Something to tease you into reading Always & Forever . . .
Lydia walked along the brick of
the fieldhouse. She had ten minutes
before she had to get back to the sideline of the football field. She wanted to say hi to Jimmy. She hadn’t seen him all day and she usually
gave him a friendly good luck hug before the football games started. She took a
few steps toward the locker room when she was grabbed from behind and
blindfolded.
“What
are you doing?” she shrieked.
“Relax,
Lydia, we’re just going to have little fun,” a male voice remarked.
Lydia’s
hands went to her face and felt the blindfold.
Who’s we?”
“Just
a few of the guys from the football team.”
She felt a hand pull the blindfold tight so she couldn’t pull it
off. “I wouldn’t take that off if I were
you.”
There
was a hand on her leg. In fact, she felt
several hands on her legs. Her
cheerleader skirt didn’t hide anything.
“Get your hands off me,” she pleaded.
She
felt the cool brick of the outdoor building against her back. Someone had pushed her up against the
building. Her panic made her breathe
heavily and she heard a few guys whistle.
“C’mon, Lydia,” a voice whispered close to her ear. The hands were sliding up further. “Give us a little show.”
“Stop
it,” she pleaded. “I don’t do that!” She batted at what seemed like a thousand
hands molesting her legs.
“That’s
not what I heard.”
“Whoever
told you that lied.” Lydia reached for an
uwanted hand sliding up her thy, but hers was batted away.
Lydia
heard footsteps. “What the heck are you
guys doing?”
Jimmy. The hands let go of her and she slid down
into the grass hugging herself.
“Nothin’,
Jimmy. Just having a little fun with the
new girl.”
“Jesus,
does it look like she’s having fun?”
Jimmy leaned down and put a hand on Lydia’s shoulder. “You all right?”
Lydia
nodded. She still had on the
blindfold. She reached up to take it
off, but Jimmy grabbed her hand. “Wait a minute.” He turned to the football players and told
them to get lost. When they were gone,
he took the blindfold off Lydia. Her big
saucer eyes looked vacant. She looked
off to the side and wouldn’t look at him.
Jimmy knelt down and put his hands on both her shoulders.
“Please
don’t touch me. I feel dirty. I don’t want to remember this and have you be
a part of it.”
“Okay.” He took his hands off her shoulders.Jimmy
looked up at the clock on the wall. Five
minutes until he had to be back on the
field. “If you want, I can stand guard
so you can take a shower.”
“Very
funny, Jimmy. Me take a shower in the
guy’s locker room. No way.” She rubbed her shoulders and still could feel
the filth of football players all over her.
Their hands didn’t know where to stop. She hugged herself tighter.
“Lyddie?”
She
usually seethed when anyone called her by that nickname, but she let Jimmy do
it. She didn’t know why, but she felt
comfortable with him calling her that.“What?”
Jimmy
sat his helmet down on the ground and sat down on top of it. “Did they hurt you?”
“You
saw me. What do you think?”
“Lyddie?”
Lydia
sighed and rested her head in her hands.
“What, Jimmy?”
“Am
I too late?”
“Too
late for what?”
“Are
you still innocent?”
Lydia
got up from where she was sitting. “Of
course I’m innocent!” she yelled. “I
didn’t tell them to do that. They just
grabbed me and started rubbing their filthy hands all over me.”
“That’s
not what I meant, Lyddie. I know you
wouldn’t tell them to do that. Do you
need to report them?”
Lydia
turned around so she wasn’t facing her new friend of a few days. “I don’t even know who they were.”
“They
weren’t very smart, Lyddie. They may
have blindfolded you, but their jersey numbers are clear as day. I’ll take care of it.”
Lydia
turned around and smiled. “Thanks.” The clock signaled three minutes to the
second half. “I’ll take you home after
the game if you want.”
Lydia
looked over at the crowded football field.
“I don’t think I’m going to stay that long.”
“You
have to, Lyddie. Coach Jones will freak
if one of her girls is missing.”
Jenni
Newton, one of the cheerleaders who had convinced Lydia to join the squad,
walked by. She glanced at Lydia’s
wrinkled uniform and stray hairs then raised her eyebrows at Jimmy. He took a step back to cause some distance
between him and Lydia.
“What
was that for?”
He
nodded toward Jenni and a few of the other cheerleaders. “Your friend over
there thinks something is going on between us.”
“Is
it?”
Jimmy
shook his head a little too fast, Lydia thought. “No, just friends. That’s all. Biology lab partners. Nothing else.”
Lydia
heard the horn of a two minute warning for the second half of the football game
to start.
“Better
get back to your post, QB1,” she quipped.
Jimmy
wrinkled his forehead. “Army brat?”
“Nope. Marines.
Base doesn’t sound as good as post.
She watched the clock count down quickly. “Better go.”
“You,
too.” Jimmy grabbed her hand and ran to
the football field. He dropped her off
on the sideline and then made his way to the field where he was needed.
“Well,
if things go the way they looked a few minutes ago, you and I might get to
double date soon.”
“What
are you talking about?” Lydia asked.
“You
were in the boy’s locker room a few minutes ago weren’t you? Giving QB1 a pep
talk, I presume.”
“Um,
no, not really.” Lydia hugged herself again and shuddered. She could still feel those hands wandering
all over her.
“What’s
wrong with you?” Jenni asked.
Lydia
looked at the sideline for any inkling of who the guys were that attacked
her. Her eyes scanned the line of
football jerseys, but no one seemed to look guilty as charged. “Nothing.
I just really want to go home.”
“What? Riley not living up to your high standards of
living?” Jenni snapped.
Lydia
sighed. “I don’t really know what home
is. I’ve never lived in one place for
more than a few years at a time.”
The
crowd stood on their feet. The second
half started and Jimmy threw a pass to his best friend Nick Stokes. He ran it downfield for sixty yards until he
was tackled. The girls threw their pom
poms in the air and cheered.
Jenni
pointed to Stokes. “He doesn’t know it,
yet, but he’s going to fall in love with me.”
Lydia
rolled her eyes. “I doubt it.”
“What
do you know?”
“More
than I should, that’s all. He’s Jimmy’s
best friend, isn’t he?”
“Yep. So, see , if you hook up with Jimmy, then I
can hook up with Stokes and life in Riley would be great.”
Lydia
rolled her eyes. Life in Riley would not be great. Not ever. The town was too small. Everybody knew everyone and their
business. If you picked your nose in public, you’d end up in the
daily news on the society page, full page photo included. She had no idea why her parents had decided
to move here for her last two years of high school. She was going to get out as soon as she
could.
The
game wasn’t even close. The Riley
Warriors won 56 to 3. After the game,
Jimmy ran over to the sidelines where Lydia stood. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Good job, Jimmy.”
He
smiled. “It wasn’t all me. Someone had to catch the passes I threw.” He nodded towards Stokes who was eyeing the
rest of the cheerleaders.
Stokes
smiled,but kept his eyes glued to the girls.
“Hey, Lydia.”
Lydia
gave a sigh of relief. His voice didn’t
match any of the ones she had heard earlier.”Good game, Stokes.”
“Can
I take you home, Lyddie?” Jimmy asked.
“What
about the party?” Stokes asked his friend.
“I’m
tired. Didn’t get much rest off the
field.”
“Not
my fault, we were on fire tonight, Brown.”
“Whatever. The ride, Lyddie?”
“You’re
awfully persisent, Jimmy Brown.”
“Is
that a yes?”
Lydia
looked over at Jenni. She was her ride, but something about the way she had
talked to Lydia didn’t sit right with her.
She nodded her head at Jimmy.
“Sure, Jimmy. I’ll take you up on
the offer.”
Jimmy
walked Lydia over to his blue Chevy pick up.
He opened the door for her and climbed in on the other side. He started the engine and looked over at her. She hadn’t said anything from the walk from
the field to the parking lot behind the stadium.
“You
sure you’re all right?”
Lydia
forced a smile. “Fine.”
Jimmy
pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the street. “Something tells me you’re not.”
Lydia
hugged her shoulders tight. Jimmy looked
over at her and noticed she was shivering.
He threw his letter jacket over to her.
“Here. Sorry. I haven’t had a chance to fix the heat, yet.”
Lydia
grabbed the jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. “There’s places that can fix it, you know.”
“Yeah,
but what’s the fun in that? I’d rather
do it myself.”
Lydia
rolled her eyes. “Hey, Jimmy?”
“Hey,
Lyddie.”
“Do
you have any idea where you’re going?”
Jimmy
grinned. “Nope. I was hoping you’d tell me before we ended up
in Texas or someplace worse.”
“There’s
no place worse than Texas.”
Jimmy
grabbed his chest. “A girl after my own
heart.”
Lydia
grinned again. “You might wanna turn
left here. I think it would be a good
idea.”
Lydia
gave directions to Jimmy until they ended up in front of her house. Jimmy
stared at the brick structure that was three stories high with a circle
drive. “Wow,” he whispered.
“It’s
not what it seems, Jimmy. The outside’s
nice, but it needs a lot of work on the inside.” Lydia stared at the floorboard. Jimmy thought she was talking about the
house, but she was talking about herself. She could look like she was fine and
keep all her thoughts inside, but she really was screaming on the inside. How could she have let those guys put their
hands all over her? Why didn’t she fight
back like her daddy and all the other Marines she knew taught her? She didn’t want Jimmy to know how weak she
really was. She didn’t want him to know
that there was a constant battle going on between her mom and dad. Daddy had just retired from the Marines and
Mama was working nights at the hospital.
The tension in the air between them was so strong that Lydia couldn’t
walk through the house without being smothered by the silence between her
parents. She was hoping that Jimmy just
meant the house and wasn’t looking at her to see if she meant something
deeper. She kept her eyes averted to the
floorboard.
“Whatever,
Lyddie.” He got out of the truck and
walked over to open Lydia’s door.
“You
don’t have to-“
“Yes,
I do.” He leaned in closer. “There’s a
pair of eyes looking at me through that window.”
Lydia
looked over and saw that her dad had pulled the curtain aside and was looking
at Jimmy holding the door open for her.
She gave Jimmy another hug and walked toward the door. “Thanks for the ride, Jimmy,” she called
after him. She met her dad at the door
and walked in.
“Anytime,”
he yelled back. He got in his truck, started the engine and stared ahead. This being friends was not enough for
him. He wanted to take Lydia out soon
before he burst. She had only been at
the school for a couple of weeks, but even so his heart melted whenever she
walked into a class. Then, when he saw
the way those guys had their hands all over her when he walked toward the
locker room made him fume with anger. He
put his foot on the gas and headed home.
No
girl should ever have to go through that.
He wanted to pick her up off the ground and take her someplace safe, but
he couldn’t do that. Not when they were
just supposed to be friends. He was
going to talk to Coach about what happened and see if he could get a few of
those players off the team. From the
looks of it, they were mostly third string players anyway. He pulled into the driveway of his own house
and walked inside with a look of revenge on his face. His mom saw him walk in the door and followed
behind him to the kitchen. She stopped
in the doorway.
“Honey,
what’s wrong?” Anita Brown asked.
“Nothing,”
Jimmy grumbled. He went to the
refridgerator and rummaged around until he found an apple. In the process, he knocked over the carton of
milk which spilled to the floor. He
slammed the apple on the counter and grabbed the kitchen towel hanging on the
oven door.
Anita
knew if he stayed in this mood any longer, something bad was going to
happen. Anger always got the best of her
son. She hated seeing him so upset. She tried to divert his attention to
something he enjoyed.“You had a good game tonight.”
“Thanks.” Jimmy grabbed the apple off the counter and walked
into the living room and saw his dad with his eyes glued to the television.
“But, you’re not the one that I need to hear that from.” He stared at his dad, but Dale Brown didn’t
even take his eyes off the televison.
Mr.
Brown kept to himself most days lately.
He didn’t go out, he didn’t talk with anyone. The doctors at the VA diagnosed him with PTSD
a few years earlier. His time in Vietnam
scarred him. Dale thought it was the
reason he felt so introverted, but his son thought otherwise. Jimmy felt that his dad had given up on him
completely and he had a hard time dealing with his dad’s behavior.
“I
was 12 for 14 tonight, Dad.” He bit the
apple.
“14
for 14 is better.”
“Maybe
I would’ve made 14 for 14 if you showed up.”
Jimmy slammed his fist against the wall.
The apple dropped to the floor and Anita picked it up. She held it out to Jimmy, but he pushed it
away.
“Football
isn’t my thing, Jimmy. You know that.”
“No,
Dad. I’m
not your thing! You wouldn’t care if
I dropped dead on the fifty yard line.”
Anita
walked into the room making a barrier between the two men in her life. “Jimmy,
calm down. Don’t say things like that to
your father.”
“He
doesn’t care, Mom. He’s never cared
about anything I do. I could stand on my
head while feeding the homeless and I wouldn’t even get a good job out of him. You’d know what I get?”
Anita
shook her head.
“I’d
get a ‘what are you going to do for the rest of us’ and a look of
disappointment. That’s all I am to
him. Some stupid disappointment because
I play football and don’t care about his precious Army.”
Anita
looked over at her husband and saw the clouds of Vietnam slowly making their
way to his eyes. She looked over at her
son who looked like he was about to cry.
“Jimmy, don’t.”
Jimmy
took another bite of his apple. “I’ll be
upstairs. I’ve got homework.” He ran up the stairs and slammed the door
behind him.
Anita
walked over to her husband and knelt in front of him. She rested her head on his knees. “He doesn’t mean that, Dale.”
“If
he would just see that football isn’t going to get him anywhere.”
“Dale,
stop it. He loves football. He’s really good at it.”
“He’s
not going to get anywhere playing football, Anita.”
Anita
looked up at Dale. The clouds were still
there. “What do you want him to do, Dale?
Do you want him to join the Army and come back broken and battered like
you? Do you want him to spend five hours
a week in therapy because he can’t get the images of those dead bodies being carried
in the streets out of his head?”
“Anita,
don’t say things like that. You weren’t
there, you don’t know.” He paused. “You don’t know anything about what I’ve been
through.” His voice turned into a stern
warning.
Anita
swallowed hard. The sobs in her throat
wouldn’t stay down. “He just wants you
to watch one game, honey. One game.”
“When
I have time, I’ll go.” He kept his eyes
on the television. Anita looked and saw
that he was watching a rerun of MASH.
“Yeah,
because watching that is so much more important than your own son.”
Jimmy
sat in the library staring at his math book.
He heard the thud of a book bag being put down on top of the table
beside him.
“Hey,
QB1.”
Jimmy
looked up and saw Lydia. “Hey,
cheerleader.”
“What
are you up to?” Lydia asked pointing to
the book.
Jimmy
scratched his head. “Um, I think it’s
geometry, but I’m not so sure. I thought
more numbers would be involved, but all I see is letters.”
Lydia
let out a quiet laugh. “Not so good with
the math, are you?”
“What
are you, Yoda?”
Lydia
scrunched up her face. “Who?”
“What? Are you serious? You don’t know who Yoda is?”
“Yeah,
well, you don’t know what the Pythagorean Theorem is, so there.” She stuck her tongue out at him.
“And
you do?” Jimmy asked smiling.
Lydia
ignored his boyish grin.“Yes, I do.
Despite my outward appearance as an airhead, I actually do know a thing
about theorems and postulates.”
Jimmy
shook his head. “You’re not an airhead,
Lyddie.”
“Tell
that to the rest of Riley,” Lydia
mumbled. She slumped down in the seat next to him.
“Besides,
airheads are blond like Jenni. So, that
leaves you out.”
“Yep,
guess us brunettes have to use our brains every once in awhile.”
Jimmy
tapped his pencil on the pages of his book.
“Are you gonna help me or not, Lyddie?”
Lydia
looked over at the pages. They were
filled with triangles and theorems. She
could do geometry in her sleep if it came down to it, but she was having fun
making Jimmy sweat. “A please would be nice.”
“Please? If I don’t pass this class, I’m done for the
season.”
“We
wouldn’t want that now, would we?”
Jimmy
covered his face and ran his hands down his face. “Please tell me you’ve heard of the church
lady.”
“Who?”
“Don’t
you have a TV in that big house of yours?”
“Yeah,
but it only comes on Saturdays and Sundays during football season.”
“Really?”
“Sometimes
Thursdays.”
“What
about Mondays?”
“Yes,
Monday. Definitely, Monday.” She paused and smiled. “And before you say anything, yes I have seen
Rain Man.”
“Well,
that’s a relief. Thought I was going to
have to give you a lesson in pop culture.”
“I’ll
make you a deal. I’ll teach you geometry
and you can make me watch Yoda.”
“Make
you? I wouldn’t make you do anything,
Lyddie.”
“Why
don’t you tell that bit of information to the rest of your team,” Lydia
snapped.
Jimmy
looked at his watch. He had fifteen
minutes until he had to suit up for practice.
He shoved his book into his bag and grabbed Lydia’s hand. “You’re coming with me.”
“Where?”
“Coach.”
Lydia
got her hand out of his grip. “No,” she
whispered. She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Lyddie,
you have to tell someone.”
“No,
I don’t!”
The
rest of the people in the library looked up at her. She mouthed sorry and walked with Jimmy
outside.
“Why
won’t you say anything?”
“I
don’t want to cause any trouble.”
Jimmy
stopped and stood in front of Lydia. He
put his hand on her cheek. He was
totally crossing the line of just a friend, but Lydia wouldn’t listen to him if
he didn’t. “They hurt you, Lyddie.”
“I’m
perfectly fine. No bumps, no bruises.” She put her hand over his on her cheek. He didn’t get the message to remove it and
kept it up against her cheek.
“But
your eyes aren’t the same.” He rubbed
his thumb on her cheek. Her face was
turning red. He stared at her chocolate
brown eyes. They were the prettiest eyes
he’d ever seen. Her face reminded him of
one of those dolls with the big eyes and blond hair. Except, Lydia had brown hair and her eyes
spoke even when she didn’t.
“Jimmy?”
she whispered. Her eyes stayed fixed on
his. She could see the golden specs in
his green irises. His eyes were
gorgeous. Too bad he had to hide them
behind a mask on a helmet every Friday, she thought.
“What?” He couldn’t take his eyes away from hers.
“Um,
how’s that friend thing working out for you?”
“Terrible.” He let his hand fall away from her face. He couldn’t tell her what he really thought. He couldn’t tell her that he wanted to lean
in and kiss her. Everything inside of
him was telling him to go for it, but he was trying to be a gentleman. He knew she didn’t like to be forced into
things. That was clear by the way she
handled herself with the football players.
She just didn’t know how to deal with the aftermath. He sighed at his thoughts. If only he could just bend down and taste her
lips. He wondered if they tasted like
strawberries. He could smell the scent
from where he stood in front of her.
“How much longer do I have to be just your friend?”
“Until you get an A in geometry.”
“Guess, I’ll be praying for a miracle,
then.”
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