A sweater.
“Because you’re always cold,” I told him, because he always is.
That’s why he wears his hoodies practically all the time.
“And because white’s your favorite color, and look.” I pointed to the black intarsia that I’d done on the front. “It’s a mustang. An actual mustang, not the car. Oh and it was my very first intarsia project. It came out nice, right?”
I’d seen the pattern in a knitting book months ago – before I really knew him – and it’d reminded me of him.
So when I decided to knit for him, I went and dug the magazine up and well, I stabbed myself in the fingers with the needles a million times before I got the design right.
Reed didn’t say anything. Not for a long time as he stared down at the sweater I made for him and I had to ask, “You don’t like it?” I started pulling it away from his grip, which was surprisingly tight. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I’m gonna make you another one and –”
“I like it,” he said in a hoarse whisper, speaking over me.
And then he pulled me to him and pressed his mouth on my forehead.
He didn’t kiss me there again though, no.
He just… breathed with an open mouth for a few moments like he couldn’t get enough air and I let him.
That was all.
That was all that happened last night.
We kissed, he made me come, I gave him his present and then he drove me back to school just in time for Con to pick me up from the parking lot.
I haven’t seen him since.
Which is understandable given the fact that his big game is currently underway, and I’ve been busy with my own practice for the show.
Maybe that’s why I’m feeling uneasy.
Because of the championship game.
Because I know how important it is to him and to Ledger. Oh, and it’s also the last game of their high school career.
Not to mention their last game together.
It should make me happy that they won’t butt heads anymore — they’re both going to different colleges on soccer scholarships — and this contest, no matter who wins, will finally be over.
But strangely I’m uneasy.
Ledger’s in possession of the ball and he’s running across the field with it. Just when he reaches a point where he can take a shot and score the goal, the winning goal no less, Reed barges in.
He swipes the ball from Ledger and there ensues a struggle between the two star players of Bardstown High.
They both grapple for the ball, trying to score the goal, somehow dodging the players from the opposite team as well.
Not that I had any doubts that they wouldn’t be able to.
Together, the Mustang and the Thorn can defeat every single team in the state and they have. They’re that talented.
I’m not afraid that they’ll lose the ball.
I’m afraid about something else.
Something that happens right in front of my eyes.
