Chapter 4: To Scoring

"Chin up Payton, it's Friday," Hailey said as she scooted in next to her in front of the bathroom mirror.

Both Hailey and Payton had been called girlie girls for their morning routines, but if that was the worst they'd be called, they'd take it. It usually meant for crazy mornings, but they had it down to a fine science now.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you, my last class isn't meeting so I'll be able to make the game this afternoon."

Hailey reached over her to grab her foundation, "Awesome, I'll meet you back here so we can take the couch over."

At the start of the semester a year ago, a group of them had been walking around campus and spotted a sofa that was sitting by the dumpster of one of the girl's dormitories. They looked it over and realized it was in pretty good shape. One of the guys they were with plopped down on it and joked about taking it to the soccer game the next day. It was that joke that had started the tradition of the couch making its way to all the home soccer games. Hailey and Payton kept it in their storage unit over the summer just so they could continue to sit in comfort at the games.

Payton found her favorite jeans and a fun tank top that made her feel pretty. Grabbing her bag and slipping on her sandals, she headed out the door for her first class of the day.

When the morning passed without any issues, Payton let out a sigh of relief. Everything seemed to be good. The weather was amazing, her memory had held up, she hadn't had a headache in a while, and besides the project she had to do this weekend, she was ready to kick back and relax.

And cue the guilt. Her gut clenched when she thought about it because she wasn't supposed to be having fun like this, being so carefree. Her family back home was living in a nightmare. Her grandparents kept telling her she needed to be at school, but when the reality of everything came crashing down, she couldn't help but feel like she'd made the biggest mistake. Out of sight, out of mind, and she hated how she could so easily forget everything going on back home.

Payton arrived at her writing class and looked around. Empty. She grabbed her phone to check the time and realized she was early. Grabbing a seat at her usual table, she unpacked her bag and got to work looking over her rough draft they were going to be working on. She laughed out loud at a memory brought out by the paper written about a childhood friend and one of their many adventures felt good. A throat cleared behind her, and Payton slapped her hand across her mouth trying to hold it in.

"Please don't stop on my account," Professor Freeman told her as he walked past her table. "It's good to see you like that. How'd that meeting go?"

"Good, thanks."

"How's your mom?"

Her lips slid into a frown and she shook her head, "The same."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Before any more could be said, the room started to fill with students. It sounded like a freight train coming through the room. "Had it always been this noisy in this class?" she wondered to herself. Noise was a huge trigger for Payton. Not only did it not help with her headaches, but it also didn't help her in the memory process. It's like it jumbled everything up and made it ten times harder to concentrate. She closed her eyes and counted to ten, visualizing the numbers, just to drown out the sounds.

Once the professor called the class to attention, everyone seemed to calm down, and she was able to get back to what she needed to. The class hour was spent going over their papers and getting feedback from peers. Payton had gotten some great ideas to make her story even better than what she thought possible. She jotted down a couple notes on the back of her paper before waving to her friends and heading out.

Payton's sandal covered feet carried her as fast as they could, but she was still running late for the start of the soccer game. She'd never watched a game before she came to college, and she really had no desire. After a really long project in one of their freshman business classes, though, Geoff had worn her down, and she'd agreed to go. Seeing the smile on his face after the game, and how much it meant to him was what kept her coming back. Now she knew just enough to be able to follow; she'd be there to support Geoff even if she didn't.

Out of breath, she walked into her dorm and spotted Adam, Geoff's roommate sitting on the couch on the first floor. She and Hailey lived on the second floor, but thankfully the guys living in the apartment down there were cool with the couch sitting by their door. There was no way they could lug that thing up the stairs every game, even if they did have help.

"Hey, Adam! I didn't realize you were coming today," she said.

"Well, I don't really feel like homework, so I thought I'd go to the game. Figured I'd help you guys carry this thing over."

"Aren't you sweet," she said, and then she gave him a look, "You just wanted a place to sit, huh?"

A huge grin lit up Adam's face, "You got me."

"Just let me run this stuff up, and I'll be back." After rushing up to her room and dropping off her bag, she grabbed several bottles of water and made her way back down to the lobby. When she arrived, Hailey had made it and so had one of Adam's friends who offered his carrying services in exchange for a place to sit.

"Let's do this. You know if we don't get this beast over there, it could take some work finding a place to park it," Adam said.

With a grin, Hailey told them, "Get to it, boys!"

*

The game had gone better than expected. Last year they'd been shut out by Bethel. With all the new guys this year, they were not only hanging with them; they were actually getting the lead from time to time. The whistle blared and Josh fist pumped in the air as his teammates cheered. Squeaking by with a one goal lead was a victory none the less, and they'd take it. Josh took off for the sidelines, and as he did, he grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it up to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

"Good game man," Geoff said as he jogged up to him.

"Thanks, you got plans tonight?" Josh wondered.

"Nah, hey, hang on," he said and headed out into the crowd.

After several minutes of celebration, Coach called everyone into a huddle for some last-minute instructions. They usually spent about half an hour in the locker room getting a "way to go" speech or an ass chewing, but it looked like the coaches were going to forgo the celebratory speech and just dismiss them. That suited Josh just fine.

Josh heard his name being yelled from the crowd and looked around the dispersing fans. He'd been jumpy and looking over his shoulder all day. Ever since he'd opened that stupid email from Ella, he'd been on edge. He heard his name again, but this time saw the person yelling. He let out a sigh of relief; it was a girl he'd served on the student council with the year before.

"Yo!" Wes said as he tapped his friend on the shoulder with his fist.

Josh jumped, "Oh hey, man."

"What the hell is wrong with you? You've been jumpy all day."

"If I told you, you'd just want to beat the crap out of me," he told him.

"Spill it," Wes said.

"Ella's in town."

Wes glared at him, "How do you know?"

"I opened that email she sent. She was writing to let me know she was coming in for the weekend. She's staying with Caryn, but she said something about seeing me," Josh admitted knowing full well he was about to catch some serious shit.

"Fuck, why did you open it? You said you were going to delete it."

Shaking his head as if to gain some clarity, Josh said, "I don't know. I just couldn't help it. It was taunting me. I just had to see what she wanted."

Wes sighed, "What'd you tell her?"

"Nothing. I didn't respond."

"Well at least you had enough sense to do that," Wes told him. "Why don't we get a shower and head to Wichita? She wouldn't be able to find us there."

For the first time all day Josh perked up, "Yeah sounds good. We'd better find someone else to drive because, with a game like that, we're celebrating."

And just like that the mood lifted, and Josh was looking forward to the evening. Excitement coursed through him at the idea of getting out with his buddies and not having to worry about what might be around every corner. Some of the guys hated going all the way to Wichita because it took an hour to get there, but the night was young, and after Zander had agreed to drive them, Josh and Wes were ready to cut loose.

Zander was always the quiet one of the bunch. He was the guy you looked at in the group and wondered how he fit into the equation. His cousin used to ramble on and say, "One of these things is not like the other" when they were younger. That quote fit Zander. Where Josh, Wes, and Darin were more outgoing and went out, Zander was content to stay in and study all the time. They'd become friends when Zander was the unlucky guy to end up with Wes as a roommate Freshman year, and they'd all stuck together since.

The guys ended up at one of their favorite places, Mort's. It was a cigar bar down in Old Town that had an outdoor patio and hosted live music on the weekends. It had a great atmosphere, lots of drink choices, and was an all round great place.

Zander dropped the guys off at the door while he looked for a place to park. Josh and Wes headed right to the bar to grab a couple beers and looked around for a place to sit for the night while they were waiting. Zander waved from the patio and took a seat as the guys grabbed their glasses and a Coke for Zander from the bartender.

"To scoring," Wes said holding up his beer to clink glasses with the guys. Just as they were holding their glasses up Wes added, "But only at the game, because we'd rather have our dicks cut off than score with the crazy bitch."

Josh rolled his eyes, "We could've done without that one."

"Oh, come on, the sex couldn't have been that great. She was a freakin' ice queen."

Knowing it'd go on like this with Wes all night, he was going to need something stronger than beer. He drained his glass and wandered back up to the bar to order a double Jack and Coke. The glasses started to line up on the table, and it wasn't clear how many were his anymore and which were Wes'. He didn't really give a shit either. Wes' plan to get him out of town and relax and worked.

"Oh! I's gots one," Wes slurred. "She used to leave that stupid shit all over the bathroom even though she refused to shower at our place."

"I forgot about that," Josh said. "Guess that's another drink."

As the cool liquid slid down his throat, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He fumbled with it trying to get it out to answer it. His eyes went wide when he spotted the number, and then he snickered.

"Shit, it's Ella."

"No way! Hell, give me the phone! Please?" Wes pleaded with glee, sticking out his bottom lip.

All the alcohol had pretty much obliterated Josh's common sense, so he passed the phone over not even thinking twice about it.

"Well, if it isn't the devil herself," Wes said forgoing the greeting as he answered the phone.

Josh winced at his word choice. He wasn't sure he'd ever go as far to call her the devil. Heartless maybe, but Satan, yeah, that wasn't one he'd use.

"Nope, not here. Why do you care anyway? You're the one who was sucking face on the porch with some douche when he drove all the way to see you."

Oh to be a fly on the wall, or to at least have the phone on speaker. He'd never told her that he'd driven all night to see her and that he'd been greeted by that instead.

"Knowing Josh, he'd want me to be nice, but nice isn't my thing. Why don't you just fucking take a hike and leave him the hell alone?... Yeah, well what if he does have a girlfriend?... Yeah, that's what I thought. Later!"