One Wish Left

CHAPTER 14: FLIRT

Laura sat in the bleachers of the football stadium with her friend Sarah, watching the Marion High School fall sports pep rally. As a freshman, Laura found engaging in social events like this one both thrilling and terrifying. She gazed down at the cheerleaders who were moving in perfect synchrony with the marching band. They all seemed impossibly beautiful to Laura, and she wondered what life would be like for ones so popular. While she didn't care for the attention that might come with such a position, she did envy the cheerleaders their confidence. She still struggled with feeling self-conscious about her slight, late-blooming figure.

When the march ended, she listened as the announcer introduced the football team, starting with the newest players. And there he was, standing about halfway down the line, his pads and uniform making him appear almost godlike to Laura. Though Brodie Johnson was a freshman as well, he demonstrated none of the inhibition that afflicted her. His easy smile paired with his mature stature oozed self-assurance.

"He is so hot," sighed Sarah, intruding on Laura's thoughts.

"Yeah, he is," she admitted, not even needing to clarify the boy in question.

They watched as two of the cheerleaders went over to him after the team introductions were finished. They twirled their hair and bounced on their toes while twining their arms around his.

Sarah clucked her tongue in disgust and Laura sucked in a breath. It was hard not only to see those girls fawn all over him, but also to observe him engaging with them with such ease and apparent pleasure.

Laura hadn't interacted with Brodie again after he had picked her for his team back in junior high gym class, except for occasionally as a partner in a group project for school. Nevertheless, she hadn't gone one day without thinking of him since then. As for him, she figured he'd probably forgotten she existed.

Then she watched as Brodie, with a cheerleader on each arm, started scanning the bleachers, clearly searching for someone. His eyes came to a halt when they landed on Laura.

She stopped breathing.

As soon as he made eye contact with her, his smile faded and his dark eyes began to brood mysteriously. In spite of his intense gaze, she did not look away. Her throat and eyes stung with the threat of tears, but instead of allowing herself to cry, she tried to absorb some of this boy's confidence as his eyes pierced hers. What did this mean? She didn't know what this staring contest was about or what to do with herself, so she impulsively scrunched up her nose and stuck out her tongue at him.

His face broke out in the most beautiful, wide smile she'd ever seen.

+++           

Jesse had gotten to the Bridges house early to make sure he was there before Laura and Kieran. He didn't want them to feel uncomfortable with a bunch of strangers for one thing, but he also wanted to be there in time to introduce them to everyone. While he ordinarily felt nervous at the prospect of seeing Laura, tonight he felt at peace. No matter how things turned out, he felt satisfied knowing that he was honoring Brodie's request to look out for his family.

Plus, he'd downed a glass of bourbon as soon as he'd gotten there, and that certainly hadn't hurt.

Luckily, Sam was too preoccupied with disciplining his children and tending to the grill to pay very much attention to Jesse, for which he was grateful. He wasn't sure how he would handle his friend's shit-giving once Laura got there. Phil and his wife, Stacy, were there with their two kids as well, but Jesse knew that Phil was mostly harmless.

Just in case, Jesse had made his friends swear on pain of death to be gentlemen, just for one night.

Miranda was shuffling the kids downstairs to play out of the way and ordered Sam to get cocktails for the adults. Sam was just handing Jesse his second glass of bourbon when the doorbell rang.