Page 37 of Chasing Football Dreams

I shrugged. “It feels dodgy to me as well,”

“Well, let’s get this ridiculousness over with,” We entered the coffee shop, making our way over to the table. Eliza didn’t let me hang back as she made sure to keep a tight hold on my arm.

“Eliza!” Her mother jumped up from the booth, throwing her arms around Eliza. Her excitement felt rehearsed and I controlled the urge to roll my eyes.

I stifled a chuckle as Eliza squirmed uneasily in her arms and instantly repulsed. Eliza hates hugs. I am an exception.

“And you must be Zoey,"” Eliza’s mother finally acknowledged me even though she almost knocked me in the face when she hugged Eliza.

"I don't understand why you brought your friend along, honey. I just thought we could meet alone," Her smiled felt force.

“Zoey is my sister,”

When Eliza acknowledged me as her sister, her mother blinked, so I decided to clear the air. “We grew up in the orphanage together,”

She nodded blowing me off as she looked at Eliza with what felt like a forced smile. “That's great but this is between you and me,”

Elzia shrugged with no care in the world. “If you don’t like Zoey hanging around then I have to apologize but then this meeting can’t continue,”

I bit down on the inside of my cheek to conceal a smile when her mother looked utterly taken aback by Eliza’s honesty.

“No, no. It’s fine,” She composed her bafflement gesturing to the table.

She started asking Eliza about her interests and seemed genuinely surprised when Eliza purposely bragged about her scholarship and how her art was showcased at a museum. Sheeven threw me under the bus when she started talking about her showcased art and how I was her muse when I joined an all-men football team.

“Quarterback? Is that even possible for a girl to play football?”

I quirked my shoulders. “Why not? Why if you were given the talent and skill let it go to waste because the world normalized it as a guy’s sport?”

She shook her head, blinking at my remark. I know I was needed to handle her with politeness but how can I when she threw her daughter away and even admitted to it?

“I just think it’s wrong of a lady to get tackled by big and bulky men. They could take advantage of you,”

I smiled at her remark, suppressing my smirk. “Those big and bulky men you are referring to are actually more polite than the men you call gentleman,”

Eliza snorted her milkshake through her nose when she giggled. I handed her a serviette while staring her mother down. “We are like family. They treat me like an equal and trust my skills to drive them across the field. I am not on the team to parade like a drama queen or mislead other teams to snatch the win,”

She blinked at my comment, pinching a fake smile covering up her scowl but I saw right through her façade. ’That’s amazing for you but what will you do after college?”

“Get drafted for an NFL team,”

She burst out laughing and I just ignored her judgement, unlike Eliza who was ready to strangle her. “At least Zoey’s parents support her and her father is one of the greatest NFL players to this day,”

That sobered up her mother’s amusement. “Parents? But you grew up at the orphanage,” She looked from me to Eliza.

“My parents didn’t drop me off and left,” I wasn’t going to tell her about my kidnapping case. It had nothing to do with her. We were here to talk about Eliza and what she wanted.

“But anywho, why did you ask me to meet you,” Eliza asked, noticing that I wasn’t having a good time with her mother’s bullshit and that I didn’t want to share my story with her.

“Oh, uhm,” Her mother dug out a photo from her purse and placed it on the table. It was of a boy in a hospital bed looking very ill. “This is your brother, Chris. He has been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease and he needs a transplant or else he is going…” For the first time since meeting her, I saw real emotions on her face.

“You didn’t come here to catch up, did you?” Eliza didn’t beat around the bush even though it looked like her mother was going to start crying. It must hurt her to know she has a brother who is very much loved by the parents she wants to love her.

Her mother shook her head, slipping out a tissue and wiping her eyes. “Your brother needs your help,”

“I didn’t even know that I have a brother,” Eliza noted with a disgruntled but sad look. “Glad to see you were satisfied with him and didn’t abandon him,”

Her mother didn’t show an ounce of regret or remorse in her eyes. And it sickened me.

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