Volleyball

Chapter Twenty Five

“'It was flawless. It was, in fact, so flawless that it didn't call attention to its own flawlessness. It was perfect,'" Valerie read a quote to me by Elizabeth Eulberg from Prom and Prejudice while I pulled up my car in the sidewalk across Valerie's house. The drive home was full with laughter and singing. Now Valerie knew my bad voice when I sang.

  "You have a voice of a poem reader," I complimented her, turning off the ignition.

  "Thank you. But this is the second time you told me that," she said.

  "Really? Oops. I'm in love with everything about you."

  "I love it when you sing," she said.

  I burst into laughter and she joined laughing like crazy with me. I couldn't stop laughing. "Is it meant to be a compliment or a sarcasm words?"

  She laughed as an answer. "I love you, Ben," she said.

  "I love you, too." I got off the driver's side, walked around, and opened the door for Valerie. She got off and held on to me to the doorstep. 

  We stood in front of the door. I put my hands on her waist and pulled her up so that she stood on her tiptoes and we kissed. 

  My name was Ben Miller. I was the captain of the boys' volleyball team. I had a girlfriend named Valerie Matthews. And now we were kissing in front of her house with me not wearing any shoes, only socks, and her wearing my formal shoes which were gigantically too big for her little feet.

  "He was flawless. He was, in fact, so flawless that he didn't call attention to hir own flawlessness. He was perfect," she quoted her quotes back then and replaced the pronoun.

  "God, you are sexy," I said, biting my lower lip. "Listen. I want our first date happen before my final game."

  "Don't rush. Take your time. Everything will be just fine," she said.

  "No. Seriously," I said and I saw an affirmative look on her face. "What time do you want for the dinner?"

  "Seven," she said.

  "Sounds good," I said, taking a step away from her to get Kim inside her house.

  "Ben, your shoes. I hope you don't have any intention on lending them to me. I chuckled and walked back to her. I knelt down and took off the shoes from her feet and put them on mine.

  "Where?" she asked after I got up to my feet and she walked inside her house. Her house was like the second home for me.

  "It's a secret."

  "Give me a clue, so I can dress properly."

  I smiled. "You don't have to dress up and put on make-up. Just be you, with your sneakers and skinny jeans. I'm fine with that. You will always be beautiful to me." She blushed. "Just wear something warm." I kissed her forehead and walked upstairs to get Kim.

  But she stopped me. I know there was no way in heaven or hell I could ever walk away from her. "That's it? No other clue about the place?"

  I turned around. "Do you want to get sick?" I asked, smiling. I didn't like the sound of it.

***

  I had planned everything for our date. The only thing I'd left to worry about was whether it would work perfectly or not. I didn't prepare much food. I had borrowed a guitar from Jake. Valerie said she loves when I sing so I decided to sing her an old song.

  That day wasn't a typical day because I had a full day of volleyball practice. I'd missed a one-day lessons and I would miss for the next-day lessons. I felt so tired that I just wanted to collapse in bed but the thought of Valerie made me smile, made me gain my strength back, made me think that I wasn't fully tired. I was just physically tired, not emotionally tired.