Jim dropped Gary off at his home after the game and when he entered his home, his mother, brothers, and sister, let out a big cheer and came rushing to him.
“That was a great game!” Chris said as he beat him on his back. His sister Katelyn, hugged him, grinning with pride, and his little brother Mark jumped up and down. His mother stood a little behind her children, grinning ear to ear. She finally approached him and said, “Very good Gary. Two in one day. I believe that is six for the year now.”
Gary nodded to her as he broke away from his siblings and approached her.
“Where’s Dad?” he asked her. The room went silent and the siblings disappeared from sight.
“I told him what he missed,” Julie stepped toward him.
“And?” Gary asked her.
“He went to his room,” Julie informed him. “Why don’t you go talk to him?”
“It won’t matter. Nothing I do matters except to become him.”
“Become him? She stepped still closer to her oldest son.
“He wants me to be the football player he couldn’t become,” Gary revealed to her.
“What?’ she whispered.
“Why else was he making such a big deal to start today. Guess what? I didn’t start today, and I still played and intercepted two passes and he wasn’t even there to see me do that!” Gary started to walk past her to go upstairs to his room. “I will make him sorry for that.”
“Gary!” Julie raised her voice causing him to stop in his tracks. He didn’t turn around to face her.
“I have to get ready for the dance. I have a date,” he said and raced up the stairs to his room.
Thankfully, his brother, Chris, was not in their bedroom and Gary walked straight to his dresser. He opened the top drawer and pulled out a small medicine bottle that he “borrowed” from the bathroom medicine cabinet.
“Yes, I will make him feel sorry.”
***
Katelyn picked up the phone as it completed its third ring, “Hello.”
“Hello. Katelyn this is Janet. Can I speak to Gary?” the voice on the other end asked her.
“I just saw him leave with a corsage in his hand, sister, “Katelyn told her.
“Sister?” Janet asked, confused.
“You are his girlfriend, aren’t you?” Katelyn explained with a question.
“I am his girlfriend not his wife. Thanks, I will talk to you later,” Janet returned the phone to its cradle. She walked back into her living room to join her parents who were waiting with a camera to officially document the event. She sat on the couch and wondered where he was because he was late. A car turned into the driveway and the car lights flashed across the front windows.
“He’s here!” her father exclaimed, and Janet sighed with relief.
***
The gym was transformed to embrace the “Out of the Universe” theme. Cardboard cutouts of rocket ships, meteors, and, of course, comets were falling from the ceiling. Beneath the flying Hawk, a half-moon rose from the floor to its talons, complete with craters and shadows. The Art club did an awesome job. A local cover band was rocking to “Lion Sleeps Tonight” when Gary and Janet walk into the gym. The gym was packed with people and the refreshment table was set along the left of the room and the stage area and band were on the right. Gary immediately spies the DB Club gathered at the far side of the refreshment line.
“There they are,” Gary yelled to Janet as he started walking toward them. He was wearing his letter sweater, white shirt, and tie with matching black pants. Janet was wearing a gold dress completing their combined school themed ensemble. She wore a black and gold corsage on her wrist. They held hands as they approached the group.
“Does this feel funny?” she asked him as they got closer to his teammates.
“Does what feel funny?” he asked her.
“Holding hands,” she pulled him to a stop.
He looked in her eyes and said, “Not to me. Not tonight.”
She smiled back and they continued on.
“I don’t believe it, “Rick started in. “You actually agreed to come to the dance with him.”
“I did,” Janet said, smiling brightly at the group. Smitty was standing with his arm around his girlfriend, Ann, the cheerleader with the blond hair and virtuous figure. Andy was standing by Marie Himm, his date for the evening, who was holding a cup of fruit punch in her hands. Rick and Tim were holding punch cups, too, and were standing next to each other. Jonesy was still missing from the group. The young men were all dressed like Gary, sporting their Letter sweaters, white shirts, black ties, and matching black pants.
***
Janet interrupted his story, set her wine glass on the table, and took his hand as she rose to her feet, “Let’s dance.”
He didn’t say a thing but followed her on to the dance floor. She didn’t speak to him as she turned to face him. The music surrounding them was Grand Funk Railroad’s “We’re an American Band” but she looked into his eyes and hugged him, placing her head on his shoulder. They began a slow dance together swaying softly to the upbeat tempo of the music. She raised her head and looked at him.
“Let me tell you what happened next,” she began.
“How you came to save me, you mean?”
***
Janet had left Gary with his friends to talk to some of her friends and was returning to the group carrying two cups of punch. Gary wasn’t with them.
“Hey, where’s Gary?” she asked them. “I got him some spiked punch.”
“Spiked punch?” Tim asked fully alert now.
“Yeah, my friends told me the punch bowl at the far end was spiked so I wanted to give it a try,” she explained and asked again. “Where’s Gary?”
“I think he said he had to go,” Smitty answered her. “I assume he went to the bathroom.
Janet handed both cups to Tim and walked to the exit of the gym that led to the hallway to the locker rooms. As she entered the hall and was passing the hallway restroom on her left, the door to the Men’s room opened and Dan emerged from inside.
“Hi Dan,” Janet paused and asked him “Is Gary in there?”
“No, he’s not,” he said to her and walked toward the gym.
Her eyes followed him, and she spun in a half circle, wondering where Gary went. She spied the door to the locker room and boldly pushed it opened and went inside. She paused inside rethinking her decision when she heard a noise deeper in the room. She decided to continue into the room. As the hallway ended, the room brightened, and she was looking at rows of lockers with benches in front of them anchored to the floor. Straight ahead was a door to an office with a large window looking into it. To the right was a long row of lockers and at the end of it was another door with a nameplate above proclaiming “Varsity Lockers”. The noise repeated and she turned toward the varsity locker room. She walked cautiously and when she arrived at the end of the row of lockers, she looked to her left to see another open room. It was filled with tables surrounded by cabinets mounted on the walls. That room opened into another room where on the floor leaning against the far wall was Gary. She turned to walk toward him. She entered to first room, looked to her right and on the wall, letters painted on it proclaimed, “Tape Room”. She continued and stopped at the doorway into the room where Gary sat. To the right were three sinks, three upright urinals on the far wall and three stalls across from the sinks. To the left was the entrance to the shower room. Janet looked down at Gary. On the floor, at his right-hand side, stood an open medicine bottle.
“What’s going on, Gary?” she softly asked him.
His head was still buried in his hands before as he replied, “I have had enough.”
“Enough of what?” she continued walking toward him.
“Enough of this,” he looked up at her with tear stained eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“I was missing you, so I came to find you,” she stopped in front of him, looking down. “You are my boyfriend, you know.”
He smirked, “Even that doesn’t matter.”
“What do you mean?” Janet said as she walked beside him, placed her back on the wall, slid down and sat beside him.
“I had a pretty good game today, didn’t I?”
“It seemed so to me,” Janet agreed.
“But my Dad didn’t think so. In fact, he came and left before I even did anything.”
“So?”
“So?” he looked at her. “So? All he wants is for him not to pay for my going to college. I don’t even know if I want to go to college. ‘Are you starting?’ he asked all week. ‘There will be scouts there and this is your last chance to get a scholarship for college.’ he said all week. ‘If you aren’t starting, I will not watch you play.’ He said all week. Well, I am going to show him.” Gary picked up the pill bottle. “He will know it was because of him because these are his pills.”
“Really? I thought you were better than that,” Janet spoke quietly but firmly. “Have you taken any yet?”
Gary looked at her and set the bottle down on the floor.
“Good,” she took the bottle from the floor and rose to her feet. She walked to one of the stalls, emptied the bottle into the toilet and flushed it. She returned to him and tossed the empty pill bottle at him. “You are so much better than that or so I thought.”
She left him where she found him on the floor and walked out of the room.
To be continued…
My First Stories 