Page 27 of All Too Well
“I don’t know, I just do.”
We reach the side of the field and I sigh. “You don’thave to do that.”
She shrugs. “Maybe not, but I was there when you thought you were going to lose her.”
It was right after my mother’s diagnosis of cancer. Those were some incredibly dark times in my life.
“Thankfully, that didn’t happen.”
“No, it didn’t.” Ainsley lets out a long breath. “I would walk away from this story if it was that. I could make something up if it meant protecting Rose. You, well, you deserve a little pain and suffering.”
We both chuckle at that last one. So Ainsley.
Even though I’ve hurt her, even though I took advantage of her when I was drunk, she always has my back. It’s why I can never be with her.
“I know you would. Now I need to get back out there and make sure we impress you.”
She bursts out laughing. “Yes, impress away while playing Frisbee. I can’t wait to be dazzled.”
And I can’t wait for the day when she doesn’t dazzle me.
“You’re making me look like a fucking moron,” I say, trying to catch my breath.
I’ve had four passes overthrown thanks to Killian and his horrific aim. “I’m trying. I told you to be the thrower this round,” says Killian.
“It’s because he was a quarterback. Lachlan has the arm strength you don’t,” Everett ribs him.
“Yeah, and you’re any better?” Miles asks, already knowing that Everett is just as damn bad.
“Seriously, you three need to step it up. For all I know she has fucking cameras recording this. We look like a bunch of old guys trying to be cool.”
Everett raises his hand as though we’re in school. “Isn’t that sort of what we’re doing?”
I huff and drop my head. This game isn’t complicated,but we’re making it look that way. Usually we are better than this. So far we’ve managed to be out of breath, we’ve been unable to catch, and we haven’t scored once.
The four of us stand in the huddle, still struggling to breathe. “All right,” I say when sucking in air doesn’t burn. “We have one more play to practice. If we can get it right, maybe we can save some of our dignity.”
“Considering we have none left, it’ll be a nice try,” Miles says.
“No matter what, for the rest of the week, we’re doing cardio. Let’s run the vert. We’ll stack and then I’ll pass it to Killian. We’re the two who need the most redemption.”
Everyone agrees and we line up. I run up and grab the disc. They start to run, only, once again, we don’t actually look like the group I know we are. Instead, Miles trips and takes Everett out with him. I flick the disc to Killian, but the wind takes it, causing it to go way over his head, and we end up looking like idiotsagain.
The four of us stand on the field for a second, and then Miles bursts out laughing and falls back to the ground.
The other two also laugh, but mostly at him.
“So much for dignity,” I say more to myself than anything.
Killian shakes his head and walks over to grab his bag, and the rest of us follow. We say our goodbyes and they head off while I make my way over to Ainsley.
“That was interesting,” she says as I approach.
“It’s not normally that bad.”
“I wouldn’t know, but I’m glad you said so, because I was worried. This is supposed to be an article about elite athletes, and you all looked like the backup to the JV team.”
She’s not wrong.
