Alaska

Chapter 7

Saturday came by sooner than I expected.

Hope let out an exasperated sigh. She's been digging through my closet for the last thirty minutes. She came over to my apartment earlier today to get ready for the game that Ian invited us to, dressed in a black and white shirt, jean skirt and black ankle boots, her mid-length platinum hair subtly curled, sporting a dark burgundy lipstick and a sharp pitch black eyeliner.

Her look was a pure perfection, but she was visibly annoyed with my closet selection. She was buried in piles of clothes, occasionally throwing some items out in hopes of putting a perfect outfit together, but growing more frustrated with each choice.

"How can you live with such limited outfit choices? I ain't a magician!" Hope threw her arms above her head in exasperation, lowering herself on my bed.

I just shrugged and stepped into my closet, carefully avoiding the piles of clothes on the floor. "You're gonna clean this up later." I muttered towards her and rummaged through my clothes.

I pulled out a few items and walked back to Hope. "What about this?"

I laid out my outfit choice on the bed: white shirt, dark blue skinny jeans, black converse and a black leather jacket.

Hope looked at the clothes and then at the clock on her phone. She nodded. "I guess that'll work. We don't have much time left anyway."

I rolled my eyes as I began to get dressed. "Gee, thanks for the compliment." I murmured.

But she didn't hear me, she was busy replying to a text. "Patrick should be here any minute now."

I got ready fairly quickly. After I was done getting dressed, I put on some face powder, a bit of mascara and a pink gloss. Just as I was finishing up with the gloss, the doorbell rang.

"That's him!" Hope squealed and got up to open the door, taking her bag with her.

I took my own purse and the jacket and walked to the hallway.

"Hey, Patrick!" I waved at him and smiled.

He shot me a grin back. "Hey. Ready to go, you two?"

Hope nodded quickly and strutted out to the car. Me and Patrick followed suit.

Patrick and Hope shared one car, a silver Audi, a housewarming gift from their parents to ease the impacts of the move.

I sat in the backseat as Patrick drove and Hope was riding shotgun, ruling over the music. She put on some Nirvana and we drove to the game singing along with Kurt Cobain.

When we arrived, the bleachers were already pretty occupied. Hope somehow managed to find three pretty good seats anyway. I've never been to a high school soccer game. I didn't know it was this popular, with many people crowding the place, wearing team jerseys, hollering at the players. I suddenly felt out of place.

Patrick must've sensed my unease, because he nudged me lightly and winked. "Never been to a soccer game?"

I shook my head. "I know nothing about soccer."

Hope pointed to Patrick. "He used to play soccer, it was pretty big back at home. We went to every game." She leaned over to me and whispered. "We had to."

I chuckled as Patrick rolled his eyes and poked Hope in the belly. She stuck her tongue out at him.

Local cheerleaders ran out to the field to do their routine as both teams followed suit, positioning themselves on each end of the field. The crowd went crazy, yelling and clapping. I did the same, trying to fit in. I was searching the field though, trying to find Ian.

Hope must've been doing the same, because she pointed at one of the players and yelled. "There he is!"

I followed her finger and there he was indeed, dressed in the team's navy blue and white jersey and shorts, wearing matching white soccer boots. He seemed to be looking around the bleachers, too, as if searching for someone. I smiled. Could he be searching for us?

Suddenly a whistle signalized the beginning of the match. The players chased the ball around the field and I had a hard time keeping up with it. Hope and Patrick on the other hand understood the game really well, cheering and yelling along with the crowd.

I didn't understand a thing so I decided to keep my eyes on Ian instead. His jersey had a number thirteen on the back, which made it easier for me to keep up. He looked completely focused on the game, maneuvering around the players, running across the field with the ball.

GOAAAAAL!

The crowd on our side of the field went nuts, yelling and clapping, so I joined in, this time actually cheerful. Ian scored.

I tried to follow up with the game as it continued, our team scoring 3:1 by the halftime.

I had a smile plastered on my face the whole time. Out of the three goals, the first two were scored by Ian. He was really good.

"Alaska!" I heard a familiar voice yell. My eyes followed it and I saw Ian leaning over the railing at the edge of the field. He waved at me with a lopsided grin.

I ran down the stairs toward him. "Nice game so far!" I complimented him, my smile growing even wider.

"Thanks! I am glad you made it!"

I pointed back at the bleachers, where the Martins sat. "Hope and her brother, Patrick, are here as well." They noticed me pointing at them, so they waved at us. Hope then held out two thumbs up.

Ian and I chuckled.

"Well, I have to get back to the field." He said, his eyes fixated on mine. "Cheer on me, will you?"

I nodded, smiling at him. "Will do. Go get 'em tiger!"

He laughed and winked at me before turning around and running back to his teammates.

I went to join Hope and Patrick back at our seats.

"So that's Ian, huh?" Patrick nudged me, grinning with his eyebrows raised.

I nodded, feeling a slight blush creeping up on my cheeks.

"What's with the Alaska thing, anyway?" Hope asked, throwing me a questioning look.

I rolled my eyes. "I made a fool of myself once at class, blurting out Alaska absentmindedly at Social Studies. And ever since then Ian calls me Alaska. I don't understand it either."

Hope and Patrick chuckled.

The sound of the whistle interrupted our conversation, signaling the continuation of the game.

It was easier for me to keep up this time. I was slowly getting a hang of it. Ian scored another two goals, leading our team to victory, 5:1. I cheered and clapped every time.

After the initial yelling, cheering and celebrating, the teams retreated to their locker rooms and the three of us made our way to the parking lot where we waited for Ian to come out.

"There you are!" We heard him shout as he quickly approached us, a sporty bag in his hand.

"Nice game, man!" Patrick congratulated him.

Ian chuckled and extended out his hand to him. "Thanks! I am Ian."

Patrick took his hand and shook it. "Patrick, this dork's brother." He motioned his head towards Hope and we all laughed as she slapped his arm.

"So, shall we go?" Ian asked.

The three of us nodded. Patrick replied. "Where to?"

"I have my car parked up back there," Ian motioned towards a blue BMW, "so I'll drive first and you follow me. It's just around the corner."

Patrick nodded and we all got into the car, waiting for Ian to lead the way.

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