Love For A Game

Chapter 25

I wake up on Tuesday morning, and rub my eyes. I sit up. At that moment, I realize something. It is April 14th, my birthday. I am now sixteen years of age.

I walk downstairs to the kitchen. I immediately am hit by the smell of my favourite breakfast foods: bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns. Also, the indisputable smell of Tim Horton's coffee. I love it.

I greet my parents and they take turns wishing me a happy birthday. Of course, Tom has to give me sixteen birthday shots.

Once I am finished eating my breakfast (which is delicious, I might add), I go upstairs and get dressed. I dress in a black shirt and blue jeans.

I go downstairs again, and I sit in the living room. My father walks in a few minutes later with something behind his back.

"What's behind your back, Dad?" I ask.

"Your birthday present," he says. "Here you go."

He tosses something at me. I catch it in my right hand. I open my hand and look at it. My eyes go wide. In my hand, I hold a pair of car keys.

"Dad?" I say. "I can't believe it..."

"I know," he says. "We didn't have the money to do this, but we thought you deserved it. With your record-breaking season and all."

"My goodness," I say. "Thanks a ton, Dad." I stand and give him a hug.

"No problem, kiddo," he replies. "Let's go see the car."

We walk out to the garage. Sitting in the garage is my dad's Town Car, but sitting next to it is a red truck that I have never seen before. My truck. It's a red Chevrolet truck, and it has chrome tire rims. The front grill looks amazing with the Chevy logo on it.

"Wanna go get your license?" Dad asks.

"Obviously," I say. I jump in the passenger seat of the truck. My dad jumps in the drivers seat.

We drive out to Peterborough, to the ministry of transportation. I am introduced to the driving instructor, Dan Ronning. He briefs me on how the testing is going to go, and I go into a separate room to take a written test.

The test is twenty questions long, and they are all multiple choice. It takes me ten minutes to answer all of them, and I am confident that I passed. When I hand the test back to Dan, he marks it quickly. He smiles and tells me that I got nineteen right out of twenty.

He then takes me outside to one of the cars that belongs to the driving school. I hop in the drivers seat, and Dan gets in the passenger seat. My dad gets in the back seat.

I buckle my seatbelt, and start the engine. I shift the gear, and Dan tells me to slowly drive out. I pull the car out to the road. He tells me to drive down the street, and turn left. I do as I'm instructed without difficulty. I have driven before with my dad, so I already know how to do it.

I am told to stop at stop signs and at stop lights. I do so without problems. Finally, I am told to parallel park. Without difficulty, I safely park in between two cars. I am told that I have passed the driving test.

When we get back to the building, Dan goes and prints off a paper copy of the licence. I am handed the licence, and my dad and I drive home.

***

I drop my dad off at our house. I then drive to Tim Horton's and buy two coffees. I then drive over to Nicole's house. I knock on her door, with the coffees in hand.

She opens the door. "Hey," she says, giving me a hug. She takes one of the coffees from me. "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks," I reply. "Wait till you see what my parents got me." I step aside.

Her jaw drops when she sees the car. "A car? Jordan, that's great!"

"Yeah, I went and got my licence. I can drive now."

"That's a nice truck. We gotta go somewhere in it."

"That's why I'm here."

Nicole steps inside for a minute to change clothes. She comes out wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts. We both climb into the truck.

"Where should we go?" I ask.

"It's your truck, not mine," she replies. "Go where you want to go."

"Let's go find a nice park," I say. "Somewhere we can hang out by ourselves."

"That sounds good."

We drive for almost an hour, until we come across a nice clearing in a forest that overlooks a lake. There is a grassy area that we park the truck on, and there's a large oak tree that looks perfect for climbing. We get out of the truck and we both climb the tree. Once up as far as we want to go, we both sit next to each other.

"This has been a great day," I say.

"That's good," she says. "I want you to be happy."

"I want that for you too. I love you a lot."

"I love you too," she says, kissing me.

"The truck is really nice," I say.

"Yes, it is. I find it pretty cool that your parents did that for you."

"Yeah. It's really awesome."

We sit in silence for a moment, her snuggling up close to me. "Here's an idea," Nic says. "Tell me one thing you love about me, and I'll do the same thing."

"Ok," I say. "That's easy. I love how much we have in common. We're practically the same person. I love that you love me for who I am, and that it's genuine. I also love that you're the most beautiful girl that I've ever seen."

"Hey," she replies. "I said only one thing."

"What? I can't help it. There's too much to name."

"Well, I'll stick to rules. I love how you're always there for me when I need you most. You never hang me out to dry. You're always there."

I touch her cheek, where a faint hint of a bruise is still visible. "You know, I don't like what happened to you."

"I know. There's nothing that can be done."

"Why didn't you tell your dad? He could've called the police."

"I didn't want it to escalate. Besides, it's all water under the bridge now."

"Okay. The game tomorrow. Are you ready for it?"

"I think so. Kinda need to be, huh? Lose and we're out, simple as that."

"Yet if we win three, we take the series," I say.

"Don't go too far ahead," she says. "Then you will forget about the present and dwell only on the future."

"Speaking of time," I say. "It's getting late. We should go."

"Before we leave, we should initiate the new truck."

"Are you trying to entice me?" I say.

"Maybe," she says with a smirk.

That night, as we make out passionately in my truck, I learn something. The back of a truck is way better than a bed any day of the week.

_____

The song on the side is "Victory Day", be Red Rider.