The Game Changer (34 page)

“Why tonight? What made you finally give in?”

“You wore me down... after last night, outside your house. I was ready to take you home with me.” He laughs. “Seriously, I was waiting for a night that would be memorable to us. And this is going to make me sound like a total asshole because who am I to decide when, as you pointed out once before, but I kept trying to plan out all of these days in my head. Like the night before I have to leave, the night of the prom, you know stuff like that. Then finally, I just gave up on the whole idea because I knew I couldn’t wait another second, let alone another month.” He shrugs, chuckling to himself.

“That would have
never
happened. I would have
never
waited that long. After all, I do have some say, caveman,” I tease.

“I told you I was an asshole. Really though, you wore me down last night. I couldn’t sleep. I just really wanted you. I actually thought about knocking on your window.” He laughs. “Even this morning, when I saw you walking up to my game,
that was all that was on my mind. I really don’t know how I got through the game. Why do you think I stopped at your work? I had to see you. Then, when I did see you, looking like that… I was looking around for the broom closet, dirty and all.” Again we both laugh.  “Seriously, though, I was racking my brain all day, trying to think of something special. I thought back to last year, how much we both loved being by the water... I thought about when I said I wanted you to come to the beach with me at night, remember that? We never got to do that alone.”

I nod my head remembering that night perfectly clear. “Honestly, I thought you were waiting till Prom night that would have been so typical. I’m glad you didn’t because this was probably the most perfect, special place. I love you for putting so much thought into this for me.”

“Not just you. I wanted it to be special for me, too. JJ, you do know that I would never have done anything like this for anyone. I told you… this is new for me, too. I keep saying it, I know, but I’ve never felt like this before. I never thought that loving someone felt like this.”

“I can tell Luke. I know it’s true. So, anyway, what is the plan for Prom?”

“Well, I got the room anyway,” he says, laughing.

“Good. I thought you were going to tell me that you didn’t since we got it out of the way tonight,” I tease.

“Are you kiddin’? After tonight, I’ll be looking for ways to get you alone.”

“Do you think people will notice?” I ask curiously.

“God, no. How would anyone know somethin’ like that? What do you think? You’re goin’ to be walkin’ funny or somethin’?” He says in his wisecracking way.

“No, you idiot, I was just asking.”

After a while, we decide it’s time to pack up and head back home. As we make our way back to my house, we have a hard time keeping our hands to ourselves. Thankfully, my dad won’t be home for a while. We just about make it to my bedroom before going another round… Finally, both exhausted, we fall asleep in each other’s arms. Luke wakes me a little after midnight to move out to the family room floor, where we usually fall asleep watching TV.

***

We sleep until after nine in the morning. Luke peeks out the window to see if my dad’s car is parked in the driveway. We usually hear him when he comes in during the night, but we were both exhausted and slept soundly.

“Yep, his car’s there. I’m outta here,” he says, getting up to leave.

“Wait. What do you mean, you’re leaving? You always stay for breakfast on Sunday.”

“Yeah, but after last night, I can’t face David. What if he can tell?” He smirks.

“Luke, that is not funny. You said no one will be able to tell. You are not leaving me right now,” I tell him, horrified.

“Sorry, babe. You’re his daughter. I would want to kill me if I was him.”

“He is not going to be able to tell. Remember that night when you stayed after the storm, he didn’t suspect a thing,” I try to plead my case.

“That was kissing, not sex.” He leans down to kiss me goodbye. “I’ll be over a little later.”

“You are such a coward. I cannot believe you are leaving me alone with him. You’re making it more obvious,” I joke.

“Love you. Good Luck,” he says and I throw a shoe at him as he walks out the door.

My dad doesn’t react any differently than he does any other morning. He asks for Luke and I lie, saying him and Mikey have practice.

De stops by a few minutes later. “Hey, David,” she greets as she walks past my dad, who is on his way up to shower.

“Hey, Hon. I have breakfast on the stove if you want something.”

“Thanks,” She says, entering the kitchen where I’m having a cup of coffee and pouring one for her.

“Hey,” she says, staring at me.

“Hey,” I reply back, passing her the cup.

“Oh, my God, it’s true.” She leans over, staring into my face.

“What? What’s true?”

“Mikey’s right. You did it last night,” she whispers, sitting across from me.

“What... are you talking about?” I ask wondering how big mouth knows already.

“This morning, Mikey and I were having coffee when Luke came strolling in. He had this goofy grin on his face as he tried to have a senseless conversation with us. When he went up to his room, Mikey looked at me and said, ‘They had sex last night.’ I asked him how he knew and he said he could just tell. Now, looking at you. You have the same goofy look.”

“You’re crazy,” I say, this time aware I am grinning and trying to hide it.

“Am I?” she asks suspiciously.

“No,” I confess as I fill her in on the details. It is much easier to talk with her about it than I thought it would be. I’m happy to talk about it with someone other than Luke. She has a hard time believing her brother actually planned such a romantic night. We then begin to talk about our plans for the Prom, which leads to a forty-five minute conversation about the girl Mikey is taking. Go figure.

(Jesse)

Cameras flash as we walk the red carpet leading to the Sander’s Hotel. Once inside the beautifully decorated ballroom, the DJ’s music keeps the dance floor crowded. We head over, with the rest of our friends, to have our pictures taken under the white trellis that’s decorated with ivory and lights. Luke and I are once again celebrating one of my ‘firsts’. My first high school dance. Even though I’m not a huge fan of dressing up, I do enjoy getting ready for this evening and seeing Luke look so handsome in his black tux. Despite the fact that we both are finding it difficult to take our eyes off one another, we do manage to have a great time with our friends.

As the evening grows to an end, they announce the court for the Prom King and Queen. It’s the one part of the night I’m dreading.  The boys’ court consists of Luke, Mikey, Timmy, Timmy’s friend, Stephen, and another friend of Timmy’s, who I don’t know that well. In the girl’s court, there is, of course, Alexa, Crystal from our Study Hall, Kelly, a girl that cheers with De, and two other senior girls.
De and I stand together with fingers crossed, hoping it is anyone but Alexa.

Oh well, so much for wishful thinking, I was sort of expecting it, but when they crown Mikey as Prom King, I have to admit, I’m pleasantly surprised, and it seems as if Alexa is unpleasantly surprised. Mikey and she are called to take their place on the dance floor, while the remainder of the court is asked to join them along with their dates.  Luckily for me, it turns out perfect.

“I think you lost some of your appeal since you have been going out with me.” I tease, as we slow dance together.

“Really? That sucks. I thought it would make me more appealing,” Luke jokes, pulling me close and nuzzling my neck.

“Only to me,” I whisper in his ear.

“I’m ready to get out of here, how ‘bout you?” he whispers back in his rough playful voice.

“Let’s go.” I take his hand and lead him off the dance floor.

De catches us making our escape. “Where are you two going?” “We’re leaving.” I giggle.

“But it’s the middle of your dance,” she argues.

“Yeah, I’m gonna make that up to her,” Luke answers with his arm held tightly around my waist.

She rolls her eyes and asks if we are meeting up with them at the after party. We both assure her we’ll be there.

Next door to the Sanders, there are a block of rooms held on the 15
th
floor of the Chelsea Hotel for the after party. A friend’s father was able to get the rooms at a discounted price and a group of people chipped in to reserve them. Luke has reserved a room on the 12
th
floor. He wants to be sure that if everyone gets thrown out for being rowdy, we can escape to our own room on the 12
th
and pretend we don’t know them. The only problem is that everyone left their change of clothes in our room, knowing we would be the responsible ones, so we basically have about twenty minutes before our friends start banging on the door.

“You look so beautiful tonight. I can’t wait to get you alone,” Luke says as he pushes me in the room and hungrily tastes my lips.

“You say that every night,” I reply as I pull off his jacket and begin to unbutton his shirt.

“That’s because it’s true every night,” he answers.

As we lay together in bed reveling over the afterglow of making love, we begin to talk about how we are going to survive being away from each other.

“Luke, is it bad that we do this all the time?” I ask as I cuddle close to him.

“I don’t know, maybe, but I can’t help it. I feel like I have to get my fill because we’re goin’ to be away from each other. I don’t know how I’m goin’ to do it.”

“Me, either, but we’ll manage.”

“You bet we will,” he says as he hugs me close to him and kisses me at about the same time we get the first of many knocks on the door.

“Yo, you guys in there?” Mikey calls from the other side.

“Figures, he’d be the first one to interrupt.” Luke sighs as he jumps out of bed and pulls on a pair of jeans while I quickly try to remake the bed. “Like he’s not goin’ to know what we were doin’,” Luke says sarcastically, watching me scramble around as I grab my bag and dart into the bathroom to change.

From behind the door, I can hear different voices coming from our room and the sounds of bottles opening. Not only is it Mikey and his date, but Zach from their team and his date.

“Out of your dress already, JJ?”  Mikey comments as I exit the bathroom, being the smart ass that he is.

Luke smacks him in the back of his head. I ignore him as usual. Luke hands me a
Mike’s Hard
while the girls take turns changing in the bathroom. The boys, of course, have no shame and change on the other side of the room. Not long after, De and Timmy, along with Lori and Matt, knock on our door.

“Wow, you have a full house!” De says as she squeezes into our now crowded room.

“Hey, DeDe’s here, looking so pretty all dressed up!” Mikey says enthusiastically as he walks over to give her a big bear hug and swing her around. She giggles...
and Timmy cringes
.

Mikey and Zach, along with their dates, are the first to clear out and head up to the 15
th
floor. When we step out of the elevator onto the 15
th
, it seems as if it is occupied by almost half the people in attendance at the Prom. Doors are propped open with people going from room to room. Everyone is having a great time until about two thirty in the morning when some poor employee has the job of telling everyone they need to quiet down or they will be asked to leave. I think he’s going to end up locked in a closet somewhere, but, besides the smart ass comments he has to endure; everyone pretty much obeys and starts to clear out. I make sure De has a place to stay before we head back to our room while Luke checks on Mikey. Once back, I’m surprised we actually have the room to ourselves and didn’t have any stragglers knocking on the door, looking for a place to sleep. The next morning, we sleep in and order room service. We refuse to leave one second before checkout. We spend the remainder of the day on the Atlantic City beach, happy to have the time to ourselves.

***

Keeping Luke calm and settled has been a chore in itself the last couple of weeks. With draft day soon approaching, he’s been trying to stay as cool and collected as possible, but he still has the occasional fears and worries that sneak up on him. He’s having his best season so far and is totally focused on the field. Actually, he seems most relaxed on the field. Once again, they are in the state championship and are expected to win for the third straight year. At least he’s busy playing baseball, instead of focusing solely on the draft. It’s more the anticipation of not knowing where he is going that is driving him crazy. I’m just trying to keep things as normal as possible for him, despite the constant phone calls, visits and meetings with his agent, scouts and GM’s. Lucca and Maria are great at handling these situations with him and Mikey. They have a way of shielding them both from all of the hype and keeping things at home normal as usual; thanks to Lucca’s past experience with this type of thing. With Mikey’s dad being out of town frequently, Mikey’s meetings are held at the house, as well, with Lucca sitting in on his meetings giving the same support and advice as he does Luke.