Forked Roads Back

27 - ARCHIE

WE WIN. QUITE CONVINCINGLY.

Playing for over an hour, the Columbia Cats beat the NYU Badgers 8-2, and I had never felt better.

I was unfit, horrendously unfit, but I kept going because my knee was holding out, despite my lungs screaming at me to stop. And I was having fun. I was laughing, joking with these new friends, and there was no way I was going to stop playing just because I was slightly out of breath.

When we get to Flagstaff's, an Irish pub just down the road from the university, the Badger's captain, Tommy, put his card behind the bar and the group of us have been enjoying free-flowing beers for hours. I've lost track of time, but I'm starting to feel a bit fuzzy on the edges.

"You know for someone who hasn't played for two years, you're pretty amazing. That second goal... I thought you said you broke your leg?" Tommy asks, after coming back for his fifth pint.

He's the only one left out of the NYU lot, the others only stayed for one, and despite Ollie calling him 'the enemy', he's actually a pretty decent guy.

"I didn't know I had it in me to be honest," I laugh.

"I'd hate to see what you were like when you played every day. Did you play for your school or something?"

I nod. "Yeah. But it also helped having a friend who's obsessed."

"And where's this friend now?" Ollie asks. "Please say he goes to Columbia."

I shake my head as a stone threatens to drop in my stomach. Talking about Matt is never easy, but I suppose I was the one who brought him up, so I just try my best in answering the question.

"No... he, erm..." I scratch my head before taking a large mouthful of beer for support. "He passed away a couple of years ago actually."

The whole group goes silent, faces falling, all not really knowing what to do or to say. But to help them, I just keep going.

"Matt. He was called Matt. He was a goalie, like you Tab, only better." He barks a laugh. "No offence," I add with a laugh of my own.

"Hey, none taken. If he taught you everythig you know then he must have been pretty good."

"How did he die?" Ollie asks.

Nate swats at his shoulder, telling him to stop, but I shake my head, telling him it was okay. Now that I was talking about him, it actually wasn't so bad.

"Car accident. The same one I got these from. It hit me pretty hard... for a while. But he would have enjoyed today, for sure. He was always shouting at me to move my feet, or cover a gap I was already covering."

"Tab, you need to do more of that," Dan tells him, swatting his arm before heading to the bar to get the next round of pitchers.

"You guys do pretty well on your own. Means I can just stand back and admire all the beautiful ladies walking past," he smirks, his eyes following a girl walking towards us.

She stops, but only long enough for Tab to kiss her forehead before she joins her own friends, one of whom I had noticed was staring at me.

Ollie leans to my side. "Tab married at eighteen," he says quietly in my ear.

"And proud to," Tab announces, clearly hearing Ollie, who'd clearly said it loud enough for him to hear.

"I will never understand that," Gus says, laughing. I laugh too, to join in, but I absolutely get it. Tessa and I were practically there ourselves, before I went and fucked everything up.