Page 34 of Bending Under Pressure

I rub my chest, ignoring his jab about Beth, the senior who lured me into her claws last year and who I had sex with a grand total of two times before she moved on to someone else. I hold my hands up. “Okay, okay. Sorry. Aside from the actual sex, what are you nervous about? Jess isn’t going to break up with you when it sucks.” When Cam sighs heavily, getting angrier, I quickly add, “What? It’s going to suck! Pretty sure the first time always sucks for the girl and not to mention, it’s going to be really awkward.”

“This is not what I wanted to hear, Keelan!”

I ignore his panicking. “Don’t forget to buy condoms and lube.” Cam doesn’t look any calmer than he did when he walked in here. In fact, he looks worse. “Look, this is Jess. You don’t have anything to worry about. You’ve both waited two years for this and if Jess says she’s ready, then she’s ready. As long as you make sure she’s doing okay, go slow, and take advantage of her parents being gone, y’all will be fine.”

“Got it.” He nods his head. “But it’s supposed to be special, right? How do you make something awkward special? Jess is expecting something. I can feel it.”

I shrug. “You know her better than I do.”

He’s quiet for about a minute. “Why couldn’t she surprise me? Why did she have to set a date? It’s all I can think about.” He groans as he stands. “I’m going to my room.”

“You could probably talk to Dad if you wanted.”

Cam whips around to face me from the door. “Yeah, no. He’d tell Mom in a heartbeat! Dad’s cool, but no.”

“Suit yourself.”

Once he’s gone, I start on my homework, with a weird feeling that Jess is going to eventually be my sister-in-law.

My heart is beating a hundred miles a minute. I could barely focus all day because of this sight before me. There’s my parents, Jess’s parents, Jess, and Haley sitting in one section of the bleachers and a few rows down in the next section is Natalie. There’s a younger girl with her too. Is she my sister, Kiera? She looks nervous and her gaze keeps jumping from me to Natalie. She didn’t say anything about bringing Kiera. Shouldn’t she have asked first?

Shaking my head, I turn back toward the field. The game is about to start and it might be helpful if I’m paying attention. Cam, our quarterback, leads us onto the field. Not to brag, but we’ve been on the varsity team since we started playing in high school. We’re that good. It’s how I, a lowly sophomore, was able to land that senior last year. Not wanting to think about Beth, I finally focus on the game.

I love football. Sometimes, I wonder if I love football or driving my car more. If I had to pick one or the other, I’m confused as to which I would pick. Football is amazing, especially in a small town like ours when the whole dang town comes to watch every single game. They’ll even travel to see some of the away games. How can a player not get absorbed in that? The crowd roars with every play, either in excitement or with disappointment. Because trust me, they aren’t afraid to yell out how poorly we’re doing.

I love charging into another player and making him fall to the ground with a thud. I love the struggle if they don’t go down easily. I love running down the field. The sound of pads crashing together gives me chills of excitement. Football is one of the best things on earth.

Except, tonight, it sucks.

It sucks so badly.

We’re being dominated. To make matters worse, it’s raining just enough to wet the field and make it slick. By half-time, we’ve had one touchdown and the other team is ahead by thirty-something points. The rain hasn’t let up from its steady falling pace either.

“What the hell is going on out there?” Coach roars. “We beat the shit out of those boys last year and they’re here in YOUR house, handing your asses to you!” None of us makes a peep. It would be stupid to make a comment. “How are we going to make it to state this year if y’all can’t even beat Laney’s team? You’re going to get your heads out of the fucking ground and play some football!” He starts going over plays, points out big errors we made, and threatens hellish practices to come if this game ends in a loss.

The pressure I’ve been feeling grows a little heavier as we run out onto the field to mediocre applause. Even our fans are pissed. So much for having them pump us up. I guess that’s what cheerleaders are for because they most certainly aren’t lacking their voices tonight. My problem is that my mind should be here on the field and instead, it’s in the bleachers.

“What is going on with you?” Cameron asks from the sidelines as we watch yet another touchdown being scored. “Coach keeps glaring at you.”

Can’t blame him. I missed the pass, which is how Laney just scored.

“Nothing,” I shrug.

He grabs the front of my helmet, bringing it to his. “Well, focus. You know he’s going to call a practice at 6 A.M. tomorrow if we lose. We got this, Keelan.”

I play marginally better throughout the rest of the game, but it does us no good. We lose. I rip my helmet and shoulder pads off and place my helmet inside so I can hold both easily as we surround Coach in the middle of the field. He gives us each a good long stare, his arms folded across his chest. Some of the guys drop their gaze from his intense, pissed off eyes.

“Weight room. 6 A.M.,” is all he says before waving his hand in dismissal.

Dang. He’s going to kill us in the morning. We rise in unison and begin walking our separate ways. Cameron doesn’t say a word. He usually doesn’t after a loss. We both want a football scholarship. We have this year and the next to make an impression.

“Incoming,” Cam mutters right as Haley runs into me. He keeps walking, no doubt to find the cure to his blues: Jess.

She knocks the air out of my chest and my free hand goes to her lower back to steady her. I’m about to gently push her away because I’m wet, sweaty, and dirty, but then I notice two things. One, she’s soaked too since she was in the bleachers without an umbrella. Her V-neck shirt is glued to her body, and I have a nice view of her cleavage; her blonde hair hangs around her shoulders, looking darker now that it’s wet. Two, her eyes are wide and she looks worried. “What’s wrong, Hales?” I ask, unable to stop myself as I reach up to grab a thick strand of hair to rub between my fingers. Even wet, it’s so soft.

“Natalie’s here. I didn’t know if you knew, and I wanted to give you a heads up.”

I drop the strand. Because so much has been on my mind all day, I wasn’t exactly the most talkative person today.

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