Chapter Seven

Football Country

Outside of the 7-Eleven, Don sat in Brian's car eating microwavable burritos and drinking chocolate milk from a carton. It had been two days since the incident at Don's house and he hasn't talk to Darla yet. He was embarrassed that Darla had been there. That she had to seen his father act that way, again. She probably hated him now. She probably didn't want anything to do with him. Hell, he wouldn't blame her if she broke up with him because of what happened.

The sound of a car pulling up and stopping beside him pulled Don out of his thoughts. He looked down at his burrito and took a bite.

The police officer looked over at the two young boys. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel of his car; his gold State Championship ring gleamed in the light.

"You boys all right?" The sheriff asked them.

Brian nodded. "Yes, sir." He answered.

Don swallowed his bite and nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Gonna win state?"

"Yes, sir." Brian said. Don sighed silently. "Yes, sir."

"Undefeated?"

"Yes, sir." Don answered for the both of them.

"Get it done."

Don nodded as the sheriff climbed out of his cruiser and walked into the convenience store.

Don finished his burrito and tossed the trash into Brian's back seat.

"You're going to get that later, right?" Brian asked him, his mouth filled with beans.

Don looked over at him and nodded. "Yeah."

--



Darla tapped her pencil as she looked out of the window in her father's office.

Her mother took her father's car to get fix so she was stuck giving him a ride home.

She looked down at her Pre-Calculus and sighed. Three days since she's talk to Don. She remembered the way his father acted. The way he flipped out on Billy for dropping a lamp.

Not talking to Don broke her heart. She wasn't going to deny the fact that she was falling for him. She's known since the minute he kissed her that she was in love with him. But she wouldn't say it. Don wasn't the kind of person that you said 'I love you' to. He was the kind of guy that made love to you.

She heard her father's door open and she looked down at her math. "I told you, Dad, I'm working."

"I really hope you never call me 'Dad' again." She heard his deep voice say.

She licked her lips and looked up at him. "What do you want, Don?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "You dad wants you to grab his playbook and met him at your car. He's ready to go home." Don looked out the window.

She nodded and got her stuff together. "So, are we over?" She heard Don mumble.

She froze and looked up at him. "What makes you think we're over?"

He shrugged. "What happened couple of days ago."

She laughed and shook her head. "Don, your drunken father has nothing to do with us." She put her backpack on her father's desk. She cupped Don's cheeks. "Donnie, I care about you too much to let something like that break us up."

He looked down at her. "Promise?" He knew that it would happen again.

She smiled and kissed his lips. "I promise."

He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her tightly.



She kissed his shoulder. "I have to go. My dad is waiting for me." He nodded and let her go." She picked up her father's playbook and slipped her backpack over one of her shoulders.

"You gonna come to the Marshall game?" He asked her as she opened the door. "I wouldn't miss it for the world." She smiled at him and he smiled back before she walked out to meet up with her dad.

--

Darla walked with her mother over to the locker room, where her dad waited outside for them.

"Gary." Sharon hugged her husband and he hugged her back tightly. "Have a good game, sweetheart." She muttered against his shoulder. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. She smiled up at him and stepped back.

Darla stepped forward and hugged her dad tightly. He rubbed her back. "Good luck, daddy." She said as she pulled away. He kissed her hair and smiled. "I love both of you." He touched Darla's cheek. She smiled at her father as he walking back into the locker rooms.

Darla sat down next to her mother and looked out at the field. "Sweetie," Her mother said and wrapped her arm around her daughter's shoulders. "Do you love him?" She asked. Darla didn't need her mom to explain who she was talking about, she already knew.

"Yes." She said, never taking her eyes away from the field. "Does he know?" Her mother asked and Darla shook her head.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Because I don't know if I'm ready to tell him yet." Darla finally looked over at her mother as the Permian football players walked onto the field.

--

The crowd cheered with excitement and joy as Boobie made another touchdown. Another roar of cheer erupted from the stands as Brian 

Chavez tackled down the opposite team's quarter back before he even snapped the ball.

"God damn!" Don screamed out next to Coach Gaines. "I'm so proud of you!"

Coach Gaines looked over at him. "Calm down, son."

"Chavez will eat you--!"

"Billingsley. Hey, Billingsley." Coach Gaines gently pushed Don back towards the benches.

"Whoo!" Don screamed out.

"Go sit—"

"Whoo!"

"Go sit down on the bench!" Coach Gaines pushed him back more until he was sitting down. "Boy, crazy."

Don continued to scream from the bench. "I like enthusiasm, but my goodness." Coach Gaines shook his head.

"Hey, I'm going to get a soda, you want anything?" Darla asked.

"No, I'm fine, sweetie. Do you have money?" She asked as Darla made her way down the stairs.

"Yeah, I'm good." Darla waved and went to the concession stand.

"Can I get a bottle of coke please?" Darla asked the young girl working there. "Yeah, just hold on a second." She said and turned around to find the ice chest.

"Darla." She heard a rough voice behind her.

She turned around and licked her lips as she saw Charlie Billingsley stand in front of her, drinking from a flask.

"Y-yes, sir?" She took a small step back from him.

"Good to see you with clothes on." He chuckled as she turned bright red.

"Where's Flippy?" She asked.

"Somewhere, I don't know." He shrugged and took another sip from his flask.



"Don's playing really good out there." She pointed to the field.

"Ain't droppin' the ball." He grunted.

"Is there something you want, Mr. Billingsley?"

He studied Darla for a minute before he answered.

"You still datin' my boy?"

"Yes, sir."

He nodded and looked out at the field.

"I don't want you distracting my boy why he's playin'."

"It's not like I'm going to run out on the field."

"Now that's not what I meant. I meant during the whole football season."

"Donnie's doing fine tonight, sir."

"Tonight he is. Next week, not so sure. This game means as much as it does to him as it does to the whole town. And I ain't gonna let no girl stand in the way of him winnin' that State Championship. You got that?" He said pointing right at her face.

"Sir, you think that I would do anything to sabotage Don's chances of doing something that he loves. Then you truly underestimate how much I care about him." Darla said firmly and Charlie just lowered his hand and sniffed.

"Your coke." The young girl said from behind them.

Darla turned around and picked it up, handing the girl the money. She looked back at Charlie and smiled. "Enjoy the rest of the game, Mr. Billingsley."

She walked passed him and made her way back to her seat.

"Chris Comer! Come in." Coach Gaines said turning around to face the young sophomore.

"Comer! You're in the game. Come on." Chris jumped up and ran towards the field.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, son. Come here!" Coach Gaines pulled him back towards him. "Come here! Where you goin'?"

"You don't want me to go in, Coach?"



"You don't want a helmet?

Chris' hands flew to his unprotected head. "Where's your helmet? Go get it!" Coach Gaines said.

"Yes, sir!" Chris answered.

Turning around the bench he was sitting on, he looked franticly for his helmet. "You see my helmet, man?" He asked the players sitting down.

"Find your helmet, son." Coach told him.

"What you lookin' for, Water Bug?" Boobie asked him.

Chris grabbed onto another player's helmet. "Let me get this real quick." He pulled but the football player held onto it tight. "Let me get your helmet, man." "No way." The player said.

"Come on, come on." Coach Gaines shook his head. "My goodness gracious. Boobie. You're in."

"Water Bug, you can't come out here with no helmet, man." Boobie laughed as he stood up.

"You seen my helmet right here?" Chris asked as he still looked.

"28 sweep. 28 sweep." Coach Gaines said patting Boobie on his captain patch.

"You don't know where your helmet is?" An assistant coach screamed at Chris Comer. "What are you thinkin'? Where did you put your helmet?"

"Right there a second ago." Chris pointed to the empty bench.

"Well, it ain't there! Do you not know that you play the game with a helmet on? Put your tail end right there!" He pointed to the bench and Chris said down reluctantly.

"Mom, Boobie's back out." Darla said pointing to the field.

"He throws it back to Miles." The sportscaster's voice boomed threw out the stadium. "Miles cuts to his right. Bailey takes him down."

Boobie Mile's screams of pains could be heard all over the stadium. People slowly began to stand up to get a better look at the now injured player. Women gasped, men groaned, and L.V. looked around 

the stadium at all the scouts from different colleges. He watched his nephew's future blown away.

Darla and her mother were standing up with the rest of the stadium as they watched their husband and father walk onto the field to get a better look at Boobie's injured knee.

Darla looked over at the scoreboard. The panthers were leading 42-7. In the 4th quarter. With only a minute and twenty-one seconds left.

Ratliff Stadium had never been this quiet as they watched their star player scream in pain.

Coach Gaines had to look away from Boobie. He couldn't see him like this. He turned around and faced the crowd. He began to walk back to the sidelines. His perfect season was gone. He saw the State Championship slip threw his fingers. He ruined everything.

--

Darla waited outside of her father's car, kicking rocks to pass the time. She looked up when she saw her father walking over to the car.

"Ready?" He asked her. She looked back at the locker room and bit her lip. Her father followed her gaze and chuckled. "We'll wait." Darla smiled at her father. "Thanks, dad." He patted her shoulder and walked over to his wife.

Don walked out of the locker room with wet hair. He looked around the parking lot for his dad's car when his eyes landed on Darla. She was leaning against the coach's car. He smiled and walked over to him.

"Hey." He smiled and she looked up at him with a smile.

"Hey." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Great game, tonight."

He smiled and shrugged as he placed his hands on her hips.

"Is Boobie goin' to be okay?" She asked him.

"Your dad said it wasn't a tear. So I hope so." He rested his forehead against hers.



She leaned up and kissed his lips gently. He pulled her closer and kissed her back.

Wrapping his arms around her waist he deepened the kiss. She tightened her hold around his neck.

HONK! HONK! HONK!

"Donnie get in the damn car!" Charlie screamed from the passenger seat of Don's car. Don groaned and pulled away from Darla. "I'll see you tomorrow." He said and gave her another kiss.

HONK! HOOOOONNKKK!

Don turned to his father. "I'm comin'!" He screamed out. "See ya." He walked to his car.

"Bye." She waved.

"You ready, sweetie?" Her mother placed her arm around Darla's shoulders.

"Yeah, ma. I am." She said getting into the backseat of her father's station wagon.

"We only got a minute and a half left in the game, we're leadin' by a good lead. He leaves the boy in there like that. That makes no sense!" Darla leaned her head back at the sound of an angry fan on the radio.

Her father re-gripped the steering wheel and stared out at the road.

"You gotta protect your best asset! What's the matter with this man? He could have ruined the whole season for us right there."

"We were up." The sportscaster said. "We were winnin' big, and the boy stays in the game."

"Yeah! What's—You don't need any more. You don't need to accomplish any more."

"I think Coach Gaines is a stupid f—in' idiot."

"Hey."

"Well, he sh—You know, he shouldn't have put him in. I mean, we had a big lead and everything. I don't understand what that was all about. We can't do anything without Boobie."



"We had the game won—"

Sharon leaned over and shut the radio off. Coach Gaines continued to stare out of the window. Driving in silence.