One of the Guys

S E V E N T E E N

S E V E N T E E N : Party When It's Over

T H I R D P E R S O N

Saturday has finally arrived and the entire team is pumped for the game. Right now they are all scrunched in a charter bus heading to the field in uptown New York. Maya and the boys are on their way with bats under their eyes from getting no sleep since practice ran late yesterday.

Once the sun went completely down last night, Maya decided to take off her wig. Though there is another team still on camp, Maya didn't feel the need to worry. Plus she was too tired to even care if someone from the other team caught her. The entire team was tired as well, except the coach. As the players did too many suicides, the coach sat on the bench rubbing his old man belly.

"Does anyone have any food", Zay cries, "I didn't get any breakfast."

"And why is that", Maya asked, leaning over Zaroon so Zay could see her raising an eyebrow at him. She heard Lucas chuckle from the other side of Zay, knowing he must know and it must be funny. "Lucas?" Maya says as she shifts a bit more in her seat, still leaning over Zaroon, causing Zaroon's eyes to go wide as he stares down at Maya's hand placement on his thigh. He is still shocked that he was living under the same roof as a girl- that's not his sister- for two weeks. Zaroon ain't a ladies man, he is quite the opposite. At school if a girl asked to borrow a pencil, rubbish would come out of his mouth and his manhood would start dancing if the girl was really hot in his mind. Now a pretty blonde- once known as Ashton- who does not have her wig on or look at all like a guy at the moment has her hand resting very close to his manhood. All he can think about is the only way to move her hand away is to fart.

"Zay was in-"

"I got stuck, okay?" Zay exclaims. "It happens!" Maya smirks, wanting to hear more as Lucas tries to hold in his laughter. "I was on the toilet and-" Now, Zaroon is interested in the conversation and forgets about Maya's hand and turns to face Zay. "-I fell asleep. Lucas so happens to walk in on me taking a dump with my pants down, eyes closed-"

"And don't forget snoring", Lucas interjects.

"I do not snore!"

"Yes you do, like a pig."

Maya burst out laughing with Zaroon as they watch Zay and Lucas bicker back and forth. Soon the laughter dies down and she leans against the window, smiling at the boys. Her eyes gaze towards Lucas and their eyes lock for a second as he returns the smile.

"Zay", Maya calls, stopping him from talking, which no one was listening to.

"Yes?"

"Switch me seats."

"Why?"

"Was it a question? No. Now do it." She gave him a stern look and he nods. He stands up and scoots into the aisle of seats, waiting for Maya to take his place. She stands up and sucks in her stomach as she squeezes through the tight seat and Zaroon's feet, then plopped down next to Lucas. "Hi", she sighs, setting her hands in her seat. "I want to talk to you."

"About?" Lucas questions, laying his head back against the seat. He still has bed head and jersey is a bit wrinkled, needing a wash.

"Riley."

Lucas' body tenses as he shifts his head to face Maya with his body still laid against the seat. He takes in a big breath and then lets it out with an "oh." The last time he ever talked to Riley was through a text and he has a feeling that this conversation is what it will be about. He knows what he sent was wrong and regrets every second of it, but he was angry. He was angry at the thought of Riley cheating on him. He was angry at the thought of Riley never loving him the way he loves her. He was angry at the thought of a guy named Ashton stealing his girl. And he was angry at himself for treating Riley the way he did, but he never was angry at Riley directly. A lot was processing through his mind the day he sent that text full of lies. He knew none of it was true, but he still was stupid.