Chapter 17
When I got home, I headed to my room to find a pale yellow sticky note on my door.
‘Isabelle called. She says please call her back. Mom.’
I set my Victoria’s Secret bag on the bed and picked up the phone to dial her number. Isabelle picked it up on the first ring.
“Hi, Allie!”
“How did you know it was me?”
“Caller ID, silly!”
“Oh, right, duh. What’s up? You called?” I said, then waited for her to reply.
“Yep, I was wondering if you might want to come out to my house tomorrow and go for a trail ride?”
I was quiet. Did she mean horses? I didn’t know she had horses. I guess I didn’t really know much about her now that I thought about it.
“As in, ride horses?” I asked, sounding stupid.
“As opposed to what?”
“Fair. Yeah, I guess. Sure, that sounds fun. What time should I get there, and how do I get there?” I asked. “I don’t even know what to wear to ride a horse, you’ll have to tell me.”
“I live out in Manakin-Sabot on Miller Lane next to the old grain silo. Do you remember the apple festival last year? That was at my house,” she said, then she waited for me to acknowledge that I understood.
“Oh! That was your farm? Wow, okay, yes, I remember.”
“How about 11:00 tomorrow, my mom can make lunch before, and then we can go for a ride. Just wear jeans and a t-shirt, nothing you are worried about getting dirty.”
“Sounds great, thanks for the invite, Isabelle. I’ll see you tomorrow!”
“Great! I’m so excited, see you then! Bye!”
When I hung up the phone, it occurred to me just how few friends I really had, but how I had put myself in that position.
In the past, I had been burned by people who had taken advantage of my kindness, so, as a result, I haven’t been as trustworthy of others.
I never knew if they were only trying to be my friend for their own benefit, so it was just easier for me to be alone.
Isabelle was the first person who didn’t seem to have an agenda.
I looked over at the glossy Victoria’s Secret bag on the bed, then reached for the black rope handles and pulled them towards me.
The pink and white tissue paper was wrapped neatly around the unmentionables inside.
When I pulled the contents out of the bag, the loosely wrapped tissue opened up, and the lingerie was before me, begging to be tried on.
Now that I was in the privacy of my own room, I stripped down and put the panties and bra on again, and stood before the full-length mirror, just admiring the body that I had worked hard for.
I turned to see the view from the back, the panties cutting diagonally across the fullest part of my cheeks, then high up onto my hips.
I imagined Chris sliding them to the side, his breath upon me.
I turned back around to look at the bra, with my hair falling down onto my chest, which hid it from view. I loved the year-round beach waves in my hair, a style that some people paid big money for.
I brushed my hair behind my shoulders and stepped closer to the mirror, tracing my fingertips along the outline of the lace angles across my breasts, then up to my collarbone.
I tilted my head to the side and slipped a satin strap off my shoulder to see how fast my nipple would be exposed when the bra was taken off.
It was sudden. I pulled the strap back onto my shoulder, then stepped back from the mirror and reached a hand down between my legs to see what the lace felt like to my fingertips.
It was a texture that was softer than I anticipated.
I slid the fabric to the side for a moment to imagine being touched, then stopped and let the fabric cover me again.
I would wait for Chris to be the one to explore this lingerie for the first time.
Suddenly, I was caught off guard by the ring of the phone, and I grabbed it off the cradle.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Miss Allie Wyatt?” came a female voice at the other end of the line.
“Yes, speaking.”
“This is Coach Avery from Wake Forest. Is now a good time?” she asked. I froze. Wake Forest was the best field hockey program in the country.
“Hi Coach Avery, yes! Now is a good time,” I replied, trying to contain my enthusiasm, but also horrified that I was currently sitting mostly naked in lace lingerie..
“Okay, great. I am calling because Coach DeLaney submitted some of your game tapes, and after visiting to watch you play in person, I would like to formally offer you a full athletic scholarship to play here at Wake Forest in the fall. You are one of the most talented players I have seen in quite some time, Allie. I hope you’ll say yes. ” Then she quietly waited for my reply.
Coach DeLaney told me that there would be scholarships for the taking, and that I would probably have my choice, but this was real, and Wake Forest was asking me first. That meant something to me.
“Yes!” I said immediately. “Thank you for believing in me,” I said through a shaky voice.
“Yes? Yes! I am so honored that you are choosing us. You are bound for great things. I’ll make sure my assistant gets everything in the mail to you, and we will see you at pre-season in the fall.
Go enjoy this accomplishment, Allie. You deserve it!
Congratulations! Have a good night,” then she hung up.
In complete shock, I set the phone down in the cradle slowly, then melted onto the floor.
With my back against my bed, I pulled my knees to my chest and hugged them in disbelief.
I had just earned a full ride to the top NCAA Division 1 field hockey school in the country for the sport that I loved to play.
My eyes welled up with tears as I realized that I was one step closer to proving my Dad wrong.
Once the happy tears subsided, I put the lingerie neatly back into the bag, got dressed, and headed downstairs to tell my Mom the big news. I took the stairs two steps at a time, raced across the front hall, and through the dining room to find her in the kitchen making dinner.
“Hi, Sweetie,” she said, without looking up as she stirred something on the stove. “Getting hungry? Dinner is almost ready,” she said, absentmindedly.
“The head coach from Wake Forest just called!” I blurted out, hoping to catch her attention, but she kept her gaze on the pan in front of her as if she hadn’t heard what I said.
“She offered me a full-ride athletic scholarship to play field hockey there in the fall!” I said, hoping for a celebratory reaction. Instead, she casually looked up at me.
“What will you major in at Wake Forest? Do they offer a program that you are interested in studying? How long do you have to decide? We can look at the calendar and schedule a college visit to see if you like the campus,” she said, then she looked back down at the pan and kept stirring.
A mixture of anger and sadness built within me at her nonchalant response.
“Mom! A FULL ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIP!” I said louder.
“Did you hear me? What do you mean by ‘go on a college visit’? I accepted her offer! I’m going to Wake Forest!
I don’t need to do a college visit! I don’t need to pick a major!
I’m going to do what I love! I’m going to play field hockey at the best D1 school in the country!
Not that you care! Not that you’ve ever come to a game!
Not that you’ve ever seen me play or know how good I am! ” I said as the rage boiled within me.
“Well, honey, you can’t just make that decision on your own; that’s a family decision,” she said, calmly as she glanced at me, then back down at the stove.
“Pretty sure it’s my decision since I’m the one who earned this through my own accomplishment! I’m not asking for your permission to follow my dreams!” I yelled. “I’m not hungry.” Then I stormed out, ran back upstairs, and slammed my bedroom door behind me.
This was the type of dismissal that I had endured my entire life.
Nobody had ever taken me seriously. Amy had gotten all the credit and attention.
I had just been offered a full ride to hone my craft at the best school in the country, and that still wasn’t good enough.
When would it be enough for my mom? I picked up the phone and called Chris, but nobody answered.
It was probably for the best. He would be here at 6:00 anyway, and I could tell him then.
I set down the receiver, then picked it back up and called Isabelle.
“Hey!” she said after the first ring.
I was silent for a moment, still in shock.
“What is it, Allie? Are you okay?” she said again before I finally replied.
“I was just offered a full ride to Wake Forest to play field hockey.”
“Holy shit, Allie! Are you serious? That’s huge! Congratulations, I am so happy for you, nobody deserves that more than you!” she screamed into the phone.
In the background, I could hear Isabelle’s mom asking what the commotion was about. Isabelle pulled the phone away from her ear and repeated the news, and her mom hollered, ‘Congrats, Allie!’ in the background. That was the response I was hoping for from my own mom.
“Thanks. I’m pretty excited. I just wish my own mom had reacted the way that you and yours did. Mine basically said, ‘Okay, well, maybe, but you still have to go visit and see if you even like it.’ Hello, you don’t turn down a full ride to Wake Forest to play field hockey.”
“I’m sorry, Allie, that really sucks. You’re going to go though, right?”
“Yes, obviously I’m going. I don’t care what my mom says.
I’m going. She hasn’t supported me before, so why should I expect her to support me with this?
” I said. “I’m excited to go riding tomorrow,” I said, quickly changing the subject.
“I could have waited to just tell you then, but I felt like I had to tell someone tonight. Thanks for picking up the phone,” I said.
“That’s what friends are for. I am so happy for you. I’ll see you tomorrow!” Then she hung up. Friends. Isabelle really was my only friends and I was so thankful for her.
That night, right at 6:00, the doorbell rang, and my mom opened the front door.
“Hello, Mrs. Wyatt, I’m Chris. I’m here to see Allie,” he said, extending a hand to my mom. She shook it with hesitation as she turned to look at me, standing on the bottom step. I smiled at him and waved him up to my room.
“No locked doors,” she said, with a look of skepticism as Chris climbed the stairs past her..
“Got it, Mom,” I said, from the top of the steps as we turned down the hall to my room.
Once inside my room, I shut the door and turned the doorknob slowly as I held down the lock button, then released the knob so that my mom wouldn’t hear it lock. Chris smiled at my ingenuity, then he moved across the room and pushed me up against the wall to kiss me.
“Hey,” he said quietly into my mouth.
“Hey,” I said, then I ducked underneath his arms and went over to the stereo to press play.
Dave Matthews Ants Marching started coming through the speakers to drown out our conversation.
Then I returned to him and pushed him backwards onto the bed and climbed on top to straddle him, sat on his belly, and rested my hands on his shoulders.
His hair fell back onto the bed on either side of his face.
“I’m still sore on my shoulders from that massage you gave me at the river, can you believe that? ” I said.
“You really were so tense. Hey, come here. Have you been crying?” he asked as he pulled me in closer to look at my eyes. Your eyes are usually green, and they look like the ocean. Tell me what’s wrong,” he said with concern.
Without hesitating, I told him about the scholarship as he just stared back at me, his eyes now twice the size as they were before.
“Allie, are you serious? That’s unbelievable. So why were you crying? Were they happy tears, I hope?” he said, as he waited for me to reply.
“I was crying because I was happy and in shock that I had actually been offered the spot, but then I got upset because I told my mom about it, and her reaction sucked. It’s like she can’t accept how much it matters to me.
She said I had to go on a college visit to see if I even like it, and decide on a major if I want to go there.
Like I care what I would major in, I just want to play field hockey!
Doesn’t she get it? I’m so sick of this!
” I said, as I looked back at him to gauge his reaction. He looked upset for me.
“Why is she so unsupportive of you? That is such bullshit, Allie. I’m so sorry.
You deserve that scholarship more than anyone.
If she were paying attention to you, she would know that.
There’s more to life than good grades. Come here,” he said, then he pulled me down onto his chest for a hug.
We stayed there for what felt like forever before I rolled off of his chest to stare up at the ceiling.
Suddenly, he picked his head up to look over at my desk, and I craned my neck to see what he was looking at. It was the pink and white bag sitting on my desk chair, and a smile grew across his face as he began to wrestle with me, trying to get to the bag.
“Come on, show me what’s in it, please!” he begged.
“Patience,” I said, as I shoved him back down onto the bed and kissed his neck. “Thanks for being supportive,” I said softly.
“Hey,” he said as he reached up to graze my cheek with his fingertips. “You know I’ve always got your back.”
I just smiled back at him, then climbed off, grabbed his hoodie, and headed towards the door.
“Come on, let’s go, I want to show you something,” I said, motioning for him to follow. He got up off the bed, and we made our way past Amy’s empty room, down the back stairs, and outside.
“Where are we going?” Chris asked.
“You’ll see,” I said, as I grabbed his hand, then turned back to look at him over my shoulder and smiled.