Chapter 8 Astrid
ASTRID
“Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the stadium so packed for a non-league game,” Nikki says as I watch the bleachers rapidly fill up.
“This is why I dragged us here early,” Gwen says, looking smug. “I knew everyone would want to watch Azzie’s boy.”
I nudge her in the ribs. “Stop that. He’s not my boy. We’re just friends.”
“It wasn’t half this packed at the scrimmage game two weeks ago,” Renee says.
She’s wearing a team jersey with Goodrich on the back.
It was a gift from Thor when they first started dating.
Renee hadn’t been to many games before she started dating one of the Ryemont Raiders, but now she’s at all of them.
“Because classes hadn’t started and most of the female population didn’t know about Callan Hunt yet.”
“It’s kind of insulting,” Renee says, opening a packet of trail mix. “A lot of these people have never supported the Raiders, and they’re only showing up now to ogle the hot Irish guy.”
“Girl, get real.” Gwen tosses her long hair over her shoulder. “The majority of girls here are only here for the guys. Look at Azzie. She’s only ever been to a couple games.”
“Astrid came with me those times to support Thor,” Renee says, “and she spent most of her time with her nose buried in a book. No ogling was involved.”
“She was dating Joe at the time,” Lyn reminds everyone. “Astrid doesn’t look at other guys while dating.” She pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “She’s one hundred percent loyal.”
“Ugh, hello.” My gaze bounces around my friends. “I’m right here. No need to talk around me.”
“I’m just proving a point, is all,” Gwen says. “I know Azzie is loyal, but she’s here today for Callan, right?”
“He’s my friend, and I want to support him.” And learn a bit more about soccer. I’ve conducted some Google research over the past couple of days, so I can talk more knowledgeably with Callan about it next time.
“No ogling involved?” Gwen arches a brow and smirks.
“Shut. Up.” I can’t fight my grin. “I’m only human.”
“Is that Scott Saunders?” Gwen asks, peering to my left.
We all turn and look.
“Holy fuck,” Nikki blurts, mirroring my reaction.
Before summer break, Scott was maybe five foot seven with a skinny build and long dark hair that hid his face.
Now, he’s easily over six feet with short hair that shows off his good looks, and he’s clearly hit the gym over the summer. “How did that happen in one summer?”
“I don’t know, but I want me a piece of it,” Gwen says, and I recognize the gleam in her eye.
When Gwen sets her eye on a guy, she has singular focus until she wins him over.
I really admire my bestie for how she goes after what she wants and doesn’t take no for an answer.
Not that any guy would turn her down. Gwen is a smokeshow even if she is self-conscious over her height.
“Didn’t he ask you out sophomore year?” Lyn questions.
“He did,” Gwen confirms, “but he was a skinny computer geek back then, and I turned him down.”
“You’re a piece of work,” Lyn says, narrowing her eyes.
“Don’t throw shade at me for calling it like I see it. You’re all thinking the exact same thing, but you don’t have the balls to say it.”
“You’re such a bitch sometimes, Gwennie,” Nikki says, securing the cap on her sports drink. “And I totally called it. You’re too boy crazy to not be in a relationship.”
“I wasn’t attracted to him when he asked me out before, but I sure as fuck am now.”
“You’re not the only one who’s noticed,” Renee says, jerking her head in Scott’s direction as we watch several girls move seats to sit beside him. “You need to nail that down stat.”
“I’m not concerned.” Gwen lifts her hand, wiggling her fingers at Scott when he looks in our direction. “I know how to get what I want, and I can be patient.”
Scott’s brow puckers before he slowly lifts his hand in a wave. Gwen smiles at him before breaking the eye contact and staring straight ahead. “It’s starting. Time to put our game faces on.”
When our team enters the field a few minutes later, the noise from the crowd is deafening, and it definitely ramps up a few notches when Callan emerges.
I’m mesmerized from the second the whistle blows and the game starts. Most of the time, I don’t really know what’s going on, but anytime Callan has the ball in his possession, he creates magic, and I’m riveted, like the rest of the stadium.
For a tall guy, he’s superfast with the ball, and he literally runs rings around the other players, skillfully weaving the ball in and around the opponents’ defenders to either pass it to a teammate to score or slam it in the back of the net himself.
He seems to have strong instincts, knowing where to position himself to take advantage of a ball in play.
It’s so fast-paced, but he always seems to know how best to maximize his time with the ball and how to outwit his opponents to his team’s advantage.
Callan spoke to me the other night about a “football brain,” and I’m beginning to see he has it in spades.
He explained it like someone who can make the right split-second decisions, is always fully aware of the space around him, and has the ability to quickly predict how an opponent will react or move.
I’m clearly no expert, but Callan appears to be a textbook definition of a player with a football brain if this performance is any judge.
At one point, there are five guys converging on Callan, but he deftly maneuvers around them to smash the ball in the top corner of the net. The goalie throws himself in the right direction, but his fingers only brush the edge of the ball as it soars over his head.
The Raiders are crushing the other team and making it look easy.
Callan makes it look easy. When the whistle blows, signaling the end of the game, every Raiders supporter is up on their feet, cheering and shouting as we win seven to nil.
Callan scored a hat trick, and it’s no surprise to anyone when he’s named man of the match.
Watching Callan out on the field, sporting the biggest, most genuine grin, laughing and joking with his excited teammates, I feel his passion as if it were a tangible thing.
He’s in his element out there, and it’s obvious he’s hugely talented.
I can more readily understand his upset at being dragged away from his Irish team, but he’s overlooking the potential in his new situation.
Callan outplayed every other player on that field today.
Our team is decent, but we were lacking a player of Callan’s caliber, and with him on board, they are going to be unstoppable.
Very soon, anyone who is anyone in US soccer will know his name, and who knows what kind of doors that will open for him?
“Hey, Mara. I came to see Gwen,” I tell Gwen’s gran when she opens the front door to me. “We’re doing our homework together.” Gwen has to work super hard to get decent grades, and I do what I can to help her.
“Astrid. You grow more beautiful every time I see you.” Mara shuffles back with her walker to let me enter the small bungalow she shares with her only granddaughter.
“Thank you.” She says the same thing every time I drop by, which isn’t often because Gwen prefers to come to my place to study.
I know looking after Mara is a big responsibility, and some days, she just needs a change of scenery.
“How are you?” I ask, unzipping my bag and extracting the box Mom gave me.
“I’m doing okay, sweetie. My legs aren’t getting any better, but I count my blessings I’m still mobile.”
She’s always so positive, which I admire because her arthritis has restricted her life so much, especially in the past three years, and I know it’s painful for her too. “Mom gave me these for you. Red velvet, vanilla, and maple cupcakes from the bakery.”
“Your mother is an angel. I’ll enjoy these with my coffee.”
“I’ll put them in the kitchen for you.”
“Thanks, sweetie.” Her face pulls into a grimace as she slowly maneuvers the walker around. “How are your parents doing?”
I keep step alongside her as she pushes the walker slowly along the hallway. “Mom’s great, and Dad still misses you at the office. Delores tries, but she can’t live up to your legacy.”
“Nonsense.” She hides another grimace when she reaches the door to the sitting room. “I helped recruit my replacement, and Delores is the best.”
“I’m sure she is,” I say, walking with her to the couch. “But she’ll never be you, and that’s the problem.”
Mara worked as Dad’s head receptionist at the dental practice he owns in town for twenty years before she was forced into early retirement two years ago.
Dad worshipped the ground she walked on.
After Gwen came to live with Mara when she was eight, my parents invited them over regularly and did whatever they could to help Gwen settle. It’s how Gwen and I became friends.
Mara had gone to court to fight Gwen’s mom—her only child—for custody after she learned how bad the situation was for her granddaughter.
I’ll never forget how quiet and fragile Gwen was when she first moved here or how long it took her to trust and confide in me.
Thank God her gran took her in when she did.
I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if she’d stayed with her despicable mother any longer.
After I help Mara onto the couch, I make her a coffee and set it and a cupcake on the end table in the sitting room, where she can easily reach them. Then I head upstairs to my bestie.
Gwen is lying on her stomach on her bed with earphones in, singing out of tune, when I slip into her room. She screams when she spots me, bolting upright and slapping a hand over her chest. “Jesus, Azzie, you scared the shit out of me.” She tugs the pods out of her ears and pulls herself upright.
I kick off my shoes and grin. “You knew I was coming over, and how loud is that music if you didn’t hear me ring the doorbell?”
“Music calms my soul.” She drops her phone into her lap as she sits against the headboard. “Speaking of. That band I mentioned is playing in Burlington next month. We should go. Maybe it can be a double date.”
I pull books out of my bag as I sit on the edge of her bed. “I don’t see how when neither of us is currently dating.”
“Pfft.” Gwen scoffs. “Let’s not kid ourselves. By this time next month, you’ll be dating Callan, and I’ll be dating Scott.”
“Doubtful. Has something happened with Scott already?” I toe off my sneakers and climb onto the bed, snatching my math book first.
“What do you think of him?” she inquires, holding her phone in her hand.
“I’ve always liked Scott. He’s a nice guy, and he’s hot though not my type.
” To be fair, as gorgeous as the upgraded version of Scott is, I’m not sure he’s Gwen’s type either, but I’d love to see her with someone nice.
She tends to pick the bad boys, and it never ends well.
I’d love to see Gwen all loved up. She struggles to love and be loved, and I just want her to find someone who appreciates her for all the ways in which she is amazing.
“But I can appreciate a good guy when I see one, and he’s one of the good guys for sure.
I totally approve. I think he’d treat you really well, and you deserve that. ”
“We don’t always get what we deserve.” A dark look crosses over her face before her features brighten. “If we did, I’d win the state lottery and have enough money to hire a full-time caregiver for Nana.”
“She seems to be in a lot of pain,” I supply.
“It’s getting much worse, and I don’t know how much longer we can continue like this.
Stephanie comes in every morning for two hours to help Nana while I’m at school, but it’s not enough.
She fell four times over the summer while I was working, and she’s getting more unsteady on her feet.
What happens when she needs to be in a wheelchair full-time and I’m at college? Who will take care of her then?”
“Can Stephanie not become her full-time caregiver?”
“I asked the care team manager, and she says they don’t have the resources to provide full-time care, and I’ve checked into paying for someone privately, but it’s way too expensive.
We barely get by as it is on Nana’s benefits and what I bring in from the resort.
I won’t even be joining you at Bennington Turo if I don’t get a scholarship. ”
“All the more reason why we need to start studying.” I reach over and hug Gwen while she fiddles with her phone before setting it on her nightstand.
“Try not to worry. I’ll talk to Dad. See if he can find out if there are any other supports or benefits you can apply for. We’ll figure something out.”
“Thanks, Azzie. I don’t know what I’d do without you and your parents.”
“You’re family, Gwen. You know Mom thinks of you like her fourth daughter. My parents would do anything for you and Mara.”
“Your parents are the best people. You’re so lucky to have them.”
“It’s going to be okay.” I squeeze her in a bear hug before letting her go.
“And you should totally go for Scott. I think he’d be good for you.
He’s the kind of guy you could lean on for support when needed.
You deserve to be with someone who will only want the best for you and do everything to make you happy. ”
“You think Scott could be that guy?”
I chew on the corner of my lip. “I don’t have a crystal ball, babe, but he’s a nice guy, and you could use one of them in your life.”