Chapter 27, enjoy!
Matt returned to his grandmother's home after his trip to the store and run in with Landry Clarke's mother. He hid his 12 pack and in a brown paper sack, too embarrassed for Lydia or his grandma to discover his new source of comfort. It was still mid afternoon, so Matt sat down with his grandma who was watching Golden Girls reruns.
"I'm so glad your back Matthew!" Lorraine exclaimed during a commercial. "I missed having you around!"
"I missed you too Grandma," Matt returned with a smile. He really had missed her. In Chicago it was just him and Julie, they didn't have many friends. He took advantage of the downtime and clear mind to think about him and Julie's past. Maybe she was right, maybe they weren't meant to be.
Even if she was right and they weren't right for each other, it didn't make her leaving any easier. Looking back, they did fight a lot. From what they would have for dinner to his work, they fought about almost everything. And he would admit, he wasn't the best fiancee, because he didn't keep touch when he went on work trips.
Thinking about her words being right made his want to grab a beer from the fridge and down it as fast as he could. He didn't want to admit that they weren't good fo each other, it hurt too much.
Back in Philadelphia, it was the Monday after Coach Taylor's failed Saturday practice. He had fumed about it all weekend and he was ready to rip those boys a new one for standing him up. The athletic hour rolled around and Coach Taylor stood in the locker room with Assistant Coach Williams, who had 't been able to attend the Saturday practice, wait for the boys to arrive.
A few minutes later, a stampede of boys flooded into the locker room. They were talking loudly and joking with each other, oblivious to their coach's anger.
"Sit down!" Coach Taylor demanded, his voice full of anger. Eric had coached at Pemberton High School for six years, he had coached most of the seniors since they were in junior high, and none of them had ever seen him this angry. They all obeyed his order, scared of what would happen if they didn't. "Would someone like to tell me why no one showed ip to practice Saturday?" All the boys looked around at each other in search of someone brave enough to answer.
"We didn't know, Coach," One of them finally gained up the courage to ask.
"You didn't know?" Coach Taylor shouted back with his hands on his hips. "I sent out a group text. I know you all have phones because you are always on them. Anyone else have an explanation?" One of the players raised his hand. "This better be damn good Thomas," Coach Taylor said looking the player, who was know to be a jokester, in the eyes.
"We don't normally have practices on Saturday," The player answered. Coach Taylor let out a chuckle, though he wasn't amused.
"You know who decides when we have practice? I do," Coach Taylor replied. "I don't care what we normally do, when I say we have practice we have practice. And when we have practice, you show up," He told them.
"Yes sir," They replied in somewhat unison, though it was weak.
"You can do better," Coach Taylor said, annoyed at their lack of effort. If he had to guess, he would say about half of them didn't hear a word he said.
"Yes sir," They said again, this time more in sync and a little bit louder.
"And if ever skip out on practice again, you will all be running twice as many bleachers as you are today," He warned. "Get your asses out there and do 25 bleachers. If I hear any complaining you will start over," He instructed. "And prepare yourselves for a long practice today," He added as they all changed into their practice gear and began running up and down the bleachers.
"This week we play a team we could easily beat if you all put a little effort in, but I'm not seeing the effort," Coach Taylor yelled as they all ran up and down the bleachers.
This one was a little short, my bad. I hope you still enjoyed it!