Anyway, I decided to share a bit of the story so far with you, my faithful readers. Any feedback is appreciated! I suppose I could post the first chapter, but it's not my favorite. I've discovered that what I really like are the scenes with Matt (main male character) and he wasn't in chapter one. Instead, I'm sharing chapter 4, in which I start to suspect that my characters are alcoholics. To catch you up, Grace (main female character) has been somewhat stalking her friend Billy to see if she approves of the girl he's dating. She met Matt while spying on their date. She's worried her brother Leg is interested in the same girl. So much drama... Enjoy!
Chapter 4
Matt knew he
didn’t technically have to come to the games, but he thought it was one of the
best ways to see a different side to the kids. The same boys that couldn’t walk
down a hallway without causing a scene were now serious and focused. Instead of
feeding off the attention they didn’t even notice the spectators. Matt also
knew that it was a good way to establish himself as part of the community.
Especially in these small towns. It hadn’t happened here yet, but at his last
school several of the parents had called in panicked when they realized the new
counselor wasn’t from the area. He didn’t think anyone at Aurora High would go
that far, but there was definitely a townie mentality here.
Of course
thanks to that woman Grace he now knew one of the town secrets. Matt shook his
head. Pumpkin risotto… he considered himself a bit of a foodie, but that was
something new. He planned to go back and order it himself, and this time maybe
he could eat in peace.
That was
another good thing about going to the games. It was a spectator sport, meaning
the crowd was so focused on what was happening on the court it was as if they
forgot they were in public and other people could still see them. It was the
same with restaurants. Sure, many people normally kept their voices down, but
they didn’t seem to realize how easy it was to overhear their conversations.
Matt was
particularly enjoying the blonde a few rows down. She had arrived as early as
him which was interesting on its own, and instead of watching the game she
seemed to be staring at the sidelines. Matt squinted, trying to figure out what
she was looking at. It wasn’t really a good indication, but none of the boys
looked related to her. Actually, she was most often looking in the direction of
the coach.
There was
something familiar about him. Matt tried to remember if he was one of the
teachers he met last week, and if so what was his name. Something about the
girl seemed familiar too. Before Matt could figure out what about the two of
them was niggling the back of his mind, he noticed another woman heading
straight towards him. What was it with this town? Really something about her
face felt familiar too, but he was absolutely sure he would remember those
strawberry curls.
She nodded
towards the seat next to him, and to his surprise after sitting down leaned
close to his ear. “What, no sex comments today? I’m shocked.”
“Grace?”
Matt stared incredulously. Sure enough it was those same gorgeous eyes,
although if possible the face looked even more wholesome than before.
“How many
random women do you have coming up to you?” Grace scowled. “You’ve been here
what, a few weeks, and you’re already the town player?”
“Hey,
remember that you are at my mercy now, so you better play nice.” Matt studied
her some more. “I like this look. That getup you had last time didn’t do you
justice. Don’t get me wrong though the cleavage alone was fantastic, but with
that hair it was like you were channeling Elvira.”
“Please
don’t make me throw you down the bleachers,” Grace said. “It would be a horrible
example to the kids. I was even nice enough to bring popcorn.” She handed over
a bag. “It’s not the same, but I wanted to say thank you again for picking up
the check the other night so I could run out.”
Something
clicked. Matt turned back towards the blonde so fast he felt his neck crick.
“That’s your Billy’s chick over there, isn’t it. Are you really here stalking
them again?”
“I’m not
stalking them.” Grace kept her eyes down as she rummaged through her gigantic purse.
“I come to the games all the time. In fact, my brother Leg should be here soon.
See, totally normal. Now move forward for a second, you need to block me.”
Matt
obligingly leaned towards her, watching in dismay as she pulled a bottle of
wine from the purse depths and started pouring into plastic cups. “For a minute
there I thought I heard your brother was an egg, but now I’m taking everything
you say with a grain of salt. Do you normally offer strangers purse wine?”
“All they
have at the concession stand is soda. I hate soda. Do you realize how horrible
that stuff is for you? Wine, meanwhile, is healthy in moderation, and since my
friend Steph and I normally split it with Leg, I’d call that moderate.” Grace
corked the bottle and stuffed it back in the purse.
“As long as
it’s healthy.” Matt took a sip. “This is my first drink so I know I’m not
hearing things. Is your brother’s name really Leg? What was his wife’s name?
Arm? Did they name their kiddo Phalange?”
“What?” Grace frowned at him. “Oh, Leg’s my
younger brother. He doesn’t have any kids, thank god.”
“That’s
probably for the best. I’m going out on a limb here to say he doesn’t sound
together enough to have children.”
“Har, har,
aren’t you funny. Keep it up and I’m taking the wine back.”
Matt shook
his head. “Don’t even try, I deserve it for trying to understand your
particular brand of inconsistency.”
“What
inconsistency?”
“Let’s look
at just one example. You yell at me for saying anything in public that might
give you a bad reputation, but then you smuggle alcohol into a children’s
event. Does that sound consistent to you?”
Grace
pursed her lips primly. “Well of course it’s consistent. The key thing here is
that no one knows it’s wine.”
Matt opened
his mouth to explain all the reasons why that was a failure of logic when Grace
hushed him. On the floor below a dark haired man was staring at them as Grace
waved. Matt assumed this was the younger brother, given that he shared Grace’s
wide eyes, evident even from their spot seven rows up. To his surprise, the man
barely acknowledged them past a quick nod, moving instead to sit with the girl
that had to be Billy’s blonde.
He turned
to Grace to figure out what was going on. She was watching them so intently
that Matt felt uncomfortable on their behalf. “If you keep staring like that
they’re going to feel it,” Matt said. “You could kill small animals with that
look.”
“I knew
it,” Grace hissed. “There’s definitely something fishy here.”
Matt
exhaled. “Listen lady, you promised to answer any questions I asked and so far
I still don’t even understand why you are so paranoid about this girl. What is
going on exactly?”
It amazed
him how Grace could carry on a whole conversation without looking away from her
brother and the blonde once. This woman would be terrifying as a mother; you
wouldn’t be able to get away with anything without her knowing. Matt continued
to sip his wine as he listened to Grace’s story about bars, brothers, and her
suspicion that the only reason the girl was with Billy was because of Leg.
“It’s not that I don’t think
Billy’s good enough for her,” Grace said for the fifth time, Matt had been
counting, “but the fact is Billy doesn’t normally have girls leaving the bars
with him. He just doesn’t come off well at first because he’s shy. I know Leg
talked to her, I’m pretty sure Leg’s into her, and since he can be a charmer I
think she saw dating Billy as an opportunity to continue to see Leg.”
Matt held out his wine cup for a
refill. “Has anyone ever told you what happens when you assume?”
Grace had been reaching for her
purse but stopped to scowl at him. “I give you wine, I brought you popcorn, and
you’re still judging me?”
“You are not allowed to get mad.
Granted, that was more of a rhetorical question but it still falls under the
confines of our agreement. I’m not judging you at all. I’m worried though that
you’re jumping to a lot of conclusions.” He shook his cup at her. “Now fill ‘er
up.” He waited until Grace had started pouring to continue. “So if Leg is
interested in this girl why would he help Billy pick her up?”
Grace had finally stopped watching
the twosome a few rows in front of them, but instead she kept scanning the
crowd, most likely to make sure no one saw the contraband bottle. “You act like
you know everything, but you don’t know the bros before hos rule? Really?” Matt
choked on a bite of popcorn. Grace patted him on the back briefly before
continuing. “Leg is a people pleaser, and Billy rarely shows an interest in
other girls.”
“I used to
think small towns were boring,” Matt said. “I’m starting to think you’re better
than reality TV.”
Grace
smiled at him. “Just wait until the half. We’re going down there and meeting
the girl.”
“We?” Matt
asked hopefully. He had been trying to work out a plan to get Grace to agree
this time to see him again, but so far his best idea was bribery with more
wine.
“Yes, we.”
Grace cocked her head. “I think you might be able to get a much better read on
the situation.”
Matt
stroked his chin, sparing a second to wish he could grow an actual beard
instead of looking like a starving artist every time he forgot to shave. “We’ll
probably have to meet sometime later then to debrief. We don’t want them to be
suspicious.”
“We’ll see.
Try not to talk about sleeping with me every other minute. Leg won’t care, but if
it gets back to my brother Grant you’re going to be in a world of hurt.”
Matt
studied the man ahead of them. “Is your other brother bigger or smaller?”
“Bigger,
and ripped,” Grace said.
“Then I’ll
be on my best behavior.” Matt stuck up his hand. “Scout’s honor.” He smiled
innocently at her. “Now back to our question agreement.”
Grace
breathed in relief when the buzzer for half time sounded. She had never been
particularly good at waiting, and while Matt’s continued and absurd questions
had kept her occupied as she explained everything from how they had met Billy
back when Grant was in second grade to why she didn’t like pudding, what really
mattered at this game was sitting just a few rows below them. She watched Leg
turn in his seat to look for her, and waved him up.
“There’s no
way we’re going down to them,” she explained to Matt. “They’re sitting way too
close to Mrs. Callahan. She’s the godmother of my brother’s shrew of an
ex-wife. She’s convinced we’re all heathens. Actually I think her words last
time were ‘atheist whores.’ She’ll have a field day talking to you.”
Matt looked
wounded. Grace was irritated to discover he managed to even make that seem
sexy. “I have been nothing but circumspect tonight, because unlike certain
people I recognize there’s a time and place for these things, and maybe a
bleacher stand full of high school students isn’t it.”
“Is this
another comment on the wine? We’ve been doing it since graduation. Trust me,
it’s not a big deal.” Leg and the girl were still making their way up the
stairs, hitting the wrong flow of traffic. Matt was looking exasperated, which
gave Grace a surprising sense of victory. Before she could tease him about it
she heard “Ms. Phillips” being called.
Thank
goodness she had hidden the wine again. The calls were from some of her
students, who explained in a rush that one of the girls had scrapped up her
knee and she didn’t want to ‘bleed all over’ her jeans.
Matt looked on in interest as Grace
discretely searched her purse again while instructing the distraught girl.
“Roll your pants up, Katrina, and hold still.” She swapped the cut with
alcohol, then stuck on a Band-Aid. “You’re lucky I happened to have this stuff
on me.”
Katrina grinned. “You’re always
prepared Ms. Phillips, we knew you could help.” She unrolled her pant leg.
“Bobby W talked to me for a whole hour the last time I wore these jeans, I
didn’t want to have to throw them out.”
“Bobby W is a tool,” one of the
other girls said. “Ms. Phillips, do you have any cough drops? My throat is
really sore.”
“If you’re feeling sick you
shouldn’t be at the game,” Grace warned as she handed over a cough drop. She
could see Leg behind the girls rolling his eyes. “I don’t want to see you in
the office tomorrow needing to leave school early.”
The group chorused their goodbyes,
giggling as they climbed down the bleachers to leave room for Leg to maneuver
his way over. Grace squeezed Matt’s arm to get his attention.
“Hey,” Leg called as he ushered the
blonde to them. “It’s a school night Gracie, not day. Stop working. I want you
to meet Devon. Devon, this is my sister, Grace, the most dedicated school nurse
to ever live. And you are?” He raised an eyebrow at Matt.
“Matt
Tyler, the new counselor. I’m assuming you’re Leg?” Matt flashed a smile at
Devon. “Nice to meet you both. Grace didn’t mention her brother was seeing
someone.”
Grace had
to overcome the sudden urge to kiss Matt as she watched Leg flounder. She could
never have gotten away with saying something like that since Leg knew she had
been obsessively watching the situation.
“Oh I’m
actually here with Billy,” Devon spoke up. “Leg was being sweet and keeping me
company. I’m still meeting people so I didn’t have anyone to sit with.”
“Billy’s
the team coach. We’re meeting up with him afterwards for dinner,” Leg jumped
in. “You’re welcome to join us.”
Grace
frowned. “Steph said we were on probation this week.”
“Steph was
there Friday night, right?” Devon asked. She seemed to be trying to memorize
everyone in the group. Grace suspected the addition of Matt had thrown her off.
“Shortie
with a death stare? Yep, that’s our Steph.” Leg blinked as everyone turned to
stare at him. “Shortie as in she’s short. Geez people. Anyway I stopped at the
diner yesterday and sorted it out, no worries.” Leg looked around. “Where is
Steph tonight?”
“I have no
idea, I texted her that I was coming instead of Grant but she never responded.”
Grace motioned at the seats. “Are you two going to stand there all night or do
you want to sit down?”
Devon
hesitated. “We’re farther away up here.”
Leg sat
down at the end, long legs sprawled. “Yeah but we’re less noticeable. Do you
have enough cups, Grace?”
“You’re in
for a treat, Devon, apparently we’re sitting with a group of alcoholics,” Matt
said as Grace returned to the giant purse.
Grace carefully poured and handed
over the cups. “And apparently you don’t want any more. Drink up guys, there’s
a little bit left and Matt has given up his refill rights.” She heard him
spluttering but ignored him. “So Devon, what do you do? I feel like I know
nothing about you.” She felt Matt poking her side, but subtlety never seemed to
work well for her.
“I’m a librarian,” Devon said. “Actually
I really wanted to meet you, Grace. Billy mentioned you were in a book club?”
Grace felt herself turning beet
red. She purposely stayed turned to Devon, hoping that for some miraculous
reason Matt had stopped paying attention. “Um, that’s true, I just don’t know
if it’s really something you’d be interested in.”
“I love all sorts of books! I don’t
have any genre limitations.” Grace could clearly see Leg trying not to laugh
over Devon’s head.
“We really stick to the romance
category, absolutely nothing scholarly. And none of us have any sort of
background in literature. You’d probably be really bored with our discussion,”
Grace said in desperation.
Devon reached and tentatively
touched her hands. “Please, it would mean so much if I could join you. What are
you reading next?”
Grace could feel Matt behind her,
and she just knew he was listening in. The beast missed nothing. It was why she
had asked him to help her decipher the situation with Leg, not so he could
learn all her little secrets.
However, Devon was looking hopeful,
and Grace resigned herself with a sigh and lowered her voice. “It’s called Ruthless Passion. It’s about a woman
captured by pirates that falls in love with the captain.” She paused, Devon
still looked interested and it would only be fair to tell her the whole truth.
“Honestly, we only read the bodice-ripper novels, and then we compare the sex
scenes. That’s all we discuss.”
To her relief Devon laughed with
pleasure. “That’s amazing! What a great idea!”
Leg meanwhile was laughing his head
off, and Grace could feel Matt stiffen besides her.
“Hold on, I’m calling time out.”
She turned to him slowly. “Can you
call a time out? Is that allowed?”
“Don’t even, Miss I-Call-Pause. You
keep critiquing me for what you call obscene comments, and you’re in a book
club devoted to literary porn?” Matt asked, outraged.
“Shh, not so loud!”
Leg was laughing louder than ever.
Matt continued to frown at her. “Let me guess, it’s okay because no one knows
about it.”
“I read them on my kindle.” Grace
explained. “It’s not like anyone can see the covers.”
Leg broke in. “The thing about my sister,
which it sounds like you’ve realized already, is that she’s very concerned with
appearances. My brother Grant is the same way.”
“Is it a
town thing? What about you?” Matt asked.
“I’m the
black sheep. I do what I want. But otherwise, yeah, pretty much a town thing.”
Devon
interrupted. “Billy doesn’t seem like that.”
Grace
scowled at Matt. “That’s because you probably behave like a perfectly normal
person, whereas Matt here should probably be muzzled in public.”
“That’s
it,” Matt said. “I’ve been good so far tonight and it doesn’t seem to matter,
so now you’re really going to get it. You know what I think about your little
book club habit? It’s a way for you to deal with sex on your own terms. I bet
you freak out about fucking a real person because you spend the whole time
wondering if they’re critiquing you.”
Grace
gasped. Devon was wisely staying silent, a point in her direction, but she
could hear Leg laughing hysterically again. The only good thing was that Matt
had lowered his voice, so combined with the noise of the resumed game she
didn’t think anyone could hear their conversation. “As soon as we are out of
here, I am strangling you with my purse.” She gritted out.
Leg cut in.
“I’m sorry Gracie, but I think I’m in love with this man. Matt, you’re joining
us for dinner, right?”
Matt met
Grace’s death glare with a smile. “I’d love to.”
Grace had
known it all along; despite the angelic looks he had to be a devil. With effort
she turned her back to him. “So Devon,
what kind of books do you normally read?” This game couldn’t end too soon.
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