Chapter 3 - Focus

6:45 pm

The team is already on the field warming up. We all know that when coach says practice is at 7 he means 6:30. You better not be caught late, you will regret it. He doesn’t take kindly to tardiness. Every player earns the right to be on his team, he doesn’t care if you are the most talented of the bunch; if you’re not committed to the game you’re useless.

“Okay gentle I want us to do some drills. We have an important game this weekend and I want each and every one of us to be on point.” Coach screams at the top of his giving each and everyone one of us the look.

We’re midway through the season meaning we need to play like we’re defending our title. For us the championship never stops as soon as we win that cup, we’re already defending it. Every game counts, we give our all every game. We didn’t become champions by mistake. We earned our title with sweat, blood and tears.

 We get into formation and start our training session. I switch off everything and focus on the task at hand. As the captain of the team I am expected to perform at the top of my game every single time. If I don’t I will be replaced it’s that simple. You can’t lead others if you don’t know what you are doing.

I take the responsibility of being a captain seriously. When I’m on the field I give it my all, even during practice.

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“What happened to you last night?” Denise my team mate and best friend asks me when we’re done with practice. I’m sitting in the middle of the field taking a breather. He sits next to me and looks in the direction I’m looking. I’m not looking at anything in particular; I just want a moment to myself.

“Man!” I say memories of last night’s shenanigans flooding my head. I don’t know what got into me last night. I shouldn’t have touched the alcohol. “I got sloshed.” I say and he looks at me surprised. He knows I never get drunk, so it’s surprising that I did in the first place and got sloshed at that.

“Are you okay?” He asks concerned. This is so out of character for me, so I can see why he would be worried. But I’m good I just had a rough night that’s all, it will never happen again.

“I’m good now.” I say feeling way better than I did last night and this morning. The headache is gone and I don’t feel as light headed as I did. I guess all I needed was to be thrown around by a bunch of huge rugby players.

“If you need to talk I’m here.” He says looking at me intently.

“I appreciate you man.” I say tapping him on the back. I know he’s always there for me. He’s always willing to listen to me when I have a problem but unfortunately he can’t help me with the one I have this time.

“Where are we eating tonight?”He asks opting to change the subject. He can sense I don’t want to talk about whatever is bothering me. He knows that I’ll come to him if I do want to talk. He doesn’t need to push me to talk.

“Jerry’s” I state.

“Great, I’ll meet you there.” He says leaving me. I’m going to take a few minutes to reconnect. I like to take a breather after practice to calm down. Then when I feel set I go get a shower and get through the rest of my day.

An hour later I walk into Jerry’s, it’s packed as usual. Every student comes here at the end of the day to distress. I look around to see if I can find Denise and the boys. He waves at me from the bar. I walk toward them my eyes scanning the whole room. I wonder if Melody is working today.

I see a few girls pointing at me as I make my way to the bar. I can’t hear what they’re saying but I can make it out from their faces. They’re looking at me like I’m walking around naked; a few of them are licking their lips while staring me. Making their intention clear.

I would be lying if I said I hate the attention. Why wouldn’t like the idea of beautiful women fawning over me. I love them and it makes my life easier because they love me too.

 I walk past a group of ladies sitting at a table. I feel a hand touch my arm. I stop and look at the lady touching me. She lets me go smiling all shy; I smile at her and walk past. She screams the way girls do when they get excited with something.

“Hey buddy.” Clifton says when I get to the bar. I sit on a stool next to him.

“Hey bud.” I say smiling at him. I say hi to Trevor who is sitting between Clifton and Denise. The four of us have been friends since freshman year. I met Denise through Rugby and he met Trevor and Clifton at chemistry 101.

We’re now in our second year and still going strong. We have managed to remain friends through the transitions and changes of university life. We figure if we survived first year together we might as well power through the rest of the four years together.

We are very well known on campus. There is a running rumor that we became friends because we’re good looking. We’ve been featured in the school paper as the handsome foursome. It was announced that the issue that featured us was the school’s highest selling issue to date.

I appreciated the compliment. The newspaper article got us so much attention. It’s like we became superstars over night. Now everywhere we go people whisper our names in admiration, which has its benefits.

“How long do we have to wait t get a table?” I ask Clifton over the sound of the music and people in the bar. I’m hungry, I don’t want have to wait a long time to get some food. But I can’t really complain about the wait when I’m the one who chose to come here.

“They sad a few minutes.” He says and I nod.  I decide to order a non alcoholic drink; I have no choice but to wait.

A couple of minutes later Melody comes to take us to our table.  She sets us up at a table at the back, our usual spot. She barely gives me a glance the whole time she’s serving us. I guess she’s still pissed I showed up at her house unannounced.

“And what will you have?” she asks me looking at me. She has no choice to look at me since it’s my turn to order. I look her in her eyes letting her know that I’m not mad at her. She might be mad at me but I don’t carry any animosity toward her; even though she made me sleep in that awful sofa of hers.

“I would love to eat your juicy and tender pulled pork.” I say smiling at her. Her eyes flutter at me; she knows what I’m saying.  I want what she denied me last night.

She looks at the guys at the table to see if they’re catching what I’m saying but neither of them is listening to what I’m saying.

“I’ll get your order in immediately.” She says almost stumbling away from the table. I chuckle to myself, she might act like she doesn’t want me but her body has other ideas. Her mind is struggling with the idea of being my side piece but her body wants all of me.

She should just give into her body and have the best time of her life. Why can’t she live like other college students? Go to class, ace her modules and have great sex. There is nothing more to it. She’s over thinking all of this.

 I’m willing to fuck her brains out at least once a week no strings attached. How does she not see that this is the best deal she will get? I know throng of girls that would throw themselves at me to get a few seconds of pleasure with me.

I look toward the bar and I see her staring at me. I sit back and stare at her too.

Let me in baby.  I say in my mind hoping the vibrations of the universe transport the words from my mind into hers. She fans herself with her hand and I smile, she got my message. She turns and looks away.

I turn my attention to the conversation the boys are having. I’m not going to worry about Melody, she just needs a little nudge to come to my side.

I think I can manage that