By: OrchidPrincess

Chapter 4: Soccer

oOo

It was 11:00AM when Bridget woke up with a warm feeling around her heart. She remembered briefly of how she fell asleep in Billy's car, how Billy had carried her into her room, gave her a kiss on the cheek and than left. Sighing happily, Bridget rolled over to her bedside and dialed Lena's phone number. "Hello?" A man with a soft manly voice answered.

"Hi! May I please talk to Lena and who is this please?" Bridget asked politely.

"This is Paul and I'll go call Lena." Paul answered. 2 years ago, Lena and Paul got engaged. Bridget was so happy for Lena despite her own broken heart. Lena needed a man who loved her deeply. Paul and Lena now lived in a small but artistic apartment. Lena graduated from art school 1 year before Bridget did. Lena now has a career as an artist. Even though the couple had been married for 2 years, they never had a kid.

"Hello?" Lena answered.

"Lena! How are you?" Bridget answered excitedly.

"Gosh Bee! I missed you so much! When are you coming back home? It just isn't fun if all of us aren't here! Tibby, Carmen and I miss you so much!"

"I'll be home in 13 days. I just arrived in Alabama yesterday"

"How are things going?"

"Umm, half great half bad" Bridget answered feeling suddenly uneasy when she remembered what happened with Eric.

"Why?"

"Okay, I met Billy at the airport and we became a couple."

"Oh Bee! I'm so happy!" Lena exclaimed. Lena had been urging Bridget to move on and get over Eric for the past 3 years. Lena knew the feeling, having been heartbroken over Kostos. Kostos still lives with his wife and kid in Greece. They haven't contacted since Lena went to college.

"After, Billy drove me to Greta's house. When I came in, Eric was there!"

"Ohmygoodness!" Lena gasped.

Bridget smiled. She loved it when Lena got really involved in a story. Bridget continued, "Then I blew up in front of Eric because I was so mad. He came because he wanted to get back together."

"Ya! Bridget conquers the evil man!" Lena joked enthusiastically.

"When Eric left, Billy took me to dinner. After I went out of the washroom, I saw Eric making out with this girl! I accidentally dropped my purse so Eric and this lady broke apart and stared at me! At first, I didn't know that it was Eric. So when I noticed it was Eric, I dropped my purse again!"

"Ouch Bee… but it's a good thing that your completely over Eric right?"

"Umm, when I left Eric, I felt like my heart dropped to my feet!"

"Bee… you still love Eric?"

"NO! Well, I'm confused now!"

"Bee, listen to me. Do NOT go back to Eric okay? He's going to break your heart again. He doesn't deserve you. Haha. Funny. You told me the exact thing when I was sad about Kostos."

"Okay, I won't go back to Eric" Bridget replied.

"I've got to go now. Paul wants to go out for lunch!"

"See you soon"

"Bye"

"Bye, and Bee, please, please, please think twice before making your decision." Lena asks.

"Okay." Bridget sighed, and rolled of her bed. It wasn't like her to wake up late. She guessed it was because she was happy despite the Eric problem. Bridget walked to her closet, put on her Brown's Soccer jersey, shorts, ankle socks, her blue suede sneakers, and tied her hair up into a high ponytail. Checking her reflection before leaving the room, she opened the door and went down to eat breakfast.

On the table, Greta had set Bridget some 2 omelets, French toast and a tall cup of milk. Bridget came over and hugged Greta hello. After Bridget finished eating, she watched television to digest all the food she ate and headed out toward the door for a run.

Bridget decided to run toward central park. Taking a minute to warm up and stretch, she let her mind relive her moments yesterday. Everything had happened so fast Bridget thought. Beginning her run, she decided on a fast yet steady pace. Checking her watch, she ran.

After 4 miles, Bridget saw a figure running ahead of her. Squinting, Bridget noticed that the figure running ahead of her was Eric. Sprinting as hard as she could to catch up with Eric, she prepared herself to act calm. Surprisingly, her palms were clammy and she felt like she had butterflies in her stomach. Bridget shocked that she was nervous. Once she caught up with Eric she said "Hey"

Eric looked up from his run. "Oh, hi Bee. I'm rather surprised to see you running at 11AM." He said formally, like they were strangers.

Bridget kept up with Eric's pace as they rounded the curb. "Eric, I can't stand us being like this. Can't we be friends at least?" Bridget replied.

"Friends? Sure." Eric smiled at Bridget and she felt flutters all over her body. "Now that we are friends, we need to figure out a few things. One, I have a girlfriend now. Her name is Jolene. Two, you have a boyfriend. His name's Billy right?"

"Yup."

"How long have you been running?"

Bridget checked her watch. "20 minutes, 5 miles"

"You want to get breakfast?"

"Ah, no thanks. I think I'll go help Greta with her house cleaning."

"Okay. See ya" Eric replied running the opposite direction.

Bridget stopped running. She couldn't understand this feeling she had whenever she was around Eric. Why didn't she feel this when she was around Billy? Bridget started walking back home. When she arrived, she felt alarmed that Greta was waiting outside for her. Bridget started sprinting towards Greta.

"What is it?" Bridget asked.

Greta replied "Phone".

Bridget sprinted inside the house and grabbed the phone. "Hello?" Bridget asked.

"Is this Bridget Vreeland?"

"Yes." Bridget replied. All of a sudden, all Bridget could hear was squeals.

"Bee! Remember me? I'm Diana! I'm the head coach here at Baja!"

"What?"

"You heard me. Anyway, I called because we need a coach for the weekend. It's an emergency. Our old coach has had an emergency family situation. If we pay for your flight, can you come all the way here to help coach? We're playing against a different team this time. This team's from Ensenada, Mexico."

Bridget thought about this for a moment. "Diana, you're head coach? Wow. And the answer's yes."

"Great! Thank you so much Bee! I'll see you in a day!"

"See you soon, bye Diana"

Once Bridget had stopped talking to Diana, she immediately phoned Billy to announce the happy news.

"Hello?" Billy answered.

"Billy! Guess what? I'm going to Baja!"

"What? When? Where?" Billy seemed alarmed.

Bridget laughed. "Don't worry. I'm only gone for 2 days. It's to Baja, Mexico. They need a new coach!"

"Oh. Whew. You scared me there. Do you want to go for lunch?"

"Sure. I'll meet you at the soccer field in twenty."

"Okay. Bye."

"I love you"

"Love you too"

"Bye"

Bridget, who was all happy, jumped up the stairway and put on a mini skirt and a tube top. She wore pretty blue flip flops to match her outfit. It was really hot out. She braided her hair on both sides and headed out the door.

"Greta! I'm going out with Billy!" Bridget yelled to Greta. Once at the soccer field, Bridget noticed that she was 15 minutes early. She immediately ran to the closest soccer-ball selling store and bought a soccer ball. Running back to the field, she started to play soccer by herself. She felt alive again despite the fact that she couldn't run very well with a mini skirt and flip flops. Frustrated, Bridget threw her flip flops to the side and ran bare foot.

Bridget was so caught up in her soccer playing that she didn't notice that a soccer team had begun practice on the same soccer field. After bumping into at least 5 soccer players, she looked around. Oh oops. I didn't know that a soccer team was practicing here. I wonder who it is. Bridget wondered.

Looking around for the coach, she spotted him talking to another player. Running to the coach to apologize, she came to a stop. Not again. Bridget thought. It was Eric. Why am I always bumping into him? Bridget was so caught up in her thoughts she hadn't noticed that Eric had come up to her.

"Hi Bee. What are you doing here?" Eric asked

"I was here first! I was playing soccer!" Bridget replied.

"Oh." Eric said nonchalantly.

After a quick brief conversation, Bridget felt a force hit her knee making her buckle forward, onto Eric. Apparently, one of the girl players got jealous of them talking and kicked a soccer ball really hard towards Bridget's head hoping to have the intention of knocking her out.

Instead of hitting Bridget's head, the soccer ball hit her shins and knocked her into Eric. Eric, who had fast reflexes caught her. Bridget felt a strange warming sensation in Eric's arms. For a moment, she forgot whom she was going out with and how Eric and her had broken up. She didn't want him to let go and surprisingly, he didn't. She was feeling the warmth of his body heat when she heard a shout.

"BEE?"

Bridget let go of Eric's embrace and whirled around to see who it was.

It was Billy.

He was standing near the goal posts. Apparently, he came and saw Eric and Bridget's hug. He didn't come in time to see it was because of the soccer ball. Billy started to run back into his car. Bridget ran to her flip flops, put them on, and ran after Billy. By the time Bridget caught up with him, he already drove away. Bridget looked around her and every soccer player and Eric was looking at her. Feeling ashamed and confused, Bridget made her way back to Greta's house with her head holding some sort of dignity.