Someone Else

I had misheard... It was impossible...

Now everything made sense, Anne's coldness was explained, I just couldn't believe what I heard…

Boyfriend? Anne had a boyfriend?

I didn't know what upset me the most... the fact that she didn't tell me, the fear that she might have serious feelings for him, or the "in love" looking that he was giving her….

She looked at me, she seemed embarrased about what I had found out, I tried to make my disappointment clear when I passed by them without saying a single wurod and ignoring her arrempt to introduce me her pathetic boyfriend…

In the car I was almost vomiting with the explicit demonstrations of love, his more than hers actually, because Anne couldn't take her eyes off mine, while he was all over her. Cynical. So cynical.

I put my uniform on, Kyle was new, so no one let him choose what team he prefered, luckly (for me) he was put on the other one. I looked at Anne on the bleachers, the referee whistled, the game started and my aim was not to score, but to show that guy that was my territory, and I didn't want a draw.

I didn't need to run very much to warm up, I was already on fire, I was ignoring the moves from the other players, I didn't want the ball, I wanted to annoy the "new player", every time I had the opportunity, I pushed, stepped on his foot, kicked the ball sharply against him, kicked his shin, pulled his shirt... but apparently he was very controlled... or he was a wuss and was afraid to fight there.

I was gonna take a free kick, I ran to the ball, and I felt a kick on my shin… I fell to the floor.

The pain lasted 2 seconds, an then anger came over me, when I got up I didn't think twice, I wanted to punch that jackass... I went towards him, but Matt and another guy held me...

"Matt, let me go! You saw what this jerk did?"

He tried to calm me down...

"Stop it, David, you're not even hurt, it's like you have never been slide-tackled before, man!"

The jerk even dared to play the victim, talking to me...

"I'm sorry man, are you okay?"

"If I'm okay? Are you crazy? You come from nowhere and think you are somebody? I'm gonna tell you something: back off! I'm the boss here..."

He didn't reply, he quietly left the field, everyone was staring at me, my veins were popped out, I wiped the sweat off my forehead, I calmed down and finally felt the worst pain in the world, caused by the injury in my shin, Anne showed up like nothing happened and carried me to the changing room...

She sat me on the bench, stretched my leg, I don't know if I enjoyed the feeling of her touching me, I felt cheated, and at the same time guilty because I couldn't demand anything from her, we didn't have a serious relationship, but still, that situation was annoying me...
I didn't know if she was actually worried, or if she was trying to be Nice so I wouldn't bring the subject up, but I had to...

"You didn't have to bother... in fact, I don't even know what you're doing here… weren't you supposed to be out there? After all, that's where your boyfriend are… by the way, what a lovely guy!"

Her eyes widened, like she didn't know what I was talking about...

"Why are you doing this to me, David?"

Her cynicism was making me angry again, so I decided to tell her what was bothering me.

"ME? You are the one who comes back with a boyfriend, don't tell me anything about it, ignores me completely and I AM doing something? You're hilarious..."

And then she said something that didn't make sense. She said I was back together with Kim. I had no idea what she was talking about. She said she saw on TV that we were together again. It took me a while to understand, but suddenly it hit me: the rumours, the photos on the news… I was frustrated, I told her she shouldn't have believed that, she should have asked me, it was a lie, the pictures were old… I said I liked her, only her... what was totally true...
She sat by my side, looking frustrated too. And then, something came to my mind... I grabbed her arm and asked:

"What about you? You're telling me you really fancy this guy? Or are you doing this just to get back at me?"

She let go of me and got up. She stared angrily at me and threw in my face the thing I regretted the most, not valuing her enough, only my career. And she said she wouldn't break up with Kyle...

Because he does give me everything I ever expected from someone and never had!"

I was paralyzed. I wanted to jump on her, take my place, take her back to me, but I didn't do anything. She said she expected more from me. So did I.
She turned her back to leave, and that jerk got in, asking if everything was okay. She said so, asked if he was going with her, they left together and I was alone in the changing room.