His Soccer Girl

Foul Play

It has been nearly two weeks since I last spoke to Bryce. He’s called nearly 68 times since, and has left me a voice mail each time. But I’ve been trying to keep myself busy, by joining a summer league. Brit joined too, eager to play again since having the twins. We even came to the compromise of taking turns watching the kids during games. Today is our first game, and Brit is letting me play, while she sits on the side lines with the twins.

I was sitting in the grass, lacing up my cleats when someone walked over to me and tapped me on the shoulder. “Hold on.” I said, as I laced up my other cleat. Then I stood up and dust the grass of my white athletic shorts. When I turned around I nearly fell back down. Bryce stood there smiling, and holding a a blue rose. I looked at him, at the flower, then back at him.

“I didn’t know you were gonna be in town.” I said simply.

“Well I left you a voice mail, and a text, but it seems your cell isn’t working.”  

I rolled my eyes, “What are you doing here Bryce?”

The smile dropped from his face, and I prepared for a screaming match. I knew he was probably upset that I had ignored him for two weeks. But he didn’t scream. No, he didn’t even talk. He just pulled me into a tight hug. My arms laid limply by my sides for a second. But the anger that had built up over these two weeks, boiled away, and I hugged him back.

“I missed you Summer.” Bryce said.

“I missed you too.” I admitted.

“Summer, I know you’re pissed I didn’t tell you about my brother. And I realized your right. You are going to become part of my family, so you deserve to know. And I plan to tell you everything.”

“Really?” I asked.

He nodded. I smiled and kissed him on the cheek before running to my team, which had started to gather around a bench.

“I can’t believe she’s on that team.” Haley said.

“Who?” I asked.

“Tara, from Trenton.” Haley said with disgust.

An involuntary shiver crawled up my spine. Tara has played soccer since she could walk. But it wasn’t skill that made her intimidating, it was her strength. She was rough on the field, and wouldn’t hesitate to elbow someone in the gut, or push someone down, even if it meant a penalty.

Vee, a new girl on the team, ran over for the coin flipping. When she returned she let us know that they were starting.

We went onto the field and got into our positions. I looked over at Bryce and Brit one last time before the whistle was blown. They both smiled and waved.

The ref blew the whistle, and with that, the game was on. Tara kicked the ball and started to head towards our goal. Two of our midfielders tried to steal the ball from her, only to be  “tripped”. Haley made one last attempt to steal the ball only to be elbowed in the ribs, before she was tripped.

My anger hit me like a ton of bricks when I realized the ref didn’t see it. Fed up, I went after the ball myself. I ran up next to her and was able to get the ball away… For a second. Tara came up behind me, when she was next to me she elbowed me, and took the ball.

“Fuck!” I said under my breath.


~*~*~


There was only a couple minutes left of the game. We were winning 6 to 3. And it was AWESOME to be able to get under Tara’s skin for once.

But… She was being a lot more aggressive because of it.

Right now Tara had stolen the ball form one of our forwards, and was now taking down our players one by one. I want gonna let her scare me. I ran up to steal the ball yet again, only this time I didn’t get the ball. And she didn’t elbow me in the ribs..

When the final buzzer rang off, i quickly ran towards the side lines, cussing every step of the way.

“What happened out there?” Brit asked.

“The bitch fuckin’ elbowed me in the boob! And it fucking hurt!” I yelled.

“Ahhh, I see. I think you even went down a cup size.” Brit said.

I gasped, and covered my chest. “Not funny!”

Brit continued to laugh as Bryce walked over and gave me a hug. I swatted him away. “Don’t hug me! I’m all gross!”

Bryce chuckled and hugged me anyways. “You hug me after my games.”

“Yeah, but I’m a girl. I’d rather be smelling like a spring rose when my boyfriend hugs me. Not like a ball of sweaty gym socks!” I said.

“Well, you’re going to have to deal with it babe.” He smiled, and intertwined our fingers. “So, do you wana go to DQ for some ice-cream?” he asked.

My jaw dropped. “Do you even have to ask?! I want the biggest chocolate fudge blizzard they have!” I said, as I began to drag him towards his truck.

~*~*~

Bryce and I sat at one of the outside tables at DQ. With a large chocolate fudge blizzard in hand, I waited for Bryce to tell me about his brother.

Bryce let out a sigh and began. “My brother and I were never close. He always felt like my parents favored me over him. We always got into fights over every little thing. He eventually started to fight kids at school. He got suspended left and right. Then expelled from multiple schools. Somehow along the way he got into drugs. I don’t know, maybe he was hanging out with the wrong crowd or he was trying to get attention.” Bryce stopped and took a drink of his shake.

“Well, my brother started to sell some of my parents possessions here and there to get money for his drug addiction. And right before he left for college, he took the cash that my parents had saved up for me for when I go to college. After that… we sort of just ended all contact with him. Not that he kept in touch anyways. So that’s why I had to work so hard for a scholarship. Because of him. And that’s why I can’t afford to lose it. All because of my scumbag brother.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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