Volleyball

Chapter Twenty Six

"You're sick again, dude?" Dylan asked me in the locker room as putting on his shoes.

 

   "Um, yeah. Not terribly sick. Just a little flu," I told him, blowing my nose with a piece of tissue. "You know, the weather is extremely cold."

  "Dude, you haven't even got snow in this town but you already got a flu," George added.

  "You'll get double flu the time snow is coming," Jake double-added. So much for me being the gossip subject.

  "What a talk," Collins joined, smirking. "Perhaps you did something last night, huh?"

  "Yeah, dude!" Austin exclaimed. "What did you do with Valerie last night? Make out?" And everyone cheered. I just shook my head in disbelief that my teammates liked to spread out a bullshit gossip.

  I laughed. "Jesus. We didn't make out, okay? It was just an outdoor date," I explained.

  "Outdoor date? What the hell is that?"

  "What kind of date is that?"

  "What food did you eat?"

  So many questions stimulated a violent sneeze.

  "Holy shit!" Everyone exclaimed.

  I blew my nose. "Sorry, guys. It's pretty bad, I guess." I blew my nose again. "It was just a usual date. Dates are usually in restaurants but our date was different. We did it outside in the Piers Park, with blankets, hot tea, and cup noodles. It was more fun than the restaurant." After I'd explained it, all of them looked pretty startled. Silence. Quiet.

  Until Jake broke the silence by saying, "It happened last night?" I nodded. "First date?" I nodded. "Great job, asshole!"

  "Who came up with that idea?" Jake asked.

  "Me." I sneezed again.

  Boys are just like girls, I guess. We talked a lot about the Behind The Scenes of Every Date, shared ideas, and feelings. We could be cheesy just like girls because boys have feelings, too. While girls try to look right and perfect, boys want the date to be right and perfect.

  "I should definitely do that with Sarah," Jake said.

  "No, dude. No. Don't," George said, walking towards Jake. "You know Sarah. She's a cheerleader. She's all sophisticated and I don't think she's into with the outdoor things. Match your dream date with her character."

  "Yeah. George's right, Jake," Dylan added. "You should think of something else. Valerie likes sports and she is carefree. So if you take Valerie on an outdoor date, she'll be just fine. Even less, it's cold."
  See? We shared ideas, feelings, and opinions.

  "Unless you guys are ready to get sick like me," I added pityingly.

  "Are you sure you're able to play in the final in that condition, Ben?" Collins asked.

  "It's just a flu, not a swine fever," I answered playfully.

 I got a flu, Valerie texted me and I almost laughed aloud reading her text because her condition was as same as mine.

  Congratulations. Me, too. Haha. It was eventually my reply to her. We were seriously texting all day long, though we were supposed to be meeting at BVC this afternoon. We usually didn't text. We called, or met face-to-face. Because I honestly couldn't handle texting so long and many. I wanted to call her but I couldn't. The training was so strict.