~~~Ch 3~~~

Just as Max finished his cereal, Ryan reappeared wearing a green t-shirt, appropriately featuring Tigger playing soccer, and a pair of black shorts.  Overall, he didn't look half bad considering he had dressed himself.  He was still barefoot of course, not having mastered shoelace tying yet.  Nonetheless, Max was impressed.

"Looking good little man.  Where's your shoes though?" Max said, pointing to his son's bare feet.

"Oops," Ryan said as he quickly turned around and ran back to his room.  He returned a minute later carrying his tennis shoes and a pair of sock.  "Got 'em," he said, holding them up for Max to see.  "Socks too."

"Excellent.  Come over here so we can get them on you okay?"

"Okay," the little boy yelled as he ran the rest of the way to where his dad was sitting.  He plopped himself down on the floor and look up expectantly at Max.  Max got up from his chair and joined his son on the floor.  He quickly helped Ryan with his shoes, then stood up, and delivered his empty cereal bowl to the sink, not bothering to rinse it out. 

Ryan was already anxious to leave and as soon as his shoes were tied, he was out the front door. 

"Hey!  Stay out of the street!" Max yelled as he made his way back to his bedroom in search of his wallet.  Finding it on his nightstand, he stuffed it in the back pocket of his pants.  He patted the side pocket where he usually tossed his cell phone and not feeling it, returned to the living room.  He quickly scanned the room until his eyes came to rest on the TV, where the small black phone sat. Crossing the room to the TV, Max picked up the phone and dropped it into its pocket.

"Dad!  Come 'on!" Ryan called from outside.

"Coming!" he shouted, hurrying out the front door to his old beat up Jeep, where Ryan was already sitting in the backseat.  He jumped into the driver's seat, twisting around to make sure Ryan was buckled up.  "Ready to go?"

"Yep!"

"Alright…off we go…" Max said, turning the key in the ignition and slowly pulling the Jeep out onto the road.

It was a relatively short drive, only about a half an hour, before they arrived at the entrance to the field.  It was a beautiful day and already the stands looked crowded.  As they pulled into the parking lot, he could see that both team were out on the field warming up.

The only soccer game in the area on Ryan's birthday happened to be the local professional women's team.  Not that either of them minded.  In fact, Maria had told them yesterday that several of the women on their home team had been part of the recent Olympic team that had won gold.  Supposedly, they were currently the top-rated team in their league.  Max wasn't nearly as into soccer as Ryan was, but this could actually be interesting.

The pair quickly found seats that Ryan approved of, not too high and with no 'really tall people' in front of them, and settled in as they waited for the game to start.  It wasn't long before an announcer signaled the start of the game and the crowd began clapping and cheering in excitement. 

~~~

Liz Parker stopped her warm-up for a moment to look up into the stands of screaming fans.  The crowds still overwhelmed her sometimes.  Ever since she and her teammates had returned from the Olympics, they had all received so much attention from the public and the media.  It was all a little surreal.  One day she was a quiet private school girl who was a pretty good soccer player and the next she was being called to be on the cover of magazines. 

Might as well take advantage of it while it lasts, her parents had said.  Their plans for her had been simple…she could attend private school, college if she wanted, then she would marry a 'nice boy' from another wealthy family like themselves—living out her days as a trophy wife and mother.  They didn't see 'this soccer thing,' as they liked to call it, lasting long and having any purpose other than perhaps gaining the attention of some nice eligible bachelor. 

Unbeknownst to her parents, Liz had other plans.  She wanted to attend college and have a career…maybe something to do with biology, her favorite subject.  Just maybe, she might meet someone who really understood her, someone she could fall in love with, someone she might actually want to spend the rest of her life with—not as a trophy to show off…but as an equal, a soulmate. 

For now, playing soccer was the only thing keeping her parents from following through with their plans and Liz planned to take advantage of it as long as she could.

"Liz?  Hey are you alright?" a voice said, interrupting her daydream.

"Huh?  Oh…yeah Carrie, I'm fine…just kinda spaced out there for a minute," she said, reassuring her teammate that she was okay.

"They're ready to start…better pull yourself together…and fast.  We're playing the Panthers today.  It's going to be a rough game…and we really need you to be focused Liz.  Come 'on…everyone's waiting for us."

Liz took one more look up into the stands and sighed.  She turned back to her teammate.  "Alright.  Let's do this!" she said and they both ran back to the benches where the rest of their team was waiting for them.

TBC…