“Yep,” replied the other. “Our older brother.”
“Fuck me,” I swore before clamping my hand over my mouth. Being a teacher, I knew better than to swear in public. While I wasn’t averse to dropping an f bomb here or there, I tried to restrain myself, at least when kids were around.
“Elise!” Jax chastised, knowing my rules.
Facing the front, I buried my head in my hands. When my hair fell down around my face, I was grateful for the curtain to hide behind. By the time I’d pulled myself together enough to sit up again, I was scouting the exits trying to figure out the quickest way out of there.
“Dear,” the soft voice came, and like I was on autopilot, I turned to face the older woman. She was beautiful in her own way. Her hair was grey at her temples and deep laugh lines were etched on her face. She reminded me of my own grandmother. “Are you Elise, the schoolteacher from Westview Primary?”
Wait!
What!
Unable to form words, I nodded, still stunned.
“It can’t be!” Porcelain retorted, bouncing in her seat.
“She’s the one,” the girl sitting between them confirmed.
Dumbly, I asked, “I’m the one, what?”
Chapter Seven - Luca
“Fuck yeah!” I cheered as I banged my locker.
We’d won. I don’t know how and I don’t know why, all I could be sure of was when the ref’s whistle sounded calling time on the game, we were ahead on the score board two to one. At half time I was feeling like we had a chance. Even though we were down one–nil, for some reason I still thought we could come from behind and win.
“How’d that happen?” Alexi asked, sitting on the bench untaping his wrist.
“No idea,” I confirmed.
You’d think after your first win of the season people would be leaping out of their skin celebrating. This wasn’t like that though. This was eerily different. It was like no one wanted to make too big of a deal out of it in case it wasn’t real.
“What the hell was that?” Coach Fischer boomed as he stomped through the door, his chest puffed out and a beaming smile on his face. “Not only our first win for the season but a come from behind win too. You should be proud of your efforts. Jameson! Where’s Jameson?”
Jameson was our goalie, and if I knew him half as well as I thought I did, my bet was he hadn’t quite made it to the locker room yet. It’d become a habit, mainly at away games, to try and secure a win with the ladies, although I could see him cashing in tonight’s win for all it’s worth and going for the double.
“I’m here! What’s the problem?” he asked dramatically as he stepped through the doorway, hands above his head like he’d just won a title fight.
“I’m too old for this,” I muttered to myself.
“You and me both, brother,” Alexi replied, offering me his fist.
After Coach had praised Jameson’s efforts and went through his laundry list of all the things he liked about the game, we were dismissed. After a quick shower, I changed into a pair of dark jeans and a button-down and dug my phone from the bottom of the bag.
Turning it back on, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw the number of missed messages. It was on nights like this that I loved having a big family. They made sure I didn’t forget to feel awesome about playing a good game.
Flicking through my messages, I saw all the cheerleading, even from Dad who was usually the most reserved of the lot. Tonight though, it seemed even he’d gotten excited.
Then there was Izzy. If anyone had promoted themselves to the position of making sure my ego was kept in check, it was Izzy. Any little thing she could find to bust my balls over, she pounced on it. I don’t think in the past twenty years she’d ever once missed an opportunity. Even when I lived overseas, she’d message or email me to let me know of my poor wardrobe choices for an interview, and if I thought that was as bad as it got, the moment she met Stephanie, my ex-girlfriend, the gloves came off. Until that moment, Izzy had only been toying with me.
Izzy: Get your smelly butt out here. Got a present for ya
Great! That meant not only was she here in person to ruin my buzz, but God knows what nasty surprise she had waiting for me.
Waving goodbye to a couple of the guys, I slipped out the door and back down the tunnel. I knew where they’d be. Every time someone came to the game and waited to catch up after, usually for food, they were standing by the hot dog van.
Making my way there, I got stopped a couple of times by kids wanting selfies and an autograph while their dads congratulated me on finally getting a win. I don’t think they even realised the backhanded compliments they were dishing out when they added the word finally.
