Girlfriend On Mars

6. "Let me take you home"

Six.

"Let me take you home."

Jen found herself torn about how she felt regarding soccer club. An hour or so with a group of judgemental bitches gossiping while she sat around doing nothing or picking things up after them sounded torturous. She knew they'd be less than welcoming, but she didn't want to go scouting for any other clubs. It was Marley, Marley was the only pro for spending her after school time on the soccer pitch. She knew the blonde didn't much like her, or that she was slightly frightened of her, but Jen really felt compelled to change her mind—not that she really knew how. Being friendly really wasn't part of her personality but she wanted to be nice to Marley, look out for her in a way—which was extremely odd for the older girl. She didn't know why she cared so much but Marley was attractive to her and fun to toy with.

She remembered how she'd looked in the parking lot the day before, an utter look of distress on her freckled features. Jen was convinced that the boy was bothering Marley, but she didn't want to say anything. Of course, she didn't exactly trust Jen yet.

Jen sat at the wheel of her car, adjusting her dark hair in a small pocket mirror—making sure none of the strands were sticking up. A low song from a personal CD was drifting through the speakers, acting as ambience while Jen waited for the right moment to walk back into school. She was late, only by about ten minutes or so, but late, nonetheless. Fashionably late she'd like to think. Really, she just didn't want to sit around awkwardly while they got ready—she wanted to be there when they were playing.

Around five minutes later, Jen slid out her car, locked it and began to stride back round the school. She wasn't dressed appropriately for soccer anyway in her baggy grey hoodie and jeans. Not that she expected to play at all.

The school seemed much nicer to Jen when it was mostly empty. No yelling, no pushing, no crowds—just a peaceful stillness that lingered in the cleared hallways. She took her time in getting to the pitch, reading posters on the wall and peering in darkened classrooms. She felt she was in no rush; she probably wouldn't miss too much.

But she couldn't stall for long as she reached the field in under five minutes. The girls were all on the pitch, yelling and laughing and sprinting around in their kits. Immediately, Jen spotted the blonde gem of the school with the ball her feet. As Jen walked over, she watched Marley boot the ball into the goal smoothly and run off down the pitch with her arms in air, smiling like Jen had never seen. She had lovely teeth, natural—unaltered by braces seemingly but they were straight. You could see them when she smiled, or when she was concentrating, they peeked through between her fleshy, pink lips as she spoke. Her long, blonde hair was slightly kinky, wavy in the middle and golden like honey.

Jen took a seat silently on the bench, not wanting to disturb the game, but some girls did notice her arrival. But Jen ignored their muttering and the staring and continued to study Marley, who was stood back from the rest, hands on her shaped hips.

Jen had seen her many, many times in her soccer kit but she had admired it more that day. It was a navy-blue colour with two black stripes down the sides. The top was well-fitted, as were the shorts—they finished mid-thigh and were slightly loose against her bottom half. As Jen's eyes raked over Marley's body back up towards her face, she realised that the blonde had noticed her presence then. She tried to focus back on the game but messed up a few times under Jen's stare.

The older girl chuckled, tried to smile encouragingly at her but she knew it was doing no good as she watched Marley stumble up and lose concentration occasionally. Jen was so entranced by her though, so intrigued that she didn't want to pull her eyes away. She wasn't meaning to throw the blonde off her game but watching the way her legs pumped and how her thighs flexed as she ran became hard to look away from after a while.