That One Shot

The Whole Shebang

Chapter One

    "Every goal I block, you have to answer any question I choose to ask you. Every goal I miss, I have to answer.  Got it?"  Ryan looked up at me after his pronouncement, expecting me to say something brilliantly witty. 

    "You're on!" I shouted as I bobbled one of my favorite black and pink Nike soccer balls between my cleats.  "You know you're gonna lose this time Ry-Guy," I grumbled turning to face him.  "By the way, you better improve your goalie-game or else Coach is going to bench you for that new arrogant freshman that can't block even for a box of doughnuts." He turned, appalled by my choice of analogy.

    "We'll see about that, Andi," he rolled his eyes and continued gallivanting down the field to the goal. "Take your mark," he bellowed, turning and taking his stance, "get set," he paused and straightened his cleat. Shrieking, he shouted, "pummel the balls straight at this glorious face!"  I sighed.  I used to do this with my brother, but this was my first time since he went off to college.  My body ached from the frown on my face to the black and blue toenails I sported.  I sighed, thinking of the ice bath I could be enjoying at the moment, but set the wonderful thoughts aside as I began to relentlessly throw all my energy into each kick that would send a ball flying into different portions of the net in ten second intervals.  With concentration etched on both of our faces, we dove into each strategy mindset as we both tried to outwit each other. 

    "Five more," I hollered across the field.

    "But we've already done twenty-five," he whined and easily nabbed a ball that was sailing in his direction through the hot summer air.

    "Four," I cackled, sending another one in the opposite direction.

    "Andi! Stop making me run," he panted as sweat now visibly drenched his hair.

    "Three, two, one," I sent them all flying directly aimed towards him in less than three seconds.  "Done!" I jumped triumphantly, stood for a second, and collapsed sprawled out on the dry grass in the center of the field.  Trying to return my breathing to normal and calm the workout flush that had taken over my body, I began my favorite thing in the world to do: cloud gazing.  "That one looks like an octopus strangling a lawn gnome," I said, watching Ryan flop down in the grass beside me.  He snorted.

    "That one looks like a baby unicorn impaled by a narwhal." I followed his finger to a cloud that held the exact description.  He was better at this than I was.

    "Oh yeah? Well baby unicorns shouldn't be impaled by narwhals because it's mean, so stop thinking mean thoughts," I countered.  "Not bad for a new guy," I simply stated a couple minutes later before bringing my eyes back up to the clouds.

    "Not bad?" He said, looking shocked as ever, "I killed out there! My hustle was better than ever!" He stopped for a minute, then scoffed, "not bad. Really, Andi? Not bad? Is that the best you can do?" He shook his head and rolled his eyes.  "Hey, we gotta do questions now," he said as his snarky eyes ignited with excitement.

    "Fine," I said stubbornly. "But I kept score.  I got eighteen past you, and you missed twelve. And no ask-backs." I thought about telling him that I show no mercy, but I forgot about it.  No need to break the tough guy act.

    "One," he paused, for total dramatic effect. "What's your dream occupation?"  Easy, too easy.

    "Orthopedic surgeon," I stated; he gave a low whistle.

    "That's surely more school than I've ever dreamed of completing. Way to take the high road."

    "Thanks," I grinned, "all right. One. Why did you move here? I mean of all places, why Minnesota?"  I thought the question was harmless enough, but I guess it wasn't.  Frown lines etched his forehead, but quickly disappeared into the calm, giddy face that seemed to be following me everywhere.