Offside

Now, hopefully Nicole at least understood the rules of the game.

CHAPTER 18

BOOKING

The combination of waking up beside Nicole and walking out of her house to take her to school in the morning had me smiling. She made a real breakfast while I was in the shower—bacon and eggs, toast, hash browns—the works. I was stuffed and loving it. Without any valid reason to change it, we did the same that night, and the night after.

In the evenings, we worked on our project and watched TV with Greg. The project was nearly done though it wasn't due for another week. Nicole seemed to really appreciate that we didn't have to go and look things up a second time—once we found the information, I remembered it. I was learning a lot about the Arizona landscape and why Nicole loved it so much as well as the weird little bush that grew there. It was obvious how much she missed her grandparents, who had both died when she was young.

Nights were the best. We still didn't go past making out and a little boob groping, but I wasn't complaining.

Wednesday was another rainy day, and I held an umbrella for Nicole as we ran across her driveway to my car. Once she was settled, I got in the driver's seat and started toward school. Nicole's phone rang right as I pulled into the street.

“Yeah, I should be able to do that,” Nicole said with a sigh. “Can you pick me up? Okay…see you then.”

She glanced over to me as she hung up, bit down on her lip, and shoved her phone back into her backpack. I tried to be patient, hoping she would tell me what the fuck that was all about before I had to ask. I started drumming my fingers on the steering wheel and looking at her sideways.

“I'm not going to be able to be at your practice after school,” she said as we reached the school parking lot. “I need to go help a friend.”

“Timmy?” I asked. I tried to keep the bitterness out of my voice, but I wasn't very successful. I shoved the gearshift into neutral and yanked up on the parking brake.

“Please don't,” she said quietly. Her fingers played with the strap of her book bag.

“Why can't you tell me?” I pushed even though I knew it wouldn't matter.

“The same reason I can't tell my dad about what your dad is doing,” she snapped back. “I promised I wouldn’t.”

Touché.

“Fine,” I said with a sigh. I took a deep breath before opening the car door and the umbrella, trying to do both at the same time and still ending up with water all over the damn window controls. I tried to wipe them off and just ended up getting the seat wet.

I growled, cursed, and then finally gave up. If there was a break in the rain, I'd come clean it up then. Nicole had her lips smashed together to hold in her giggles.

Not appreciated.

I held the umbrella over her and walked her into school, feeling my ire drop significantly as her fingers wrapped around the top of mine, holding the umbrella. I dropped her off at her first class with a quick kiss and headed back toward the lockers.

Paul was there, which meant I didn't have to go looking for him.

“Hey, Paul!” I called out. “I have a question for ya!”

He turned and walked over to me, and we started down the hallway.

Paul grew up in the nearby borough and only started coming to school in town his freshman year when his parents moved into town after some fallout with the municipal council leaders or whatever. I didn't know the details, nor did I give a shit. Their little township tried to run things separately from the rest of town even though they were still bound by the same town charter. They didn't like the rules. My dad didn't like their resistance, and they didn't like him.

Or me.

“You know most everyone from your old town, don't you?”

“Pretty much,” he said with a nod.

“How about a guy named Timmy or one named Ron??

?? I asked.

“There's Ron Jones,” Paul said. “He's one of the municipal council guys.”

“What about Timmy?”