Page 1 of Game Changer

Chapter 1

“Dude. I’mma need your help.”

Ah fuck, what now?AJ thought as he sat playing Candy Crush on his phone.

“Uh-huh?”

AJ and his best friend Jeremy faced each other in their favorite diner for their almost-daily lunch. AJ had gotten pretty good at filtering out the background noise of the busy eatery, the clinking of silverware, the low murmur of conversation, and the line cooks calling wait staff to the pass. He didn’t normally play on his phone during lunch, but he was unusually stressed and found having something to focus on and control, helped him relax. He knew that Jeremy understood, and was never offended by AJ’s sometimes distracted approach to lunch. They saw so much of each other that the occasional screen-time wasn’t going to hurt their friendship or their egos.

Although AJ had filtered out most of the background noise, every now and then something jarred him out of the game and pulled his attention away from his phone. Right now, it was a kid tormenting his little sister with one of those toy hockey sticks you get from the merchandise stands at the rink. He wasn’t hitting her with it, just persistently poking her when their mother wasn’t looking. AJ smiled to himself as he watched the scene unfolding, recalling similar memories from his own childhood.

You’re gonna get busted, lil guy. Or your sister is gonna pull the stick from you and hit you back!

“There’s this girl.”

Jeremy’s voice pulled AJ’s thoughts from his own long-distant past, back into the present.

There’s always a girl.

“Uh-huh,” AJ turned his attention back to the game at hand – his tongue poked out of the side of his mouth, a sure sign that he was concentrating. As expected, AJ heard the little girl burst into tears and the mother spring into action to console her. He observed the panic on the little boy’s face – who clearly hadn’t meant to upset his sisterquiteso much.

“Ugh. DUDE!” Jeremy fumed as he confiscated his friend’s phone and clicked his fingers in front of AJ’s face. “This isimportant.”

“It’s about a girl, Jer. It’salwaysimportant to you when it comes to the female of our species.”

“She’s different.”

Sure she is.

“For some unknown reason, she doesn’t want me.”

AJ cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. “I think I like her already. I’m listening.”

“I mean, she wanted me back when we first met in high school, in Iowa. I didn’t really entertain the idea back then.”

“Why not?” AJ asked, wondering what it was about this girl that held Jeremy’s attention. He wasn’t normally one to stay friends with girls after he’d been otherwiseinvolvedwith them – especially if they were interested in him and it was unrequited. Most of Jeremy’s friends were guys and his hockey team was his life, so AJ was definitely intrigued about this girl from Jeremy’s past who held his attention like no other.

Interesting.

“Cheerleaders.” The only answer Jeremy gave was accompanied by an impish grin.

By now, both the neighboring children were crying. The little boy was refusing to apologize to his sister and the mother was holding their promised dessert of ice cream sundaes, hostage until he did.

I remember that standoff, too.

“This is serious, Age. I want this girl. Actually, I think I mightneedthis girl.”

“Man, I don’t think I’ve ever known a girl to flummox you like this before, Jer. It’s, eh–” He paused and pretended to think of a word. “Glorious, Jer. It’s fan-fucking-tastic that you’ve finally met someone who doesn’t just throw their panties at you and proclaim you an immediate sex god. Maybe you’re a mere mortal like the rest of us after all?”

“For one, hoser, Iama sex god. For two, will you help me or not?”

“Help? How can I possibly help convince this, obviously incredibly smart woman, to give my douche-canoe best friend a chance in the sack?”

“Talk to her best friend.”

“No.”

“But Age–”

---