Everything with you

Part 14

Justin

Our game against NCU was tomorrow, and as a team, we were pumped to face them. Coach had made us practice extra hard all week. With that and my job, I had no time to spare. We were winding up practice as Ash was scoring some goals with our new goalkeeper, Joel Ambrose. I got to say it. He is good. Better than our substitute Green. Our entire team was relived. Ash was failing to score anything now, and Joel was still seriously trying to defend them. When I look at Joel, I am reminded of Emma, whom I was not able to even send a text to this week. I was the one who asked her if we could go on a date, and then I didn't text her back. I'm sure she thinks I'm doing this on purpose. I am pulled back from my thoughts when Nate nudges me.

"Dude! Where's your head? I've been talking to you for about 5 minutes."

"Sorry man. What'd you say?"

"I said we're looking good for tomorrow. Maybe you should head home? You look like shit."

"Yeah. No kidding". I knew he was right. That was about the time all of us called it a day and headed back home.

Once I am on my bed, I think of Emma. I take my phone and quickly type,

Me: Hey..

It takes about 10 minutes for a response to come.

Emma: Hey.

I quickly responded.

Me: Sorry for not texting you earlier..nI was packed with practice and work.

Emma: Oh, okay. No problem.

Me: So, we have the match tomorrow evening; you should come! I invite her, half expecting her to reject it.

Emma: I will try to make it.

Me: Great! I hope to see you there :), I type it out and hit send or I think I hit send. I was wiped out the next second. I woke up the next morning and checked my phone. I can only see a message from Emma saying good night. Fuck. I didn't hit send last night; I don't find my message in the chat. I quickly hit send and got out of bed, as I was running late again.

I somehow reach practice on time. I find the team already doing rounds. I join them quickly, and we start our match. Ash joins us after our warm-up, and both Coach and I notice. He raises his hand apologetically and starts doing the laps without us asking him to do it. That was Ash. He was a man of few words, and he was extremely disciplined. He gave his 100 percent on the field, and everyone knew it. After his rounds, Ash joined me when we were practicing.

"Sorry about being late, man," he tells me.

"Don't worry about it, why were you late? You live 5 minutes from here," I questioned.

"I had to get rid of my company from last night, and she was not happy waking up at 4 in the morning." His answer raises a chuckle from me, and we continue with our practice.

The day flew by quickly, and now we were about to start our game in a few minutes. The stands were full, and the atmosphere was buzzing with excitement. As we headed out to the center field, I could see we had a packed stadium today. Since Ambrose was joining us for the first time today, we huddled up in our circle, and Coach handed over his jersey to him. All of us clapped and cheered him along with the crowd. Ambrose took his jersey and smiled like the happiest person on the field. Hell, he should be the happiest now; our team was like a family, and he is now officially a part of our family. When the cheerleaders start performing their starting routine, we break our huddle and make our way to our side of the ground, where we have set up our base. I can see Anna lock eyes with me, giving me a smile and a wink while she is performing. I roll my eyes and catch up to Ambrose.