Match

64: Victory Lap

Slam!

The front door is shut, making Hayden curiously poke his head out of the manga book he's reading.

"Is that you, Cole?"

There's no verbal answer, but with the sounds of cleats on tile and a ball rolling into the hallway, that tells him it's Cole. He enters the bedroom. Hayden raises an eyebrow. The look on Cole's face is pure disappointment.

"Whoa, did you hardcore lose or something?"

He sighs, hangs his head low, then swings the soccer bag over his shoulder and walks to the bedside. Flops the bag on the ground. Sits on the bed with his face hidden.

"Hello? Is Cole there?" He leans forward and waves an arm to try and get his attention.

Finally he turns around, with the same glum expression. "We didn't win..."

Hayden frowns a little. "Shit man, sorry about-"

"But we tied!" He says with a heightened tone.

The air conditioning is the only sound in the room. After a few seconds, Cole starts to laugh. Hayden laughs as well.

"Dude you had the weirdest look on ya," he says.

"Was it that believable?"

He throws a thumbs-up. "Yeah, man! You got me good!"

Cole turns around and takes off his socks and shin guards. "We didn't win, but we took it as a win."

"A tie isn't too bad. Unless it's the World Cup."

"Yeah, I think the funniest part was when Ashton caught the ball in the air, the referee blew the whistle to end the game. He held the ball up high and did a victory lap, like we did win."

"What a guy, hah." He looks back down at his manga, flipping a page. "So that's it eh?"

"Yeah. It turned out, to be fun. More fun than I thought it would be. Oh, speaking of," Cole sifts through his bag, then tosses something to Hayden's bed.

It's a chocolate bar, strangely in tact and not melted.

"Whoa," Hayden picks it up in a cradling motion. "Where's this from? The convenient store?"

"Joel gave some to the whole team. I'm not too keen on chocolate, though, so you can have it."

He looks up at Cole, squinting with disbelief. "Did you do anything to this?"

"No."

"You're being serious?"

"Yes."

"One hundred percent?"

"Yes!" Cole flings his arms in the air. "Take it or I'll give it to Jonah!"

Hayden's face then lights up in delight. "Aww, thank you!"

Cole's expression softens. He shakes his head, knowing he can't be annoyed with his roommate for long. He turns around, sliding his sweaty jersey off and tossing it into the laundry basket nearby.

"I'm gonna use the shower first."

Hayden tears off the wrapper. "Don't use up all the hot water. I need to take one later."

"Hey now, we're both guilty for that."

"You're also guilty for blasting Sia and belting out the lyrics to Unstoppable."

"And you're the one who blasts Umbrella and uses the shower head as a microphone."

Hayden looks like he's about to rebuttal, but instead holds his tongue. He resumes to eating. With a new change of clothes, Cole strolls to the bathroom in triumph. And embarrassment.

———————————

Cole:

hey. we tied our last game. had a mini celebration. how'd u do?

"You're packing early?"

Hayden's voice pulls him from his phone. His eyes drop to where he's looking. A pile of clothes on his bed with a flashlight to the side.

"Might as well," he puts his phone down. "Better to plan early than late."

"Touché."

Hayden hops off his bed and grabs the car keys. "Can I use the car tonight?"

Cole looks up with a tilted head. "Uh, sure. What for, though?"

"I'm gonna meet up with my anime buddies for dinner. You can come if you want."

"Nah. I'll eat what's left over in the fridge or walk somewhere to eat."

He spins the keys around with his index finger. "Alright. The door's still open for meeting 'em another day. Anyway see ya!"

Cole sheds a half-focused wave while combing through clean clothes. The door slams shut again. Once he finds enough of what he's looking for, he stares at the pile. Runs a hand through his damp hair. He wonders if he should sort through them now, or have dinner early.

He shrugs then makes his way to the fridge. On the way his mind brings him back to earlier. Ashton doing a lap with the ball around the field. The whole team doing their last cheer. Patting each other's backs. He almost forgot that Joel took off his jersey again and swung it around. Joel... I'm starting to warm up to the guy, he thinks. He's also joining the camp trip. Now Jonah just needs to come along... at least, I hope he can. He frowns at the thought of Jonah not being able to come. Then he recalls a couple teammates going to do beer pong to celebrate the end of the season, to which he declined an offer and wanted to race home and wash up.

Before he can even open the fridge door, he hears his phone ding. Without haste he runs back to check it. The phone lights up with a text from Jonah. Now he has the urge to do a victory lap.