Hometown Girls: Beginnings (Hometown Girls Series Book 1) (3 page)

“I hear you got Katie a job at the Dairy Freeze with you,” Marissa Lou said leaning into Daniel, her bare, tan legs stretched out to the dashboard of his car.

“Yeah, she asked if I would look into it. Really, the only thing I did was ask my manager if we were hiring and gave him her name and number. She got the job on her own.”

Marissa Lou stared out at the water without responding. After her and Daniel’s individual practices were over, they drove to the Bluffs together for some alone time before he had to go to work. It seemed like private time was far and few between those days so they stuck to this routine as much as they could.

“Do you think she’s pretty?”

Daniel looked down at the top of her head curiously. “What do you mean?”

She pushed up from his embrace to look at him. “You heard me. Do you think she is pretty?”

Daniel shrugged.

Marissa Lou knew guys were smart enough to not answer a question like that, or at least they should be smart enough. Of course Katie was pretty. Katie was nearly perfect, even to her. She was gorgeous and a tom boy. Marissa Lou was just as hot, if not hotter. She was also athletic, but she didn’t like to do typical guy stuff like Katie did.

“I guess she’s okay. Why do you ask?” Daniel finally answered.

She flipped her hair over her shoulder and looked away. “I was just curious.”

“That’s bull. Are you feeling jealous?”

“No!” she answered quickly, looking at him shocked. Her first instinct was to be mad, but the silly grin on his face told her he wasn’t being serious.

Out of everyone in her life, she trusted Becca, Jess, Katie and Daniel the most. She was just feeling insecure about Katie’s transformation. She was aware how silly it was, but it was there nonetheless.

“Yes you are. You’re jealous. Admit it!” he demanded and began to tickle her sides. “Admit it!”

“No! Never!” she squealed and laughed with delight.

“The system is straight forward,” Daniel said looking at the register. “All of the items we sell have their own button, as well as the extras.”

Katie stared at the screen and nodded her head. All of the little words and colors on the buttons were dizzying, but she was smart and knew she’d be able to figure it out.

“Do you want to take the next customer?”

She took a deep breath. “Sure. I can do this.”

“You’ll be fine. Just take your time and hit the buttons for whatever they want, take the money and hand them the food when it’s done.”

“Got it.” She had been glued to Daniel’s side for the past two hours, watching him closely and memorizing all the things he did for the job. She felt confident that she’d get it. It wasn’t like it was that hard. Even if she did falter, she was comforted to know Daniel was right there to help her.

“Ahh, it’s show time,” he said when he saw a few guys come in. He took a step back to give her space, but still stayed close enough to help if she needed it.

Katie mentally groaned when she saw one of the guys was Randy Farris, a guy she went to school with and one who was a huge jerk. By the look of his blood shot, squinty eyes, he was at his typical state of being stoned. She plastered on a smile as he approached the counter. “Hey, what can I get ya?”

He looked up at the menu and said, “I’ll take a number four with a strawberry milkshake.”

Munchie time,
she thought to herself with an inner smile. She looked at the screen, scanning the buttons for the appropriate ones. When she found them, she looked back up feeling proud of herself and asked, “Will that be all?”

He leaned in over the counter close to her. The fresh smell of potent marijuana slamming into her senses. “Nah, I’d also like a little piece of you.” He craned his neck to look at the computer screen. “You got a button for that?”

With a straight face she looked at the screen for a moment before responding. “I’m sorry, I don’t seem to be on the menu.”

“That’s okay, you can add it.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.”

“I thought the customer was always right.”

“This isn’t Burger King.” She leaned in closer and whispered, “I always have the right to refuse service.”

“Come on,” he said reaching out to touch her hand, but she jerked it back right before their skin touched. Anger flashed across his face. “What, you think you can walk around school like a tease because you finally discovered you had boobs and a vagina, flashing your goods with your short skirts, without giving it up? Nah, that’s not the way it works,” he said grabbing her wrist and squeezing it tight.

“Hey! How about you let her go and get out of here,” Daniel said leaning over the counter toward Randy, his face red from anger.

“Oh, you hitting that now? What a joke. I guess that leaves Marissa Lou available. Now that’s a hot piece. Don’t worry, I’ll treat her right because I know she likes to have fun,” he said dropping Katie’s wrist and turned around laughing along with the two other guys with him.

Daniel made a move to jump over the counter to go after Randy, but Katie stopped him just in time. “Don’t!”

Randy stopped laughing and the three guys turned back around to face them. Randy stared at Daniel for a minute, sizing him up. “Whatever, you and your little slut aren’t worth it, but don’t worry. I’ll take good care of Marissa Lou.” Then he walked away, laughter following him and his friends as they left.

The words stung Katie. No one had ever spoken to her like that before and normally she could be just as rough and tumbling with the boys, but for some reason his comments hit her hard. She hurried away from the front counter, feeling the burn from oncoming tears in her eyes, but she refused to let anyone see her cry. Especially on her first day of work at her very first job. Once in the storage room, away from prying eyes, she sat down on the floor and cried into her hands.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Katie jerked her head up, startled to find Daniel standing in front of her, concern etched on his face. She quickly looked away and wiped her face with her hands. “Yeah, I’m fine. He’s such a jerk.”

Daniel nodded his head in agreement. “That he is.” He walked up to her and sat on the floor beside her. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Katie shrugged her shoulders.

“I’ve known you for a long time and I’ve never seen anyone get to you like that.”

“Yeah, well, I guess he hit close to home. I’ve never had that happen before. Maybe he was right. I feel really silly.”

“Don’t feel silly. Like you said, he’s a jerk and he doesn’t have enough brain cells left to be right about anything.”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t really feel silly because of him.”

“Then why?”

“Look at me, my whole life I never cared about clothes, hair and make-up like all the other girls I know. All of a sudden senior year comes and I finally decide to give it a try. This isn’t me. I don’t get made up and cry in a corner like a baby.”

“Oh,” Daniel said with a strange look on his face.

She was sure he was used to all that girlie stuff with Marissa Lou, but he was obviously at a loss as to what to say to Katie.

He scratched his head and said, “Then why are you? You don’t need all that make-up. You’ve always been pretty, even without it. Not all girls can get away with going without it, but you can. Your confident and natural, that’s why people like you. What’s wrong with being that way?”

Katie stared at him dismayed. She liked who she was, always had, but for some reason lately she had been feeling insecure. Like she had to be like the other girls at school. This was her senior year and she felt like she had to play the part. Even though she was uncomfortable lately, everyone else seemed to prefer her transformation. Daniel was the first to tell her that it wasn’t necessary.

“You know what? You’re right!”

“Of course I am,” he said smiling. “It’s pretty hot when a girl is confident, natural and loves sports. A girl like that tops all those silly girly girls. Just don’t tell Marissa Lou I said that.” He bumped her shoulder with his, then stood up and reached his hand down to her. “So come on. Don’t give that jerk the satisfaction, besides, we still have work to do.”

She placed her hand in his and stood up. “Thanks, Daniel. I really appreciate this.”

“That’s what friends are for.”

“Friends? Do you realize we’ve gone to school together our whole lives and you happen to be dating one of my best friends, and this is the most we’ve ever talked? I never even paid enough attention to know what color your eyes were before now.”

He thought about it for a minute, but he knew she was right. “Well then, we are friends now. If you want to be, of course.” He didn’t know her eyes color either. It never occurred him to look. Until now that is; deep blue and really intense.

She paused for effect with a serious look on her face as if she were pondering the idea before responding. “Yeah, I guess that’ll be all right. But just so you know, if you lose any games this season and make us cheerleaders look bad, I will disown you.”

He laughed, “I’ll try, but there’s no guarantees.”

“That works for me.” She stuck her hand out to shake on it.

He laughed again and slapped his hand in hers. “You can’t just take my word for it?”

“Nope, we gotta win some games.”

“Hey y’all.”

They both turned quickly at the sound of a familiar voice.

“What are y’all doing in here?” Marissa Lou asked. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared between them, noticing the hand in the cookie jar look on their faces.

“Hey, babe,” Daniel said quickly dropping Katie’s hand and walking up to her. He wrapped his arms around her for a hug and kissed the side of her head. She didn’t hug him back, but instead she kept staring at Katie.

“This jerk came in here and pissed me off. You wouldn’t believe the stuff he was saying,” Katie said quickly, once she was able to speak. She knew she didn’t do anything wrong, but the look on Marissa Lou’s face made her feel like she did.

“Yeah, I was just coming back here to check on her.”

Marissa Lou pried her eyes off Katie and stared at him skeptically. He gave her a goofy grin, which made her instantly soften and smile.

“How did you get back here anyway? You’re not exactly allowed behind the counter. Was there no one up front to stop you?”

“I didn’t see anyone,” she said simply. “I just wanted to come and show support for Katie’s first day. Jess and Becca are here too. When I couldn’t find anyone up front I decided to jump the counter to find you. Sorry,” she whispered.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and began to guide her away. “It’s okay, babe. Let me sneak you back up front though so I don’t get into trouble.”

A moment later Katie regained her composure and followed after them.

A few weeks later, the roar of the crowd filled the night sky as Daniel caught the football from the lineman that Daniel had just thrown it to. Daniel was the quarterback so it wasn’t really his job to carry the ball down the field, but the moment it touched his hands again he didn’t think, not even to wonder if Matt was okay, he just ran. He clutched the ball tight to his chest and threw his free hand out to push away on coming players from the opposing team who wanted to steal it away. It was the final play of the game, with just thirty seconds left, and they were down by four. Everything depended on this one moment. He veered to the left, skirting the side of the field, passing his screaming team mates, fans and cheerleaders as he did.

“Oh my gawd, he’s going all the freaking way!” Marissa Lou yelled in awe as Daniel passed them to run the entire length of the field.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the other cheerleaders looked between him and Marissa Lou, lost as to what to do. But in excitement, Marissa Lou must have given up on any hopes of a cheer and began jumping up and down, clapping her pom-poms together and screaming for him to go. Watching her, the other girls followed suit and chaos ensued.

Fifty, forty, thirty, the lines were flying by and though Daniel’s legs were numb and his lungs ached for a break, he refused to stop. It confused him when the crowd grew quieter, making him wonder if someone was on his tail. Begrudgingly, he looked behind him, but there was no one there.

Suddenly noise broke out again, it wasn’t a roaring blast of random words like before, but a unified chant; “ten, nine, eight…” They were all quiet in shock, but now they were counting down with the clock.

Time was running out and he still had a couple yards left to go. Before the word “one” left their mouths Daniel pushed with everything left in his tired body and leapt in the air, the ball extended as far as it would reach in front of him. He didn’t know how long he had been airborne, but it felt like the world had slowed down in that moment, cascading him in the air before slamming onto the hard ground. He laid there for a moment, too scared to see if he made it or not. Even if he wanted to look, he didn’t think he could. His body hurt, his breath was rapid and he felt dizzy from all that had just happened. His pounding heart was the only sound he could hear. Finally, he released the ball from his tight grip, rolled onto his back and unlatched the chin strap on his helmet. He closed his eyes, preparing himself to hear the disappointment in the crowd because he didn’t make his mark. It would hurt his feelings, but that’s all a part of the game. It seemed like everything happened very quickly when he felt someone crash on top of him, crushing what was left of the air in his lungs.

“Jesus!” he yelled. He had hoped he did enough to not get hit, and being as he was down that was surely a penalty, at least he had that to be happy about. It still hurt like hell though because football players weren’t usually small guys.

He opened his eyes to find Jack, the tight end on his team, inches from his face. He grabbed a hold of Daniel’s helmet and brought his face up, smashing it into the front of his own helmet and yelled, “You freaking beast! You did it!”

Daniel stared at him confused for a split second before his words sunk in. “I did?”

“Hell yeah, you did,” he yelled, then jumped up to his feet, pulling Daniel up with him making him even dizzier.

Once he regained composer, Daniel took his helmet off and looked around and saw every single person in the stands standing up and clapping. The roar was deafening, even to his blown eardrums. That game would be the one people will talk about for years to come and he was honored to be the star.

“Hey, babe, you did great tonight,” Marissa Lou said rushing up to Daniel once he got close to the side line, throwing herself at him and giving him a big hug.

Daniel knew she was so excited that she hadn’t even thought about all the sweat pouring off him, but when she did, she pulled back just as quickly wiping sticky sweat off her arms.

“Thanks, I do try.”

“I can tell. You guys have won the past two games. Keep it up and we just may get to the playoffs this year.”

“That would be a great way to end the year, for sure. Especially since this will be my last chance to do it.”

“I have no doubts,” she said proudly. She grabbed his hand and they began to walk toward the gym so they could change out of their game gear. “So what do we have going on tonight? Any parties to celebrate the win? You aren’t working tonight, right?”

“No, no work.” He wiped fallen sweat off his brow and shrugged his shoulders. He was still reeling from the game, and though he hadn’t thought about it before, a party was exactly what he needed to top off the night. “As far as a party, I’m sure we could find one.”

She stopped and turned to face him. With her arms wrapped around his neck, obviously not caring about the gross sweat anymore, she pressed her lips to his. “I’m so happy to hear that. It seems like I haven’t seen you much in the past few weeks.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I’ve been really busy between school, football and work. Hopefully it’ll calm down soon,” he said brushing back a blonde strand of hair that escaped her ponytail.

“Hey, Katie, are you working tonight?” Marissa Lou called out, spotting Katie coming out of the gym in regular clothes and her gym bag slung over her shoulder.

Katie walked up to the pair smiling wide. “Nope, I’m free for the night. Why, what’s up?”

“I think we should find a party. The team had an epic win and my baby was the star, so I have no doubt there will be one somewhere. We can call the girls and have them meet us too.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she said to Marissa Lou before turning to Daniel with a knowing smile. “Two in a row, nice job.”

“Thanks,” he said staring into her eyes causing her to blush. Marissa didn’t appear to notice. After a moment he pried himself away from her stare. “How about I go check with the guys in the locker room about a party,” Daniel said detangling Marissa Lou’s arms from around his neck and walked away without saying another word.