blurry nights

april 13, 2004

mr. tahiti's whistle's sharp screech pierces drew's ear, "okay team - our first state competition. who's ready!" drew and his teammates cheer and pump their fists. "alright then. make me proud students!" the team runs to their side of the field and get into attack positions.

"go drew! you can do it baby!" drew hears momma from the bleachers around the field. he looks to the stands and scans the crowd to find his momma holding a sign she had made herself reading, 'go tigers!' drew smiles and feels his cheeks warm up. he scans the rest of the big crowd, half wearing yellow and blue like him and the rest wearing red and white like the other team. he looks back at the goalie across the field but makes eye contact with the last person he thought would show her beautiful freckle covered face. abby.

why. i'm so done with this - when will she learn?

abby gives a small wave to him and sits in the front row of the bleachers. "ready tigers!"

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the last whistle is blown and the scores are read - the tigers win! drew and suzy and henry yell and high five each other, "we did it! you did great you guys!" the three of them run to the water cooler and refresh as an award "hey we should go out for ice cream or something," suzy says between her heavy breaths and gulps. henry and drew agree and split off to convince the rest of the team and their parents. "of course baby, you were amazing," momma pulls drew into a big hug and smooches his sweaty face. "thanks momma, i'll go tell the others," drew pries himself out of momma's arms and runs back to suzy, "she said yes!"

"drew?" drew feels a faint tap tap on his shoulder and turns around to see abby. "hi abby. what are you doing here?" abby's face gets darker, "uhm, well i heard your team was playing and i wanted to see you in action... also to tell you i'm sorry about maxx pizza," she adds sheepishly.

suzy subtly clears her throat, "hi. im suzy." abby gives little to no acknowledgement to the new person and returns her attention back to drew. "yeah, sorry. suzy, abby. abby, suzy. thanks for the apology abby..." abby nods and shrugs, "well... okay. see you later drew, you did really good today."

abby zips her jacket up and walks away... alone.

"abby, wait! hey... the teams going out for ice cream - wanna join?" drew asks, unsure of himself as he asks. abby's eyes brighten, "yeah! that sounds great! i'll go tell my dad!"

drew turns back to suzy who looks annoyed, "oh... sorry, was i not supposed to invite her?" suzy forces a smile, "whatever. she's your girlfriend." suzy throws her cup in the trash and stomps off. "she's not my girlfr..."