Against the Wall (25 page)

My first date was with Jacob. Then Jackson.

And now Matty.

My luck finally turned around.

“
Rally day, baby,” I tell Matty as he brushes his teeth and I brush my hair.

He spits in the sink, and turns on the water to rinse. He wipes his mouth dry with a washcloth, and whips around so he’s facing me. With the sight of his bronze skin, fresh from the shower, and smelling so clean, I can’t help but press my mouth to his chest. He cradles my head in his hand, grasping the hair I just rid of knots. “You’re gonna make us late, baby,” he murmurs in my ear. The hum of his deep voice makes me want to call in sick and cuddle with him in bed all day.

“
Like you care. You hate rallies.” I continue to kiss his neck and slide down to nip at his abs and his sides, running my fingertips along the waistband of his boxer briefs.

“
I think you’re the only one who likes rally days. You and Mel anyway.” He lifts my chin from his belly and bends down to cover my mouth with his. “You’re insatiable, you know that?”

“
You haven’t given me anything to satisfy my … needs,” I whine. Both of us chuckle.

He takes my breasts in his hands and hunches over to suck on the skin plumping over the cups of my bra. “Oh really,” he says. “Nothing?”

“
Okay, not nothing.” My fingers run through his hair and I let out a moan when I feel the suction of his lips get harder against my nipple that he managed to free.

“
That’s what I thought.” He stands up straight, smacks me in the ass, and says, “Now hurry up. We still need to have breakfast.”

“
Breakfast my ass, you tease,” I scoff at him. “I’ll eat a Pop Tart.”

I watch his tight ass walk away before I take my time getting ready, dressing myself in a hot pink v-neck sweater and a pair of jeans. I even bust out my pink Chucks for the occasion. This is one of my favorite rallies of the year. I loved it when I was in high school. I think that’s when I fell in love with football, playing powder puff—girls flag football—for the Sadie Hawkins game. They boys wear cheerleading uniforms and perform a choreographed dance while the crowd goes wild.

And then there’s the dance after the game.

I asked Matty to be my date for the dance tonight. He wasn’t too thrilled to chaperone but if I have to be there, so does he.

“
You look cute, Shel,” Matty says as we walk hand-in-hand to the car. Carpooling is great. I never have to drive, which is spectacular because I’ve always wanted a chauffeur. Especially one who thinks I’m cute.

The rally went smoothly and my students weren’t complete animals for the rest of the day. A thirty minute rally can really make the students do things they’d never do. Like toilet paper the quad, or spray paint “Seniors Rule” all over the school, as if defacing their own school goes down as the ultimate pledge of school spirit.

But my kids are cool. None of them were fighting, they all looked sober, and very few ditched class. Can’t say that to be true of my aide, Meg. Matty and Chase said their aides, Travis and Keesha, were M.I.A. too, so I know they went to the Steel Grille. I remember those days. Not much has changed around here since I walked the halls of Carver High.

“
You ready to go,” Mel says, popping her head in my classroom.

“
Yeah,” I tell her, packing the last of the projects in my bag. “I’m just waiting for Matty to get here.”

“
He’s coming down the hall right now, let’s go beeyotch,” she yelps, looking around like a crack addict to see if anyone heard her. I think she’s safe. Very few kids are on campus this late.

“
You ready for the game?” I ask her. “I think the juniors are going to kill the seniors this year. They have been practicing like crazy, even at the local parks when practice is over here.”

“
I know, they’re gonna kill it,” Mel agrees.

Matty catches up with us and rests his arm on my shoulder.

“
When Mel and I were in eleventh grade, The Program was popular.” He looks at me confused. “You know that movie about college football, when one of the guys on the defensive line goes wacko on steroids.”

He nods, “Oh yeah, yeah, I remember.”

Mel continues the story, “Well our coaches were crazy like that. Not on drugs or anything, but wild. They called us
aminals
. Why not
animals
? I have no idea. But we painted our faces for the game just like they did in the movie and the ASB class posted signs all over the place with our signature Aminal word. We were bad ass.”

“
Yes, we were,” I tell her, putting my hand up for a high five.

Mel slaps my hand. “That is until the juniors stomped on our asses our senior year.”

“
Why you gotta bring up old shit, Melly Belly?”

The three of us crack up, until Mel starts snorting.

“
Sounds like you had some good times at this school,” Matty says.

“
Yup, we sure did. I love how the traditions have been carried on. This is a special place,” I tell him.

Mel nods in agreement.

“
I’m sorry,” I tell Matty, leaning into him as we make it to the car. “I’m sure you’re sick of hearing about our walks down memory lane.”

“
No way,” he says, putting his fingers through my hair. “I know how much this stuff means to you, more than you know.”

He opens the car door for me, I look at him and pucker up my lips. He bends down and touches his lips to mine.

“
You guys make me sick,” Mel says, making gagging noises.

“
Oh shut it and get in the car, you Aminal!”

At the Yard House before the game, my mood goes from fantastic to craptastic as we walk in and see my parents waiting for a table. Surprise is not a strong enough word to express my thoughts when I see my mother standing there in a pair of jeans and Carver t-shirt.

Matty breaks the silence, going to my parents first and offering them his hand. “Mr. and Mrs. Gelson, what a surprise,” he says.

“
Oh, Matt, you can call me Sandy. I think we’re beyond the formal exchanges by now.” My mother lifts her arms to give him a hug. Is she on drugs? Did someone slip her a rufie?

Matty reciprocates her hug and offers his hand to my dad.

“
Matt, good to see you again. Would you guys like to join us for dinner?” he asks.

Oh no. Oh no.

“
Hello, Daddy,” I interrupt, sliding my arm around his waist for a hip hug. “We’re in a hurry to get back to work. We have to chaperone a game tonight so we’re just going to eat at the bar.”

My mother stares me down. “Hi, Mother, you look very casual today.”

“
Your dad and I went for a walk this afternoon and decided to stop for dinner on the way home. Since this is one of the beer establishments you rave about, I didn’t think it necessary to go home and change.” She blinks her eyes at me like she’s looking for my approval. Since when?

“
You look great, totally ready to throw back a few,” I joke with her.

“
Hi, guys,” Mel says, sneaking in to say hello to my parents. My mother smiles at the greeting and my dad hugs Mel and ruffles her hair.

“
Well then, I guess we’ll see you later. I’ll call you. Maybe we can get together for lunch or something,” I quickly hug my parents, and try to get Matty and Mel to do the same.

“
Sounds good, princess,” my dad says.

“
That would be lovely,” my mother adds.

“
Great seeing you again,” Matty offers the last words before we make our way into the bar area and meet up with Chase and Summer.

“
Hey,” I tell them as we all squeeze in a booth.

“
Did you just see your parents out there?” Chase asks.

“
Don’t remind me,” I tell him.

“
They can’t be that bad,” Summer says.

There’s silence as the four of us look at her.

“
Well, my mom is,” I clarify.

Matty shakes his head. “No, she was pretty nice tonight.”

Mel chomps on the chips in the center of the table. “She likes you Matt. She even told you to call her Sandy.”

“
And she gave you a hug,” I scoff at him.

“
She hugged you?” Chase asks, like he can’t believe it.

Matty’s eyes dart from mine to Mel’s to Chase’s and back to mine. “What? That’s not normal.”

“
Noooo,” we all say in unison.

The waitress interrupts us to take our orders of appetizers and one beer each. We can’t go to a school function hammered. Even though when we were in high school, we went to these very same functions more than just tipsy. But we’re adults now and we have to be responsible.

It seems like an odd combination to have the five of us at one table, but over the last month, we have all learned to get along and for the most part, enjoy each other’s company. I still sense some irritation between Mel and Summer but overall things are good. She’s not as funny as us and she takes herself way too seriously, but she’s a perfect match for Chase. She seems to make him happy and her reputation for flirting with all the male staff members has diminished so maybe she’s changed. They look like a couple in love and I’m happy for them.

Mel doesn’t look so happy though. I know she misses my brother. All her talk about Brazilian wax jobs, and being a cheetah went out the window as soon as he became her Christmas present. I knew she wouldn’t be the same once he left. I know they try to email and talk on the phone, but it’s not the same as being able to hold the one you love whenever you want to. I wish my brother would just suck it up and come home. I know he wants to. But he has really established himself up there and I don’t know if he wants to start over. Well, he wouldn’t be starting over completely. This is his home.

I’m just not sure he will make that sacrifice for her.

My biggest fear is she’s going to take off and relocate to be with Ty.

I’d kill her if she left me. For my brother.

Game time.

I have my licorice. I have my Diet Coke.

Come on ladies … kick off time.

Okay, so they’re not going to kick the ball but let’s get the show on the road.

I’m not happy about being stuck on the field. I like the view from the bleachers better but the powers that be just put us where they need us. At least, the five of us are stationed on the sidelines together. And we can all keep Summer out of everyone’s way.

The juniors are on the other side of the field and it’s a bummer we can’t switch. We all have student aides who are juniors but they got stuck doing work for ASB so they can’t play. I feel bad for them but they don’t seem bothered by it. They appear to be having a good time. It’s funny how we managed to snag up three best friends and their two little boy sidekicks. The goofballs, Travis and Josh, joined the student government class just to be close to their women.

“
Those cheerleaders are funny,” Matty says in my ear.

I look over at the boys covered in makeup, pink wigs falling off their heads, cheering away.

“
I could totally see you cheering in a skirt,” I yell over the noise.

He laughs. “Yeah, I probably would have.” He glances at them again, shaking his head. “Thanks for getting me out here, Shel. It’s a lot more fun once you know about all the traditions and history here. I don’t think I ever paid attention before.”

“
Yeah, I know. You always sign up to work track meets.” I roll me eyes. Track meets—really?

“
Hey, don’t knock it till you try it. The Fat Man Race is worth it.” We meet eyes and crack up.

“
Do I even want to know?”

“
You’ll have to go with me sometime,” he shouts.

“
Done.”

We watch the juniors spank the seniors, completely shutting them out for the first part of the game.