Epilogue Vaughn
Epilogue
Vaughn
“I’m heading to the airport.” My fingers are jittery as I run my hands through my wet hair.
Rex sits up on the couch, the PlayStation controller in one hand. “Can I come with you?”
“To pick up my girlfriend from the airport?” One brow rises with the question.
“Yeah, I’m bored, and it’s beautiful out. Plus, you’ve been talking to her or about her nonstop since we got here. I’m excited to see this chick.” He’s already standing and grabbing his hat from the kitchen counter of our apartment.
Rex and I are living together in Dublin while we spend the summer with the local professional team here. It was a surprise to see him here, across the world, but nice too to have someone who reminds me of home. It’s been an incredible opportunity, and I love Ireland, but I cannot wait to see Lacey.
“We’re going to walk around, grab lunch, that kind of stuff,” I say to deter him from coming. I should probably just tell him I want to be alone with my girl, but he’s walking out the door already.
“Totally fine. I won’t get in the way.”
We head out and make our way to the airport. I’ve been checking my phone nonstop for alerts on her flight, but it looks like everything is on time. Which is good because I don’t think I can wait a second longer.
Rex snickers as I pace back and forth with my phone clutched in one hand and the other constantly running through my hair. I’m excited and nervous. It feels like it’s been forever. We video chat and text, but it isn’t the same.
“Excuse me.” A woman approaches with her cell phone in hand. She holds it up for me to see. An image of me from the documentary fills the screen. “Is this you?”
I nod politely and then she asks me to sign her backpack.
Rex shakes his head and laughs. It’s happened a few times since the documentary came out this month.
I ended up doing a short interview. I decided in the end that I wanted people to know dad’s story from my perspective.
He was the greatest and he worked hard to achieve it.
I’m proud to be his son and to learn from him every day. Which is what I said.
What I didn’t say is that we don’t always agree. In fact, we butt heads more often than not. I’m not him. I want more in my life but soccer, but I still feel fortunate to be his son.
When Lacey finally comes into view, my heart lurches in my chest. I take off at a jog and so does she. When she’s two feet away, she drops her bag and jumps into my arms.
She squeals as I clutch her to me. People in the airport have to walk around us, but I don’t care. It’s been four weeks since I left Frost Lake. Almost thirty days since I’ve seen her, hugged her, kissed her.
My math is significantly better when it comes to anything Lacey-related.
“I missed you!” She says the words into the crook of my neck.
I set her down, so her feet are back on the ground, but don’t let go. “I missed you too. I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Finally!” She grabs a fistful of my T-shirt and yanks me down, then presses her lips to mine.
The movement catches me off guard and I laugh into her mouth. Not for long though. I’ve been thinking about kissing her since the minute I left Michigan. She tastes exactly like I remember. Sweet and addictive.
I don’t know how long we’re attached at the lips before someone clears their throat behind us. Lacey pulls back, and I blink away the haze before remembering Rex.
My bad.
I step to the side and wave a hand toward my current roommate and teammate.
“Lacey, this is Thomas Rex.”
He’s smirking as he lifts a hand. “Nice to meet you. Vaughn hasn’t shut up about you all summer.”
“Nice to meet you too.” Lacey’s mouth pulls into a big smile.
“Do you have everything?” I ask her.
“Yep. I carried on.”
“Let’s get out of here. I’m starving,” Rex says.
He turns and walks ahead of us.
“Sorry. He sort of invited himself.”
“It’s fine,” she says. “As long as he doesn’t mind me kissing you every five seconds.” As if to prove her point, she lifts onto her toes and does just that.
We drop off her stuff at the apartment, and I give Lacey the grand tour. Our apartment isn’t big. Five big steps from the front door to the far wall. The kitchen and living area are all smashed up together, with a bedroom on either side of the apartment (also small), and one shared bathroom.
I assume Rex is going to hang at the apartment now that Lacey’s here, but he follows us back out.
“Where should we eat?” he asks.
Lacey and I share a glance. She shrugs one shoulder and grabs my hand, so I guess we’re doing this. Rex is tagging along with us on our date.
We’ve become friends this summer. There isn’t a lot of free time or days off, but we hang out in the evenings either at our apartment or seeing the city.
We take Lacey to eat lunch at our favorite spot. It’s fun to share all of it with her. Since I’ve been here it’s been nonstop soccer. I love it, but I’m excited to relax and enjoy the weekend with my girlfriend.
We’ve been together now for nine months.
It has honestly been the best time of my life.
She’s fun and smart and kind, and she has this way of looking at situations that reminds me things aren’t all-or-nothing.
I can still make time for myself and for relationships and be the best soccer player in the world.
Though I’m still working on that last part.
Playing with the professional guys has pushed me and showed me how much more growing I have to do.
I might even go to college instead of straight to a professional league.
Stanford with Lacey might be kind of nice.
I’ve been thinking about a sports training degree.
I don’t know, but the possibilities are exciting.
We still haven’t had sex, but this weekend we plan to change that.
We’ve been talking about it for a while, but it was a big deal to her to wait and then for it to happen a certain way.
I just want it to be however she wants. The details aren’t important to me.
I would have had sex with her just about anywhere she wanted, any time she wanted.
But now that we’ve waited, I want it to go exactly as planned. Which means ditching Rex at some point today.
After lunch, we decide to walk around the city a bit.
“How’s everything back home?” I ask as we stroll aimlessly down the street.
“Good. Dad and I are already planning another road trip for next summer.” She smiles.
Her dad took an entire week off and they drove to South Dakota. She sent me dozens of pictures every day of them visiting monuments and memorials and playing mini golf and eating ice cream.
“And cheerleading camp went well. We had fifty freshmen try out and a handful of new upperclassmen.” Lacey swings our joined hands between us and bites her lip. “I almost forgot. I figured out how to leave my mark on Frost Lake.”
“How?” I ask, confused by her sudden shyness.
“I carved our names into the bleachers on the soccer field.”
A rough chuckle escapes my lips.
“Don’t worry. I did it on the bottom so it’s not as obvious.”
“Destruction of school property.” I tsk at her playfully. The thing is, she’s already left her mark a million different ways. With her classmates, her friends, her team, and definitely with me. But I’m glad she’s done it in a way that signifies it for her.
“Congrats. You did it. The final item on the list.”
“Technically, traveling here was the last thing.” She stops and kisses me again.
I let my lips linger, soaking up this moment and her. I missed her so damn much. “Now it’s just my list that’s left.”
Her smile widens.
I’m not in a hurry, but someday I’m definitely going to marry this girl.
She goes back to swinging our hands as we continue down the sidewalk. Rex seems perfectly content to walk ahead of us on his own.
“Oh, and Barrett had a going away party,” Lacey says.
“I heard about that.”
Our goalie graduated in May and is heading to Illinois. He got a scholarship to one of the Division II colleges there. He’s going to be hard to replace. We have a couple backups, but Barrett was talented. I’ll miss playing with him.
“It was fun. We went out to Doyle’s camp and then walked down by the lake. Everyone was there. It felt like one last hurrah. It wasn’t the same without you.”
“You look like you’ve spent a lot of time out at the lake.” Her skin is tan, and her dark hair looks a little lighter.
“You too.”
With my free hand I lift the hem of my shorts an inch to show off my killer tan lines. Mine is not from lying out by the lake but from spending hours out on the soccer field.
When it’s starting to get dark, we finally head back to the apartment. My nerves for tonight ramp up.
Rex tosses his hat on the counter when we get back and heads for the couch. “Do you guys want to watch a movie?”
“I think we’re going to chill for a bit. Maybe nap.” I lead Lacey toward my room, eager to finally be alone with her.
“Cool. Do you want me to order dinner for us?”
“Uh. Sure,” I say, not really caring if I eat again tonight or not.
As soon as we’re in my room with the door shut, Lacey presses up against me. And then my mouth is on hers the way I’ve wanted it to be all day. She kisses me back with the same intensity. I think it’s safe to say we’re on the same page, but I still ask, “Do you still want to have sex?”
“Yes. I brought condoms. A whole box of them just in case. It’s taking up like half my carry-on.” A slight blush creeps into her cheeks.
“I got some too,” I tell her, then crash my mouth down over hers again.
We walk back to my bed. I sit and pull her on top of me. Her knees bracket my hips, and my hand slides under her tank top. My lips wander down the column of her neck to her collarbone as I inch her shirt up to her bra. She lifts her arms so I can get it the rest of the way off.
“You’re so beautiful.” I place a kiss between her breasts just above the pink lacy material.
She undoes the clasp of her bra and lets it slide down. My throat tightens as I swallow.