Football Game

At 5:00 I jogged across the street with a few shirts and knocked on the door.

"Hey J, what's up?" Leon answer the door.

"Just here to see Lex and get ready"

"For...?"

"Football game, didn't she tell you?"

"Didn't tell me but she doesn't exaclty have to. Come on in..."

I followed him into the living room where everyone was sitting.

"Oh, hey Jairyn," Alex got up and headed towards the stairs.

"You two are going to the game?" Dom asked

"Yea, is that ok?" Alex asked, uncertainty on her face.

"Yea, it's fine"

I followed her up to her room and handed her the shirts to look through. She decided on my old Falcons Football t-shirt. It was black and said FALCONS across the front in yellow letters, with a Falcon character with a football tucked under it's wing. She wore jeans with it and black flip-flops. I was wearing Jon's away Jersey, white with the black numbers and letters outlined in yellow, and jeans and my tennis shoes. She pulled her hair back and then we went downstairs to hang out.

"Hey, would we be cramping your style if we tagged along to the game?" Leon asked casually when we walked in.

"Yes, geeze, you'd make us look like such losers," I said sarcastically. "Hah, no. Why, you guys all wanna come?"

"Only if you won't look like losers," Leon said, holding up his hands in defense.

"I think we can maintain our awesomeness with you there," I conceded.

"Awesomeness... you sure that's a word, babe?" Vince asked as they headed out to change out of their work clothes.

"Positive"

He rolled his eyes and ran upstairs.

My cell rang and I answered it quick. "Hey... yea, course I'm going... really?...aw that sucks...yea, I think I can allow you to hang out with me...haha, yea I know...ok, see you there, bye"

"Who was that?" Alex asked.

"Well aren't you nosey?" I teased, but it made me smile that she was comfortable enough to be 'nosey.' I didn't care.

She just smiled.

"It was Courtney. Sounds like a bunch of people have to work tonight and she wanted to see if I was going cuz her ride to the game can't go now, so we'll have to pick her up."

"Oh, ok"

"Yep, just one more person to our entourage," I laughed. We'd certainly look awesome coming and leaving in one big group.

Alex snickered and then I just started laughing as I thought of the sight we'd make walking in with the guys. I don't know why, but I found it funny. By the time the guys game back in we were both laughing and seeing their confused faces just made us laugh harder.

"You guys gonna stop laughing long enough to get up and go to the game?" Dom asked, a smile on his face.

I shrugged and just kept laughing.

"Girls..." Vince shook his head and picked up Alex, slinging her over his shoulder and carrying her out the door.

Dom followed suite and threw me over his shoulder and carried me to his car.

"Dude, I can drive!"

"I know, but there's no point in all of us driving"

"But I have to pick up Courtney," I argued, just for the sake of arguing.

"Well I think I can handle driving there"

He set me down next to his car and I got in.

"Guys, follow me cuz we gotta pick up a friend of hers," He called to the others before getting in.

"...Where's Letty?" I asked, realizing she was gone without a reason.

"Went to Sante Cruz to visit family. She's gonna be there for a while"

"Oh, ok,"I didn't say anything more about it sinceI wasn't sure if they were in one of the spats.

I gave him directions to Courtney's house and we were there a few minutes later. I ran up to the door, knowing she wouldn't recognize the cars, and got her out. "Whoa, who's all these people?" she asked.

"Friends"

"Ok, who am I riding with?"

"Oh...I dunno," I answered, shrugging. We stood on her porch looking retarded for a few minutes, not sure of what to do.

"Yo, you need us to carry you again?" Leon called out his window. "Your pretty friend can ride with me"

"You're with him," I said simply before going back and getting into Dom's car. He sped off and we were there in 10 minutes. It's usually a 20 minutes drive.

We walked up to the entrance to pay and I nudged Alex to point at the ladies taking the money, who were staring at us. We choked back laughter and walked up to pay.

"Ah-ah-ah," Dom grabbed my arm when I went for my wallet and shook his head. "I got it" He gave the ladies the money and we went in after grabbing rosters.

Once we all got in we made our way to the stands. Courtney wandered off to find someone after telling us to save her a spot, and the rest of us wove out way in and out of other people towards the STUDENT section. Less people sat there, cuz most students walk around or sit in the grass, so it would be better.

We climbed up the steps and sat in one of the middle rows. Alex was on my right and Jesse was on my left, wit Leon on his other side. Dom sat right in front me, and Vince was on his left and Brian at his right.

"What number is Jon?" Leon asked as the team warmed up.

"37" I answered, pointing to my shirt. He nodded and the game started a little while later.

After the game we got up to leave.

"Yo, J," I stopped and turned as Eva, a girl from my team, caught up. "You going to Pat's tonight?"

"Party?"

"Yea, like usual"

"Well if it's like usual...then no"

"Aw, come on"

"No"

"Fine. Court, you're going right? Taylor is"

Taylor was Courtney's boyfriend so I knew what answer that was gonna be.

"Yea, I will for a while"

"Sweet, you want a ride"

"Yea. See you later J. Leon, guys, see ya"

"Bye"

"Later"

"Court, wait," I stepped after her and grabbed her arm. "You really going?"

"Yea, sure"

"Don't. Come over to my house"

"No. I'm gonna go to with Taylor, why not?"

"You know what not Courtney. They smoke and drink and shit"

"Well I don't"

"I know...so why go?"

"Cuz Taylor goes, I don't know. I'll call you later"

"Yea..." I sighed in defeat and watched her go.

"Come on," Dom's arm appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around my shoulders, steering me back to the parking lot. "She'll be fine," he assured me, having overheard the conversation.

"Yea..."

"Yea, so, wanna come to our place? I dunno what we're doing but it'll be better than being home alone"

"k"

I nodded and we headed back to their house and the guys ended up playing poker while me and Alex played a video game. I got in a few hands of cards when Jesse or someone wanted to race for a while, but I mostly played the PS2 with Alex. She might not be a driver yet, but she's wicked at the games.

"Yea?" I said, pausing the game to grab my cell from my pocket. "Hey...no I'm not at home...what!...The fuck you are, get your ass home... no, but I'm right across the street so I'll know if you don't... oh, you idiot...tell Thane to get his ass out of there too, he shouldn't be there... no I'm not kidding, you know that junk is shit... yea, if you did I'd kick your ass...don't laugh, now get back here...ok, bye... ugh" I hung up the phone, rolling my eyes.

"Who the hell was that you just went off on?" Vince asked, amusement in his voice.

"Jon. The idiot's over at Pat's. I'll kill him if he's not home in 20 minutes"

"So, Pat's the guy who throws the bad parties?" Dom asked, turning in his seat to look over at me.

"Yes...never let Alex go to one"

"So noted"

"Gee, thanks J," Alex commented

"No, Lex, seriously you don't ever want to go"

"I know, I was just kidding"

"Hey!" The front door opened and Jon stepped in.

"Jon! What the...you said... that was fast"

"I wasn't really over there, I'm not dumb. If coach ever caught me at one he'd flip and I wouldn't be starting"

He laughed at me and stole my controller to race Alex for a little bit. We went home around 1:00 and head to bed. "Night Jon. Good game"

"Good night...and thanks...hey, dad's not home till Tuesday, right?"

"Yea"

"Ok. I think I'm gonna have Thane spend the weekend or something"

"Ok, don't try sneaking over to the Toretto party like you did before though"

"Why? You're friends with them"

"Yea I know, but no sneaking. Just tell me first so I know where you are"

"Hah. Ok. See you in the morning"

He went to his room and I went into mine and collapsed on the bed. Dad had left Thursday night for more business, thank god, so we were free of him for a while again. We were a lot this time of year. He left for a days at a time, sometimes even weeks, and would be home for a day or two in between. Joyce traveled every once in a while but was usually outsomewhere when dad was gone.

Jon and me were pretty self-sufficient. We didn't need Joyce or dad around to do stuff. All we needed was some of their money to buy food and their house to live in. Other than that, we were fine on our own and we didn't mind it. We certainly didn't mind having dad gone. After mom died we just learned to get by without constant parental guidance. It wasn't strange to us like it might be for other kids whose parents cook dinner every night and do their kids' laundry every day. We had each other and ourselves and that's all we seemed to need. Worked for us.

ok, i guess that chp wasn't the best but o well. i'd like some feed-back on this story to know what u think, so R and R