“Um … it’s nothing. It was just an accident,” she said, trying to pull her short sleeves farther down her arms to no avail. Sure. That will convince them. An accident didn’t sound suspicious at all.
She looked around and realized the entire team was staring at her with concern. What was the protocol here? Hailey didn’t exactly want to describe the events of the previous night but she also didn’t want them thinking that Gage abused her.
Abby narrowed her eyes, “An accident.”
“Yeah, no big deal at all. I’m fine.”
Hailey felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to face Avery, his face darkened with worry.
“Are you sure?” It felt like his eyes were boring into Hailey’s. “Do you … is there anything … are you okay?”
Avery was a social worker, so he had lots of experience seeing bruises like the ones on her arms. She worried what he must be thinking.
Hailey stiffened. Her body went rigid with all the eyes on her.
“It’s fine. Things just got carried away last night, butI’m safe. Really.”
Her teammates didn’t look like they bought her vague reasoning and Avery’s hand remained on her shoulder.
She turned to him, “Really I’m fine. Thank you for caring, but I’m good.”
Saved by the scoreboard horn, the game in front of them ended and it was their turn to take their places on one of the benches.
Cole noticed she wanted to move on so he reluctantly got the team back on track. “Okay you guys, let’s go destroy the other team’s will to live.”
His exaggerated hostility fixed the atmosphere and distracted everyone from Hailey’s arms. She was sure this wouldn’t be the last she’d hear about it. Time to let out some of that rage.
———————————
One minute left in the game had the score tied up at nine. Their team needed this win if they wanted a shot at the championship at the end of the season.
Cole rolled the ball from his spot as goalkeeper out to Hailey after stopping a shot from the other team. She lifted her eyes to see the field in front of her and noticed Abby streaking across the middle. Sending the ball her way, Hailey then sprinted behind the blue player that wascovering her, setting up a give and go with Abby. Abby returned the ball and it landed perfectly at Hailey’s feet.
A blue player was running straight at her, leaving Avery wide open on her left. Hailey used the wall to get the ball around the blue player and then crashed toward the net. Avery swept up the ball with ease as Hailey made a run toward the net, now wide open. Avery fed her the ball in front of the net and she finessed it with a soft kick right past the goalie, hitting the right back corner just before the clock hit zero and the horn sounded.
Her teammates went crazy and swarmed her. Avery reached her first and pulled her into a bear hug that Hailey felt all the way to her toes, toes that had momentarily left the floor while in Avery’s arms. She got high fives and hugs from the rest of her teammates.
“Now, we’re definitely getting liquor! Time to celebrate!” Cole whooped and jumped, pumping his fist into the air.
Hailey’s first thought was how Gage would feel about her going out for drinks with the team. God forbid she have male friends. As everyone gathered their things, she checked her phone. Gage had left her a message about staying out late with his buddies for drinks somewhere on the other side of town. She was free.
———————————
The team gathered at the local watering hole, Hero’s Pub. It was near impossible to walk into that bar without seeing someone from Hailey’s high school since it was a popular spot in town that had strong pours, crispy Old Bay french fries and good wings.
The large bar was in the middle of the room, with stools and tables surrounding it, filled with people checking out whatever game was on that night.
They settled at a table in the back to save the rest of the patrons from their likely smelly bodies. They were considerate like that.
Hailey put her long-sleeve shirt back on after the game, forgetting about the bruises on her arms after getting that intense win.
After the waitress dropped off drinks for seven, Hailey called out her usual offer.
“Who wants my cherry?” she asked while holding up a single cherry, which Abby quickly snatched out of her hand.
“Sorry, Cole. Wasn’t sure if you wanted to use it to practice your knot-tying skills,” Abby said with a smirk.
“Hey, how dare you call my skills into question. It was one time and I thought we agreed not to talk about it anymore.” Everyone around him snickered. “Anyway, here’s to finally taking down those jackasses! Down with the Blues!” Cole shouted while everyone around them raised their drinks.
