As she tried to increase her speed, her legs didn't scream at her as she was expecting, but they became heavy. Instead of her lungs stinging, something in her just roared at her to stop and sit down and end this thing that was Emily desperately trying to breathe life into…her life. Despite that, she kept going. She distracted herself by watching the soccer games going on around her. She missed it so much. It used to be her solace, her identity, losing herself in that game. She loved it. It was different for her. While many of her friends would rejoice in practice getting cancelled, she always wanted to be there. Always wanted to play. It was her passion. She lost that fire for it after a while, but she still loved it. More than she missed the actual game, though, she missed the spark. If she knew anyone in this city, maybe she would join a team or something. Try to reignite whatever she lost. She needed to do something other than work at the coffee shop and get smashed after with the strange people she worked with. She felt like she was floating through her life. She felt numb.
"Heads up!"
Emily whipped her head around to see what the commotion was, and had no time to react as a ball slammed into the side of her face, much harder than she could have anticipated. She immediately fell to the ground.
"Oh shit, shit, shit! I'm so sorry! Are you ok?"
Emily's vision blurred and the side of her head stung a bit, but she immediately began mentally checking off signs that she was okay – count to ten, sky is still blue, fingers able to wiggle. She slowly sat up and felt a throb in her head and a sharp pain in her lip. "Jesus…"
Immediately, her eyes were drawn to the girl running towards her. In part because of her temporary fuzzy mind and in part because of the section of her brain belonging to a teenage boy, she slowly trailed her eyes up the long legs of the culprit, over the slim and athletic body, to sharp blue eyes full of concern. I wonder if she plays soccer. She'd have to, to be able hit me in the face that hard. Quite a leg on that girl. Legs actually. Ugh. Shut the fuck up, Emily, you just got hit in the face. Stop thinking so much. And stop staring at her, for Christ sake!
The girl knelt down with a concerned look still present on her face. Emily continued to stare, slightly confused and completely unable to look away. The girl seemed to be looking back just as determinedly.
"Is she ok Nai?" As if snapped out of a trance, the girl shakes her head and suppresses a slight eye roll that doesn't go unnoticed by Emily. "Are you ok?" the girl asks, looking guilty. Emily, despite the pain she is in, releases sort of grunt, focusing mostly on the sound of the girls voice and the way her lips move as the words come out. The girl just stares questioningly at her, looking even more worried.
"I mean, yes. Yes, I think so." Get it together.
The girl reaches forward and gently touches Emily's face, just below her lip. Emily is immediately hit with a swooping sensation in the pit of her stomach and notices the girls bright blue eyes widen slightly, as she moves her hand away quickly. Emily smirks the slightest bit, and immediately regrets it as she feels, what she assumes, is a cut on her lip stretching open.
"Ah, careful. Your lip looks really bad. You are bleeding quite a bit."
"Really?" Emily reaches up and feels warm liquid on her chin and is surprised as she looks down and sees red stains on her shirt. "How the hell did that happen? I didn't get hit that hard did I?"
"Yeah…sorry about that…I was trying to hit my boyfriend and he dodged it. You were the unfortunate victim instead. Are you ok to get up? I mean you seem a little dazed."
"Oh, no I'm fine really. Just apparently bleeding profusely, heh." She attempts to smile with just one side of her mouth, and then realizes she probably looks like a complete tit. The girl just chuckles and gives her a huge smile, seeming convinced that she is okay.
"Let's get you cleaned up. I think the ball hit you in just the right place to hit your teeth. I hope you don't need stitches. God, I'm such an ass!"
Emily was about to assure her that she held no grudge when a tall brown haired guy came bounding behind this beautiful girl with a water bottle and an extra shirt. "Here, let me help." He had, what Emily thought looked like a guilty look on his face. He also strangely reminded her of her a giant puppy after it peed on the carpet.
"Thanks, but I'll just take her to the bathroom. Why couldn't you just stand still you idiot? It was your punishment, you were supposed to grin and bear it."
"Well, Naomi, you can't blame me. Your shots hurt. Look what you did to this poor girl. It was a knee jerk reaction!"
"Just go wait for me over there Matt." Head down and looking defeated, he slouched back to where she pointed and Naomi grabbed Emily's hand, helping her up. They headed towards the restrooms on the other side of the park.
She let out a mumbled "Ass hat" as they walked.
Emily, who had been watching the exchange with a dazed amusement, and silently following the mystery girl willingly, giggled at this.
The girl, or Naomi, as Emily had gathered, turned to scowl at her, and immediately broke into a wide grin. Emily once again felt the unfamiliar swooping feeling in her stomach. As they entered the bathroom, Emily realized that she had just willingly allowed this complete stranger to lead her across the entire park, hand in hand, into a bathroom after she mutilated her face and couldn't even muster up any anger or awkwardness. She didn't usually talk to strangers very easily, though, to be fair, they really hadn't talked. But she felt oddly comfortable with this girl.
As Naomi leaned over the sink with shirt the dog-boy had given her to wet it, Emily looked at her a little closer. She had very long, toned legs that Emily knew belonged to someone who played soccer regularly, or at least worked out. She wore blue athletic shorts and a wife beater over a black sports bra. Her bright blonde hair was pulled into a messy ponytail and a few stray curls fell on the back of her neck, which was gleaming with mild perspiration from the heat. Emily could not tear her eyes away from the girl's neck, until they slowly glided down her arms, which were flexing as she strained to wring out the now soaking wet shirt the guy had given her.
As Naomi turned around, Emily blushed bright red and turned her eyes down towards her blood-stained shirt. Shit. She thought. This is Jackie's shirt. Her recently flushed mind, struggling to focus on anything but the girl, clung to this bit of information and went into overdrive.
"Are you okay…um…sorry, I didn't catch your name…?"
"Its Emily. And yeah, its just, this just isn't my shirt and I was supposed to give it back to her tomorrow because apparently ex-girlfriends don't like it when you keep all their favorite clothes and now I've gone and bled all over and she's going to be a bitch about it and…" Shit. What is wrong with me? Stop blabbering like an idiot for two seconds. She just let a heavy sigh out, closed her eyes and unconsciously licked the wound on her lip slowly, calming herself down.
She looked up at Naomi who was staring at her cut lip with a look in her eyes that Emily couldn't quite place, biting her lip in what Emily thought was the sexiest way possible. Stop stop stop. First you can't stop talking and now you cant shut off the hormones. Breathe you twat.
Naomi, seeing Emily looking at her, once again seemed to come out of a trance. She cleared her throat, and finally spoke, interrupting what had become a somewhat tense silence. "Look, I feel really bad about this. Matt and I were just playing this stupid game and I won and he agreed that I got to peg him with the ball, but the stupid pansy dodged it last-minute and, well, you were there for the rest. Fuck! I'm sorry. Let me do something to make it up to you. Let me get you a new shirt! Or have it dry-cleaned! I'll explain it to your girlfriend or…"
"Ex."
"What?"
"She's my EX-girlfriend. And she'll be a bitch regardless. I think my head just fuzzy. I didn't mean to freak out. I tend to ramble. It's just a stupid t-shirt. You really don't need to do anything. Its really not that big of a deal. Sorry"
"Oh, well, thank you so much for apologizing for this horrible ordeal you've have put me through. You have put me in the terrible position of smacking your face. How dare you." Naomi held a faux-angry look on her face for as long as she could before a smirk overtook her. Emily could not help but smirk back at the girl, who was blatantly mocking her.
"yeah, well, I know it is tough for you. I would be devastated destroying a beautiful face like this. Your guilt is probably running rampant." Naomi giggled.
"Trust me, it's far from destroyed." Naomi looked a little surprised at the comment, and through her blush, recovered her composure.
"Seriously, though. Is there anything I can do?
Emily grinned at how cute she was being. I think she just called me pretty. Or at least told me my face wasn't destroyed… Is she flirting with me? No you idiot. She is straight. And taken. Don't be stupid. "Hello? You ok Ems?" The voice along with the nickname broke her out of her inner ranting.
"uh..yeah, sorry. Um. How about just a drink? We can call it even?"
Naomi smiled, laughter mixed with that look, again, that Emily couldn't quite place. "That would be lovely."
