Game Changer

TEN

TEN—TODD

As I settled behind the line, on the ten yard line, I felt nerves flutter through my body. I wasn't nervous about the game going on. I wasn't nervous that if I fucked this up, we would lose this game. Football didn't make me nervous. Football was the one thing I knew that I couldn't mess up. As long as I stayed fit and healthy, football and I would go hand-in-hand. It was everything else that I usually screwed up. The reason for my nerves this time was because Mona wasn't at the game. The reason she wasn't at the game was because she was at the airport, picking up her two closest friends, from California. Her friend Alicia didn't bother me. I could charm anyone with a vagina. As long as she wasn't a lesbian, I'd be golden. It was Daniel that had my nerves running high. I didn't give a damn if he didn't like me, but I didn't like the idea of Mona spending time with the person who took her virginity.

I called for the snap, pushing my pansy-ass feelings to the side, long enough to run the play. I could see Kelvin open in the end zone and I let the ball fly. A moment later, the crowd erupted and the buzzer sounded. We'd won the game in the final seconds. Kelvin ran over and we smacked each other's helmets, while out teammates hooted and hollered, jumping around, excitedly. The party, which was at Kelvin's tonight, would be hopping with energy. In the past, I'd get off on that, because I knew that I'd have easy pickings for seduction tonight. I had Mona now, so I didn't need that. I still couldn't believe how quickly she'd toppled the walls I'd erected around myself. I'd only known her for a couple months and we'd only been officially dating for one of those months, yet she'd become irreplaceable to me.

We calmed down enough to shake hands with the other team. I could feel for them. They thought they'd had the game won, as we'd trailed all night. My team had a confidence problem when we got behind so early in a game and often times I had trouble pulling us out of it, but you could never count us out. Later, in the locker room, while I let water beat down on my sore muscles, my nerves spiked again, as I wondered what Mona was doing at that moment. We'd made arrangements to just meet up at Kelvin's party and she'd be bringing her friends along. I kept picturing good ole' Daniel opening doors for her or laying down over a mud puddle, so Mona wouldn't step in it. I knew I was being ridiculous, but I couldn't help this feeling of unease.

"Anybody want to place bets that I can seduce Mona's friend Alicia tonight?" Kelvin asked, as he shut off the water, in the stall next to me.

I forced a chuckle, "No bet. From what Mona has said I think you and Alicia will get along just fine."

"About this Daniel guy? He's the one that popped Mona's cherry, right?" Kelvin asked.

"Damn it, Drake! Keep your big mouth shut!" I hollered and heard him yell back his weak-ass apology.

"Don't sweat it, Dude. Mona digs you. You've got nothing to worry about." Kelvin said, reassuringly.

I kept running those words and positive thoughts through my mind while I finished my shower and then got dressed. I went straight to Kelvin's to help him prepare for the party. His mom wasn't the best housekeeper, so his house always needed a good sprucing before Kelvin felt comfortable having people over. That was one of the reasons why a party at Kelvin's was so rare, besides the fact that his parents rarely left town, but the cleaning was just too much work. I had to take another shower at Kelvin's because I felt so gross after all the cleaning. If only dad knew, he'd be pissed that I didn't help out more at home.

As people began to arrive, I went into the kitchen, where I took a couple shots, trying to calm my nerves. Every person that entered, that wasn't Mona had my stomach flipping around even more, so I took a couple more shots. By the time I lost track of the number I'd had, Mona finally walked in. The girl who walked in with her was definitely Kelvin's type. Hell, before Mona, she would have been my type. She was petite, with brownish red hair, and had this sassy air about her that I knew Kelvin would eat up with spoon. Her skin tight top and mini-skirt wouldn't hurt either.