Chapter 29:

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"Shoot! Shoot!" all of Wayne's teammates, coaches, and a few bystanders yelled during a practice scrimmage of soccer. As it turned out, he was fairly good at the game, and the coach had quickly decided he was forward material. Glenn had complained about his heart condition and was shoved back as goalie. It suited him fine. Wayne hopped over a sliding kick, narrowly zig-zagging through the opposition, waiting through the split seconds of shooting time that he would get to line up his perfect shot…

And that's when he saw her. In all her glory, there was Beatrice, shedding her school issue red blazer with her usual unintentional sensuousness. She sat alone on the cement bleachers with a small cup of something hot, most likely cocoa. Only girlfriends of the athletes came to watch practices, if them. She was here for someone, and he knew it had to be him. It had to be.

That's when the coach yelled and the ball was swept away from Wayne's perfect shot opportunity. All he cared about was staring at her, even while the coach chewed him out:

"What, is your head in the clouds, boy? You starin' over at the girlies? I get this too often nowadays, and we don't even have cheerleading practice today. Are you listening to me, boy?"

Wayne wasn't. But he would never allude to that. He simply flashed the coach his winning smile, patted him reassuringly on the shoulder.

"Let me take five, huh, coach?"

The coach seemed disappointed with him, but let his frustration go.

"Yeah, yeah…"

Wayne jogged to the benches to grab his water bottle. Beatrice found his gaze, and they shared a tightly locked stare. Smirking as if hiding a dirty secret, Wayne finally decided he would relieve her of her news she was obviously aching to tell him. Perhaps news of her changing her mind about him? If that were the case, he would let her simmer for a few more seconds. So he did. It killed her.

Finally, he put his water bottle away and casually walked over in her direction. A small diamond fencing about four feet high blocked him from going to sit with her, but he hung over it just the same. It was just as well though; he probably stank something awful with sweat.

That's when he saw it, and his smile vanished. His ring. On her ring finger. But it wasn't his ring. It was James's. He remained calm, though his insides were screaming bloody murder. He kept his cool.

"So you said yes…" His voice cracked against his will. It was shaky and forced, but still casual. He coughed a bit to cover for it.

"No, I took his ring as a parting gift," Beatrice snapped sarcastically. She was being extra cold. That meant she was really nervous. Wayne folded his arms on the top of the fence, and rested his chin on it.

"He didn't tell you?" Beatrice asked.

"We don't talk much these days," Wayne hinted strongly.

"I heard you fought over me," Beatrice said, shifting in her uncomfortable seating. "Did you walk away from it?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" he said tauntingly. It was just like him to make jokes at a time like this.

Beatrice played with the edge of her coat. She was in the weakest state as Wayne had ever seen her.

"I didn't sleep with Damien that night after the races," she stated.

"I let James win."

"I'm going to marry James."

"No, you aren't."

Beatrice looked up at the heavens, as if wondering why God was doing this to her. Behind him, Wayne heard his coach calling him back to practice.

"I love him."

"Like a brother."

"I trust him."

"Only because he's predictable."

"You'll get tired of me like you did with your last wife… My heart can't take that kind of beating, Wayne, it can't."

Wayne pursed his lips thoughtfully, and seemingly had no response to that accusation.

"Do you deny this?" Beatrice asked.

The coach was getting rather impatient now at Wayne ignoring him.

"No," Wayne said to Beatrice boldly. "You know what? You're right; James is best for you. He's got a lot of heart, and he'll take care of you."

Wayne began to walk backwards away from her, heading back to the field.

"But don't expect me to sit around and watch you marry him. MY heart can't take that kind of beating."

Then Wayne turned his back on her. Beatrice ran to the fence, trying to call him back.

"Wayne!"

The way she said his name sounded so desperate and so sincere that Wayne stopped in his tracks. In that moment when he looked back at her, he saw something. Vulnerability. There was no other word to describe it.

Wayne grabbed at Glenn.

"I need to talk more with Beatrice. Cover for me."

Glenn sputtered in protest but Wayne was already trotting back over to the lady in the stands, who now bore a smile on her face at his impending return.

"Where does Parry think he's going?" the coach demanded.

"He's feeling sick," Glenn half-lied. "Lovesick," he added under his breath. Glenn wasn't one to interfere, but he had a rotten feeling about all this, as he watched Wayne walk off with a beaming Beatrice. This was so very NOT good.

-

"Hey, Glenn!" James called, catching up to Glenn in the hall after practice. James was tired and worried, and it showed. "Have you seen Beatrice? I haven't been able to find her anywhere… Again."

"Seen her?" Glenn gulped, shifting his soccer bag on his shoulder nervously. "No, not seen her. I mean, I haven't seen her, no. Why ask me?"

James quirked an eyebrow. He knew Glenn was a bad liar, even if he did possess the stomach for it, which he didn't. James gave him the benefit of the doubt.

"I don't know," James obliged. "She hangs with Rosalind and so do you. I just figured--"

"--Well, you figured wrong. I don't know anything."

James sighed.

"Is there something you would like to tell me, Glenn?"

-

Beatrice beamed brighter than the light of the sun itself as Wayne silently lead her down the abandoned hall back to his dorm. A million words were said through their silence, an understanding between them that their relationship had finally been given the chance it had been longing for. Beatrice's heart was in her throat, her breath beyond her capability to catch. Her heart pounded in her ears in excitement and apprehension, looking upon the man that would very soon make all her dreams come true… all those mysteries soon solved… all the tension soon released… It was enough to make her legs keep moving, to allow her feet to keep rising and falling, to let herself be led to that room that promised so much.

To her complete and utter surprise, she saw that Wayne was shaking something fierce as he tried to fit his dorm key in the keyhole. Could it be so? Was the great and mighty sex god Wayne, he who had satisfied so many girls… nervous?

Finally, Beatrice grabbed his hand to steady it enough, and helped him put it in and turn it properly. Wayne looked to her, his face so very close to hers, and the edges of his lips curled in amused thankfulness. Slowly, he let those lips come closer, inch-by-inch, taking his time… he seemed unsure if she would really let him kiss her…

"Don't hold back for my sake," Beatrice assured him in a hushed whisper. "I won't be so kind."

It was the most euphonious thing he had ever heard in his entire life. He could barely keep upright, for how much it buckled his knees, knocking the wind out if him like a sweet blow to the chest.

With that, their mouths collided, Wayne clumsily stumbling into the door under her weight. He moaned in sweet ecstasy as his hand desperately felt for the doorknob. When it felt it, it roughly turned it to the point of just about ripping it out of the wood. Wayne fell inside the room with Beatrice still attached to his lips, kicking the door closed after himself.

He was beside himself as Beatrice undid the buttons of his shirt, then slowly pushed it off his shoulders, gently feeling his bare skin on the way…

And that's when there was a knock at the door. Wayne nearly turned into the Hulk and went on a rampage at the damn door's expense for letting a person knock on it at a time like this. He decided not to answer it, hoping they would go away…

When they knocked again, Beatrice pulled away, and Wayne nearly had a heart attack.

"It's probably Glenn, worried on James's behalf," she sighed, "Talk to him."

"To Hell with Glenn, to Hell with James," Wayne said, leaning to kiss her again.

"Wayne…" When she used that tone, that meant the argument was over and you had better do what she says. Wayne sighed in the utmost of disappointments. This couldn't be happening. He would just send Glenn on his way, and that would be it. He roughly jerked open the door.

"Look, Glenn--" Wayne stopped immediately when he saw. He gasped so sharply that his lungs protested it. His eyes bugged wide in terror.

"Desiree!"

"Yeah, hi, Wayne," she said as if bored, then looked beyond him and waved at Beatrice with a wide, phony smile. "Oh, hi, Beatrice!"

Beatrice folded her arms and said nothing. Desiree set her eyes back on Wayne with a conniving gaze, letting him know she was up to something.

"Yeah, Wayne, I was just here to pick up that red thong I left here the other night? You know… the one with the rhinestones?"

Wayne was speechless, for once in his entire existence. He felt he should say something, but couldn't get his vocal chords to make any sound come out of his gaping mouth other than random squeaks through outputs of air.

"You mean this one?" Beatrice said icily, standing with said article of clothing dangling from the tip of her index finger.

"That's the one!" Desiree said happily, grabbing it and stuffing it into her purse.

Desiree stroked Wayne on the chin, and he jerked his face away from her foul touch.

"Thanks for a great night, baby," she drawled just to solidify her point.

Beatrice was already shoving her way past the two vile creatures in the doorway to get out of there as soon as humanly possible. To think, of what she almost did with Wayne…?

"Oh, and by the way?" Beatrice said, walking backwards to face Wayne as she stormed off. "I hadn't said 'yes' to James yet… but I will now."

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PHEW! Intense! Yeah… please review.
Signed,
--RedRogue