Invictus

Chapter 9: Party Crashing

The next day was Saturday.

The first thing I thought of when I woke was how worried Donnie's mom was, so I texted him.

Hey man your mom's worried, where you at? - Zeek

He didn't respond, but again, I wasn't concerned. He had scored himself a good looking lady, who was I to criticize? If anything I envied his position.

Donnie's house was boring, his parents were anti-technology so there weren't any gaming systems or movies to watch. They even kept their television locked up so that it could only be used at certain hours. Being an uninvited guest, I decided against asking them for the key to it.

I opted instead for the downtown. I went to the public library and sat on one of their public terminals while I pretended to read. It was supposed to be some classic about a crazy clown who hid himself inside sewers and preyed on young children.

By 3 p.m. I got a massive group text from an unknown number. It was one of the guys from the team. They were celebrating, for the second week in a row, our victory from the previous Saturday. Something about a bonfire and bringing our own beer. The directions to the party were in the text.

I was single handedly responsible for bringing them their winning season. I had nearly sixty running touchdowns and thirty two sacks on defense. But despite all that, they still treated me like a pariah. It was the hit and I knew it. Ever since I collided with that kid they had kept their distance.

Maybe this was them turning a new leaf? The address wasn't too far from Donnie's parents house, worst case scenario it was a forty minute walk. I didn't have anything better to do.

I sat in the library for a few hours then went and caught two matinee movies and a regular showing with my pocket change before I finally started my walk to the bonfire.

I looked up at the clouds, the sun was already setting and it wasn't even 6.

I kept my steady walk up until I saw the cars. There were only a few people there by my estimation. That's where my ignorance as a non-socialite showed, I read the time too literally in the text. If the party started at 6:30 it wouldn't really start till a few hours after that.

I didn't feel like making small talk, I wanted an event where I could hide easily, make my presence known but be forgotten the moment I left.

So I cursed my stupidity and waited in the woods like a weirdo, playing some puzzle game on my phone till more people showed. Thankfully, the weather that night was still pretty nice.

I knew it was time to leave once I could see the embers rising from the fire into the night sky.

As I walked down the long wooded drive next to one of the nicest houses in town, it occurred to me that I had been there before during a few of our team outings during pre-season. Cal Lattimore was the team's overrated quarterback who in the wake of the team's state victory had somehow been the one to take most of the credit. Could never figure that one out, he played three years varsity and two of those years the Sequoits had all losing seasons, then when I joined everything changed and he got the fame?

I didn't like him, but of course we played nice when we were caught in public together. I did the same thing then as he came up to give me a hug in his black varsity letterman's jacket.

"Zeek!" He yelled to me, beer in hand. He did it two more times before I shyly waved for him to stop. He smiled and handed me a beer, "Good to see you man." He clasped a hand on my shoulder and motioned for me to join him and the others. His smile seemed genuine, but I know a great actor when I see one.