Chapter 106

December 15, 2017

[Written December 17]

Hope asked, “Is everyone still good for tomorrow?” When she got positive responses in various forms from everyone, she smiled, then said, “Thanks, Beth and the rest of you, for hosting.”

Rhee said, “We do have a hot tub, although it won’t seat 14. At least, it won’t seat 14 without some sitting on others’ laps. However, you might want to bring appropriate hot tub wear just in case.”

Meka replied, “I can vouch for Rhee on that. It is enjoyable, but it’s a very tight fit for 12. Also, rather than fill up their driveway with cars, you four should come together, and I’ll walk the two blocks.”

“If we want,” Katie interjected, “my mom says she’ll treat us all to cones at the store.”

“That would be great,” replied Heather. “We regularly walk there. We could do that to work off what will be a yummy lunch.”

Rachel, who is the quietest of the seniors, even quieter than Kim, responded, “That sounds great. It’s supposed to be nice tomorrow.”

“It is, so we’ll be having a grilled lunch, and Dad is a great grillmaster,” Gracey added.

Meka drove us home. When we got in the Suburban, Rhee grabbed the front passenger seat, but Heather and I opted for the back bench seat so that it would be easier when we stopped to pick Civia up from her school on the way. During the trip home from there, while discussing tomorrow’s lunch on the deck, Meka had mentioned Celeste, somewhat sadly, as not being with us tomorrow given the foodie aspect of that lunch. She followed that with an obvious and intense look at me in her rearview. I was not sure of the meaning, but I thought it might be due to her apparent climbing interest in our gorgeous blonde friend, so I gave her a very short nod.

As the Go6 hurried up the stairs, Civia asked, “Will anyone be home soon?”

“Not unless someone’s plans change,” replied Heather.

That brought a smile to Civia’s face as she began stripping out of her clothes as she tried to catch up to Heather.

“Whaddaya think about sloppy joes for dinner,” I asked.

Rhee looked up and responded, “Oh, wow. I haven’t had those in a long time. If I remember correctly, they’re easy.”

Everyone agreed, so once we were naked and had taken bathroom breaks, we went to the kitchen, donned aprons, and began putting sloppy joes together.

As I pulled meat out of the fridge, Liya exclaimed, “Ooh! Chorizo. That should be good!”

“I thought so. Civia, do you want to do the chorizo? I’ll help you if you do.”

“Okay. I’ve not done that before.”

“This is quote-unquote real chorizo. It’s fine, that is, it’s in very small bits, and would not make ... Well, it would make super-sloppy joes, so we’re going to mix it at one part to three with ground beef, which we’ll brown separately, and throw in some dried oats – not a lot, but some – for a thickener. Because the chorizo is already spiced, we need to be careful about how much and what spices we add to the ground beef, although the oats will dampen the spice load of the chorizo a bit.”

Liya asked, “Diverse salad?”

I responded, “Sure. Rhee, whaddaya think about a side?”

Once all the food decisions were made, Liya organized the salad with Gracey and Heather chopping and slicing while Rhee pulled frozen tater tots out and got the oven heating. The salad was in the fridge, the tater tots were in the warming oven, the sloppy joe mix was simmering on the stove, and the buns awaited the return of parental units before we toasted them when we went upstairs to get dressed.

Once back downstairs after donning clothes, Heather asked, “Do we want toppings for the sloppy joes? Jalapeños? Olives? Something else?”

“Yes, yes, and I don’t know. What other options do you see?”

“Onion slices? Umm, bacon?”

“Ohh, wow,” Gracey said, “bacon could be really interesting, but we don’t have the time.”

As if on cue, one of the garage doors began opening, and a minute later Dad walked into the kitchen.

“Oh, thank goodness. You’re here, Civia. We tried all the others, but we didn’t know you might be available. Would you be able to watch the girls tonight?”

There was much laughing.

Civia stepped over to him still chuckling and wrapped him in her arms.

“That joke still works. It might get old at some point, but it still works.”

Dad sniffed, then asked, “What is dinner? That smells ... familiar, but I can’t place it precisely.”

Civia looked around still within his arms, then said, “It’s a secret, but we’ve been slaving over a hot stove ... well, two hot stoves for... hours.”

Dad rolled his eyes, then looked down at Civia, saying, “I’m very sorry that my daughter has infected you with sarcasm. You used to be such a pleasant, polite young girl.”

Civia surprised him ... and all the rest of us ... by reaching into his armpits and tickling him. His first response was a shocked and high-pitched shriek. But he quickly wrapped his arms around her and her arms and lifted her from the floor.

“Now, you’ve done it,” he said as he began carrying her into the living room, “how many spanks do you think you deserve young, impudent lady?”

The rest of us followed closely behind until he reached the Monstrosity when he said, “Rhee, I’ll need your help.”

“Ooh, do I get to help spank that young, impudent lady?”

“No. You need to help me make her understand that parents will not be disrespected,” as he waggled his eyebrows at both Civia and Rhee.

Rhee grinned, then obviously remembering a time years past, reached out and grabbed Civia’s feet. Dad responded by getting hold of her forearms and letting her hang between him and Rhee as they began swinging her back and forth, then launched her on three onto the Monstrosity.

Civia was laughing before she hit the mattress, and Rhee quickly joined her there.

“In the days when I was living here part-time when I was younger, he and Sandy would do that to Beth and me, always pretending they were punishing us. Of course, we were a lot smaller, Dad could throw us by himself, and it was usually their bed they threw us on, as there was no other large enough soft surface on this floor.” She faltered a bit, and I could see tears form in her eyes, but she said with a sniffle, “Times like that made it much easier for me to get through some days on which my father was being a ... a ... stupid knucklehead.”

She lost it, bolted off the Monstrosity, and slammed into Dad, wrapping her arms around him, then whimpered on his shoulder. He held her tightly and began calmly petting her hair. Once she calmed, she reached up and kissed him on his left cheek, then pulled out of his arms.

Dad said, “The reason I asked Civia about watching you girls, is that the Moms and I are going out tonight, but not to dinner, so thanks for making that. We’re going to catch a show and then get a room, so you’ll have the run of the place. We’ll be leaving about 7:30 and returning tomorrow morning by 9 so that we can start prepping for lunch.”

At the table, Carol stated, “Hats off to you girls for, again, making dinner. It was a good choice, and something I’ve not had in quite a while, and those were the best sloppy joes I’ve ever had. The chorizo was a great idea.”

“Amen,” agreed Sandy.

December 16, 2017

I woke on my back looking into Heather’s eyes with her left arm around my waist, and with Civia curled into my right side, her head on my shoulder. I smiled slightly at Heather, then glanced to my right. Seeing that Civia was still sleeping, I turned back to Heather and kissed her lightly on the lips, then put my head back on the pillow, my face toward the ceiling, my eyes closed, reveling in the comfort of my friends with me. However, I began wondering how the sex was in the GL room last night, and that led me, through a convoluted path, to thinking about lunch today and looking forward to preparing it. Heather had draped her left leg over mine; curled her left arm on my torso, the hand on my left shoulder, the elbow crooked between my breasts; and her head on her hand on my shoulder. I turned toward her and placed a light kiss on the top of her head. I felt Civia stirring, so turned toward her as she began stretching, her right arm toward the ceiling, with her torso and legs straightening and extending down my right leg. I placed a light kiss on the top of her head.

Civia turned her face up toward me and opened her eyes, then said, “That was nice. This is just so pleasant, waking up to my friends ... my friends who love me enough to sleep naked with me and kiss me on the head when I wake. If I didn’t love my parents so much, I’d want to spend every day with you. No, that’s not quite right, as I still want to spend every day with my friends. I’m going to miss you so much when we go visit Mom’s family in Tennessee for Christmas.”

Heather replied, “We’ll miss you, too. But think of it this way. When you return, you’ll be moving in right up the street!”

“Oh, yeah!” Civia exhaled loudly, then said, “I’m going to love being so close!”

“In fact,” I added, “you’ll be closer to everything: us, your school, our school, Meka. We love you being with us but being that close will mean that we and you will have to be careful about just willy-nilly walking over for a visit. We, all of us, should always check by text to see if you’re free or if we’re free to entertain. You’re going to have more space, so it will be easier for the horde of us to hang at your house than it was where you are now.”

She thought for a few seconds, then said, “I can see that, particularly for our house. We’ve never had my or their friends just show up, and you know how my parents like a plan for everything.” She suddenly furrowed her brow, then added, “If I’m going to use my certificate for emergency ... allev ... alleviation of Go6 withdrawal, I’m going to have to use it next week or in the first two weeks of January.” She frowned, then looked at the two of us and asked, “When do you think would be best?”

I quickly thought about schedules, particularly Inez’s, then answered, “Probably early in the first or second weeks of January. Of course, just because you’ll be much closer doesn’t necessarily mean your certificate won’t be useful. All sorts of things can come up or happen to make getting together difficult. You might want to hold onto it, but it’s yours, so you must decide.”

Meka arrived a bit after 10, walking in the back door and immediately wrapping Sandy in a big hug.

“I don’t know how you do it but thank you.”

Mom leaned back in Meka’s arms looking at her face, responding, “You’re most welcome. We can’t help you and your dad with all problems, but we can occasionally help with that one. Remember, we’re expecting both of you for brunch on Christmas morning.”

“We’ll be here. Put me to work.”

Once everyone else hugged Meka, Rhee said, “You can help me with burger making. You can have your pick of grinding the lamb or mixing the beef burgers.”

She picked grinding, and the rest of us returned to our tasks. Liya and I were dealing with the eggplant, while Heather and Civia were slicing cheeses; Gracey was acting as kitchen meister, assigning tasks and filling in where needed; and the Moms were setting up the deck, it already being over 50 degrees and, amazingly, relatively calm.

The other seniors arrived shortly before 11, carting Brett with them, just as we were taking the various stuff to be grilled up to the deck. Up there, we introduced or reintroduced the girls to the parents and vice-versa. Dad had brought what had been the Jacobsen grill up onto the deck, as we were going to need a lot of grill space. We were settling in with drinks when Cera’s parents arrived with Brit and Cera. Since her parents had offered, Meka didn’t have to go get them, which is why the other seniors had brought Brett. Meka made introductions all around, she being the only one who knew everyone.

Once Cera’s parents had departed, Dad announced, “We have three grilled options, some are ready, while others still need a few more minutes. Beth and Civia are being grill servers, so please tell one or both what you want as far as the main course, of which the choices are hamburgers, lamb burgers, and eggplant slices. If you want cheese on any of the options, we have four varieties, so tell your grill server which you’d like ahead of time. Please don’t be afraid of the eggplant slices; they’re quite good. Feel free to ask for only one or portions of two or three of the options. The sides are serve-yourself, as are the drinks in the coolers. Thank you all for coming. Please, make yourselves at home. After lunch, we three parents will be departing to get away from all these girls. I hope Brett can put up with them, else he’s in for a long night!”

There was much chuckling.

Lunch was superb, and it was nice to see the parents sprinkled among us, being included in the various conversations. Everyone was done eating by 12:30 when Dad and the Moms headed for the other house in Carol’s car.

We were still scattered around the tables in the mid-60s blue-sky warmth when Katie asked, “What do we want to do this afternoon?”

We bandied quite a few options before Kim said, “Is there a field nearby that we could at least kick the ball around a bit? I’m feeling a bit off not having even touched a ball since the tournament.”

I could see Civia straining to keep from blurting out that she’d love to do that, so I said, “I’d be interested. Perhaps we could do rondo or just kick the ball around.”

“Hah,” exclaimed Katie. “It’s a good thing we’re prepared for this; we all brought cleats.”

Meka replied, “All right, then. Unless the non-players object...” She waited to get responses, and, after none were negative, said, “Let’s do that.”

We changed into appropriate clothing, grabbed a couple of balls, including Heather’s one-month anniversary ball, and walked to the pitch ... only to see some kids we knew. They seemed to be playing six-on-six in a fashion like three-on-three basketball where your team, if it’s on D and gets the ball, must take it back downfield to some point, then turn around and attack the goal. They had no goalie, so they had dropped two shirts about a couple of yards apart as the goal. Rather, I could see a goalie, but they were not playing anyone at goalie.

We got to within about ten yards of them when I saw Victor look up, then shout, “Damn!” That caused Jamaal, who had the ball at the time, to look at Victor, see him looking behind Jamaal, and turned around to look at us. Play stopped.

Jamaal said, “Holy shit!” When someone asked him why he had exclaimed, Jamaal replied, “That’s nearly all the starting lineup of Central’s team. You know, the team that lost only 2-1 to Delta-North in the regional final, Delta-North being the team that mopped everyone off the pitch... except these girls ... to win state!”

Meka faked blowing on her nails, then rubbed them on her shirt and smiled at Jamaal.

Victor asked, “Do you girls want to play a game? There’s no way we’re playing girls versus boys. You’d wipe us off the field.”

Meka turned to look at us, particularly the other seniors.

Hope asked, “Are these the boys that have pick-up games you’ve joined?”

“Some of ‘em. They’re pretty nice and reasonably good. BBC and Liya, would you be okay with it?” When they nodded, Meka asked, “Liya, would you be willing to be ref and Brett, would you be a linesman?” They both nodded, so she asked Brit and Cera if they’d shag balls, and they agreed. “Victor, over there, is a pretty good goalie. If we’re gonna play, I suggest Victor and Hope pick teams to split up the goalies.”

Everyone agreed, and Victor suggested that Hope take the first pick; Meka, Heather, Katie, Rachel and I were on Hope’s team. It was really good to play a game after nearly a month, and our efforts to stay in shape made a difference, as I could see that both Kim and Rachel got out of breath after a while. We played for less than an hour, as a couple of the boys had to leave, so we called the game with us up 2-1. Most of the other boys took off, but we stayed a while and chatted with Victor and Jamaal.

I had a minor brainstorm, so sidled up to Katie and whispered, “Would your mom mind if Victor and Jamaal got free ice creams, too?”

She raised an eyebrow at me, furrowed her brow, glanced to her left, then quietly asked, “Are you interested in one of them?”

“Not particularly. It’s just that those two have been two of the three boys that have most strongly supported us playing with them. I think they deserve something, and I’m not willing to give them anything ... except some of your ice cream.”

Katie smiled, nodded, and replied, “That shouldn’t be a problem. Should I text Mom to warn her we’re on our way and what to expect?”

I nodded. Katie invited the boys; they agreed and thanked her, so the 16 of us ambled to The Cold Sweets.

On the way there, we introduced everyone around who hadn’t met and when we got to the parlor, Katie went in the back while we pushed some tables together, then ordered cones.

At the table between licks of his cone, Victor asked Brett, “How is it that you’re hanging with the Central soccer babes?”

He went a bit pink, but replied, “I was one of Coach’s assistants, and Beth and I have been friends since first grade.” He glanced around, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and added, “She gave me my first kiss.”

I went pink, and the rest of the Go5 roared.

After the commotion died a bit, Brett said, “Of course, that was in second grade, so I’m sure it doesn’t count, since no part of me was involved other than my left cheek. I was on a cloud the rest of that day, as even back then she was the prettiest girl in class.”

My face went full red, but I managed to keep my head up.

Civia was sitting next to him and put her left arm around his shoulders and said, “He’s our friend and a boy, but he’s not our boyfriend. He’s really nice and really smart and really funny. We like him.”

“Thanks, Civia.”

Victor then said to Civia, “You didn’t stun us with a spectacular shot today. I almost feel a bit cheated.”

There was some chuckling.

Civia’s eyes had gone a bit wide at that, but she smiled slightly, and responded, “Not even Messi does something spectacular every time out, but thanks for the compliment. Maybe next time.”

Victor shook his head slowly, then replied, “You’re something else. I hope you keep it up, as I’d really like to say sometime in the future, ‘Yeah, I know her, personally. She even got her first-ever goal off a bicycle against me back when she was just 11.’ I hope you get to play next year for Central. If you do, I’ll come to watch as many games as I can manage, just so I can watch you stun the opposing teams like you did us.”

Civia’s chin dropped, as did those of a few others, and she just stared at him for some time, then ducked her head ... only to quickly lift it and look around for Liya. Liya cracked up, and the rest of us followed suit. Before Civia could marshal a response to him, Victor beat her to the punch.

“Please, don’t let what I said or what many others will tell you in the next few years go to your head. Keep some humility, and you’ll be a fan favorite. At first, it will be because you’re so much younger than the others, and everyone loves an underdog. In a couple of years, though, you’ll no longer be an underdog, despite that you’ll still be younger than everyone. That’s when humility will help you most ... with fans, but particularly with your teammates.”

Civia stared at him for a long time, then said, “Thanks, Victor. I have a hard time ... bragging about myself, as my friends and parents would point out, but I see what you’re saying. Right now, I have three ... no, four excellent role models in Rhee, Beth, Shameka, and Charlize. They’re all really good, but they haven’t let it go to their heads.”

Rhee cut in, saying, “But you could eclipse us, all of us. I can imagine the national team comes calling when you’re 13 or 14. What would that do to your humility? Victor’s got a good point, and we’ll help you with that, as well as anything else that would be good for you.”

Rhee opened her mouth to say something else but obviously changed her mind.

Jamaal jumped on the wagon, saying, “Victor’s right. You will get fans, what with your skills, your age, and your attractiveness – not that the last should mean anything at all, but we all know it does for a lot of people. Shameka is a great role model. Like you, she’s great at soccer, she’s very smart, and she’s quite attractive. I knew who she was when I joined the debate team last year and I was a bit leery of what she would be like given those attributes. However, she was outgoing, funny, and didn’t look down on the new kid. In fact, she helped me quite a bit in those first few weeks of practice when I was still not certain about her. We’ve become friends, not good friends, but good enough that we can crack on each other in front of others. While she knows she’s good, the soccer star ... aspect of her life is not who she is. Her ego doesn’t depend on the soccer star ... or the debate team captain to justify her existence or her happiness. Just keep that in mind as you start generating acclaim ... and not just the acclaim from a few soccer-hack boys with the good fortune to have shared a pitch with you on occasion.”

She nearly lost it there in The Cold Sweets. She sniffled and wiped tears from her eyes. She couldn’t talk, but she did nod her head briskly at him as she fought to keep from breaking down. I saw Meka down and across the table begin to stand. I caught her eye and rapidly shook my head, at which she nodded slightly, then sat back down. Other conversations started ... or re-started as everyone left her to marshal control of her emotions.

She was quiet until we began making moves to depart when she stood and quickly walked around the table.

“Victor, Jamaal, thank you. May I hug you?” When they nodded, she hugged them for some five seconds each, then said, “I don’t know if I’ll wind up being what you’ve said, but I appreciate your ... concern for me. I’ll take your words to heart and try to keep them there. We girls really do like playing soccer with you guys. If you put together more games, we’d appreciate it if you’d let us know, as we don’t get to play much now that our season is over, and even pickup games are better than laps and drills three days a week. Jamaal, you can always text Meka, as we spend a lot of time with her outside of school.”

The two boys looked at each other, then nodded at her, with Jamaal saying, “I’ll do that. I also want to make sure I didn’t squick you out. Although you are attractive, I didn’t tell you that because I wanted something from you.” When Civia began to say something, he held up a hand and added, “I said that because at least some guy soccer fans will like you at least partly because of how you look and you’re going to have to learn that, and accept that it happens, even if you don’t like it. You can’t change it; you can only guard against it. I know Shameka has had that problem, but she’s tall and strong and once she put a boy on his ass last year, she’s not had the problems that can come from that. You’ve gotten taller and obviously stronger since we first met you, but that’s yet another thing that your potential fame for your soccer skills can generate. Once you begin playing for Central, rather than helping to manage the team, that shit will start. Personally, I don’t know how the attractive women soccer stars – think Alex Morgan – deal with that, because it must happen.”