Page 45 of Rookie Move
Scrappy Brooklyn Team Breaks Our Spree. Meanies.
—Denver Sports Network
Leo lay on the bed in his hotel room and tried to rest. But there were several things on his mind that were making it impossible.
The doctor had finally cleared him to play tomorrow night. Yet Coach Karl had not weighed in yet. He knew that bastard wouldn’t, either. Not until Leo had suffered through the next twenty-four hours, wondering what would happen. He just knew he’d be made to wait.
So that was fun.
The other bramble in his side was the fact that Georgia was right next door. And that was just weird. There was a wall between them. A fucking metaphor if there ever was one.
He picked up his phone, which had a new text from his brother DJ.Did Karl seriously punch you? Please tell me Twitter is wrong.
Leo tapped his brother’s name and then hit Call. When his brother picked up, he said, “It’s actually true. I have a bruise the size of Montana on my jaw.”
“Chicks dig that,” DJ joked.
“Hope you’re right.”
“But, Jesus. What did you do to make him so mad?”
Leo was thoroughly sick of this question. “Big picture? No idea. But that night was a shit show. First I told Amy that we weren’t getting back together. She made a big scene. Go ahead. You can say I told you so. I won’t even get mad.”
DJ just laughed. “I’m going to take the high road here, but only because you finally manned up and sent her packing.”
Leo grunted unhappily. “So that was fun. And then Georgia started in on me for making a scene. She got all fiesty...” Leo could still picture that fiery look in her eye.Hell. He’d kiss her again right now for it. Some lessons just couldn’t be learned, even with a punch to the face. “And then I...”
“What?” DJ asked.
“I... I kissed her. Planted one right on her to shut her up.”
His brother erupted with laughter. “Smooth, slick.”
“Right? And that’s when Coach tried to take my head off in front of three hundred people.”
“Man, I miss all the good shit,” DJ complained. “I’m coming to a home game in a couple weeks. Make sure it’s eventful.”
“No can do,” Leo grumbled. “I’m done making waves. Gonna keep my head down and score some goals from now on. Lesson learned.”
“Nah,” DJ argued. “You haven’t learned shit. If you go back to dating Teflon girls, I’m going to punch you in the jaw, too.”
“Dating... what?”
“The Amys of the world, moron. I call them your Teflon girls—they’re tough as nails and completely heartless. You’ll never love one of ’em, but they can’t really hurt you, either.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Leo sputtered. “What, like you know everything about relationships now? You find the rare, perfect girlfriend, and suddenly you’re an expert? Maybe Amy wasn’t right for me. But it wasn’t a fuckingtrend.”
“Uh-huh. Remember Lori? She had an ego bigger than that bruise on your face. Thought she was God’s gift because she was in charge of that a cappella group. And before her there was Emily, and also Stacia your sophomore year. Every one of those girls was an ice queen. And I’m not talking about the hockey kind of ice.”
Leo cringed. “So what? They were kind of frosty. Doesn’t mean anything.”
“Just a big coincidence, then,” DJ scoffed. “Your taste changed after high school, right? You just happened to start liking women who never smile, except into the mirror.”
“You’re a pain in the ass, D.” Leo was tired of being psychoanalyzed.
“That’s probably true. But I’m your pain in the ass. Stop dating bitchy women already. I’m begging here.”
“I’m not dating anybody.” Ever again, probably. “Too much on my plate, anyway.”
