rivals in the sheets

chapter sixteen

Ethan was drinking too much again.

He really shouldn't have, but it was hard to stop himself when everyone around him was too, and it was just so easy to pour himself a drink and start drinking.

The others encouraged him as well, and they had every reason to. They obviously didn't know that Ethan was trying his hardest to stay sober, or at least not drink in front of people who wanted bad things to happen to him.

He really shouldn't have agreed. Coming to the party in the first place was probably a pretty big mistake and would cost him his decency at some point.

Sure, Ethan loved football, but he also loved his dignity and he wasn't ready to just throw it away for whatever reason.

But Joshua's message that was inviting him to the party was just too out of character for his friend for Ethan to not go with him. Plus, it looked as if Joshua was pretty interested in Fraser and Ethan had to be a good wingman for his friend.

And Joshua really seemed to be enjoying himself with Fraser now, with the two talking to each other in the otherwise-empty kitchen, which made Ethan feel a tiny bit better about coming to the party.

Joshua had done so many things for him in the past that Ethan had to do something in exchange for him.

To tell the truth, he probably shouldn't have agreed, and now he was going to have to deal with the consequences of that, and he just hoped that not all of it would be bad because life had already given him so many bad things recently. He didn't want to have even more things on his plate.

Ava was somewhere at the party, but she left him alone for once. She was getting cozy with someone, and it wasn't Hamilton, because he was sitting opposite of Ethan, staring at him as if he wanted to murder him.

It was obvious that he had a little too much to drink already, but so did Ethan, so they sort of balanced each other out.

They both knew they had to stay away from each other in order to avoid making any stupid decisions and to keep their clothes clean of blood. Things usually didn't escalate that far, but they couldn't even risk it this once.

Ethan shot Lucas a look back, and not a friendly look this time around. It wasn't offensive, but he looked at him with a little disgust, then smiled for being able to do it so well.

Hamilton did it right back at him, and so for a few minutes all they did was shoot annoyed looks at each other, the looks slowly growing in intensity.

If Ethan wasn't so drunk, he'd stand up and try to start a fight with Lucas, but the cup in his hand kept him occupied and the chair he was sitting on was particularly comfortable. The only mistake he'd made was not making sure that there were no empty seats next to him.

Because suddenly, without any warning, Lucas stood up and walked up to him. Slowly, like an animal does when it's nearing its prey, then sat down next to Ethan. "Hello to you, too."

"Hi," Ethan mumbled, unsure if he could say anything better than that.

There was a particular issue earlier that day on the field, but they somehow managed to resolve it without a fight. Still, both of them were still a little sore about it and were ready to snap at any moment.

Fraser tried to prevent it earlier that afternoon, but now he seemed too preoccupied with his new interest to focus on anything else.

"Why did you get so mad at me today?" asked Hamilton, finally emptying his cup and setting it down on the small cupboard that was close to him. "I didn't think your ego was that small, but I guess I was wrong."

Ethan was offended for a pretty good reason. "You keep acting like you're better than me."

"No, I don't." Hamilton's expression didn't change at all but his gestures suddenly became defensive, as if he wanted to prove his point and was ready to do pretty much anything to do it properly.

"Yeah, it is," said Ethan with a chuckle. "You even go out of your way to say it out loud to others, because apparently acting superior wasn't enough."

That was true. Hamilton even kept trying to tell others that Ethan had to start stepping up his game before he could be a useful part of the team. Coach obviously didn't agree with him, and the same went for most of the other players, but Ethan could tell that the attitude of a few other players was starting to change, and that annoyed Ethan more than it should've.

Lucas shook his head quietly as he squeezed the plastic cup playfully. "If you were a little better then maybe that wouldn't be happening."

Ethan understood that Lucas was trying to start a fight, and he wasn't scared to pick it up from there.

"It would be a lot easier to work with you if you didn't constantly try getting on my nerves," pointed out Emmerson with an annoyed expression on his face as he took another sip from his drink.

Lucas laughed at him and shook his head. "It's impossible to work with someone as emotional as you are, you know? It's fucking hell on Earth."

Ethan wanted to punch him, but what he was saying was also true. Ethan was way too emotional and he let his emotions show too much, which wasn't how things were supposed to go. "What fucking emotions?"

"You know."

He did. "No, I don't.

"Whatever. I just hope that one day someone fucks all those emotions out of you," muttered Lucas with a smirk on his face. "It would be a lot easier to be on your team if we didn't all have to deal with them all the time."

Ethan wanted to think of something smart to snap back with, but there was nothing in the world that could outdo Hamilton's quick joke. It was too good to be matched, and Ethan hated himself for not thinking of something like that first.

Plus, it was almost as if Lucas' words were insinuating something more, but Ethan didn't want to think about that. He wanted to continue hating Hamilton so his life could keep the only consistency it had so far.

"I don't think anyone's fucking me anytime soon. But with how half the guys on the team are all up your ass right now, I'd think you might be offering them something more than good gameplay in exchange."

It was the best he could think of. Not the best he could do if he had more time to think, but he definitely couldn't come up with anything better on the spot, and he was sort of proud of the way he said it.

It made him match Hamilton's energy, at least for a little bit.

After all, Ethan would do anything he could to match Hamilton's energy and beat him at things, even if it ended up putting his dignity and pride in danger.