Josh.mp4 - 6. Fighting over a girl

Chapter 5

I leave the art school with the decrypted file safely on my phone. Now I am walking past the Chili's. There's lots of people inside, eating and having fun. This is the place where I first worked up the courage to ask Kate out, and it used to be one of my favorite spots in town. I haven't been there in a while, though. I look quickly away. I'm not in the mood for food, and when I compare how I feel now to the way I felt that night, a million years ago, it's like I'm seeing a life belonging somebody else.

It was my first game as acting goalie. Willy had decided to sit it out due to another skateboarding injury, and the coach put me up to test me in action. I was nervous, but not terribly so. It was a minor game that was more of a show match than anything else. Even so, I wanted to make a good impression, and after 80 of the 90 minutes of the game had passed I had made two good saves when the other team had come too close. That, added to the fact that we were three goals ahead, was making the other team a bit desperate and reckless.

I was standing by the right goalpost, watching the action from afar. I remember trying to decide whether the forwards from the other team were getting too close for comfort when Mark snatched the ball away from the center guy in a blur of motion and he was off. He expertly passed the ball to a first-year who sent it right back. The other team was in complete disarray, and I saw how everybody scrambled to stop Mark from scoring another goal. As they neared the other end of the field I lost sight of Mark among the rapidly-shifting uniforms, but I heard the fans gasp at a failed shot and then the unmistakable sound of the ball being kicked back my way hard and fast.

I saw the ball arcing over the field, straying over the heads of most of the players and landing right at the feet of the enemy forward on the left, number 15. He took off with it, straight at my goal, and my two defenders rushed to intercept. Leo made a dive for the ball with his foot, but 15 jumped clear over him and made a pass to himself that took him out of reach of Harvey, who was too slow to change direction but came after him just the same. 15 dribbled the ball incredibly fast, and only barely avoided Harvey's second pass at him, but he was out of time now. He had to take a shot, and there was nothing between him and the goal but me. The adrenalin surged in my body and I tensed up for action.

I was lucky. The shot was powerful but rushed, and as soon as I saw the way the ball was coming I took a running leap and knocked it up in the air with both hands. The ball bounced clear over my head, safely past the goal, and the audience on our side cheered. The other team fumbled their corner kick, and five minutes later the match was over.

I felt great. It wasn't as if my performance had decided the outcome on its own, but I knew I had done my share of the work and it was an awesome feeling. Several guys clapped me on the shoulder as we were filing back into the locker rooms.

"Good job, Josh," Mark said as we were changing.

"Thanks."

Harvey, who was taking off his shorts, snickered. "Yeah. Bet Willy will be out of a job pretty soon. You saw how Josh stopped that last shot? That was insane!"

"It was no big deal," I said.

"Right," Harvey said. "Just don't tell that to Willy."

After we had changed we all left for the after-game party at Chili's. I ended up sitting at a table with most of the senior members of the team. A bunch of other people had come as well, including the football cheerleaders, but I wasn't particularly interested in them. I had seen Kate come in with some friends half an hour after we had arrived and I was still trying to work up the courage to go and talk to her.

"Dude, go ask her out," Leo told me.

I drank a gulp of beer. "I don't know. Are you sure she isn't seeing anyone?"

Willy grinned. "Just do it already, man."

"Yeah," Harvey joined in. "What's taking you so long? Are you scared?"

"Maybe I can hold your hand while you talk to her, for support," Leo said, his face mock-serious.

"Fuck off, guys," I told them, giving Leo a shove. "I'm going, but only because anywhere is better than sitting here with you."

"Oooh, we made him mad," Willy said, but he was grinning.

I ignored them and took a deep breath. I started walking towards where Kate was talking with her friends. She wasn't far away; just a couple tables over. I was almost there when Leo shouted loudly, "Get 'er, tiger!"

It was loud enough for Kate to hear, unfortunately, and both she and her friend turned to look right at me. Leo laughed unashamedly behind us.

Kate's friend giggled. I wanted to sink into the floor, but my brain wasn't having any of that. Instead I said, uncharacteristically smoothly, "Forgive my friend. I think he's taken one too many soccer balls to the face."

Kate smiled. Her friend, seeing what was going on immediately, said, "I'll be right back, Kate. I want another margarita."

Kate looked at her for a second, berating her with her eyes, but her friend merely smiled widely at her and then disappeared. I silently thanked her.

"I'm Josh," I said, sitting next to her. I smiled.

She returned the smile shyly. "Kate."

"I know," I told her. "From our math class. You sit in the front. You're pretty smart, the way you always answer the teacher's questions. Not me. I'm terrible at math."

"Is that so?"

"Yup."

Awkward pause.

Say something, dammit!

"Uh, listen, Kate, I was here with some of my friends from the team..."

"The soccer team. I know."

"Oh, really?"

She nodded. "I saw you tonight. At the game."

"I think you're beautiful," I blurted. A split second after I said it, I realized what I had actually said and I started to blush. "Sorry! I didn't mean--"

"Thanks," Kate said. She smiled again. Inched a bit closer.

It suddenly hit me that she was giving me every possible signal available in the book, except maybe jumping up and down with a neon sign that read, ‘yes, I like you!’.

I went for it. I leaned forward and kissed her, just like that.

She didn't pull away. In fact, she kissed me back, and I lost track of everything else except for her. I felt like I was in some kind of movie where everything goes right. I don't even know how long the kiss lasted, but when it ended I drew back slowly and could only say, "Wow."

She smiled again.

"Do you... Can I buy you a drink?" I said, when my brain started working again.

"Sure. Come on."

She took my hand and led me to the bar. As we passed by my teammates' table, Leo gave me a thumbs-up. And somebody whistled loudly.

It was a great night. We stayed there at the Chili's for a bit longer, and then Kate asked me if I could drive her somewhere else. I gladly obliged, and we took off together in my mother's car, just driving around town for a bit. Eventually we came to a good spot in the cliffs that surrounded the city on the north side, where I ended up driving us without really thinking about it. I parked the car in a spot not far from the abandoned shack, where we had a spectacular view of the lights of the town from above in the darkness.

"It's so beautiful," Kate said as I turned the engine off.

"Yeah. It is."

"I've never been here before," she told me, edging closer to me on her seat. I was suddenly very nervous; I really liked her, and I didn't want to mess it up by coming on too strong.

"Yup."

She laughed. "You're full of surprises, Josh. You've only been here for what, a month? And you know this town better than me."

"I wouldn't say that," I protested. "There's plenty of stuff I still haven't seen."

I turned to look at her. She was leaning forward slightly in her seat, invitingly close. "I'd be glad to show you."

She kissed me, and from there on my brain happily disconnected. There followed the hottest make out session I had ever had, and I remember being only mildly surprised at how willing Kate was. Her hands were all over me; I could smell the strawberry scent of her hair, taste the fruity flavor of whatever lip gloss she was wearing. Some part of my mind was insistently refusing to believe that this was really happening to me, that I had this hot girl in my car with me. Maybe I was dreaming it or something—but no. It was real enough. And my pants were getting uncomfortably tight.

I was the one who balked, though, when she reached to grab my cock.

"Whoa..." I said, and edged away slightly.

Kate frowned. "What's wrong?" She reached for me again.

I stopped her hand. Then I swallowed, letting go.

"Josh? What's the matter?"

"Sorry. I didn't… I mean… don't you think we're going a little fast?"

Had I said that out loud? What the hell was I thinking?

"Oh," was all she said. Then she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned away from me, her entire body language changing in tone.

I couldn't believe I was actually doing this, stopping the hottest girl at school like that, but it just didn't feel right. It was way too soon.

"Listen, Kate, I'm sorry. Really. I like you, I mean, I really do." Her eyes flicked over to mine as she heard my tone. Encouraged, I continued. "It's only that I want to do this right. We barely know each other, and you drive me crazy, and I know tomorrow I'm going to hate myself for saying this, but I think it would be best if I drove you home now. And tomorrow, if you want, I'd really like to take you out to dinner, on a proper date, and get to know you better. What do you say?"

I held my breath, but my heart was beating frantically in my chest. For a second there, I actually thought she was going to tell me to get lost, but then she nodded.

"I've never met anyone like you, Josh. A real gentleman."

"Is that… Is that a yes?"

"Maybe. Ask me tomorrow if you want to find out."

I grinned like an idiot. "Sure!"

I drove her home after that and all I got as a goodbye was a chaste little kiss on the cheek. I went over the events again and again in my mind, and by the time I got home I felt like I was going to burst if I didn't tell anyone. I needed somebody to tell me if I had been a complete idiot or what. Somebody who wouldn't make fun of me, and definitely not my dad or my mom. That didn't leave me many options.

I parked the car in the garage and went straight up to my room. Then I lay on my bed for a long time, thinking. Eventually I picked up my phone and logged onto Facebook. I already had a friend request from Kate, which I took as a positive sign and I accepted with a grin. I still needed to talk to someone, though, and I saw that Nathan was online. I sent him a message.

'Dude. U there?'

'hey josh'

'u got some time?'

There was a pause. Then, 'sure.'

'i need 2 know if im an idiot'

'thats easy. yes.'

I chuckled, swiping my finger over the screen. 'fuck you'

'sry. Tell me whats on ur mind'

'i hooked up w Kate dude. But i think i screwed up'

There was a longer pause this time, so long I felt that Nathan had gone somewhere else. However, then he typed, 'kate higgins?'

'yeah'

'what happened'

'i think she wanted 2 go all the way dude. all the way! n i blew her off'

'what?'

'i know! Im an idiot! :/ '

'tell me what happened.'

'we were up at the cliffs, u know, where u can see the town'

'when'

'just now! after th game party. n Kate was going for it, man. And then I open my big mouth n tell her 2 stop!'

'why did u take her there?'

'?'

'why did u take her to the place I showed you?'

'Seemed like a good idea i guess? She liked it that wasnt the problem'

Nathan disconnected. I waited for a little bit, but he did not log back in. I shrugged, and spent the next half an hour or so looking through Kate's Facebook photo albums, telling myself that I wasn't a stalker as I browsed every pic she was tagged in. When I finally got around to sleeping, all I could think of was the date we were going to have the next day.