Chapter 28

RICHMOND HIGH PLAYERS were bigger than us. I'm talking big, beefy guy that usually play football and slam their bodies together all the freaking. I won't lie, I was deeply intimidated the minute we arrived. They didn't have a single girl in their team and all the dudes looked - keeping the hottest aside - scary. Jessica kept muttering, "we can take them." Trying to convince myself and her.

What actually worked was the pep talk given to us by our one and only Aiden Macer. It's like he knew exactly what to say and when to say it. He already had our game plan made and didn't hesitate to share it. "They might look bigger but that's not what we need in soccer. We need speed, accuracy and quick reflexes. Our defense might not matter if we keep them away from our side and strike for goals at all chances."

I couldn't keep my eyes off him. He looked... tired. He had bags under his eyes and his face was paler than before but he still managed to pull that off. Our eyes met a couple times and he acknowledged me with a nod. Whatever was going on before, the minute we step into the field, it vanishes. We're all friends and most importantly teammates.

And now the football match was deep into it's second half time and we stood at one vs one. Aiden had scored the first and only game so far and if there was anything we suck at, its defence. Depression and exhaustion was starting to show on faces, nobody wanted to lose. And I know that if we go into penalty, we might not be the winners.

Finn looked my way and moved his brow as if telling me something. I looked back in confusion but that confusion soon disappeared when I saw what he did next. He ran in such a way that he would to make an encounter with some guy in the other team, a guy way bigger than him. The guy was clearly not having the best of time and as their shoulder bumped, he slammed into Finn so hard that he literally flew to the ground. The whistle was blown and a yellow card raised.

"Are you stupid or what?" I ask rushing to Finn's side as other players helped him stand.

Finn smirked massaging his shoulder that must hurt like hell. "I got him a card, didn't I. You know what that means..."

I smile shaking my head, "corner kick."

The referee sends everyone into position in front of the goal post. I take the ball and walk off to a corner, situating it at the exact spot its supposed to me. Aiden and I share a nod and his eyes are saying "you got this." I take in deep breath, all eyes on me. As soon as the whistle is goes off, I surge forward, my right leg connecting with the ball. The whole field is quiet and we watch the ball fly through the air with wide eyes.

Some guy called Luca on our team connects the ball with his head and I hear the cheers erupt before the ball even hit the net. The shouts are loud as the guys attack Luca with hugs, falling over themselves on the grass. I'm pumping my fist and running and even though I don't see the Luca himself, I jump on, on top the pile of testosterone.

I'm also rewarded with a few hugs and pats of my own, especially from coach, Aiden, Finn and Jess.

Now standing at one vs two, the game continues and our strategy is to dribble the ball amongst ourselves for as long as possible. It works and soon the final whistle is blown, Richmond having lost a match on their own soil. There are no hard feelings of any kind and the big beefy guys give us congratulatory shakes after.

**

"What's all the buzz about?" I ask Jessica coming out of the teeny weeny bathroom with brown towel wrapped around me. Dirt can be detected on brown right? Because even though the receptionist assured me its neat, I'm still finding it hard to believe.

The hotel wasn't that bad but it wouldn't be my first choice any day. The walls were too thin and I could see cracks on them and even the floor. Our designated shared room had two tiny dusty beds, a worn out rug - probably there because there isn't a darn heater, a table and wardrobe. The bathroom was really tiny and Juliet won't even take it as her personal bathroom. Well, at least there's no stench and we can actually sleep inside.

Jessica turned to me and I took a moment to appreciate her orange floral short dress. She was all dressed up, except her hair that's still wet. She smiled, showcasing an amazing set of teeth. "There a lake nearby and we having a party."

"A party? Like an impromptu rushed thingy?"

"No, Richmond people were planning it for themselves but since they didn't win, they handed it over to us. How awesome is that?"

I shake my head at her excitement, moving closer to my bed that has my gym bag open on it. "So Richmonds are going to be there?"

"Yea, it's combined. Do you have a hair drier or something?"

"No."

Just then the door opens and Finn walks in, closing the book behind him. I hear Jessica gasp and when I look at her, she has her eyes trained on him, her cheeks colouring up. I looked back at Finn, trying to find what was making Jess turn to mush. He had a pressed button shirt on, colourful with flower prints. Dark denim jeans with one ripped knee. To me he looked cute, other girls begged to differ.

"Sup, Jessie strike." Finn says raising a hand at her before collapsing on my bed. He's eyes turn to me. "Why are you not dressed?"

"Um, I'm gonna go look for... hair drier." Jess muttered before leaving the room.

"What are doing here?" I ask looking for something to wear. I brought jersey, sweats, pajama set, high waist jean, cute top and a black dress jumpsuit. Sneakers, wedge, scandals and flops.

"Are you going to the party dressed in that?" He asked, then smiled. "Genius."

I roll my eyes, "No, do I even need to go? I don't want to."

"No way." Finn says dragging my bag to himself. He reaches in and raises the top and jumpsuit, looking at them. He eventually throws the jumpsuit at me. "Go get dressed. You can't not come, you're the lady of the night."

"Lady of the night?" I asked eying the short jumpsuit.

"Yea, even though Luca headed the ball into the net. We all know who scored." Finn says winking at me. I laugh and we shared a high five before I disappeared into the bathroom. "Most Richmond guys are even talking about you in a very interesting way"

"Ew," I walk out the bathroom, adjusting the cloth on me. "I'm not interested." I go stand in front of Finn, backing him and silently asking for his help with my zipper.

"He's not your boyfriend and he's not even here," Finn says zipping me up as if not calling Ian's name would make it anonymous.

I scoff, "whatever, still not interested. I'm just going for the drinks but I could this easily," I snap my fingers in demonstration, "change my mind and just stay in. I could use the rest."

Finn raises his hands in surrender, "yes ma'am."

I shake my head, pull on my wedge and do a little spin for him, "how do I look?"

"Hot," he says surprising me and I stop to look at him, then gasp placing a hand on my chest.

"Oh my God, finally not in denial?"

He scoffs, "I could easily just tell you my mind and say you look as good as any twelve year old would at a birthday party but then, lady of the night, remember?"

I roll my eyes, "fucker."

"I'm not going to deny that title tonight," he winks putting his hand out to me.

I take his hand as we walk out the room, "I hope you're treating Jade better than you treat me."

"Of course, I like her."

I look at his face and he has this fond smile on and I know he's telling the truth. He might have this playboy attitude going on and be a douche something but I can tell he really likes Jade.

"I'm happy for you," I coo, "you guy would birth cute babies."

"Shut up," his face is almost as red as a tomato as he says this.

We talk some more and soon we're at the party. It's a huge party by the lake with so many people, both the ones I recognize plowing into on the field and the ones I've never seen before in my life. There's food, music, a blazing fire and lots of drinks. I cringed getting a horror image of someone getting drunk and either stumbling into the fire or the water. I shake the thought of grabbing the beer that Finn hands to me and taking large gulps.

"It's great right?" He yells over the music and I nod just as some girl approaches us. I recognize her as Finn's Jade by the red hair and her placing a hand on his bicep with a smile. Finn literally has love written all over his face as he smiles down at her, leaning down to whisper something into her ear.

She giggles, then blushes as she looks at me, nudging her head in greeting.

"You guys are so cute, I'm getting sick," I grumble but I have an obvious smile on my face.

"You were great out there Anna, I bet I was cheering the most." Jade says her skin blushing red.

I laughed, clicking my bottle with her Coke can. "Thanks."

"I was great too," Finn butted in pouting and I roll my eyes as Jade says something to him in his ear and he kisses her. "I'll be right back Anna."

I nod, knowing its a big fat lie. "Sure."

He walks a few steps and comes back, "don't just stand there all night, walk around, mingle— dance."

"Says the guy who would be right back," he grins and I shake my head, "don't worry about me just be sure to do anything in an actual room."

"Oh gosh, what do you take me for Anna, an animal?"

"Yes, exactly that."

"Mingle," he repeats one more time before walking away with his girlfriend.

I sigh and look at the party around me, I get the squeeze in my heart and it's just a painful reminder that I miss Ian so much. I decide to take Finn's advice and start walking around, choosing that instead of just moping around and wishing Ian would just appear hear out of thin air.

Things get better though and as I start walking around, I realize that Finn was right and I was indeed the lady of the night. People just keep shaking and cheering me for helping out in the winning goal. Then I bump into guys from my school soccer team, they cheer the loudest and even hoist me up in the air like I weighed nothing and I had to scream for them to put me down. We share a drink and jokes around and I notice that not only Finn was missing from the group but also Aiden. I didn't bother asking Lionel for his whereabouts because he's the only one who kept giving me the stink eye despite everything.

I excuse myself from them and go on a one woman search mission for Aiden. Alas I find him setting at a corner of the lake, trousers folded up to his knee and legs in the black water. He was all by himself, drinking and wallowing in what I guessed was sadness or worry. I try to convince myself otherwise but it's of no use because next thing I know I pulling off my shoes and going down to sit next to him, dipping my legs into the water.

I immediately shudder, half regretting this decision. The water was ice cold, "shit, it's cold."

"Roxy?" Aiden asks, squinting at me in confusion.

"Anna," I shake my head, "yeah it's me Aiden."

He chuckles, gulping down the contents of his flask, "what are you doing here? You should be out there partying like the queen you are."

I look him over, he was drunk alright. "As should you."

He chuckles, "no, you're the lady of the night," I almost groaned hearing that again, "it's different."

"What's wrong with you? Why are you out here alone?" I ask collecting the flask from him and sealing it tight. I was tempted to take a sip even if to just warm my body and get rid of the goosebumps showing their faces on my skin but I reasoned against it. Aiden could take it the wrong way.

"I— I'm sad," he blurted out, shoulders sagging and eyes emptily looking at the water.

I itch closer to him, "what's wrong Aiden?"

"My um— my parents they um," he moved his hand to rub behind his neck. "You heard about Evelyn and I right?"

I nod, having this gut feeling that he was trying to change the subject, "did your parents have anything to do with that?" I've met the Macers more times than I can count on both my fingers and toes, they were really nice people last I checked.

"No no," he shakes his head so fast, I fear it would fall off. "No Anna," he looked up at me, sad green eyes boring into mine. "That had everything to do with you."

I didn't expect that and I had to blink at him, "me?"

He nods, "yes because I'm going crazy finally. I can't get you out of my head, Anna."

"Aiden—"

"I love you," he says so quickly, I almost flinch. His hands clamp over mine and he moves uncomfortably close, I feel trapped. "I've always loved you and when you broke up with me, I felt so heartbroken. I went to Evelyn so make you jealous but— you..."

"Aiden, please stop." I cried out, shutting my eyes and shutting him out.

He stops talking and just when I'm about to sigh out in relief, I feel his cold lips over mine, alcohol breath fanning me. It takes me a second to react to this and I recoil away from him, pushing him back. "Aiden, what the fuck?"

"Anna..."

"Stop, stop it." I scramble up to my feet, ignoring his pleading look as I pick up my shoes. "You're drunk and confused right, just leave here and go rest."

"Anna, please don't go."

"I'm sorry Aiden but we're really over. Really." I don't wait for his reply and I immediately run off, bare foot and away from the party.

I don't go back to my room because I'm just going to be alone in there with my own thoughts choking me out. So I decided to walk, I didn't know anywhere around here so I made a mental decision not to turn any corners and to just keep walking straight so I don't go missing. After a while I put my shoes back on, folding my arms around myself as I keep on walking. Aiden's confession keeps ringing in my head and I decide to call Ian to distract myself.

He picks on the first ring, "hi."

I smile, a warmth I wasn't expecting sparking inside of me. "Were you waiting for my call?"

I can imagine the blush on his face as he says, "maybe."

I chuckle, "I have something to confess."

"What wrong?" He perks up and I blush.

"I've missed you more than I thought I would." It's surprising that I don't feel the slightest shame in saying that.

He sighs and I laugh squeaking out a sorry. "Me too, so so much."

"What are you doing now?"

"I'm walking around with my friend." He replies without missing a beat.

"What a coincidence, I'm walking around too."

I nod then say a yes when I remember that he can't see me. "Are you alone?"

I stop to look around me, "kinda."

"Roxanna that's dangerous," I hear him say from my phone and I also hear my name echo out the alleyway I was standing next to.

I frown, "what did you say?"

He groaned and I heard it both ways again. My heart stopped beating. "I said, it's quite dangerous—"

I pulled the phone out my ear, following the voice I was hearing and then I blinding bumped smacked into someone walking out the alleyway.

"Holy shit!"

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