The Football Player's Rebel

Confessions at the Skate Park

Tuck's P.O.V

"Let's just go, ok?", she says angrily before she rushes out of her bedroom.

What the heck is her deal?

I shove my hands into my jean pockets and follow Melanie out of her room as we walk towards my pickup truck.  Before I can get to the truck to open the door for her, she has already jumped into the passenger seat and slammed it shut.  I walk around to the driver's side and climb into my seat as well, shoving my keys into the ignition and buckling my seatbelt.  I put my left hand on the steering wheel and lean my right elbow onto the center console, looking over at her to study her emotions.  She is just staring ahead through the windshield at her garage door, arms crossed over her chest, looking angry...and hurt.

I knew things wouldn't go back to the way they use to be quickly, if ever.  I had planned on treading the water lightly by just coming over to talk to her, but the second she got tangled into that blanket and fell into my chest, my mind skipped steps one through one hundred of my plan, and went straight for the finish line.  Her touch sent my body into a frenzy, a warmth I had been missing these past three years taking over my entire body, before it finally took over my heart.  I hadn't realized how much I had truly missed her until that moment.  My mind went completely blank as my body reacted on it's own accord, caressing her face and tucking her hair behind her ear.  My eyes roamed freely over her face with no shame whatsoever.  It was when she started laughing unexpectedly that I was caught off guard, pulling me back to reality, taking me back to step one.  I stayed up most of the night replaying the scenario in my mind, my brain taking mental pictures of the details of her face and locking it away for safe keeping, just in case I would never be able to get that close to her again.  I woke up the next morning with her still on my mind, itching to be close to her again.  Before I knew it, I was knocking on her door and asking her mom if I could take her out for the day.

I sigh gently, "Why are you mad?", I ask softly.

"I'm not mad. Can we just go to the pier now?"

She lifts her right foot and puts it on the dashboard, right knee resting on the armrest of her door.  My eyes trail over her bare leg, thinking about how sexy her legs are.  Then, my eyes trail up to her midriff and I catch glimpse of a small piece of silver jewelry dangling from her belly button, which I've never seen before.  Soon, I look back up at her face and my heart starts to pound in my chest when I start to think about the fact that this could all be over in seconds, if she chooses for it to be.  She has always been so beautiful to me, even now with her face scrunched up from the anger brewing inside of her.  I can tell she can feel me staring at her, but I know she is too stubborn to say anything about it, and definitely too stubborn to give in and look at me right now.  As if right on cue with me thinking this, she leans up and switches the radio on to ease the tension in the air, still standing her ground by not looking at me or talking to me. The Ying-Yang twins comes over the radio and she scoffs as she switches it to my number two setting...Usher comes over the speakers, she rolls her eyes and switches it to my number three setting...Eminem starts rapping.  Now she's irritated and huffs out a loud growl, and it takes everything in me to hold back my laughter.  

"What kind of crap do you listen to?!", she asks as she reaches for the dial and turns it to 106.1

How did I know that would be the station she would change it to?

I just laugh under my breathe at her while I put my truck in reverse.  Soon Nirvana is blaring through my speakers and she's drumming her fingertips on her thigh, watching out of the passenger side window as the trees blur by in different shades of green.

***

Thirty minutes later we reach the pier at the beach.  I see her eyes open wide with excitement as we pass the ferris wheel, the aquarium, and the boardwalk where all of the carnival games are.  

"Where are we going?", she asks as she leans up in her seat.

"Well, it's about time you finally spoke to me.  I mean, I am dedicating my whole Saturday to you.", I laugh a little while I tease her, hoping she will get out of the mood she is in.

"I never asked you to." , she says as she cuts her eyes at me with a smirk on her face.  

She is finally in a better mood and being playful, which means that maybe this whole day wasn't a mistake, after all.  Maybe she will give me the second chance that I so desperately want from her.

"It's a surprise, okay?", I tell her as I drum along to the beat of the music on the radio.

Five minutes later we reach the new skate park by the cove.  It had just opened two weeks ago and I had been thinking about Melanie ever since I heard about it.  I knew she would enjoy it, and honestly I missed hanging out with her.  No matter how many girls had came in and out of my life, none could replace what I had felt for her since I was a kid.  

I look over at her as she starts to sit straight up in her seat, excitement covering her face as we enter the parking lot.

"SHUT...UP!!!!"

All I can do is laugh at her.  She is so cute when she gets excited.

"SHUTUP, ANDERSON!!! WE ARE NOT?!", she screams ecstatically as she hits me in the shoulder.

"Yeah....we are.", I say as I pull into the parking lot.

"Oh my, God. I cannot believe this! I've been wanting to come here since I heard about it a month ago!", she squeals.

Before I can even put my truck into park, she is jumping out and running to the bed to grab her skateboard out of the back. After she grabs her board and puts it on the ground, she runs over to me and slings her arms around my neck, standing on her tip toes so she can squeeze me for the tight embrace.

"Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!", she squeals as she hugs me tighter, making my heart thump hard against my chest.

I wrap my arms around her waist and hug her quickly, knowing the embrace will be over soon, "I figured you'd enjoy it."

Soon enough the hug is over, and I find myself aching to have her body against mine again.  She smelled so good, like honeysuckle. Her body against mine just felt right, and honestly, it really turned me on feeling her pressed against me like that.

She walks over to her board and puts it on the ground, getting on it and kicking off.  I walk beside her as she rides it to the front entrance.  I pay the entry fee for both of us since today was my idea.  In all honesty, though, I wouldn't have let her pay anyway, no matter what.  

Soon enough she is rolling down a ramp, doing flips and tricks I don't even know the names of.  Me? I go to find a concession stand.  What? A growing boy has to eat.

I order two nachos, two hotdogs, and two cokes.  I find my way to a table by the ramp that Melanie is at and sit down, stuffing my face with the food as I watch her.  She looks genuinely happy.  She is in her own little world not caring that she doesn't fit in, not caring that I am one of the most popular guys at school here with her, not caring that she doesn't have makeup on.  She marches to the beat of her own drum, and that's what I have always found fascinating about her. 

As I eat and watch her, I start thinking about our childhood and how our ninth grade year we slowly grew apart.  It was my fault, not hers.  Melanie had tried to stay friends with me but I was too "cool" to hang out with the loner girl since I started playing football.  I started dating the popular girls in our class who wore tons of makeup and skirts and heels, I started becoming friends with a lot of the popular football players, I started paying more attention to them and drifting away from her.  She never once freaked out on me about it.  She tried to keep in touch, but I stopped replying to her texts and calls altogether.  I think Melanie knew that's how life works once you reach high school, that it's not all black and white anymore, that friends who are from different social circles eventually drift apart. Eventually, she stopped trying to reach out to me.  We would say hey when we saw each other outside of our houses, but that was it.  I'd be lying if I told you I didn't miss her, though.  I have missed her so much it hurts. 

"Is this food for me or is this really just how much football players actually eat?", she says as she walks over to the table I'm sitting at.

I snap out of my thoughts and look up to see Melanie smiling down at me.  Her straight shoulder length black hair is sticking to her damp jawline from her sweat, and she has untied the flannel she was wearing around her waist and set it on the bench next to me. She sits down across from me and points to the nachos, blue eyes glimmering with playfulness. 

"So, you know these are my favorite, right? I'm stealing them whether you bought them for yourself or not.", she informs me, giggling as she picks up a chip and pops it in her mouth.

I laugh at her because she has some cheese at the side of her mouth and soon enough she swipes it with her thumb and sucks it off, smiling back at me.

"I mean, all of it was for me. But, sure, go ahead and eat all of my food!", I laugh as I tease at her.

Her eyes widen, "Was ALL of this food really for you?"

"Seriously, Melanie? No!", I say as I chuckle at her.

Melanie smiles at me playfully, "I was about to say, geez, fatass!"

She pops another nacho in her mouth and sucks on the straw of her coke.

I watch her for a few seconds more, before I ask her if she is enjoying herself.

Her eyes twinkle as she looks around at the skate park, before looking back at me, "Honestly, Tucker, I'm having the best time.  Thank you for bringing me here today."

I smile softly at her, "To tell you the truth, Melanie, I just really missed hanging out with you"

Melanie's body stiffens as she sets the nacho back on the plate and crosses her arms over her chest, "Well, that was a decision you made for the both of us two years ago, when you started ignoring me and hanging out with all of those assholes at school.  I never had a choice in the matter."

I sigh, knowing that I can't avoid this conversation now that it's started.  I look back down at my food, ashamed of myself.

 "I know what I did, and it was the biggest mistake I've ever made.  I was very impressionable at that age and didn't know that my friendship with you was more important than popularity at the time.  I'm older now, though.  I just miss you being in my life.  I miss swinging in the backyard and talking about everything there is to talk about in the world.  I miss laying under the stars, eating candy and laughing at the stupid things people at school did during the day.  I miss sitting on your front porch when it's raining outside, sitting in a comfortable quiet with you as you read and cuddle up to me.  I just miss you.  Can we go back to being friends?  Can you just give me another chance to earn your trust back?",  I ask her pleadingly, my voice trembling with regret.

Melanie's beautiful blue eyes are brimming with tears, her jaw clenches as she tries to hold them back.  She looks off into the distance away from me, not making eye contact as she sits back in her seat, tightening her arms that are already crossed over her chest as she tries to shield herself from me. I knew I had hurt her, I knew I had put her through a lot of pain by cutting our friendship off out of nowhere, even though she never let it show. 

At first, it was a rush freshman year, being the big shot football player and all of the popular girls giving me attention.  I had gotten my braces off the summer before, shot up about nine inches, and built muscle from working out so much during two-a-days that summer.  I was getting all of the attention every teenage boy dreams of having, it was just human nature to be swooped up by all of it.  Soon enough, though, I got tired of it all.  None of it meant anything without Melanie by my side.  I found myself just going through the motions; parties every Friday and Saturday, a knew girlfriend every few months because they all annoyed me so much, hanging out with the guys while playing video games.  It always felt like an empty void, though, gnawing at my chest.  None of them knew me, none of them understood me the way Melanie did.  

When I broke up with Sara Johnson it was ridiculous, the girl didn't even know my middle name, she just wanted to climb her way up the social ladder.  I don't even remember how I broke up with her, all I remember is that she started slapping and pushing me, and I had finally had enough when I told her to get the hell out of my house.  She started screaming and crying, squealing her tires when she left.  I watched Melanie from my front porch as I heard Sara slinging rocks out of my driveway in the background.  I smiled at her as she laughed at Sara under her breathe, I knew she was enjoying watching the drama once again.  Melanie always watched my break ups and laughed every time.  Twisted as it was, watching Melanie laugh at my break ups had become my favorite part of my relationships for some reason.  Those few seconds I got to watch the twinkle of pure amusement in Melanie's eyes, made the months of mind numbing agony with the other girls worth it.

 I knew that I had hurt her much worse than anyone I've ever hurt, yet she slapped or hit me.  Melanie never made a scene, never screamed, never argued, she just let me go.  That's what made her different than all of the girls I've ever met and dated, she wasn't so damn dramatic like them.  That's what I admired so much about her, that her confidence was built so much, that she knew she didn't need me in her life to be happy.  That she would rather keep her pride, than to fight for someone who doesn't want to be in her life.  That's also what scares me the most about her, that she can be happy without me, but I can't be happy without her.

"I really am sorry for everything I did Melanie. Please, forgive me?  I'm begging you to let me be a part of your life again.", I ask, pleading with her as my voice cracks with emotion.

Her eyes snap back to me, the tears that were brimming her eyes seconds before are gone, and rage was now radiating off of her whole body, "I think you just need to stay in your own social lane, Tuck.  I'm happy in mine.  You made your choice years ago, and now you're just coming into my life like a damn tornado.  I can't do this!"

She pushes herself off the bench and grabs her things, before walking out of the skate park.  I quickly collect all of my trash and throw it in the bin, before running after her.  She hops on her skateboard and pushes off as hard as she can a few times, passing up my truck along the way, making me have to sprint beside her to keep up.

"Melanie, you can't just skate back to the house! It's over thirty minutes away!", I yell at her, out of breathe.

She just keeps skating, though, ignoring me as I run beside her.  Eventually, I give up trying to run beside her, bending over as I dry heave and try to catch my breathe.  After I catch my breathe, I walk back to the truck and text her, hoping she will reply.

        *Where are you? I'm coming to pick you up* -Tucker

No reply.

        *Seriously? Answer me, Melanie.* -Tucker

I wait for thirty minutes, before finally giving up on waiting at the skate park for her to come back, so I hop in my truck and drive to the pier, hoping to find her.  I start walking down the boardwalk, looking around frantically for her.  After fifteen minutes or so of walking around, I finally see her with her back towards me, talking to some guy.  He is tall and tan, with long bleach blonde hair on top and his hair shaved on the sides, blue highlights in the longer part of his hair.  The long hair on top is lazily pushed back out of his face.  He has an eyebrow piercing and a diamond stud in his right ear.  I can see a tattoo peeking out from under the sleeve of his left arm.  He is wearing ripped jeans and a Rolling Stones tee, with black leather bracelets around his wrists and a skateboard under his arm.  Melanie is leaning on one leg and has her free hand on her hip, with her skateboard under her other arm.  She is laughing at something he is saying to her and he smiles back, flashing his pearly white smile.  I watch them as they exchange phones and put their numbers into each other's, my stomach getting nauseated at the sight.  Jealousy is an understatement at how I'm feeling right now.  I watch her throw her head back and genuinely laugh at him, a laugh I hadn't heard from her in a long time.  He laughs back at her, before looking down at the ground, seeming a little embarrassed about whatever he had said to her.  When I see her look back at him and shove his shoulder playfully, I decide I've finally had enough, I couldn't stand to watch them flirt with each other anymore.

I walk over to them and tap her on the shoulder.  I know she can tell it is me by the way she tenses up and sighs.

"It's about time to go home, it's starting to get dark.", I say to her as she turns around to look at me.

"Yeah, ok.", she says dryly.

I look up at the guy to see him looking back at me with a smirk on his face.  I frown because he is pissing me off, standing there being all smug.

"See you at school on Monday!", I hear Melanie chirp.

I angrily furrow my brows at the two of them, "Wait, what?"

"Asher is starting school with us on Monday! He just moved here from New York.", she tells me as she rolls her eyes at me angrily.

She turns back to him and holds out her fist, as he fist bumps her in return.

"See you later, dude!", she tells him as she turns back to me and rolls her eyes again, walking past me as she purposely bumps her shoulder into mine with an attitude. 

"See you later, babe!", he yells at her as she walks away.

Babe?  I poke my tongue into my cheek and roll my eyes at him, while crossing my arms over my chest.  Asher laughs at me, knowing that I am jealous, and turns around to walk away.

I turn around to follow Melanie once Asher finally walks away for good.  I can tell she is giggling by the way her shoulders are gently moving up and down, she is enjoying the fact that he called her babe.  I follow behind her, watching her hips sway back and forth.  I know she is strutting, thinking he's still watching her, because I know she's not doing it for me.  I grow even more jealous at the fact that some random guy is getting the attention from her that I desperately want.

I know now, that I am in deep s**t, when it comes to how I feel about Melanie.