Coach told me to, and I'm quoting, "Get the hell out of his town for a while."
A crew of servers went through the room, offering appetizers. Unfortunately, the small plops of unicorn fluff did nothing to satiate any hunger from missing lunch because I was getting chewed out by my coach.
The anxiety of being in the twilight of my football career, paired with this current disaster, with the bonus of being hungry, made me twitchy.
But there was Maya—a bright spot in a day of total bullshit.
Maya, with her brown hair and brown eyes, stepped up to the DJ booth and snatched the microphone. The music stopped, and the DJ tilted his chin to her.
"I have a pre-wedding present for Jared and Jamie," she said into the microphone. "I hope you like it."
And with that, using her palms, she tapped out a rhythm on the side of the booth that sounded oddly familiar, but not something I could put my finger on.
The DJ continued clapping to the beat as Maya went into an a cappella version of Ingrid Michaelson's,The Way I Am.
When she got to the part about Rogaine and hair loss, the soon-to-be bride plastered herself to the groom, and he kissed the hell out of her.
Maya smiled and got more into the song, her eyes catching mine and…fuck all…then she sang the song to me. Her voice was light as angel food cake, but somehow still strong as steel—a combination I was certain I'd never heard before.
A combination I seriously dug.
With the song finished, she did a shimmy shake, and I couldn't stop grinning like an idiot. Grinning and clapping along with everyone else as Maya took a cute little bow and handed back the mic.
Me? Still fucking grinning.
"You look like the opposite of miserable." Finn sat beside me on the long bench looking over the club and handed me a sushi spoon with more airy fluff pseudo-food.
I ate the fluff—it tasted like chicken-flavored cotton candy threads. Definitely not a flavor-texture combination I'd ever endorse.
Then again, given my current situation, I'd have to endorse it so I didn't lose my house.
Maya needed to sing another song or something, because the chicken threads totally wrecked my happy of moments before.
"Elliott finally manage to get you that meeting with ZipZing?" Finn asked, serious as a timeout in overtime.
I shook my head. "No luck."
"You notice that the food here is… not food?" Finn asked around another chicken fluff bite.
"I'm starving, man," I said to Finn. "I'd settle for crappy pizza. Or the cardboard box it arrived in."
Maya glanced my way, snagged my gaze, and grinned at me from the edge of the dance party. That was an invitation if I'd ever seen one.
Finn glanced between me and Maya. "You really into her?"
I gave him ayeah, so?Nod.
Finn pulled his lips to the side. "Just…" He thought way too hard about what he would say next. "You left Denver, so Coach wouldn't murder you for doing something stupid. That woman there? Well, from the way you're looking at her? You'll do something stupid."
I didn't know what to say to that. So instead, I said?—
"You should get drunk, don't you think?"
By him, I think I meant me. I… I should get drunk. Take this opportunity to use tequila to forget all about my fuckups.
I got ready to stand. Figured I'd head Maya's way, offer to take her to buy food not made from threads and air. She snipped those plans in two by sauntering toward me, hips swaying, eyes sparkling.
Finn raised his eyebrows. "You're gonna go be stupid."
