Wild Horses

Chapter 17

After seeing Christian near the fence, my insides gnawed at myself, and I had a sort of hollow feeling. I had to put my past behind me, and plan ahead for the future. Bryan was a big support, helping me with homework on the nights I was go damned fed up with the world, or if I just didn't understand something. Most of the guys were pretty ignorant to me except Chris, and the tackle, Rob Light. He helped me improve even more. After I knew all the plays inside and out, coach set me up with Rob to work on the concept of getting sacked.

I tried to dodge Rob, but he jumped on top of me and coach blew his whistle.

"Get Up Haven!" Coach yelled.

"Let's run it again." Rob gave me his hand, and pulled me up. I groaned.

"Thanks" I muttered and proceeded to get sacked again. It took 13 more tries until I got it, and when I did, coach screamed with approval. Rob gave me a high five.

"Nice job Hay." He said. Hay was my adopted nickname for him. Practice had just ended, and the playoff game was three days away. I gave him a big hug, and we walked up to the locker rooms together, parting at the Women's and Men's locker rooms.

"See you later Hay." I waved goodbye.

After stripping myself of my gear, I eyed my body in one of the full-length mirrors in the locker room. In just my underwear and bra, half my body was covered in bruises. I heard the locker room door creak open, and Caroline bounded in like a puppy on hardwood floors.

"Wow." She said as she got a good look at my body.

"Pretty nasty, huh?" I asked her. She nodded with a blank expression, something was up.

"What have you come here to converse about?" I asked her, trying, and epically failing, to sound regal and smart.

"I'm bored, can I come over to your house to eat all your Doritos and drink all your Coke?"

"Sure, Bryan is picking me up in five; you can raid the pantry while I take a shower."

"Deal!" She squealed.

"My mom buys organic, a grocery term for twice as expensive." We left the locker room, and Bryan was just pulling into the school lot. He parked and I climbed in the front seat. Leaving Caroline in the back. His dog-tags jingled as he bent down to pick up something he had dropped. The keys, I noted. Bryan put the car in drive, and we started the short drive home. When we got home, Leanne was sitting on the sofa, and went over and kissed her.

"Get a room!" Caroline laughed out.

She grabbed food and drinks, and I grabbed a towel from the linen closet.

I made Caroline sit on my bed and eat the Doritos one by one to reduce risk of choking.

"So, are you and Christian broken up?" Caroline asked me and I sighed, the topic I was hoping to avoid.

"Yup." I said. Better get it out now then later.

"So you are single now?" She pressed.

"Yes!" I almost yelled at her.

"Anyways, the party for being in the playoffs and all, Chris caught up to me to invite us both. His house, Friday night."

"I'll be there; it's time to get out." I said and she smiled.

"And because I am such a new free spirit, layer my makeup on as whorish as you want."

She gave me the devil's smile, and I returned it.

Friday morning rolled around, and I managed to get out of bed, throw some toast in the toaster, and grab the peanut butter out of the cabinet. The toast popped up and I grabbed a knife from the silver ware drawer, spreading the peanut butter as evenly as possible. I ate quickly and went back to my room to get dressed. Inside my closet, which had been moved around, were all my fall clothes, finally! I grabbed a pair of skinny jeans, a peach colored blouse, and my Uggs. My flat iron had been heating up while I ate breakfast and it greeted me with a burn. After my hair smelled burned, the bathroom felt heated, and double-checking my makeup, brushing my teeth and hair and grabbing my bag, I headed down stairs to wait for Bryan and watched the news in the process. It was long and boring, and he trudged down eventually.

"What took you so long?" I asked him.

"Just getting ready for the ladies." I made a face.

"If you weren't my sister, you know you would be attracted to me." He said and struck a ridiculous pose.

"Just get the car started" I said and we walked out to the car.

"Hey." Caroline said as I got out of shotgun and faced Bryan.

"Haven and I are going to the party tonight, so don't pick her up from school."

"Okay, just be safe Caroline." He said and winked at me, probably sending me the same message.

"I will, I will." She said and dragged me of to first period.

I had gotten used to ignoring Christian in classes now and when we had study, I just plugged in my iPod and did all my homework that had been assigned so far. After finishing my homework, I snuck a glance over at Christian. He was looking at something with a sad look. When the bell rang, signaling class was over, I hurried along to my next class with a bad feeling in my gut, or maybe it was the bruise Rob gave me.

Practice was cancelled today, due to thunder and lightning storms, so Caroline and I had more time to get ready for the party. I quickly called up my dad and got the O.K. for a sleepover and grabbed a bag together. She got out a black dress of hers, which was very low cut and very short. It was all leather, and I wore leather lace-up wedges that seemed to be about ten feet high. She did my makeup strongly against my normal choice, and teased my hair to one side. Caroline drove us, and as soon as we got to Chris' house, we could tell it was going to be fun. He had a big house. A wet t-shirt contest was going on, along with beer pong, and some other things we hadn't seen yet.

Chris came outside as spotted us.

"Caroline! Haven! Glad you could make it!" He kissed both of us on the cheek and led us inside to get a tour of the house. After that was done, I spotted a keg and signaled to Caroline to grab a drink because the music was almost too loud to be heard. For a while I danced with Caroline and a couple of the wasted football players.

"Man, you are fucking amazing." Jacob, our school's, tight-end said as I was dancing with him.

"Thanks." I said. I spotted Chris in the crowd and we headed upstairs to talk where we could actually here each other. There were a couple couples in the room, but they were either half-naked or sleeping. Too busy to notice us.

"So, having fun? He asked me.

"Fuck yeah!" I slurred. He smiled with approval.

I don't know what made me do it, whether the situation, or the alcohol, I kissed him. His lips tasted like beer. We kissed for a while, and vaguely heard some other couple come upstairs, but I kept my eyes closed, focusing on him.

"You know I've always liked you." He said.

"You were...... different. In a good way." I kissed him again.

"You smell REALLY good." I said. He laughed.

"Thanks." I saw Caroline grinding with Rob, and I beckoned her over. She said words that were un-hearable and walked over to me.

"Where have you been?" She asked me.

"Ready to go anytime soon?" She asked me. I smiled.

"Not a chance." It was time to start over.

"Hey! Wait up!" Chris yelled as I was walking to my car after practice the next day.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"You wanna go grab a coffee?"

"Sure." I said. We drove over to Starbucks in our separate cars and met in the parking lot.

"So how do you think you feel about playoffs?" Chris asked me as we were sipping our coffees. He insisted to pay for mine, even though I profusely refused.

"I think we have a chance, just not as good as without Bryan."

"I agree. Your brother was the best player I've ever seen."

'Let's toast, to Bryan." I said and raised my coffee cup.

"To Bryan." He echoed and we clinked our cups together.

We went our separate ways after a while and I went home the long way. A lot had happened these past couple months. I had become a different person.