Good Luck Charm (Completed)

Turkey Arms and Lucky Charms

      Vincent awoke early on Thanksgiving morning with a bit of a pit in his stomach. How much he was going to miss his mother with her not being there hadn't really dawned on him until he was presented with the fact that was the case.

The air had a heavy chill to it and the clouds outside threatened a heavy rain or an early snow. Vincent was looking forward to Lucas' game; though he didn't like sports, he'd taken quite well to watching Lucas play. To Vincent, Lucas usually seemed very carefree, but during the games he seemed to be most himself.

Hailey picked Vincent up to drive him to the game. Dustin was going too, but he wanted to sit with the school, rather than with the parents where they usually sit. He argued it would be more fun and Vincent figured he was right seeing from the enthusiastic face paint he dawned. In a show of his own school pride, Vinny wore Lucas' jersey tucked into jeans to avoid the access length. His grey coat proved useful within the first few minutes as he shivered in the cold.

The clouds above the field turned the sky dreary and grey, such weather gave everyone the fear of rain. Rain they could play through, but if there was lighting the game would be cancelled. There was no lightning in the forecast, but the school was very worried.

The Thanksgiving Day game was the key to the championships, and every eye was on Lucas to see if he could play as well as he had in the last few games.

The team ran out onto the field to practice, and when Lucas ran out he was met with cheers from the school section. Vinny would have sworn he could hear Dustin loudest over everyone, but that would mean admitting the painted boy was his roommate.

    "Oh I forgot to mention, Happy Thanksgiving!" Hailey grinned.

    "Happy Thanksgiving." Vincent replied. "Do you think they'll win?"

"I don't know." Hailey shrugged. "If Lucas plays how he's been playing."

"Right... that's what everyone keeps saying."

      The school team was not great on its own, and if Lucas didn't play well the school was sure to lose. Lucas scanned the stands for a second, tracing each section, and when he got to Vinny his face broke out in a smile. He saluted Vinny in a friendly and familiar gesture which earned a smile and nod in response. Vinny wasn't sure when Lucas had begun doing that; he remembered the boy doing it even when they were kids, but he liked it.

Lucas shot back a final thumbs before the coach called him over for a quick huddle. The little interaction had gone relatively without notice, but Vincent caught Hailey wiggling her brows out of the corner of his eye.

     "What?" Vincent asked looking back at her.

     "Nothing." She said quickly holding up her hands in surrender. "I like the Jersey." She whispered with a giggle.

     "I'm just supporting the school." Vincent said with confidence and Hailey let out a small clear laugh.

       "Sure." The other team ran out onto the field, met with boos from the home school section. "Forget the fact that you're marked with Lucas' name." The opposing team was good, and even if Lucas played to the best of his ability it would be tight.

"I don't know if I can watch this." He mumbled as the opposing boys began to stretch. For some reason they seemed bigger than Lucas and his team, but that could have just been Vincent's imagination.

"It'll be alright," Hailey comforted. "There's no reason to think Lucas will have an off day. He'll probably be just fine and we'll be watching him victory dance before you know it."

"I hope you're right," Vinny chuckled.

     The other team ended up controlling the ball first. Vincent was sure this bugged Lucas who always liked to start with control. The defense on the home team wasn't great so they scored a goal right away.

Next Lucas took control and scored right away. The student section erupted with a cheer and Lucas grinned triumphantly. Vincent wasn't very well versed in soccer, but he was beginning to pick it up from three few games he went to.

      "That's good right?"

       "For now," Hailey agreed.

      Whether or not the other team was good didn't seem to matter as Lucas began to dominate the field. Vincent didn't know a lot, but what he did know was that Lucas was playing well. Vincent also knew that their school was ahead by an ever increasing lead. He caught himself following Lucas across the field with his eyes as the athlete ran with the ball, a few players chasing him, but quickly falling behind. Lucas ran straight to the net and wound up sending the ball into a perfect arc. The goalie ran to block, but he was too late, and the ball sailed into the net. The entire school section rose to their feet cheering loudly.

       Lucas looked up at the stands, placing two fingers to his mouth then gesturing them towards Vinny, before running back to his team.

      "That was the winning goal!" Hailey exclaimed.

     "It's over?" Vincent asked. "It went faster than I thought."

      "That's because you enjoyed it." Hailey taunted. "Lucas was on fire!"

     "Uh. Yeah!" Dustin said, coming up beside Hailey. "He was epic!"

      "I know... he was everywhere on the field. It was awesome!"

     "Really? It seemed like you were kinda distracted." Hailey winked.

      "Talk about distracted. You should have seen him trying to say goodbye to Lucas the other day," Dustin teased.

    "I don't like you guys teaming up on me!" Vinny whined.

    "Hi. I'm Dustin." Dustin stated, smiling kindly.

    "Hailey." She suppressed a little giggle, "I love your makeup."

    "See! I knew it was cool. Vinny said it looked lame." Dustin cheered in victory.

    "We should go congratulate Lucas." Vincent said quietly.

        "Oh, shoot," Hailey looked to her watch. "I've got dinner with my family.. I'm late. Vinny, I think we might have to leave now."

       "Oh okay..." Vincent attempted not to let his disappointment show. "See you later Dustin."

        "Bye guys!" Dustin made his way off into the crowd.

      "Alright. Let's go." Vincent and Hailey navigated through the crowd making their way towards where the cars were located. Since he couldn't go meet Lucas at the gate, Vincent figured he'd call him on the way over, so he could wish him congratulations.

     "Hey Lu, Great Job!" Vinny exclaimed excitedly.

     "Are you coming to meet me at the door?" Lucas asked.

     "No. I'm sorry. Hailey's late for dinner plans so we've got to go."

     "Shit. I don't have any Thanksgiving plans either, if Hailey doesn't mind you could grab dinner with me." He replied quickly.

Hailey shook her head excitedly to say she didn't mind.

"I think she's alright with it." Vincent chuckled.

"Good. See you by my car in ten?"

     "Uh... sure I guess." Vinny said looking to Hailey who just smiled, and Lucas hung up. Vinny gave a quick goodbye to Hailey before making his way over to the locker room.