Every Story Matters

08

♚ Austin ♚

The sooner Scarlett is done with her stupid interviewing, the sooner things will go back to normal. Ever since I first talked to her at the Café, things have felt weird. I don't know what it is, but I find myself looking and wanting to talk to her more. Even Carson and Levy noticed something was off with me. So when I saw her in the hallway today, I just acted as if she wasn't there - mostly because...well...it's the freak I'm talking about- and to show Levy and Carson that nothing was up.

"Hey! Everyone on the field!" My Coach yells.

I peel myself from the bench in the locker room and followed everyone to the field. We catch the attention of the crowd and they start to cheer us on as we run onto the field with me leading holding the school flag.

After a brief warm up and stretching, the referee blows his whistle, signaling the start of the game.

✫

The screaming and cheering of the crowed as I make the winning touchdown is deafening, even from the field. My teammates and I take off our helmets and run into our huddle to do our celebratory chant with everyone from the stands joining in and screaming afterward. Leaving the huddle, I grin at the cheerleaders who are swooning as I run past them, giving them a wink. I headed into the locker rooms, did a quick shower, and headed out.

By the time I was out, everyone has already left. Everyone except Scarlett. She's sitting on the bleachers, scrolling through her camera. I make my over and plopped myself down next to her, and leaned over to get a few glances at her pictures, surprised at how nice they actually are.

"Congrats on the win" she says looking up.

"Thanks," I reply as I point to her camera, "your pictures are really nice," I say. She gives me a breath taking smile and thanks me. My eyes land on that smile, a weird tingly feeling at the pit of my stomach erupting, spreading throughout my body like wild fire. The sight of it makes my heart race unexplainably fast. Her smile is so gentle and warming - unlike any other smile I've-
I shake my head as I clear my throat standing up.

"Let's just go" I say starting to walk to my car with a stern expression.

After leaving the school parking lot, the sight of old, rundown buildings, houses, and people make me cringe in disgust. This part of town almost seems more depressing at night with all of the street lights barely proving any light.

"I can't imagine living in a place like this," I say, catching Scarlett's attention.

She looks at me through guarded eyes, but still tries to keep a soft expression. She's not showing or saying anything that would indicate that she agrees with me. "You have no idea," she whispers with a frown. She looks away as I furrow my eyebrows, not knowing what she meant by that.

"What do you mean?" I ask her.

She doesn't look at me however. She continues to stare outside of the car window as she answers. "It's nothing," she lets out with a sigh.

✫

Once we got to the house, Nancy insisted that Scarlett stayed for dinner, which she kindly declined. I found this completely weird considering that she doesn't have to be so kind to the help. It's their job to aid and do anything that they're told. But Nancy ended up persuading Scarlett to stay anyway.

"Nancy, could you just start plating the food?" I ask, rolling my eyes. She hasn't shut up since we got here. Nancy stops talking to Scarlett who's looking at me through narrowed eyes. Nancy mumbles an apology and shuffles away into the kitchen, leaving Scarlett and me in the dining room.

"Will it kill you to be nice?" Scarlett sneers.

Starting to get more annoyed, I ask, "Why do you say that?" I honestly don't know what her problem is. Nancy wasn't doing her job. Her job is to make sure everything is going right in my house, not have a friendly conversation.

She scoffs and shakes her head. "Well first, it was Sheri who was just trying to properly introduce herself to you and now Nancy! She's here spending her time to help you and your family. Her job isn't easy and you're not making it any easier!"

"It's their job, Scarlett. People like them need to keep working if they ever want to make a buck," I say.

She lets out a bitter laugh and shakes her head. "Oh my God! Do you even hear yourself when you talk?" She asks, her voice rising. "Don't argue about something you don't understand!"

"Oh! And you do?" I ask, my voice starting to rise too.

She doesn't answer this time, but instead heaves out a defeated sigh and shakes her head. She starts to put her stuff down next to the table, and starts to head toward the kitchen instead of sitting.

"Where do you think you're going?" I yell, still agitated from our argument.

"I'm going to help Nancy," she says, her tone no longer angry but calm. I furrow my eyebrows together, but before I can get a word out, she adds "It's the right thing to do, Austin," as if she knew what I was going to ask.

She continues into the kitchen, leaving me at a lost for words.

✫

"You cheated!" Scarlett exclaims, pointing an accusing finger at me.

"How did I cheat? There's no rules to the game! The goal is catch the chocolate chip in your mouth, and you didn't even catch one," I say, plopping a chip into my mouth.

After dinner, the tense atmosphere from before seemed to have dissipated as soon as Nancy said she was going to make chocolate chip cookies. When Scarlett said she wanted to help, I distracted her by throwing a chocolate chip at her face and betted that she couldn't catch a single one. To my surprise, she was able to catch the first few, until now.

"Throwing three at a time is cheating," she exclaims once again. I only shook my head and chuckled at her.

"If you guys continue, I won't have any chocolate chips to put into my cookies," Nancy butts in. Both Scarlett and I laughted, but took the hint and went to the living room.

"That was fun," I chime, leaning back into the couch.

"When you're the winner, it is," she mumbles.

"Never pegged you to be the sour loser type." I watch as her expression turns into an amused one, but she doesn't answer and lets the couch engulf her.

As I look at her, I couldn't help but think that this is the first time where we are actually getting along and having fun. I guess you can count what happened at the Café was getting along, but it wasn't like this. A small smile spreads across my face as I realize that I actually like it. She's so easy to be around and talk to, it's...it's nothing like I've felt before.

"So," she starts, taking me out of my thoughts, "you don't know where you want to go or what to do in college, and you don't know where you see yourself in the future," she states looking at me for confirmation, to which I nod my head. "You have to give me something, Austin. I don't think people want to read that your favorite drink is Sprite."

I let out a breathy laugh and tried to think of something I could tell her. Something does come up though, and it's the answer to her last question. "This might sound cliche and corny, but I hope to see myself playing professional football in the future."

She looks at me in deep thought before a small smirk sneaks its way onto her face. "I'm sure you'll get there."

✫✫✫