Christian appears in the kitchen on a groan, stretching his body from side to side. “Where’s Rachel?” he asks as he looks to the four of us. “Is she in any better shape than Shelby?” he questions, pointing to the ceiling.
“Probably only just,” I say, grabbing at a meat patty and dropping it quickly onto my plate as it burns my fingertips. “She asked her dad to pick her up early so she could get home to spend the day with Sam. Lucky her dad drove because she would have still been over the limit. She wasn’t looking at all well when she left.”
Seth takes a seat at the table after making himself a coffee, and we all follow suit taking a seat at our cheap ass table.
“I don’t think I have seen any of the girls that drunk before,” Walsh comments.
“Me neither, but they had fun, we all had fun, it was a great night!” I add.
Christian cradles his shoulder. “Well, I think I’m coming around to Lucas, he seems pretty cool. Well, as much as he can be for someone who’s banging my sister; although, Shelby keeps insisting they are just keeping it casual.”
“He looked after her,” I add. “God knows she needed it last night. He basically carried her all the way home, so that scored him some points.”
“What’s up with your shoulder?” Seth says from behind the rim of his cup.
Christian cowers slightly. “Think I overdid it.”
“Maybe you need to put it back in the sling for a few days.”
“Yep, I might have to,” he agrees.
I look at Christian. “I was the one lifting your girlfriend and sister off the pool table, twice,” I say, holding up two fingers. “How the hell did you hurt it?”
“Scotch, it mixes well with soda, but not great with good judgment and decisionmaking. At one stage I remember racing mattresses down the main staircase; not sure if it was that or the strenuous games of pool.”
“We did throw the pig skin around for a while,” Walsh adds.
“I sat out for that one,” Christian corrects.
I think back remembering how much fun it was throwing the ball around the large open area. The strobe lights made it harder to keep an eye on the ball, but it was awesome…looked cool too. “That’s right, Jason scored a touchdown on the couch between those two ladies, then didn’t move after that.”
“I think I danced for a while, with Shelby, Letti, Rachel, and Dani. God, I must have been drunk if I was up dancing. I’ll blame Shelby for that one.”
“I think we blamed Shelby the last time you danced all night also,” Walsh states. Making us remember the time Shelby broke up with Christian, we know now she was forced by her ex. The boys and I hosted a quick ‘feel better party’ together. Christian got sloppy drunk, and we danced the night away, shirtless, in our living room till the early morning hours. Our motto for the night was ‘tomorrow’s problem’ and man, did we have problems the next day.
A few hours later we throw our gear in the back of Christian’s black truck and climb in to head to training knowing we are going to get smashed. On the way I send off a text to Rachel.
Me: How are you feeling?
Rachel: Not great! Luckily Sam is happy to just cuddle on the couch and watch a movie. So I think this is where I’ll stay all day snuggling with my baby.
Me: I wish I was snuggling my baby, but I’m off to training.
Rachel: Gross, I think I would vomit.
Me: I have a feeling a few guys will!
Meeting up with the team in the parking lot, we all look the same, like death. Sunglasses in place, we open the door to the gym and cringe at Coach standing there, arms folded with a malicious smile spread across his face. Colorful plastic buckets are placed sporadically around the gym along with the rest of the training staff.
He claps his hands together. “Come in, boys! This is going to be fun!”
21
Rachel
I haven’t seen Randy since I left early the day after New Year’s, and I have to admit, I missed him so much. But he needed to recover and get ready for today’s game. Since the game today is so big, I thought I would drive over early to drop off his Raptors jacket. It will be good to see him quickly and wish him luck before he heads off to the stadium with the boys.
My dad and I are taking Sam to the game tonight, and we are all nervously excited. Randy has never met Sam, but I have been thinking that maybe after the game I will take him to the players’ door and let them meet quickly for the first time with my dad. This is huge for me because I don’t let any men meet my son. But this way if things do go south, I just looked like the kickass mom who introduced her son to all the NorCal Raptors players.
