Match

2: Something About Him

"Jonah?"

"Huh?"

Inches from him is a short woman, waving a cloth in his face.

"Are you already tired from day one?"

His eyes travel to a wall, then he realizes what she said.

"No, I'm fine!"

He takes the cloth from her grip and starts wiping the dust collected on a window sill in vigorous rhythm. The woman shakes her head and rolls her eyes.

"What time did you go to sleep last night?"

"Carol, I'm fine," he sighs.

Outwardly, he shrugs in a white lie. On the inside, though, his 'hive mind' buzzes with thoughts and events that happened in the last few days.

"Alright, I'll leave you to your duty," she says, grabbing a sponge from her supplies. "Don't forget to dust the mirrors, too."

Jonah works as a house cleaner for a small local business, and has been doing this job for three summers. He spends about four days working from morning to early afternoon, while the rest he leaves for his leisure time and soccer practice. He grabs a clean cloth and begins wiping down a mirror. It's only him and Carol filling in today. Thankfully, the place is small. Only an older couple resides in this house.

"When will Charlotte and Jenny come for work?"

Carol fills the kitchen sink with soapy water and dirty plates.

"Charlotte comes tomorrow," she says, "Jenny's flight got delayed to next week."

"Damn, really?"

"Ontario's not quite done with its winter just yet," she jokes.

He finishes wiping the mirrors then moves onto the table surfaces.

"Oh, and Jonah?"

"Yes?"

Carol slides off a latex glove to wipe a brow of sweat. "When you vacuum, don't vacuum their bedroom. They requested us not to go in there."

"Got it."

As he checks to make sure the surfaces are spotless, now he has to figure out where the vacuum is located in this house. The furniture distracts him with various decor of animal figurines and picture frames. Carol watches as he struggles to find it and chuckles to herself.

"Jonah-"

"Found it."

He opens a closet door and pulls out a long hose with the powerhead in tact. His eyes widen.

"This looks brand spanking new!"

Carol laughs, watching as this young adult marvels at a vacuum cleaner, of all things. He untangles the hose from its slumber and picks up the cord. While he puts the cord into the outlet, his mind begins to wander again. It drifts off to the time where he bumped shoulders with the rookie. Cole. He's pretty tall, with bright blonde hair and blue eyes.

He absentmindedly turns on the vacuum. The roaring noise startles him for a second. He shakes it off and begins vacuuming the carpet in the living room. His mind is rather busy today, despite it being only nine o'clock.

———————————

Thursday evening rolls around. A couple days before the first game of the season. Jonah meets up with some teammates at the field. It's him, Liam, Jason and Ryder. Two of them are kicking the ball with their knees, while another is fixing his shin guard.

"Oh, there he is," Liam says. "What took you so long?"

"Sorry, got caught up in rush hour traffic."

He throws his bag and water bottle on the ground, then hits the tip of his cleat to make sure it's in place.

"Guys, I'm gonna have to leave in about an hour," Jason says.

"What for?"

"The co-worker who was supposed to fill in for me tonight is sick, so, she couldn't."

"Shit, man."

He hangs his head low in disappointment. "Yeah, it's a late one, too."

"Well let's start now." Jonah says. "There's an even number, so we'll have teams of two."

They all agree and grab a ball for each team.

———————————

The sun weaves in and out of overcast clouds. After about an hour practicing, they sit down to take a water break and start to talk amongst each other.

"Who do you think is gonna be the toughest team to face this season?"

"Huh?" Jonah says, taking a sip from his water bottle.

Liam raises an eyebrow. "Haven't you seen the roster coach sent?"

Jonah swallows. "Oh, yeah. I dunno. Last year the Rockies beat our ass, and a good majority of them are on team Rams."

"Good point."

Ryder nudges Jonah with his knee. "What about that guy you pummelled during the scrimmage?"

"Cole?"

"Yeah, that guy. He's like the Eiffel Tower, and yet you knocked him over!"

Jonah shoots a look at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you kinda did run him down," Liam laughs.

Ryder lifts his water bottle through the sunlight. "He's a rookie, apparently. Graham's on his team."

Jonah runs his tongue along his bottom lip. "Yeah, he's gonna learn the sport real quick."

"We'll see when we face his team in two weeks."

Jason stands up and grabs his bag.

"You going?" Jonah nods at him.

"Yeah, can't be late. Gotta go home and shower then drive there. It'll take me like forty minutes."

"Alright, see ya man."

"Shoot me a text for the party Graham has planned on the weekend."

They flash some peace signs as Jason jogs off the field. Jonah stands up and stretches a shoulder over his chest. He looks to the looming mountains towering in the backdrop. The sun draws nearer with every minute to kiss them goodnight. He shifts his gaze to the other field occupied by a a few people. One is a person sunbathing on a towel, which he finds kind of odd but it's probably someone who lives in the dorms. The others are kicking a ball back and forth. He can't make out who they are as they only appear as tiny moving dots. The vast open field, however, makes sounds echo easily in the air. He recognizes one of the voices being Cole.

"Whatcha looking at there?" Liam says, resting an arm on Jonah's shoulder.

Jonah drops an arm to his side and pushes Liam off in a playful manner with his shoulder.

"Hey now!"

"We're not the only ones who practiced tonight." Jonah says, pointing to the two in the distance.

Liam cups a hand over his forehead and squints to see.

"Oh yeah, huh," he says, then tosses his water bottle to the ground. "Hey, let's do a lap around this field and call it a night."

"Alright. You coming, Ryder?"

Ryder stretches out his legs then stands up. "I'm game."

All three pick a direction to go and start jogging. As Jonah's running ahead of the other two, he catches a glimpse of Cole tossing the ball into the air with his teammate. He tries to head-butt the ball but then realizes it went up too high, so he catches it instead.

There's just something, Jonah thinks. Something about him, that makes me want to get to know him more.