Page 34 of No More Jocks

“Brandon, help; someone is trying to break into the house!” I yelled.

“I’m not trying to break in, idiot. I just want to talk!” He pushed all his weight against the door and overpowered me. No wonder he was a linebacker. I was strong, but this dude was stronger. Once, he had bulldozed his way into our house. He had a seat on our couch.

“Have a seat and relax, bro. I would have knocked you out if I wanted to hit you.”

“That black eye I gave you says something different,” I replied.

“Look, I didn’t come here to argue or get into anything. I just want to talk.” Before he finished his statement, Brandon burst into the living room with a silver bat in his hand.

“Who is this, Marcus? Are you okay?” He asked as he gripped the bat tightly and held it like he was getting ready to hit the winning home run game.

“Yeah, everything is fine, Brandon. Can you give us a minute?” Brandon slowly lowered the bat, being sure not to take his eyes off Bradley.

“I’ll be upstairs if you need me,” he replied. Once he’d left the room, I grabbed the remote, turned off the television, and turned toward him.

“Why are you here, Bradley?” I asked. He stood up from the couch and walked toward me, only stopping when he was a few inches from my face.

“I’m here to give you a warning. If you break Caleb’s mother fucking heart, I’ll break your neck.”

“What are you talking about? He broke up with me today. I fucked up.”

“Did you cheat?”

“Absolutely not?”

“Did you hit him?”

“Of course not,” I replied.

“Then you didn’t fuck up,” he replied.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I just left his house trying to steal him from you, and he said you’re together.”

“He said that?”

“Yeah, and that shit hurt because I still love him.”

“You’re the reason we’re in this drama. It was your text to me that made me leave the hotel.”

“Please spare me the details. I don’t want to hear about you two in a hotel. It makes my blood boil. I’m only sharing this with you because I still love him and want him to be happy, with or without me, even if he is downgrading to a poorer, less sexy version than me. I hurt him, and I don’t want to see him hurt again.”

“I won’t be poorer than you for long, and you being sexier is debatable,” I added.

“I’ll ignore that statement because you’re still playing high school ball. Just don’t be like me and allow your ego to make you miss out on the best thing that could happen to you.” He removed a small box from his pocket.

“Give him this but say it’s from you. I know you can’t afford it, so don’t worry about paying me back.” I opened the box, and it was a beaded bracelet. It was almost identical to the one he’d broken with Caleb’s name on it, but this one had bigger, round beads with all the rainbow colors.

“You’re the kindest asshole I know,” I said.

“I’ve been called that before. I’m sorry for all the shit I caused. Just take care of him, okay?”

“I will. Sorry about the eye, man.”

“It’s all good. It was a lucky punch.” He walked out of the door and shut it behind him.

I closed the door and locked it. I sat on the couch, put my head between my legs, and pulled my hair. I felt like I had to choose between Caleb and football, and it didn’t seem fair.

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