Caught in Haze

Chapter Seven

Five weeks of summer break went by faster than I wish it had.

Casey and I spent most of our time splayed across the couch in the living room binge watching TV like our lives depended on it. When we weren't doing that, I was either training or working out, getting ready for pre-season while Casey finished her online classes for the summer.

We really didn't venture out much outside of that. All our other friends had either gone on family vacations or left town to pursue their adult lives and I am envious of them.

I'm ready. Ready to start my life. Ready to prove myself on the collegiate level. Ready to make my name mean something.

For now though, I'm stuck training on the same field I've used for the last four years. I've been out here for about two hours already today. I don't normally stay out here this long but I had to get away from Casey and her nasty opinions about Derek Shepherd from Grey's Anatomy.

Safe to say we will never see eye to eye when it comes to men.

I jogged forward with the ball at my feet occasionally doing a quick move to get past a cone I was using as a pretend defender. After beating all said defenders I shot the ball into the top right corner of the goal and grinned at the satisfying way the net rippled.

My grin instantly faded when I heard someone begin to slow clap behind me. I spun around with a confused look on my face. I had been the only one out here the last time I checked.

To my surprise there stood Noah dressed in training gear with a smile on his face and a ball at his feet.

He looks different. Tanner maybe? Stronger?

Whatever it is, he is radiating confidence I have never seen on him before.

"Nice shot Walker." He said, stopping his slow clapping.

I couldn't help but smile at him.

"Noah!" I grinned and ran over to him.

When I reached him I jumped into his arms, wrapping my arms around his neck. Both of us laughed as we hugged each other just happy to be in each other's presence.

Practicing alone has been a lot less fun with him being gone all summer.

"Hi" He said softly into my ear.

His arms pulled me into him tighter immediately making me swoon. He definitely seems a lot stronger after his training camp. I mean he has always been strong but I can literally feel the muscles in his torso tense against my body through his shirt. Kinda makes me wish he wasn't wearing his shirt.

Don't drool on him Charlie.

I pulled out of his arms to get my dirty thoughts under control and smiled shyly at him.

Noah Haze has always seemed like the innocent type. I wouldn't even be surprised if he was a virgin. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just point it out because I...

I am not a virgin to say the least.

Leaving a teenager to their own devices for a year is not the greatest idea if you don't want them to be sexually active.

I really don't want to make him uncomfortable with my dirty thoughts.

"How was camp?" I asked him, still genuinely happy to see him.

His golden eyes took in my face like we haven't seen each other in years.

"It was great. All the guys are pretty excited for the world cup next year. Coaches say I'm a lot closer to making the roster than I realized." He said, shifting awkwardly on his feet. He has always been incredibly humble so for him to bring this up means he's excited about this. As he should be.