What You Don't See

An Ex-Girlfriend

"You look..." Chase trailed off looking me up and down. "Different." He decided.

I stood in front of him trying to formulate words but all I could do was blink.

"What are you doing here?" I leaned in to ask finally.

"Well I could ask you the same question." He chuckled.

"My cousin goes to school around here." I explained hoping this conversation would end before I started crying.

Suddenly a tall boy who looked about my age wrapped his arm around me.

"Hey babe, I've been looking everywhere for you." He looked at me and kissed my cheek. The face he gave me was encouraging me to go along with it.

So I did.

"Sorry I've just been walking around saying hi to people?" I said uneasily. Not really sure if what I was doing was wrong.

"You two are dating?" Chase asked the guy next to me looking confused.

Well that makes two of us.

"Yeah actually." I answered before he had a chance to. "Do you guys know each other?"

"Yeah Chase and I go way back." The boy said staring straight into his eyes. "How do you two know each other?" He pointed at us.

"Oh we just play soccer together." I responded looking at Chase directly.

I noticed the hurt on his face at how I explained our relationship. We'd been friends since the over 4 years and I felt a tinge of guilt for saying it.

"Anyway let's go get a drink. See ya Chase." The boy said leading me out of the crowd.

"Yeah see ya." He replied before I was out of ear-shot. I looked back to see Chase staring at the spot where we once were. I wanted more than anything, to run over and kiss his face off until I realized there was a stranger holding my hand. I yanked it back and he spun around to face me with a smirk.

He extended his hand "I'm Brian."

I grabbed his hand and shook it roughly "Brooke."

He chuckled "You've got a firm handshake Brooke."

"What the hell was that back there?" I asked in the nicest way possible, ignoring his comment.

Brian grabbed my hand again and pulled me over to an open area where I could hear him better.

The patch of grass was was lit up by tiny white lights surrounding us. When he moved out of the crowd I finally got the chance to see what he looked like and I noticed he looked familiar. I studied his face for a moment and admired how soft his brown eyes were.

"You looked like you needed help over there." His voice brought me back from my thoughts. "With Chase I mean." He laughed.

Suddenly it hit me. "Brian Constanza." I blurted out shaking my finger at him. "You play for the Grizzlies, we played you three weeks ago." A smile started to tug up on my lips.

He chuckled and nodded at me in amusement. "Yeah how could I forget? I got slide tackled by a girl."

I smirked at him recalling the memory.

It was about thirty seconds before half-time and the Twin Creek high school Grizzlies were already up by two. I knew this game wasn't going to be easy because the Grizzlies are ranked number 3 in the state.

I had my attention focused on their center forward. He was good. Really good. I remembered Chase telling me about him.

He had gained control of the ball and my adrenaline pumped, readying me. In one swift motion I swung my feet forward and broke his contact with the ball. In an attempt to regain control, he flew forward landing on his face.