, come get pizza with us after the game. On us, of course. It'll be fun."

Cook stammered again, "Uh, um, sure."

"Cool," Sam said releasing his arms from me. Cold seeped slowly back into my bones. "I would love to be there for that but my brother needs me to pick him up from his girlfriend's. I'm really sorry, Brin. I'll make it up to you."

"It's alright" I said, accidentally shivering slightly. This accident in particular caused the most cliché boyfriend scene of them all. That's right: the sweatshirt giveaway. He quickly lifted his grey NCU sweatshirt over his head. I laughed as he helped me pull it on. With his sweatshirt, oversized was an understatement. I had to roll up the sleeves a little to even remotely find my fingers, and the hem reached nearly halfway down my thighs.

I didn't try and protest against his leaving me with his sweatshirt and leaving himself with a thin tee. He pecked me on the cheek and said, "I'll see you later." Then he walked off, leaving the four of us standing there awkwardly.

The buzzer rang then and Cook, finally finding an excuse to bolt, bolted towards the field.