Love can Overcome Anything

Chapter Twenty: Kicker's Embarrassment

AN- Thank you to: jasmineflower001, BeeVree3, Insane and Logical, amantedellibro209, Dudly, BrookieCookie490, funky-monkey-93 for reviewing Chapter Nineteen.

Thank you to my anonymous reviews: Janette, morgan, Maddie, BeckhamLover and dunno for reviewing chapter Nineteen.

o0o

"Eric!" Bridget exclaimed as she tried to catch up to Eric, who was now storming out the grocery store. She caught him by his arm. Bridget looked deep in Eric's eyes and pleaded "Eric, please. Let me explain. Earlier on, I made the mistake of not letting you explain, so I'm not letting that mistake happen between us again."

Eric halted abruptly and turned around. He stood there, unsure of what to expect. Bridget took this chance to continue on. "I'm so sorry; I've been really moody and un-understandable. I let one simple thing that I knew nothing of get in between us. The reason why I took off our engagement ring is because-"

Eric cut Bridget off. "You took off our engagement ring?" His eyes quickly skimmed at her left hand and then back to her eyes. His dark right eyebrow arched questionably.

Bridget frowned in confusion. Wasn't this why Eric stormed out of the grocery store? "But I thought… you were… mad… because I took it off" Bridget stammered.

Eric shook his head and replied "No, I didn't 'storm' off; I was merely walking out of the store"

"But you took a look at my left hand, dropped it, then walked away" Bridget insisted.

"No, I was walking out because I didn't want to create a commotion in the middle of the store. Besides, I didn't think you would want to talk to me anyway."

"You didn't notice the engagement ring?"

Eric frowned. "No… but now that I know about the engagement ring, why are you not wearing it? Are we no longer together?"

Bridget shook her head frantically. "Listen Eric, I took it off because well, I was upset that you didn't come to our engagement party."

"Did you give me a chance to explain why?"

"Uh… no" Bridget smiled sheepishly

"Will you let me now?"

Bridget nodded.

"Finally! You see, the girl we saw before was Jolene. I was wondering why she was here and so I became worried. Bee, Jolene's father died and she's been mourning ever since. She needed my support. I couldn't bear to tear myself away from her when she was so distressed."

Bridget finally understood. She wrapped herself around Eric and murmured in his chest "Oh Eric, I'm so sorry. I was way too quick on judging things. Will you ever forgive me?"

Eric rested his head on top of hers. "Yes" he simply replied.

Bridget relaxed into his arms, contented at once, breathed in his scent until- "Eric, why do you smell like air freshener and polish wax?" Bridget asked curiously.

Eric's voice boomed with laughter. "I cleaned my house."

Bridget faked surprise. "You did? Wow! Is it raining pigs outside?" She said sarcastically.

Eric crushed her lean body into his muscular toned body. "Very funny" He remarked.

o0o

Bridget happily sighed as she walked all the way back home. Everything was perfect now, she and Eric were back together, and she got her mango yogurt. Life was good… except just two little thing; she needed to restore all her Eric stuff before he came over AND she needed to find that engagement ring… that was in the trash.

Bridget frantically ran into her room and dumped her trash can on her desk. She started searching until she found the bag that contained the box that was wrapped in paper and opened it. There, sure enough, was the glittery big diamond on a silver delicate band. Bridget lovingly cradled it, and then put it on her slender finger. She scooped up the trash and put it back in the trash can. Bridget ran downstairs and found the box that was labeled 'trash'. It contained all the Eric-related stuff. She brought it upstairs and unpacked all of its components.

After she was done, Bridget took a sniff at her room and scrunched up her face. Her room smelled bad because of the garbage. Bridget ran across the hallway and got some air freshener. She sprayed her room before deciding that she should polish up her ring so that Eric wouldn't notice it was in the trash for a few days.

Once done, Bridget sat down on her bed, contented and satisfied. She took another sniff of the air and caught a smell very familiar to the one she smelt in the grocery store.

"Great" Bridget muttered. "Now I smell like Eric. Air freshener and polish wax"

Bridget sighed and went to take a shower.

o0o

Eric silently sneaked up into his house. It was eerily clean. It kind of scared him. He wasn't a very messy person; he just wasn't very organized either. Eric walked up to his bookcase. The bookcase was polished to its brightest and the books were arranged in alphabetical order. Had I really gone crazy? Nah, now that my relationship with Bee is fixed, I can go back and be sane now. Eric chuckled to himself. Now I don't need to clean up this place until… 2 more months.

After taking a sniff at his hand, which reeked off house cleaning items, he decided to go take a shower. Later in the day, he would meet up with Bridget and go out for a nice romantic dinner evening.

I'm a busy man now! Eric thought cheerfully to himself. Happily relaxed, Eric decided to go mess up his bookcase again because it looked too neat and tidy for him to be at ease.

o0o

2 days later, Eric and Bridget got together at Eric's place and went through the whole stack of wedding invitations. Eric bought 6 boxes full of wedding cards earlier on. Bridget sat down on Eric's nice white leather couch and started addressing them to the guests they were about to invite. They planned to invite 310 guests because Eric wanted to invite his soccer players and their families too.

They worked as a pair; Bridget wrote out invitations and Eric tied them up with a ribbon and sealed them in an envelope.

This is dreadfully boring! Eric complained quietly to himself. He'd been tying, stuffing and sealing their wedding invitations for the past 2 hours and they were only… one quarter through. At this rate, Eric would probably be so skilled in tying ribbons and sealing envelopes that he could probably do it in his sleep.

One invitation for Greta, another for some friend of Eric's named Dominic, and one more for Eric's other friend, Ryan. Oh gosh, I am going to go slowly insane. My hand is so cramped, my eyes are blurry from looking at the long list of guests, and my butt is aching from sitting in the same spot for 2 terribly long hours. I wonder how Eric's doing… Bridget thought. She glanced over at Eric and noted at how his eyes were full of concentration and how efficiently he tied ribbons and sealed envelopes. Bridget also perceived that Eric was biting his bottom lip. I wonder why he's doing that… Is he biting his lip to stop himself from screaming out loud in frustration? Or is he doing that because he's so focused?

Bridget was right. Eric was biting his bottom lip he was stopping himself from roaring with frustration. He felt so restless. All this work was so hard. He was only doing this for Bridget. That was the only reason.

o0o

Another two days later, Eric and Bridget finally mailed all 310 guest invitations. Bridget sighed with relief. One thing was accomplished and now, she had… many more to do. The next thing to do was to buy all the wedding favors and put them in small cute clear jars that she spotted in a store many months ago.

Eric and Bridget walked down to Eric's place again, with their arms loaded with boxes and bags full of wedding favors. Sitting down on Eric's white leather couch, they began to work. Eric was filling half of the small clear jars full of small pastel colored candy and the other half of the small clear jars full of vibrant colored candy. Bridget was rolling up the small pieces of expensive paper and placing them in the jar full of candy. On these small pieces of expensive paper, Eric and Bridget had written in fancy letters:

Dear Guest,

Thank you so much for coming to this special day of ours. We really appreciate that you have come and celebrated our extraordinary day. We will continue to be love and be together in everyway, through both the good and rough times. Once again, thank you for coming.

Newlyweds, Eric and Bridget Richman

After placing these rolled up 'parchments' in the jar, Bridget would be closing the jars and tying a ribbon around them. Bridget had no idea how Eric managed to tie these small ribbons so efficiently and smoothly on the envelopes. She was having a difficult time tying them on the jars. As the time pasts by slowly, Bridget began to get very irritated with these ribbons. She took a glimpse of Eric, hoping to see what his technique was when she caught him popping a few candies in his mouth.

"Eric! Don't eat those! We need them for the guests!" Bridget cried as she lunged over and tried to snatch away the few candies he had left over in his hand.

Eric always had fast reflexes so he swiftly moved his hand out of Bridget reach. "But Bee, we have about a gazillion of these candies. A few of them eaten won't hurt" Eric replied.

Bridget playfully pouted. "Fine, but don't eat anymore."

Eric shrugged, popped the rest of the remaining candies in his hand and replied, "Sure"

Both of them resumed working. Halfway through tying a ribbon around a jar, Bridget narrowed her eyes at Eric and asked him, "Eric, I was just wondering, did you eat any candies before I caught you?"

Bridget could have sworn she saw Eric flash a wide grin before he leaned over and said "Here, let me help you with this ribbon". He quickly tied the ribbon and leaned back, satisfied with his work.

Bridget shoved him playfully and said "Show off"

Eric grinned and went back putting candies in little jars.

o0o

3 days later, Bridget packed all 310 guest favors in boxes beaming happily. She had accomplished 2 things and now, she still had… many more to go. Bridget rubbed her forehead. Organizing a wedding was painfully hard. Luckily, Eric, being a sweetheart, helped her through every single moment. Now she hoped he would continue and help for the rest of the tasks.

Eric put down the phone silently and groaned. Jolene was crying again and she had begged with him to come and comfort her. Today was his only day off from planning the wedding and he had planned to relax all day. Eric couldn't say no; for some odd reason, he had a weakness for crying women. I have got to get rid of that weakness. Eric thought. He walked up to his fridge and read a post-it on his fridge. It said 'Kickers soccer practice today 2PM"

Eric had forgotten about this. He was so caught up in the wedding craze that he was hardly paying any attention to his soccer team. Eric phoned Jolene again and told her he had to coach. Jolene even bawled harder and louder. Eric sighed. He couldn't say no, he just couldn't. So he said yes and immediately Jolene cheered up.

Maybe Bee could sub for me. Eric thought. He picked up the phone again and called her.

"Hello?" Bridget picked up.

"Hi Bee" Eric said.

"Hi Honey" Bridget said warmly.

"Listen, I know today was supposed to by your free day but I need to ask you a favor."

"Sure"

"Jolene begged me to come over today and I couldn't say no"

"Okay…"

"But the problem is, at 2PM, I have a soccer practice for the Kickers. I need you to sub for me"

"Oh! But Eric, I'm not very good at coaching."

"Nonsense, you're the best coach I had ever known."

Bridget blushed. Thank goodness Eric didn't see me do that. She thought. "I'm not" Bridget insisted.

"Yes, that's right. I almost forgot. I'm the best coach." Eric teased.

Bridget laughed. "Sure I'll do it, but you have to tell me what to do."

"Umm… they usually run for 12 minutes, then sprint for 2 minutes, warm up for 5 minutes then I make them go through drills."

"What kind of drills?"

"You know, the drills we used to do in Baja"

"Oh, I see"

"So are you up to it?"

"Yes, I'll sub for you."

"Good. Thank you so much Bee. I owe you."

"You don't owe me anything."

Eric laughed. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow okay?"

"Okay"

"Thanks and Bye"

"Bye"

"Love you"

"Back at you"

Eric put down the phone. He hoped the Kickers don't be too hard on Bridget. Some of the players were sometimes extremely arrogant and dirty minded.

o0o

Bridget clutched her clipboard tightly. She was extremely nervous coaching the best known international soccer team in the world. The Kickers were starting to arrive. As soon as every one of them arrived, Bridget cleared her throat.

"Umm… Hi, I'll be your sub for today because Eric had some… personal issues to deal with."

One of the shorter soccer players said "Hi baby, you're hot. Do you want to hang out or something?"

All the other soccer players laughed and let out their cries of agreement.

Bridget frowned. Didn't he even hear her? Replying, she said with a strong firm "No"

One player with brown hair named John laughed throatily. "Eric has personal issues? Like what??

The other guys laughed. Together, the guys started naming off disgusting things such as bad breath, body odor, foot fungus and sexually transmitted diseases.

Hearing this, Bridget's eyes flashed with anger. "No!' She said angrily. "Not personal issues like that; it's something to do with his ex-girlfriend"

The guy beside John commented "Do you mean Jolene, that flirty babe?"

All the other guys laughed once more. Another soccer player added in "Last time I heard, Eric broke up with her in Italy for some blonde chick."

Another soccer player replied "I think so… didn't they get married?"

Bridget frowned. Didn't they recognize her? They met in Baja and played against each other. Oh well, Bridget thought. It's been a long time and guys usually have a short memory span for strangers. But didn't they see her wedding invitation? Oh wait, they weren't scheduled to be delivered until tomorrow.

John added in "Yes, from what I heard, Eric's wife is supposedly more beautiful than life."

Bridget arched her eyebrow and had to bite her lip to stop herself from smirking.

Another player shook his head. "Man, why does Eric always get the hot chicks?"

Bridget stood there frustrated. They were talking as if she wasn't even there!

All around, the Kickers laughed. One soccer player Bridget recognized as Tyler, the goalie said "I saw a flash of her picture in Eric's wallet once. Man, she was so hot. She had straight, long beautifully blonde hair and a tall lean body that could fit right in to one of our men's magazines. She had gorgeous eyes that were the color of..."

Tyler trailed off. His eyes quickly glanced at Bridget. His face turned to a color that matched a beet and muttered to Bridget "You, by any chance, aren't Eric's wife right?"

Bridget smiled and said "Yes, I'm Bridget. I'm Eric's fiancée."

All the Kickers gaped at her. They were slowly turning red.

Bridget noticed their discomfort and said "Now that we have that settled, let's go for a 12 minute run." Bridget started off, leading the team.

While Bridget was running, she heard snippets of the Kicker soccer player's who were running behind her whisper quietly to each other.

"Dude, Eric's going to kill me for hitting on his wife."

"No kidding. I don't believe that we talked about Eric's social life in front of his fiancée."

"That has to be the most embarrassing moment ever."

"I don't believe that I was telling you guys about how hot Bridget was in front of her face." Bridget recognized this voice to be Tyler's.

All the surrounding guys laughed.

A soccer player with a deep voice replied "But you have to admit, she's so hot. Eric is a lucky man."

The other guys nodded in agreement.

Bridget heard all this. After all, she was only 2 meters ahead of them. She turned, pretended she didn't hear any of this weird conversation and shouted out "5 more minutes left!" She then turned around and continued running.

Bridget couldn't wait to tell Eric all this. She was sure he'd laugh about this and threaten to beat up the guy who tried to hit on her. She wasn't sure how he would react but she knew that he would, no doubt, laugh about it. Running, Bridget imagined Eric's rich, deep laugh echo through her head.