Ruining Me (6 page)

The morning passed and
lunch
period arrived
.  I needed to run out to my car
and get my phone
because I had left
it charging this morning
.  As I w
alk
out
of
the school doors, Coach
Branch was walking in.  He
had been the offensive line coach and head baseball coach since I was a freshman. 
Back then h
e was just out of college. 
He
was
loved
at our school a
nd thought of a
s a h
ero because our offensive lineme
n
rated a
t
the top in the
S
tate and we had won the
S
tate
C
hampionship in baseball for our division every year since he started.  Needless to say our little community thought he walked on water.  Plus all the girls loved him
and
considered
him
a cutie.  He had
thick
brown
wavy
hair and
brown
eyes
that stood out with
a
baby face
.  He
was
pretty short
and stocky
for a guy. 
H
is southern accent was thick at times. 
I had heard his wife was his
college
girlfriend
and
had met her several times at school
functions
in the past
.  She
was gorgeous and
had seemed nice
at the time
.

“Well Miss Stevenson, where are you headed
,
”
he asked
?
 
I was s
tunned
for a moment.  He started to smil
e and say something else when M
is
s Ke
l
l
my
A
rt teacher
also walked in behind him.  Coach Branch looked at
her and shook his head
as if
he was
nodding
her
to walk
by
us
.  Miss
Kel
l
stopped and
looked
between us and finally
at me
. 

“James are you okay
?
  You
look like you don’t feel good.”

My eyes shift between them both.

“Um, I left something in my car and was going to get it
, but actually I don’t need it.”

I turn swiftly around and almost sprint down the hallway. 
Running into the
girls bathroom
I
barely ma
k
e it to the toilet before I start
dry heaving
. 
Ten minutes later
I wash
my mout
h out with some water and head
for my next class. 

Art was my fifth period class and M
is
s Ke
l
l
asked me again if I was okay and I just nod assuring her I was.  This was
the c
lass
that I
have with Molly and Reed.  We all used to spend
a lot of our time
drawing when we were little.  In fact I’m pretty sure that Reed got into some fancy
a
rt
s
chool up north.  I kn
e
w
Molly
was headed to
the
University
of
Georgia
. 

We received our assignment and I started painting
a
stormy beach scene. 
After a while I
notice Molly and Reed laughing and joking
with each other
.  Molly was smiling at something he had painted. 
At that moment s
he look
s
up a
nd sees me staring at her and suddenly looks down at her
painting
frowning.
Reed grabbed
her hand and whisper
ed
something
in her ear and
then he
look
ed
up at me. 
Raising my brush,
I started painting again.  I had already let them go, but it never got any easier. 
Every day
was a reminder. 
Finally the bell rings
for the end of class. 

My last period was gym and I rush into the locker room to ch
ange into my shorts and
a
tee.  We were working out today with Coach Sanders the head football coach. 
The school
h
as a huge weight lifting and workout room. 
I was just going to do some
light weight lifting for toning because
I like keeping
my body
in shape
and m
aking the most of my strength. 
In the corner, t
he
guys were seeing who could bench the most and
the
girls were
inflating their
already
oversized egos
by standing around them and cheering
. 

I ha
d just lifted a
dumbbell
behind my head to work my triceps when I felt someone pulling down on the weight behind me. 
Looking forward into the
mirror in front of me
I
notice JT
standing
there. 

“Did you just see me bench 3
25
?”
 

JT
had on athletic shorts and a ripped t-shirt.  He has grown so much these past two years.  When did this boy become a man?  
I didn’t turn around and kept staring in the mirror attempting to finish my set.

“I figured you had enough fans
,
”
I huffed
out
.  He
narrowed his eyes.  I did not push him away for
the last couple of years to
go back there again.  “Go away
JT
before your girlfriend gets mad.” 
I just wanted him to walk away
, but I haven’t been that lucky lately.

“
So
I heard that you cooked for
Cal
last night.  Are you screwing my best friend
now
?”
 

I brought the weight
back over my head and to my chest. 
Turning
to glare at him as I said,
“What the hell
JT
?  Is that what
Cal
said?”  I pretty much knew
Cal
would never say that, but I had to ask. 

“No
,
Cal
didn’t say anything.  I just heard that he told a couple of the guys that he
had dinner
at your house last night.”  He lowered his voice
almost
to
a whisper
and
said, “I just can’t stand the thought okay. 
Not
Cal
, not anybody.  I need to talk with you.  I think we can work things out. 
Jay,
I just need
.
”

I
jumped and
dropped the weight on his toe before he could finish his sentence. 

“Fuck
!
”
H
e yelled
and everyone turned and stared.  I took o
ff for the locker room and
hurried
to
put my
clothes
on
finishing
get
ting
dressed
right as the bell r
u
ng. 

I
sprinted
out to the parking lot
before
anyone else could just happen to run into me.  Of course another mes
sage was on my car
so
I yanked it off my
windshield
and threw it to the ground. 
My eyes look up and I watch
JT
hauling ass across the parking lot.  I hurried and got in my car and left
,
looking
in the rear view mirror
to
see him standing in the middle of the
parking lot
. 
My life sucks. 
 

At home, I showered first and finally checked
to see if I had any
text
messages
. 

Rhye -
call me
…
band playing tonite at 10 at the Vortex want u there

I deleted
it
immediately
and
read the
other ones
.

Jill -
Call me
.  What happened with Kane?

MOM –
Dad and I are f
lying back from
Cali
to
morrow
.  Let me know if you need anything.  Love ya.

Cal
– Everything okay with you and
JT
???

I decided to call Jill back
right then. 
She picked up on the first ring and
before I could even say anything she
started talking.

“I am so sorry Ja
y
.  He grabbed my phone and just
got your number. 
Damn, Baby Girl, what did you do to him? 
I swear
both of your eyes
couldn’t take in each other fast enough and there
was so much electricity
that m
y
hair stood on end. Then all
of a
sudden
you’re
gone and he’s
asking
me
a million and one questions, but I swear I
didn’t tell him anything.  I kept saying tha
t I would talk with you first, but w
hen you didn’t text me back
immediately
he made me start calling and when I still didn’t hear from you he
just
took my phone.”

“It’s okay Jill.  He sent me a text about meeting him
there
tonight.  Look you know
how
much I hang out at the bar
and I think
a one night stand with him could make things difficult
with him
being an employee
.”

“No
offense
Jay
, but the vibes I had from you both
didn’t feel like one night stand vibes.  I’m not saying that
you shouldn’t totally throw caution to the wind and jump into bed with him, but
I’m not sure that is all it is.  Jay,
I get you
situation. 
You
are
young and believe me
,
if I knew
in my own youth
what I know now I would have been a serious player. 
You
don’t want anything serious, but I’m not sure
that
what I s
aw
and felt yesterday will go away for either of you.”

I groaned into the phone,
“I know Jill, that’s why I am not going to meet him tonight.  Please don’t say anything though.  I’m hoping he’ll get the hint.  I don’t think he w
ill
take no for an answer.”