Everything with you

Part 15

Justin

The whole locker room was ecstatic; the boys wanted to celebrate our victory. We had worked our asses off this week. As usual, Nate was responsible for hosting the party as his dad was out most of the year and he was an only child, so he thrived on the party life. We couldn't go to a bar as most of our team members aren't 21. So Nate's house it was. Half our team hit the showers, and I was talking to Coach about our next match, which wasn't a home game. I headed inside after our talk when Anna came into my sight. She's still in her cheer uniform as she walks towards me.

"Hey Justin," she purrs, walking to my side.

"What do you want, Anna?" I say it irritably. I was in no mood for her mind games.

"Great game.. Wanna hang out at Nate's like old times?" She quickly moves in front of me now.

"No, Anna, I don't." I try to nudge her out of my way when she catches my jersey and pulls me in for a kiss. I am surprised by the sudden movement. It takes me a moment to collect my thoughts. The same kiss two months ago would have made me feel something, but there was nothing. Not even a slight spark. I push her away. She's surprised by my action.

"I don't want you, Anna; I have feelings for someone else. Please stop doing this. I won't have the same patience with you next time." I can see the expression on her face change from confused to cold. She doesn't say anything, but she pushes me to the side and walks away. I look up to see Nate watching me intently with his arms crossed.

"What?" I question. A grin forms in his face.

"Nothing.. just curious to know whose the mystery girl whom you have feelings for...", he stretches on the word feelings. I roll my eyes.

"Shut up." I punch him on the shoulder, which makes him laugh.

"Seriously, whose the girl?" he questions again.

"Her name's Emma. She goes to our school. She's a freshman," I say.

"Wow, if she's making you smile like an idiot, then the girl's got skills," he chuckles.

"Shut up, dude!" I say this as I walk past him into the shower stalls.

Once I'm done showering, I change into jeans and a shirt. I reach inside my bag to grab my phone. I saw a missed call from Emma. Shit! Had she come to the game? Has she already left? I quickly hit the call button. I can hear the phone ring and reach voicemail. I try again, same voicemail. My luck with Emma was as bad as it came. I can never seem to catch a break with her. I decide to send her a message asking if she came to the game and if she wants to meetup. I hit send and waited for a couple of minutes. I didn't get any response. Ash and Nate call my name, making me look up from my phone. They gestured for me to hurry up and come. I let out a sigh, put my phone in my pocket, and walked towards them. I was hoping Nate's party would cheer me up.

Four hours later, Nate's party is in full swing. I keep checking my phone to see if there's anything, but there's nothing. I grunted in frustration. Why would she call me if she hadn't come to the game? I checked the timing of her call; it was about 15 minutes after our game ended. Why wasn't she responding to my texts or calls? I had no answer to any of my questions. I grab another beer from the fridge and drink it. Beer wasn't doing anything to take my mind away, so I started going down for whiskey. After a couple of drinks, I was wasted. I ended up on the couch, and somehow two girls—a blonde and a brunette—were on my lap, whispering in my ear. I had no idea what they said. I just didn't want to think about Emma anymore. One of the girls started unbuttoning my shirt. Usually I would get excited by this scene, but now at this moment, I was livid. They weren't doing anything for me. I try to move them off my lap, but they don't seem to budge. The blonde rubs her hand over my groin in an attempt to make me hard. This makes me stand up, pushing them both off my lap simultaneously. They both stumble but make it to their feet. I move past them as the blonde shouts how full of myself I am. The brunette gives me the finger, which actually makes me smile. I turn around and head upstairs to one of Nate's empty guest bedrooms. I find one empty at the end of the hall. I lie head first in bed and let sleep take me.

Emma

He kissed her. Justin kissed Anna. I didn't know you could feel your heart break for someone you barely knew. Hayley had dragged me to our team's locker room; she practically pushed me in there to go look for him. I gathered up my courage and walked through the doors to find them there. I had hoped Justin would push her away, but he didn't. I couldn't get out of there quick enough. Hayley was surprised that I was out so soon, but as soon as she saw me near tears, she understood something was wrong.

"What happened, Em?" She questioned, clearly worried.

"They were kissing.. Justinn.. Anna." I couldn't seem to get the words out of my throat. Her face changes with understanding.

"Fuck! Fuck him, let's get out of here." She guides me back in the same way that we came. Hayley attempts to make me feel better, but I just want this day to end. Seeing them kiss made me feel like a complete loser. Did I imagine he liked me as much as I liked him? What was I thinking—that someone like him could actually want to spend time with me? My self-esteem was really not high, but now it is at an all-time low. What sucked most of all was that he actually called and texted me multiple times after I saw him in the locker room. Did he really think he could play with my feelings?

I decided to ignore it all. I put my phone on silent and toss it on my bed once we reach our dorm room. Hayley was sitting beside me.

"Wanna go out and have ice cream?" she questions. I liked the idea of forgetting about tonight and spending more time with Hayley. I nodded my head. She quickly gets up, taking me with her as we head out. Ice cream did make me feel better, but it didn't magically make me forget the night. We came back after a walk around campus, and I headed straight to bed and fell asleep quickly. It looks like I can sleep to forget my problems.

I immersed myself in work the following weeks. I ignored the messages that I got, but I did happen to see a few pictures from the afterparty. When I swiped through the pictures, I found Justin with two girls. I didn't want to see any more pictures. I quickly closed Instagram and haven't opened it since then. Hayley tried to cheer me up; we went for more ice cream, shopping, and a movie. The only good thing that happened out of this was that Hayley and I became close. We practically do everything together now. I was happy to have found a great friend in her.

During my classes, Joel goes on about how great being on the team is. I quietly listen to him without mentioning anything about Justin. I didn't really feel there was much to say anyway. I was looking forward to going to the dance studio more and more. I loved working there; it was the best part of my day. After every session ends, the kids sit on the floor, exhausted and content. Sophia, let's make them do a floor exercise, which is doing some stretches that will help them ease their muscle pain. Basically, it involves all of us lying on the floor, doing stretches, and laughing. We had a blast doing it, and it quickly became my favorite part of the day.

The conversations with my mom unfortunately didn't get better over time as I thought they would. Every time we spoke, she told me to give up my job and start focusing more on my classes. I also didn't plan on listening to her anytime soon. My dad, however, encouraged me to pursue my mind. He was honestly my saving grace; anytime my mom starts her advice, he quickly grabs the phone from her, wanting to talk about something important, which led us to talk about the most random things. As the weeks went by, Joel did invite me to a few more games, but I stayed away from the ground every single time with an excuse.

Today,as I was making my way into the studio, I noticed a new car in the parking lot. Hmm.. one of the parents must have bought a new car. I made my way inside to find the kids and Sophia doing their thing. I wave for them and head to the back of my desk. I had to order a couple of things for the upcoming classes online. I take out my laptop and quickly type in a message for my order. My desk is situated between the entrance door and the studio floor. I also had a window next to my seat with a view of the parking lot. I finish my work with the laptop and look out at the parking. I can still see the black mustang parked there and a middle-aged man, who was probably in his late 40s, pacing around with a cigarette in his hand. He had his phone in his ear and was speaking quite animatedly. I wondered who this man was; he clearly wasn't a parent who had come here before. I've met almost all the parents until now. I continued with my work, not giving too much attention to the man anymore.