The Final Score (25 page)

“Hey.”

“Hi, what’s going on?” she asks.

“I just wanted to make sure you made it back safe.”

“Awe, that’s nice. Yep, I’m here. Where are you?”

I laugh. “LA. I just got in.”

She’s quiet and doesn’t respond.

“Hello?”

“I’m here. Wow, you must really like it there. I’m surprised. I thought you would have been anxious to get back home to Florida. Can’t stay away from your new celebrity friends, huh?” she asks with a bit of arrogance mixed with a lot of contempt.

I note the tone of her voice. “I was going to, but then I ended up on a plane back here. I figured Luke and JJ could use a little more time to themselves. I’m heading back in a few days. What about you, when do you think you’re moving?”

“I don’t know. It’s complicated. Jeffrey was waiting for me at the airport when I arrived. He doesn’t want me to move to Florida.”

“What do you want?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady. I hide the fact that my heart just stopped when I hear her indecisiveness about moving closer to me.

“I still want to move to Florida, I guess… I miss everyone, but, I don’t know. He says he thinks that he may be willing to give this long distance thing a shot and see how it goes. What do you think?”

“I think whatever makes you happy is what you should do. Listen, someone is beeping in, I gotta go. I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” I lie, blowing her off. The last thing I want to do is talk to her about this guy. It also sort of pisses me off that she asks my opinion on it.

“Oh, okay. I’ll let you go… I’ll talk to you soon?” she asks.

“Yeah, sure. I gotta go,” I answer quickly, ending our conversation.

I thought that maybe we made some progress together over the weekend. I’ve been trying to feel her out, making comments about the two of us. I was beginning to think that maybe she feels the same way about me. Obviously, I’m reading her wrong, especially since she’s considering staying in a relationship with her boyfriend once she moves. No longer tired, I grab my wallet and room key and head to Lora Rae’s.

***

(Deanna)

The second Mikey tells me he flew back to LA instead of going home to Florida, I find myself extremely jealous. We had such a great time together while we were home for Thanksgiving. There were so many times when I felt so close to him, more so than usual. Well, a different kind of close, I guess. There were times when I really thought something was about to happen between us.

If he really wanted to give JJ and Luke space, he could have flown anywhere for a few days to get away. Hell, he could have flown to Arizona and hung out with me for a while, but he didn’t; he flew back to her.

I tell him about Jeffrey only because I’m jealous that he’s in LA. Yet
now, it only leaves me upset at the way he ends the call. He sounds angry with me.

I guess it’s for the best, it’s not like Jeffrey and I are completely over.

***

(Mikey)

As the elevator reaches her floor, I can hear the music from her apartment rattling the walls of the hallway. I knock on the door and some messed up, model lookin’ chick answers it. I’ve seen one too many of these nights at her apartment and it’s getting old. The alcohol and drugs are being passed around the room as if they are giving out candy. Lora Rae spots me from the couch, surrounded by a roomful of people. She jumps up to greet me, wrapping her arms and legs around me and kissing me deeply.

“Finally, you’re back,” she says.

“Yeah, just got it in.” I taste the tequila from her mouth and already regret walking through the door.

She pulls me to the couch and sits down on my lap, pouring a shot of Patron into a glass. I down the shot and she pours me another. The guy to my left passes me a joint that is being passed around the group. I ignore him and knock his hand away from my face.

“Sorry, dude, you don’t have to be rude about it,” he slurs.

I give him an intimidating look, no words are needed. Lora Rae passes it up as well, but I can see that she’s already messed up. She stands up, taking me by the hand and grabs the bottle of tequila from the table and two glasses before leading me to her bedroom.

“If I knew you were coming tonight, I wouldn’t have had a party,” she says.

“Why? It’s fine,” I answer, acting as if it doesn’t bother me.

“I don’t need all of this when you’re around. I like spending time with you alone,” she purrs, pouring me another large glass.

“Me, too,” I
lie, downing the drink as I lay back on her bed, propped up on my elbows. The tequila is kicking in.

She begins to strip off her clothes while I watch, enjoying the show. I have to admit, she looks pretty damn hot as she seductively strips down to her sexy lingerie. For not knowing I was flying in tonight, she sure looks a hell of a lot ready to please someone. The hell with that, what do I care? Since I’m the one who’s here, it might as well be me that she’s pleasing
and God knows, she does it well.
I think as she straddles her body over mine while unbuckling the belt on my jeans.

***

(Deanna)

I squint my eyes, trying to see the time on my alarm clock as I reach for the off button. As my hand hits the top, I realize it’s not my clock that’s ringing, it’s my phone. Who the hell is calling me at two in the morning? I clumsily reach for my phone and hit the talk button without looking at the number first.

“Hello?” I whisper sleepily.

“You asked me what I think. If someone actually has to
think
about whether or not they want to stay in a relationship with you because you are far away from him… Well, I don’t think he’s worth keepin’ around,” Mikey slurs in a whisper.

I sit up straight in my bed. It’s not like Mikey to do something like this. I can tell he’s been drinking. “Where are you? Are you okay?” I ask with concern.

“Missin’ home, that’s all.”

“Me, too.”

“I gotta go, talk to you later?” he asks quietly.

“Sure, call me tomorrow.”

“I miss you,” I hear him whisper before the phone goes dead.

I can’t fall back asleep after his call. I feel more home sick after hearing his voice. A few more weeks and we’ll all be close to each other again.

***

(Mikey)

I awake a little after noon with a pounding headache from a night of one too many shots and Lora Rae nuzzling at my neck, sliding her body on top of mine. I may have a headache, but it doesn’t stop my body from responding as we pick up where we left off not that long ago.

Afterwards, while Lora Rae showers, I lay in bed, feeling guilty about my call to De last night. I just spent twelve wild hours fuckin’ Lora Rae, and in the middle of it all, I snuck off to her bathroom to make my drunken call to De. I shouldn’t be sending her mixed signals when I’m in someone else’s bed. Not to mention, she made it clear to me yesterday, she is still in a relationship with Jerk off. I shouldn’t be interfering in her life. I reach for my phone.

“Sorry ‘bout the drunken call last night, barely remember what I said. Talk to u soon.”
I text.

***

(Deanna)

I wake up, still restless from Mikey’s call last night. My stomach flutters and chills run down my spine every time I think of the sound of his voice whispering that he misses me. All I want is to be with him. Deep down I know my relationship with Jeffrey won’t stand the test of time. Why prolong the inevitable? I’ll talk to him later today after I’m finished with my classes. I care for him, but Jeffrey is right, a long distance relationship is not going to work, especially with these other feelings that I’m experiencing.

After my US History class, I check the messages on my phone. Excitement fills my body when I see that I have a message from Mikey. That is, until I read the message. I’m angry at myself for making a big deal out of it. He doesn’t even remember telling me that he missed me. What am I doing? Why am I suddenly looking for more in everything that comes out of his mouth? Mikey has always been flirtatious and playful with me. Why am I reading too much into it now?

***

(Jesse)

“How ‘bout this one?” Luke asks as we walk around the Wal-Mart looking for air mattresses.

“Perfect,” I answer excitedly, throwing it into the cart along with the towels, bedding, snacks and other supplies.

“I can’t believe you actually want to do this.”

“It’ll be fun; it’s like camping. We’re roughing it.”

“Yeah, sure… camping.” He laughs.

I insist that we have to spend the night in our new house. Luke tries talking me out of it, explaining there’s a lot of work to be done, especially ridding the house of the musty smell from being empty for so long. Not to mention, we have a nice comfortable condo not even twenty minutes away all to ourselves. I’m not hearing it, though. I buy a notepad and pen to start a list of everything we want to do.

On the way back, we pick up a pizza and a bottle of wine and bring a blanket out to the dock. We sit by the calm, rippling water while we eat and discuss our plans. I take out my notepad and pen and we start prioritizing the list from things that need immediate attention to things we can live with for now.

Originally, Luke wanted us to work on the house together a little at a time, but after taking a better look, he convinces me that most of it should be left up to a contractor. With the wedding taking place in a little over a month, he’s hoping to have most of the work finished by the start of spring training.

Chapter 20

(Deanna)

The sun begins to set over the Tampa sky as my mom and I help JJ into her dress. My mom’s eyes fill the moment she slips the dress onto JJ’s body.

“You’re beautiful,” she says, taking her into her arms.

Suddenly, JJ’s eyes fill and soon she’s unable to stop the water from spilling from them. She’s so overcome with emotion, she can barely speak. It’s so bad that we quickly remove her ivory, silk gown so that her make-up doesn’t run all over it.

She settles herself just enough that she can manage to speak. “Thank you. You don’t know what it means to me to have you in my life. You have helped me so much since you took me into your home and made me feel normal again.” She squeezes my mom tightly. “You helped to fill a void I never thought I’d be able to overcome. You make me never forget how it feels to have a mother who loves me. You’ve spent many nights listening to me, talking to me and offering advice just as I know my own mom would have done. You have taken my dad and me in, always making us feel as if we were a part of your family right from the very start. I love you for that.”

Needless to say, we are all hysterical at this point, knowing the problems JJ suffered as a result of losing her mom and how she was able to overcome them. I’m thankful that I have yet to put on my own dress because my make-up is ruined as well. The knock on the door breaks us from our frenzy of tears as all three of us accidently smudge what’s left of our make-up across our faces, trying to hide the fact that we’re crying. I rush to the door and barely crack it open.

“Is everything alright in here?” David asks as I allow him to enter and he sees all of our swollen faces.

My mom, who is still too emotional to speak, waves around her hand, giving him a signal that everything is alright.

“Yeah, David, it’s fine,” I answer. “We’ll leave you two alone a minute.” We close the door behind us.

***

(Jesse)

“What’s wrong?” my dad asks, putting his arms around me and getting emotional himself. I burst into tears once again at my father’s touch.

“Daddy, I was telling Maria how much it means to me to have her in my life, and I started thinking of Mommy and how badly I miss her. I wish she could be with me today.”

“Okay, sweetie, its fine. She is here. She’s always here with you,” he says comforting me while I know he’s trying to keep his own composure.

I know my dad is thinking the same thing. He would love to be standing by my mom’s side, holding her hand as they watch me say my vows.

“How ‘bout I get Luke?” He knows Luke is always the one to put a smile on my face, especially when I’m missing my mom. I never even have to say it to him.

“No, no. He can’t see me. Besides, look at me.” I gesture towards my face. “I’m a mess, my eyes are so puffy.” I look in the mirror and start to laugh as I grab a tissue and wipe my red, stuffy nose.

“You look beautiful,” he says, laughing with me.

“Go get my girls back in here. We’re not going out there looking ugly. We need a redo on the make-up.”

Thankfully, Deanna and I think alike and she’s already on it, there is no way in hell we are walking out of here with puffy eyes.

***

(Luke)

I have a few quiet minutes to myself while my dad, Mikey and David socialize with our guests. I pace the brightly lit room
, anxiously waiting for the ceremony to begin. It’s not that I’m nervous, I’m not. I’m just really excited to begin our lives together. Really together.