Sacking The Player

Assholes.

“I’m not dancing on no damn stage,” I grit out in frustration.

“You meanies leave him alone. I bet he dances gracefully,” my mom chimes in, making shit worse.

I bury my face in a pillow and give up. They’ll never let this shit go.

“So, who’s your partner?” Cindy asks, trying to be civil.

Most people think it’s weird that my parents have dinner together after all these years since they divorced when I was nine, but they’ve always been cool with one another. Dad and my stepdad, Raul work together, and Mom and Cindy went to high school together. Sure as shit made things easier for me growing up that they all get along.

“Her name’s Amaya. I don’t know much about her, yet.”

“Yet?” Mom asks. She keeps bringing more snacks and

setting them up on the table. You’d think she was feeding my whole team.

Shit! I didn’t mean it like that.

“Look at his face, Steve! He’s in love,” Cindy declares. Her smile stretches from ear to ear.

They’re all laughing, assholes.

“What’s she look like?” Cindy asks, leaning forward to hand me a beer.

“She’s a tiny thing. Slim but has muscle tone. She has a dancer’s body, ya know? Ballerina and all that. But her laugh, when she laughs, her smile really pops. And her eyes. She has the most beautiful caramel eyes. They are so warm, like the middle of those cookies you made at Christmas. Her hair is not too dark but not blonde either. She has a pink stripe underneath that she tries to hide.” I smile thinking about her.

“But you noticed all that, did ya?” Dad grins.

Fuck.

“You should bring her to the next dinner party,” Raul suggests and that’s it, they’re all on me, swarming me with questions and demands. I’m never going to get them off my back until they meet her. I should’ve kept my mouth shut.

The game starts and mom’s pager goes off. She’s being called into work.

“Darn,” Mom says, looking at her phone. “One of my clients just got arrested, I have to get down to the police station.” Mom’s job as a defense attorney can sometimes mean she has to go at any time. Used to bug me as a kid, me playing sports, having a game, and she’d either not be able to show up, or end up leaving before it was over. But as I got older, it didn’t bother me, especially since she at least made the effort. Which is more than I can say for some of the other kids’ parents growing up.

Dad and Raul own their own doctors’ clinic, they both got tired of being the best, but being treated and paid as if they were just file clerks. Cindy is the only one that doesn’t work anymore, well sort of. She cleans my dads’ office, mom’s office, and both houses. Says it keeps her from getting bored. Cindy isn’t lazy, far from it, but she doesn’t have work smarts. I love the woman, as anyone would love a second mother, but sometimes she’s not overly bright.

Mom and Raul end up leaving and dad, Cindy, and I are hanging out having a beer together.

“So, it finally happened,” Dad says, grinning at me.

“What?”

“When you know. Bang!” He claps his hands together, loudly.

“It’s not like that.”

“It so is like that,” Cindy chimes, joining in. “Why do you think your parents got divorced? They didn’t have the big bang. I came back from being away for a while, and the instant I locked eyes with your dad, there it was. Two months later, your parents were signing divorce papers and we were together.”

“Yup, even ask your mom, she met Raul the same day I met Cindy, we were hoping to get them together, and in the end, it was the other way around.” Dad grins and kisses Cindy on the cheek.

They are so happy it’s nauseating.

I try to ignore them and go back to watching the game, but I can’t help but wonder about what they’ve said.

I can’t get their words and Amaya out of my head. Her caramel eyes and her infectious laugh are clouding my head. I gotta shake this chick. But a part of me doesn’t want to. It scares me.