Chapter Sixteen
“I thought this was supposed to be fun? Seth said the ball would never leave the ground,” I gasped, walking back to the picnic table. Calvin, George, and Bryan were already there with plates of food.
“I’m sorry,” Paxon said for like the tenth time since he sent the ball flying at my face.
“You don’t look sorry. You almost removed my head from my body. You’re lucky I have a hard head.”
He laughed. “It wasn’t that dramatic. Go sit down and I’ll get a plate of food for you.”
“Where does he get all that energy?” I asked, sitting across from George.
George chuckled. “I ask that every day. Definitely didn’t get it from me. Maybe from my dad. That old man used to never know how to stop moving. Loved running around like a madman all the time.”
Awkwardness washed over me as I tried to figure out how to ask if Paxon’s grandfather was still around. His dad talked in past tense, but I wasn’t sure. Was it okay for me to ask?
“He’ll be proud when he sees Paxon on Thanksgiving,” George added. “He only gets to see his grandchildren a couple times a year.”
“Why is that?” I asked.
“I’m from Ohio originally. Moved this way for school. Met their mother and stuck around. Dad won’t let us go there, says this is his excuse to get out of a boring state.”
“I like it there,” Cal chirped up, top of his lip covered in ketchup from his hotdog. “Papaw has a tire swing I get to play on. And his own soccer field.”
George chuckled. “Not a soccer field, just a really big one that he set up for the kids to play, and once he learned Paxon was into soccer, he bought a net for him.”
“Sounds fun,” I said.
“What does?” Paxon asked, putting a plate down in front of me. It had a burger, a little bit of salad, and a handful of chips. He settled in next to me, his plate looking similar.
“Ohio,” I replied, looking up at him as he sat next to me. “And how you take after your Papaw.”
Paxon’s eyes practically bugged out. “Dad! What are you telling her?”
George shrugged. “Who told you to be wild like your grandfather?”
Paxon groaned.
I laughed. “I think it’s cute.”
“I don’t want to be cute!” His face was red as he glared at me.
Laughter bubbled out of me, only making the situation worse. “I’m sorry,” I gasped, unable to stop myself. “But that’s too cute.” I looked down at my plate and raised an eyebrow. He managed to make my burger exactly as I liked it. Ketchup, cheese, no pickles. And I knew they had pickles because Paxon’s dish had a small pile on it.
“You know what I like?” I asked.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Paxon actually seemed offended.
I smiled shyly. I didn’t realize he would know exactly how to make my burger. I wasn’t a picky eater, but it was nice to receive food made how I liked it. Like I was being cared for.
Slowly, I took a bite of the burger. It was simple and yet somehow it was one of the better burgers I’d ever eaten.
“You’re sweet,” I said to Paxon after I swallowed.
Paxon’s face went red. I bumped my shoulder into him playfully.
George got up with Calvin. “Going to take this little guy to the bathroom. Don’t embarrass my son too much while I’m gone. I don’t want to miss out on the fun.”
“Dad! You guys are mean.” Paxon huffed.
George laughed as he led Calvin toward the public restrooms. All the others came over to join us, plates of food in their hands, shirts a little sweaty, faces flushed.
“Is your face okay?” Toby asked.
I playfully glared at Seth. “I’m fine. Just feel betrayed.”
Seth managed to make an apologetic face. “Blame Paxon, not me.”
“Oh, no. This is all your fault. You didn’t protect me like you said you would.”
Seth suppressed his laughter. When my glare sharpened, he swallowed hard and decided eating his hotdog was a better idea. Smart man.
“Will anything bruise?” Bryan asked.
“No. It’ll be fine. It wasn’t that hard,” I mumbled, still feeling the soreness against my forehead.
“If you want, we can teach you how to use your head to hit balls, that way you don’t injure yourself in the future,” Toby said.
That got more chuckles around the table.
“Har, har,” I grumbled and shoved some chips into my mouth, using the crunchy sound to tune out their laughter.
“Paxon!” One of his teammates called out, coming over with some others. “I saw you talking to Mr. Garcia. Did he offer you a scholarship?”
They all settled at the picnic table next to us as they kept going on about soccer recruiters and who they thought they saw attending the games over the weekend. The longer they talked, more and more excited about prospective offers, the more Paxon looked uncomfortable.
I leaned into him. “Did you not tell them yet?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I only kept it between the coach and me. Didn’t want to add more problems. Things have already been tense because of Benji.”
At the mention of him, I glanced over, spotting Benji at the table on the other side, sitting quietly with a couple teammates. Benji’s eyes darkened when he caught me staring at him. I quickly looked away.
“You’re going to have to tell them,” I said.
Paxon gave me a slight nod, acknowledging that he heard me, but it didn’t seem like he was going to do it any time soon. Was he going to wait until after the state championships now that they were going to go there?
“So, what did he want?” one of his teammates pushed. I couldn’t remember his name, maybe Sebastian?
“Asking about my plans for college,” Paxon finally said. He sat straighter.
“Oh shit, did he offer you a scholarship? Is he recruiting you?”
“No,” Paxon said. His chest expanded as he took in a breath. I reached over and grabbed his forearm, giving him what little support I could. He seemed a bit paler, knowing this was probably going to upset his teammates. “I told him not to waste his breath, I have no intention of continuing with soccer after high school.”
I swore everyone went deathly silent.
“What are you talking about?” another classmate finally spoke up, voice soft.
“I’m done playing soccer after the state championships.” Paxon’s voice came out stronger. “I love soccer, but after giving it a lot of thought,” he glanced at me, “I’m done. I don’t want to keep playing through college. I don’t even have aspirations to play soccer professionally. I love playing with you guys and pushing us to the end, but I never really wanted to go further than that.”
“Isn’t that a waste?” Sebastian asked.
Paxon shrugged. “Feels more like a relief to me.”
“What the hell?”
The response felt like it was echoed through everyone, as if he was their chance and he was taking it away from them.
“I told you, didn’t I,” Benji said, moving over to our table and glaring at Paxon.
Paxon turned to stone under my touch as he glared back.
Benji glanced at me. “You’re so blinded by her that you’re willing to throw away your future.”
“Better be careful,” Paxon said in an icy voice.
“Careful of saying what everyone thinks?” Benji said. “You love soccer. Always have. We talked all the time about our future playing soccer.” His jaw tightened. “And then you meet her and suddenly you’re changing your mind? That’s fucking bullshit.”
“Quitting soccer has been something on my mind for the last year. Before I met Cadence. Yes, I love soccer, but I don’t want that for my future.”
“So you’re going to throw away scholarships that many of us have been fighting tooth and nail for. You know how fucking hard it is to get an offer, and you had multiple. But you’re going to turn it all down?” Sebastian asked. “That’s fucked up.”
“I’ve already talked it out with my dad. I have other options. My life isn’t going to end because I don’t have a soccer scholarship.”
“That’s fucking bullshit,” Benji yelled, gathering the attention of more people around us.
He slammed his palms against the picnic table and leaned in closer to Paxon. Justin and Toby jumped to their feet, hands fisted at their sides. Fear prickled along my skin as my heart skipped a beat and then returned two-fold, sensing the violence way too close to me.
“Cut it out, Benji. You’re only turning more into an asshole,” Paxon said. “I had hoped you learned your lesson, but apparently not.”
Benji’s nose flared, cheeks reddening with his fury. “You used to be someone we all looked up to.” His gaze briefly flickered to me. “Until you met this slut and let her cut your dick off. What’s so special about her? She isn’t even that pretty. Is it because of how easy she’s willing to spread her legs?”
“What the fuck?” Toby yelled stepping toward him.
Benji only smirked, his gaze raking over my body. I shuddered, leaning away from him. He licked his lips, eyes darkening. “Maybe I should give her a try. See what’s so special about a slut like—”
He never had a chance to finish. His face smashed into the picnic table with a loud thud.
I jumped with a small scream, nearly falling back as Benji was yanked away from the table, landing hard on his ass.
“Justin, what the fuck?” Paxon jumped to his feet.
Justin was breathing heavily as he glared down at Benji, his blue eyes nearly black.
“Oh?” Benji touched his nose. “She’s your bitch too?”
Seth and Paxon were both reaching for Justin, but they were too slow as he pounced on top of Benji, punching him multiple times.
I jumped to my feet, almost falling trying to get away from the picnic table. “Justin, stop!”
It was like he didn’t hear me. All of his brutal attention was on Benji, rage pouring in every flex of his muscles.
Suddenly everyone was pushing in, trying to stop Justin, but with so many people, everyone was just getting in each other’s way.
I was shoved forward against the table hard, the edge biting into my hip. I swallowed the pain and tried to move away from the table. Toby came to my side, acting as a buffer.
“This is fucked,” Toby muttered, pushing back at some of the soccer team. It felt too much like we all turned into a mob. People were yelling, but I couldn’t make any of the words. I couldn’t even find where the others were. The entire team converged on Justin and Benji until I couldn’t see either of them.
All around me became haziness, the air thicker than usual, harder to swallow. I gasped, trying to find my feet, but the world was tipping over instead. With prickling skin, I tried to brace myself with the picnic table, but it wasn’t within reach. The crowd had moved me away from it.
I swallowed and coughed, feeling like I was choking.
“Get her out of here!” Bryan snapped, joining us.
“Justin! Stop!” Paxon’s voice.
“Cut this shit out right now!” Coach Stolly’s voice cut through all the noise, but no one paid him any mind.
Bryan and Toby helped me get to the outskirts of the mob, but then someone fell back, landing right on me. I fell forward, yelling as a heavy weight squished me.
“Cadence!”
“Shit.”
The weight squished me, something sharp digging into my shoulder.
“Fucking get off her,” Toby said.
As the weight was being removed something hit the side of my face. Maybe an elbow. I grunted as the guys swore and someone said something and a moment later the weight was off me.
“Shit. Are you okay?” Toby asked.
“Yeah,” I said, holding the side of my face. This was nothing. I moved my jaw, feeling the pull on my cheek from where I had gotten hit.
The fight seemed to finally break up with all the adult men pulling everyone apart, getting a handle on the fight. Finally, it cleared enough to see Justin covered in sweat, breathing heavily with George holding on to him.
Coach Stolly held on to Benji.
“Enough,” Coach Stolly snapped out. “What is going on?”
Both Benji and Justin were too busy glaring daggers at each other to respond to him.
“Justin?” I asked, noting the dark bruising forming along his jaw. This was a version of Justin I knew nothing about. He was a ball of rage and all of that was currently aimed at Benji. Seth had hinted at what Justin was capable of. And I knew Justin knew how to fight, especially after he took me to a self-defense class.
I never thought I’d see him like this though. I suppressed the fear of being around so much violence.
Seth and Paxon went to Justin, taking him from George after saying something to him. George let him go and went over to Coach Stolly, who had handed Benji off to other adults. The two of them were herded far apart from one another and the whole time, they still continued to give each other death glares.
“Come on,” Bryan said.
We joined the others. Justin was still breathing heavily, his black hair sticking to some dirt on his face.
“What the hell was that?” Bryan snapped. “Cadence got hurt because of what you pulled.”
“What?” Justin asked in a harsh rasp, finally looking at me. His attention flickered all along my face until zeroing in on my cheek. “What the hell happened?”
“With all that fighting, an asshole fell on top of her and then elbowed her when we tried to get him off,” Toby snapped. “What were you thinking, doing that?”
Justin didn’t respond, still only focused on my wound.
I covered it, the hurt skin feeling warm to the touch. “I’m fine. I’m more worried about you.”
Justin yanked out of Seth’s grasp. “I’m fine.” He stalked away.
“Justin, you aren’t going anywhere,” George called out.
Justin ignored him and went to the parking lot.
“Should we?”
“No,” Paxon said. “My dad will handle it.”
George chased after Justin.
“I think it’s safe to say we’re done celebrating,” Paxon said. Now it was his turn to glare at Benji. “I’m sorry, Cadence. That shouldn’t have happened.”
Benji was busy getting a tongue lashing by Coach Stolly and two other adults who looked like they could be his parents. He held a handful of napkins to his nose, and he looked far worse than Justin did.
I shivered, the feeling of violence still fresh in the air.
“Let’s head back home,” Toby said.
All the excitement of such a big victory fizzled out to confused disbelief. When we reached the parking lot, I searched for Justin or George, but found neither.
Before I could get into my car, Paxon stopped me.
“Cadence, don’t mind anything Benji said.”
“How could I not?” I asked. “He’s making it out to be that I’m the reason you’re quitting.”
“And it’s all bullshit. I love soccer deeply. It’s a passion I’ve had since I could walk. But it’s never been what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I’m content playing for fun. And I’ll admit, the pressure of going professional isn’t something I want.” He reached over and cupped my cheek. “Soccer is a massive commitment that I can’t give. Between the training, the games, and then having to stay on top of my classes, not playing is more preferable. Instead of having to run off to games or to train all the time, I’d rather spend that time with my friends and family.” He gave me a small smile. “With you. Summer made me realize that. I had free time for a little bit, and I spent it with the people I love, but then I signed up for soccer, playing for the town, and suddenly, all my time was taken up again. One of my games was even on Calvin’s birthday, and I felt so bad about that. We made it work, but it made me realize how soccer will slip into other aspects of my life, especially if I play during college. I don’t want that.”
He leaned closer and kissed my cheek.
“Benji is done. There were recruiters here, even though half the team didn’t realize it. Coach Stolly used his connections to have them join us. And Benji fucked up. He shot himself in the foot talking like that, acting like that with his own teammates. And none of what he was going on about is true.”
“Is this your long way of saying it isn’t my fault?”
He chuckled. “Yes.”
“And Justin. The way he….”
Paxon’s smile disappeared. “That was rather abrupt.” He rubbed at the back of his neck. “My dad will talk to him. He’s really good at helping Justin.”
“Justin just beat up a guy. Sure, Benji was being an asshole, but this kind of shit can get him into a lot of trouble. And why did he explode like that?”
“Cadence.” Paxon squished my cheeks together, effectively making me stop before I could keep ranting. For a moment, Paxon looked like he was about to laugh, but he managed to suppress it as he forced me to make the duck face. “Let my dad get to the bottom of it. We can’t begin to imagine what Justin is going through right now with his dad, and I think it’s probably related to that. For now, head home and we’ll meet you there.”
He nudged me until I got in my car, and then he carefully closed the door for me. All I could do was turn my car on and send a text to Micah and the twins so I knew where to pick them up. The drive after that became a blur as I got lost in everything that had happened, my worry for Justin ramping up.