Chapter 12
“Let me carry those for you,” Chris said, reaching for my gear bags as we made our way back up to the parking lot. As soon as he took them, I wrapped my arms tightly across my chest. “God, you’re freezing, come here,” he said, as he reached his other arm out and pulled me in close as we walked.
Once we arrived at the parking lot, he followed me to my Jeep, I unlocked it, and opened the door for him to set my bags in the back. The rest of my teammates were beginning to leave, and the parking lot was clearing out.
“How about we go get some ice cream?”
“Ice cream? Are you serious? I’m already freezing. I wish I could sit in a sauna.”
“Yeah, it’s always tradition to go to Friendly’s after we win our games. Come on. It’ll be fun. Meet me there. You know where it is, right? If not, you can follow me,” he said without giving me the opportunity to turn him down.
I shook my head incredulously, then got in my car, turned on the heat, and sat there for a minute waiting for the car to warm up.
He beeped his horn signaling for me to hurry up, but my biker shorts were a mix of sweat and ice water, so I slide them off and tossed them in the back seat so that it wouldn’t get the driver’s seat all wet.
Then I finally put the car in drive and followed him out of the parking lot.
Once I arrived at Friendly’s, I parked and met him at the sidewalk.
There was already a line forming out the door, but it was moving quickly.
Apparently, some of my teammates had the same idea because they were also waiting in line ahead of us.
Some of them turned to greet me from halfway inside the door.
“Allie! Hey! Great game!” one of their parents said.
“Thanks, Mrs. Matthews,” I replied with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. Public attention made me nauseous, which Chris seemed to notice as I tried to make myself as small as possible.
“You okay?” he asked, as he reached down and touched my fingertips lightly with his. It made me shiver, but I smiled and then recoiled my fingers into the sleeves of his hoodie. “I can’t get over seeing you in my hoodie. I want to dive into it with you,” he said in a low voice near my ear.
“You know people can hear you, right?” I asked quietly in horror.
“I don’t care,” he whispered with no remorse as he leaned in closer.
My eyes went wide in embarrassment. The line moved forward, and the hostess asked us how many were in our party. As we stood in front of the cake display, she went to clear a table for us.
“Which one of those is your favorite?” he asked, signaling towards the stadium of colorful cakes.
“The confetti cake with vanilla icing and sprinkles,” I said. “What about you?”
“How did I know you were going to pick that one? I’d probably go for the double chocolate,” he replied.
“Gross. You can have it. I can’t stand chocolate ice cream or chocolate cake.”
“What! You don’t like chocolate?”
“I like some types of chocolate, but not chocolate cake or chocolate ice cream. I’m weird, I know,” I shrugged.
When the hostess returned, escorted us to a booth in the middle of the restaurant, and I slid in, with Chris sliding in right beside me, unexpectedly.
I assumed he would sit across from me, but his warmth was welcomed since I was still chilled.
Then the hostess passed us menus and told us our server would be right with us.
When the server arrived, she introduced herself, took our drink orders, and asked if we were expecting anyone else.
“Nope. Just us,” Chris replied with a smile. She nodded and left to get our drinks.
“What are you going to get?” he asked, as he pawed through the 5-page menu.
“I always get a triple fudge brownie sundae with a cherry, I don’t know why I bother to even look through this thing,” he said, as he closed his menu, set it down on the table, and turned to look at me while I kept looking at the menu.
“I don’t know, all these options are overwhelming. I’ll get a mint chocolate chip milkshake, I guess.”
The server returned and took our orders. Once she left, Chris turned to me, and suddenly I felt his fingertips on my knee under the table.
“Hey,” he said softly in a seductive voice into my ear. His featherweight fingertips started to travel slowly up my leg until they got higher up my thigh, and I reached my hand down to stop him, then looked at him.
“What are you doing?” I asked quietly. “We’re in a restaurant. There are people who recognize me in here.”
“Nobody can see anything. Just act normal,” he said as he gently bucked my hand away from his and continued his quest. His fingers met the hem of my hockey skirt as I scanned the room nervously, then met his eyes. “Trust me,” he said.
I felt his fingertips duck under the hem and keep going slowly up my leg, then slid down between my thighs that were tightly pressed together.
My muscles were flexing in anticipation of what he had in mind.
His fingertips motioned for me to move my legs apart a little.
This time, I decided not to deny him. Then he kept going higher until I felt him meet the most sensitive spot between my legs.
I sucked in a breath at his touch, and he suddenly stopped and looked at me.
“Oh my God, Allie,” he whispered in my ear with desperation. “You’re not wearing anything under your skirt?” and his jaw dropped. I took my hand, placed it under his chin, and closed his mouth again.
“My biker shorts were wet from the game, so I took them off in the car on the way here,” I whispered.
He pulled his bottom lip into his mouth.
“That’s not the only thing that’s wet,” he said, as he leaned in closer to my ear and nipped at my earlobe.
His fingers started to move ever so lightly against the outside of my bare skin, and I sucked in a sharp breath as he looked around the room, then back at me, pretending like we were having a conversation.
Suddenly, the tip of his finger found my clit, but I reached under the table and grabbed his hand to stop him again so that I didn’t make a scene.
“Not here,” I said quietly, again.
“Please,” he begged. “Take off my hoodie and put it over your lap,” he said, with a tone that sounded increasingly desperate.
I paused, looked around, and then obliged.
Then I motioned for him to hold the end of the sleeve with his free hand so that I could pull my arms out without pulling my whole jersey off.
Quickly, I peeled it up over my head and spread it across my lap so that he could continue.
His thumb found my clit again and drew light circles around it as two fingertips slowly swirled around in my wetness and gently dipped in and out of me.
My chin dropped to my chest, and my brain sent a surge of warmth to the spot between my legs as I resisted the urge to breathe heavily in public, then, I leaned my head over to rest on his shoulder and buried my face into his neck.
Just then, the server arrived with our sundaes, and I jolted my head up as he slipped his fingers out of me and smirked.
“Who’s ready for some dessert?” she asked as she set them on the table in front of us.
“I sure am,” he said, as he looked at me with a devious smile.
As the server walked away, he leaned in to me and whispered, “But I’ll have to finish you later.
” I blushed, and then he raised his two fingers to his mouth and slowly sucked them clean.
“Mmm,” he said as he eased them from his mouth.
I was speechless as I peeled the paper from my straw and began to work on my milkshake.
He just watched as I sucked gulps of mint chocolate chip milkshake into my mouth.
“What?” I asked, feeling like his eyes were boring into me.
“Lucky straw.”
“Oh my God, you’re going to get us kicked out of here!”
Once we finished our ice cream, he walked me to my car and leaned me up against the side.
“Knowing you have nothing under your skirt is killing me right now, Allie.”
“Sorry. But I really need to get home,” I said, trying to keep from causing a scene in the parking lot. I couldn’t help but feel that everyone in the restaurant was surely watching us out the window.
“Ugh. Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, and then he pulled me in for a kiss, and we said goodnight.
By the time I arrived home, it was already starting to get dark, and Mom and Amy were sitting at the dinner table, about to eat dinner. As soon as I walked in the door, Amy gave me an empty look.
“Allie, where have you been?” Mom asked.
“I went out for ice cream after the game to celebrate,” I replied.
“Oh, did you win?” she asked, with a faint upturn of inflection.
“Yep. I’m going to grab a quick shower first, if that’s okay. I’ll be back down in a few minutes.”
After my shower, I went back downstairs to dinner. Everyone had already cleared out of the kitchen, and Mom was washing the dishes. My plate was still on the table, so I put it in the microwave to heat it up.
“Do you have homework tonight?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’ll get it done right after dinner. I wanted to tell you about the meetings that I had with some amazing coaches today,” I said between bites.
“Meetings? What do you mean by meetings?”
“Yeah, at school, it was after the game with three coaches from D1 schools. Why didn’t you come to the game? It was our biggest of the season,” I said with obvious disappointment.
“Sorry, honey, I had some errands to run. So what were the meetings about?”
“They were all interested in me playing field hockey for their programs after I graduate.”
“Well, that’s nice. Can you please start the dishwasher after you put your plate in when you’re finished?” and then she walked out of the kitchen.
Bummed with her reaction, I sighed, turned back around, and picked through the stuffed red bell pepper that I didn’t care for at all. Once again, all Mom cared about was academic achievements.
After getting my homework done, I got into my pajamas and headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth, where Amy was at the sink washing her face. She looked straight ahead into the mirror without saying a word, so I broke the silence.
“What the hell is the matter with you?” I blurted out, and she slowly turned her head to look at me, facewash foam still on her face. “Who are you, Amy? You’re supposed to be my sister.”
“If only you knew.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Never mind,” she said. “Why can’t you just be happy with someone else?
Chris was supposed to be mine; I just needed more time.
Why do you think I walk past the soccer fields every day?
So that he could notice me. You don’t even care about boys, and suddenly you leave your stupid hoodie in a classroom, and Chris is all over you?
You intentionally took him from me to hurt me, so who’s really the monster?
You or me?” she said with a huff, then she splashed water on her face, dried off with a towel, and stormed out.
I couldn’t believe her logic. I had no idea she was trying to get his attention; I just thought she liked to gawk at all the guys running around.
They were all pretty good-looking, and she never mentioned Chris in particular.
I headed back to my room, got into bed, pulled the covers up, and turned the stereo up a few notches.
Counting Crows Angels of the Silences played as I looked up at the stars on the ceiling and wondered, Was it supposed to be Amy?
Did I take him from her? Maybe that’s why she was so adamant that I give the hoodie back and stay away from him. Now it was all starting to make sense.