Match

43: Rattled

"I wonder if it was one of our players," Ashton says, tapping on the wheel to the beat of a random Bon Jovi song.

Cole turns to him, out of his daze. "Huh?"

He takes a turn into a long road, leading to the soccer field. "I dunno, what if one of our players had some kinda secret beef with Thunder?"

Cole lets out an uncontainable laugh. "'Secret beef'..."

"What?"

"That sounds like some kinda, underground conspiracy where a lab in the middle of nowhere genetically designs cows."

Ashton shakes his head with a smile. "Have you been hanging out with Rubin too much?"

"No," Cole rubs his arms. "I haven't even hung out with him since we were at the restaurant. Why?"

"Hah, well you sounded just like him there."

With no other way of responding, he just shrugs. Shit, someone's sense of humour is rubbing off on me, he thinks. As they pull into the lot, Ashton notices how apparent the emptiness is on one side of the soccer field. He glances at the time on the dashboard.

"Huh, weird. Aren't we kinda, on time?"

Cole looks up towards the field, then looks around the lot. "Maybe some people got lost?"

"Maybe. This is a weird location."

"You've never been to this field?"

He parks into a space and shuts off the engine. "Not for like, a year. 'Cause it's pretty far from downtown."

"Oh."

Cole fumbles his long legs out of the car and grabs his soccer bag. Ashton follows behind. Something in his gut makes him stop in his tracks.

"Shit, I think I forgot my soccer ball back at home."

"All chill," Ashton pats his bag. "I have one."

They make their way onto the field and grab a quick glance at the other team. They're wearing dark green jerseys, which is a new look to Cole. He's been so used to seeing loud jersey colours that he forgot the darker camouflage wasn't a part of the grassy turf.

"That's uh," Ashton plops his bag by the sideline. "Team Gamma I believe."

"Gamma? Like the Hulk gamma?"

"Yeah dude," he throws the ball onto the field. "I'll meet you on the field in a bit. I gotta put on my gear."

He nods, then, with the ball in one grasp, carries it close to the net. As he walks by, he catches a glimpse of Gamma. The height differences of the players vary. Cole catches one of their players at around the same height as Jordan, who's the shortest on Tigers. People who are shorter tend be more stable on their feet. Which means he'll probably maneuver as fast as Jordan does. But they also have quite a lot of taller players, which could make a messy match like the Hawks. He snaps out of his deep thoughts once something catches his eye.

Joel, accompanied with Brett and Graham, meet up with Ashton. They appear to be discussing something while pointing to the other team. His eyes drift from the four to the parking lot. Still as bare as a skinned peach. A few seconds later, Nathan pops his head up from the hill leading to the field. Thank fuck, it looks like everyone's found where the location is. Despite this, he's still confused as to why a certain someone wouldn't be here earlier than him or his teammates.

The coach.

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Fweeet!