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Howard
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The Football Player's Baby Howard
I stepped outside of the building and headed for the parking lot. I’d thought about waiting for Zoe to come to me, but after that confrontation with Ben, I wanted to see her. I didn’t know if, in the end, she would listen to what her Dad told her if he told her to stay away from me.Just the idea scared me.Before I could even get to my car, though, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I stopped beside my car, opening the back door to dump the gym bag I’d brought along with me. Then I sat in the driver’s seat and pulled out my phone. It was a message from my agent.“Fuck!”I texted back quickly that I’d meet him for our dinner appointment on time. This was something important, so as much as I would like to ignore it and head to her anyway, if this was about what I thought, then I’d get what I wanted, anyway.The restaurant he asked me to meet him at was a bit of a drive away, but I stopped by the house and killed some time before I had to go and meet him. I thought about sending Zoe a text
The Football Player's Baby Zoe
I trudged along the sidewalk. I was close to home, and that was the only thing that made me happy right then.This isn’t going to be easy, is it?I growled. “If Dad had something to do with this…”Who was I kidding, though, he had to have something to do with it? Just when I made up my mind and wanted to move on, all avenues were closed in front of me, and I didn’t think it was happening naturally, not this way.Finally, I made it to the house. It was the very same house where I grew up with my parents, even though now there was only the two of us. Sometimes, it didn’t feel like two people lived in that house, though. It was moderately big, with two floors, four bedrooms even though we’d only ever used two, and three of them had en suite bathrooms. The outside of the house was painted in white and blue shades, because blue used to be Mom’s favorite color.I groaned in relief, walking up the sidewalk to the house. At the short steps that led up to the porch, I looked up and froze.“Wha
The Football Player's Baby Zoe
I was humming along to a song on the TV, singing the parts that I knew, when I realized Howard was standing at the kitchen doorway just staring at me, and I stopped.“Don’t stop,” he said, laughing. “You have a nice voice.”I grimaced. “If you think so, you’re probably tone deaf.”“Well, dinner’s ready, so you can come and eat. Or would you rather I bring it here?”“No, that’s fine.” I jumped up, taking the remote to turn the volume up on the music, then walking over to Howard, following the nice smell coming from the kitchen I’d only just noticed. “What did you make? It smells delicious.”“I thought something simple would be best. We’re having baked chicken with stuffed baked potatoes. I cut up the chicken into strips, so you can just set the table. Do you have barbecue sauce? I like to have something to dip it in.”“Sure.”I got some plates and cutlery and transferred them to the table. Howard brought everything over and set them in the middle. I took several strips of chicken and a
The Football Player's Baby Zoe
I was just about to pick up my cell to call Howard, when I thought him being the one who changed our arrangement. He claimed that he wanted us to go on a date. Now, we had and we were getting close, he’d disappeared. Part of me was curious and wanted to know, why? The other part was pissed for falling for him. Either way, it was irritating. At first, I didn’t know what to think of it, but I decided quickly enough that I didn’t like it.Right after morning practice, the guys were allowed to roam the facilities and do as they pleased. They could even leave, as long as they were back in time for practice in the afternoon. Dad and the rest of the staff had gone off somewhere to discuss the morning practice and make plans for the afternoon. With him out of the way, I tried to go ahead and talk to Howard, who was standing in for one of our missing players, but every time he noticed me getting close, he would move away. He kept doing it up until Dad showed up, and I couldn’t force the issue
The Football Player's Baby Howard
The game was winding down. We were all running around the field, and some of the guys were shouting. I could barely hear them, since I was mostly moving by instinct now. The wind whistled past my ears, almost drowning out the loud sound of my breathing. My heart pumped fast and sweat slid down my temples. When the game was called to an end, I almost dropped to my knees in exhaustion. I winced, pulling off my helmet and wiping my forearm over my face to wipe away the sweat.“Hey, Howard! You okay over there?”The closest guy to me was standing still, looking toward me, while the rest of them were heading off the field. I waved a hand at him, catching my breath for a few seconds before I started walking back myself.“I’m fine,” I muttered, passing by him with a pat to his back. “Just a bit of a workout.”He chuckled. “Yeah, I guess you could say that, huh?”Other guys were jogging off, but it was all I could do to get my legs to keep moving. I stopped to have some of the water set out
The Football Player's Baby Zoe
I left the house, because I felt like I’d go crazy if I stayed there any longer. I figured I was overdue for a night out. The first person I thought to call was Howard, but I quickly changed my mind.He and I had barely talked after we’d started this little game. I decided, if he was going to ignore me around other people, then I wasn’t going to talk to him at all. I wouldn’t receive his calls because I was still a little bitter. I’d only just started replying to his texts a few days ago, and only because the bitterness in my chest was no longer sorely pointed at him. Now, I wondered if it wouldn’t be best for us to just stop seeing each other like this for good.It was no wonder Dad didn’t want us being together. Before, I’d just figured it was him being protective, but it was more than likely his selfish side rearing its head, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. A part of me felt like I should be angry that he could do things without talking to me, but I needed to talk him into
The Football Player's Baby Howard
I laid down on my bed in my apartment. There was no practice, and I had nothing to do, so I was bored. If my mood was better, I could have gone outside to look for something to do, but I just didn’t feel like it.How could Mom do this to me?My thoughts were unfair, and I knew it, but they persisted. Because I missed the dinner, I didn’t hear it at the same time as Zoe did, but Mom had called me and told me about her getting married with no warning to me, and to Ben of all people. I wished now that I’d sucked it up and gone to sit with them so I could read Zoe’s reaction to the news, or at least tried to talk to her.Fuck!This just made everything that much more complicated for me.Because I was taking Ben’s deal, I hadn’t had time to talk to Zoe. I didn’t want to tell her anything when I was forced to avoid her, but if I told her now, would she even accept it?I’d come to terms with it myself. I liked Zoe, a lot. I didn’t want to just keep fooling around, either. I’d planned, when t
The Football Player's Baby Zoe
I left home early in the morning, long before Dad and Katie woke up, because it would be too awkward to see them. The two of them didn’t need me around for anything, and they both seemed happy with the current situation, which just made it worse for me. They were very much in love and had no problem showing it even with me in the room, and there was no way I was going to be comfortable with that.I really need to move out. Should I look into other teams to apply to?This was something I needed to put more thought into. I was sure I could get used to it, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to. Still, it wasn’t like I was needed in the house anymore.Money was a problem, but not that big a problem. When Mom passed away, she’d left some money in my name, and I’d never touched it. It wasn’t enough to live on, but I could get an apartment and settle in for a few months, but no more. Still, I could have made the decision to leave the house and look for work ages ago, but the real reason I didn’t mov
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