Ryan Hunter

her hurt leg. Touching it, rubbing it, giving her a soft massage. One that I wanted to give her.
    I took a long shower, trying to burn those thoughts away with the hot water, but it didn’t work. During dinner with my parents, I could hardly concentrate on my meal.
    “Is everything okay, son?”
    “Hm?” I looked up to find my dad’s concerned eyes on me. “Nah, all’s fine,” I said quickly and finished my meal.
    Heading upstairs back to my room, I only wanted this evening to be over, so another day with Liza would begin. And then I saw my cell phone blinking with a new text coming in. It was from an unknown sender, which was strange considering I had over three hundred contacts saved on my cell. Slumping on the bed, I opened the message.
    DON’T NEED TO TRAIN TOMORROW. AND I WANT OFF THE TEAM. LIZA (MATTHEWS)
    Bloody hell, she had my number and I didn’t have hers? This was a first for me. But when the initial joy about her texting me dimmed, I frowned at the words on the screen. She wanted off? No!
    I already typed in a reply. DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT GETTING— But then I broke off, studying the blank wall above my desk. Why did she want to leave the team? Maybe I should tell her that I talked to Cloey and she wouldn’t have to suffer any more attacks from Tony’s new sweetheart. But damn, what if it wasn’t that? Her leg had looked really bad. Maybe she was seriously hurt.
    I deleted what I had started to type and wrote instead: DOES IT HURT SO MUCH? Then I hit send and, like a stupid preschooler, I kept staring at the black screen, waiting and hoping for another text to come in. I even got excited when the display started to blink again without making any noise.
    NO, LEG IS FINE. I’M JUST DONE WITH SOCCER. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP. BYE
    What the hell ? This was bad. And I refused to let her get off just like that. Not by sending a damn message. If she wanted out, she’d have to face me first. And suddenly it hit me like a stone on the head. Mitchell. He’d let the bomb go off.
    I thumbed through my contacts until I found his number and called.
    “Hey,” he answered after the third ring.
    “What the hell is going on?”
    “What you mean?”
    “I got a text from Matthews,” I snarled into the phone.
    “Oh.”
    Oh? Was that all? “What have you done?”
    “Um…what did she say?”
    “She wants out of the team, and it’s not because of her leg hurting. You broke it to her, didn’t you?”
    Mitchell sounded more than just a little depressed when he said, “Yeah. I told her I’m dating Cloey. Guess she didn’t take it well.”
    “Why do you have to guess? Didn’t you stay with her to find out?” This was the least someone would expect from his best friend, I thought.
    “She left me standing outside. I didn’t follow her in. She looked really miserable, and I don’t think she would have liked me there.”
    “I see.” Didn’t mean I had to understand. I would have gone after her if she’d wanted it or not. But for now it was all I needed to know. And it was probably no use in trying to make her change her mind about playing soccer.
    Mitchell cleared his throat. “Hey, listen, dude. You two seem to get along really well these days. I mean with the training and all. Would you mind taking care of her a little?”
    Fuck , yes ! There was no need to ask me. I was all set to give her the strong shoulder she needed to lean on.
    But apparently, that wasn’t what Mitchell meant. “It would help if you could steer her thoughts into another direction for a while. You’re cool with girls, and I think she’d appreciate your charm. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t have to get personal with her. Just a little flirting, so she wouldn’t keep thinking about Cloey and me all the time.”
    “You want me to distract her?”
    “Yeah, just for a while. Until she gets over it.”
    How seriously bad was that from someone who claimed to be her best friend? But then I intended to be around Liza, if he had asked me to or not. That he approved was just a bonus. “Okay, I’ll do it. She’s a nice girl, and hanging out with her is fun.” I paused for a moment then added, “And I still think she’s a way better choice than Cloey. Just don’t come whining when it doesn’t work out between the two of you, because by the time you realize it, Liza might have chosen someone else.” Me.
    “All right.”
    We rang off, and I sat there in my room for a long moment, wrapping my mind around the shit