[Complete] Ariel and the Bandits

27 - Panic! At the Football Field

I walk quietly into the locker room and set my things down. I hear some of the guys start to get loud and hyped for today's practice preparing us for our game against the Arizona Roadrunners this upcoming Sunday.

"Oh he's got the D&Gs on," Luke says to Jake.

My body flinches at the loud bangs and clashes the team causes as they get ready. It agitates me.

"I'm a little hungover, not deaf," I mumble.

"And grumpy too," Luke says. "Those are your hangover shades. And you wear them on rare occasions." He slides on his shoulder pads before pulling his shirt over his head.

"Yeah like becoming the starting quarterback for the Bandits." Jake secures his socks past his knee. "Or Hera's graduation."

"He also celebrated trading Brandon for Liam. There was also your birthday," Luke says to Jake.

I scrunch my nose. "That's because Jake specifically said-- don't get me a present, just get drunk."

Jake places his hand over his heart. "And he still got me a present."

"Let's not forget the tougher times like Liam's dislocated shoulder. Or his break-up with Serena," Luke adds.

I roll my eyes. Though, not that any of them could see that."What is this, a montage of flashbacks?"

Jake sighs. "As Homer Simpson once said, 'To alcohol. The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems'."

"Now that I think about it," Luke says, "We don't actually know why it is that you're so strict on your drinking."

"You don't have to know--" I take off my sunglasses-- "Just respect it."

Luke looks over to Jake who just shrugs. Luke then looks back at me and nods. "So did you and Naz hash things out or?"

Luke's eyes are on Jake. Jake focuses his eyes on tying the laces of his cleats. Something tells me there was definitely another discussion about last night that I didn't hear.

"No, she didn't talk to me. Which is not at all a surprise. She doesn't always address things right away so she could build a more logical response."

Jake smashes his lips together to keep them from exposing his smile. But his eyes say: yeah, that's my girl alright.

"I can talk to her later when I'm a little more put together," I say.

Liam's entrance to the locker room is never a quiet one. The players always get so excited to see him. It's like seeing the older sibling come from college kind of excitement, except Liam is definitely on the younger side of the team age spectrum.

"Here, take this," Liam hands me a bottle of pedialyte and a vitamin. "It's B6. These should make you feel better before lunges."

They did not make me feel better before lunges. My head scoldingly throbs in rhythm to my heartbeat. At any given moment, I'm going to throw my head back, hit the floor, and I won't be able to get back up.

I'm not doing too bad. I can see the guys ahead of me, but there are a couple players behind. I can see the boys look back at me to see if I'm okay. I make sure that okay is all they see from me.

Once all the players reach an end, Coach Beau has us run five times around the football field's perimeter. I run as much as I can before defaulting to a jog. Luke and Liam look back every now and then until Liam decides to slow down and match my pace.

"How are you feeling?"

"My head aches, heartbreak is a constant chest pain and I feel like I could pass out or throw up at any given second."