Touchdown Boy

Chapter Six

The next morning, Tom was skating to school with his best friend. He had been thinking about the bet, wondering if it was too late to call it off without having to pay $200, when Mark snapped him out of his thoughts.

            "Dude, I'm so fucked," Mark complained. Tom was thrown off by Mark's statement. If anyone was fucked, it was Tom, and not in a good way. "What the hell am I going to do, man?"

            Tom continued to look at the sidewalk to make sure he didn't wipeout. "What are you talking about?"

            "You know...with what happened with Skye," Mark answered. Tom had no idea what Mark was talking about. "Dude, do you ever listen to me?"

            Tom grinned at his friend.  "Sorry, I've been thinking about how to get laid."

            "Of course you were," Mark mumbled. "When do you ever not?"

            "But you have my full attention now," Tom said, kicking off of the sidewalk for more speed.

            "So, Skye called me last night..." Mark trailed off. Tom looked over and saw Mark starting to blush.

            "Yeah? Good for you, man," Tom congratulated. Although if that meant Skye had confessed her feelings for Mark before Mark did, then he owed Travis ten bucks. Tom frowned slightly, but was still happy for Mark.

            "Um...yeah...not really," Mark muttered. Tom raised an eyebrow. "It started out...fine. She was flirting with me, which was kind of weird and out of character but I wasn't complaining."

            Tom bit his lip to try to stop himself from laughing at his friend. "Oh? And how exactly was she flirting?"

            Mark scowled, "Shut up. Anyway, I told her that I had a crush on her for a long time."

            "And....? Why is that a bad thing?" Tom asked, curiosity evident on his face. "She was the one flirting with you, dude."

            "I know," Mark sighed. "But right after I said that, she hung up." Tom winced.

            "Ouch. Sorry, man. That sucks," Tom empathized.

            "I just don't know how I'm going to face her today. Why would she even do that? She must like me back right? That's why she called me?" Mark asked desperately. Tom shrugged.

            "It could be that," Tom reasoned. "Or it could have been a dare or something. Maybe the girls made their own bet." Tom smirked but Mark winced, not finding the situation funny at all.

            "Yeah...about that," Mark started, a sheepish expression on his face.

            "What the hell did you do?" Tom demanded. It was bad enough that the bet was made in the first place but if Mark did something to make it even harder, Tom was going to strangle him.

            "Well, I might have accidently told Skye about the bet."

            "How the fuck do you accidently tell someone something like that?" Tom was annoyed and angry, but he knew Mark was unpredictable around Skye. He would be lying if he said he didn't expect something like that to happen.

            "She might not have told Addison," Mark reasoned, trying to calm Tom down. Tom just rolled his eyes. Girls tell each other everything, Tom knew that much at least.

            Tom didn't have the heart to yell at Mark though, what with what happened to him last night. If Skye did tell Addison about the bet, it would be harder for Tom to win because she was expecting him to make a move. But, it wouldn't necessarily be impossible. He would just have to take things slower with Addison. He had time after all, four months to be exact.

            The two boys got off their skateboards as they approached the school and carried them under their arms. They headed straight for the senior lounge, not bothering to stop at their lockers. They figured they could just keep their skateboards in the lounge, why bother to walk out of their way to their lockers? The two sat down on one of the couches their group had claimed. Travis and Billie Joe were already seated on the other couch.

            "Where's Adrienne?" Tom asked. It was rare to see one of the lovebirds by themselves. In fact, Billie Joe drove Adrienne to school every morning, so this was a strange occurrence.

            "The girls had a sleepover last night at Skye's," Billie Joe answered. "I think Noelle's driving them."

            Tom sent a sympathetic look to Mark at the mention of a sleepover. That meant that the call most likely had been a dare and not Skye confessing her undying love for Mark. Even though Tom felt bad for Mark, he thought Mark kind of deserved it for telling Skye about the bet in the first place. His mind wandered back to what he had been thinking about earlier this morning: Addison. Tom knew he would have to ask her out first; Tom figured they'd have to be dating in order for Addison to reciprocate Tom's actions. He had thought about asking her to Mark's party but now he wondered if Friday was too soon, now that she probably knew about the bet. He hoped she would come to the lounge this morning, unlike yesterday, so that he could talk to her.

            As if on cue, the door to the lounge opened and in walked four girls. But Tom didn't react and continued to examine his hands while thinking about the bet.

            "Fuck," Billie Joe muttered.  

"Is that-" Mark started to ask.

"No way," Billie Joe answered. Tom looked up to see who had entered the senior lounge that induced such a reaction. As soon as he saw, he knew what the guys were talking about, or more like who they were talking about.

"Holy shit."