The Football Player's Rebel

Unexpected Visitors

Tuck's P.O.V.

I scan the stands looking for my girl, and I see her within a few seconds.  She wasn't hard to find, standing out in the sexy outfit she was wearing this evening among the sea of red and white.  She's staring right at me and I feel butterflies rise in my stomach, knowing this is the first game she's ever been to and she's here only to watch me.  I can't help what I'm about to do, I want her to know that she's the only one who has my full attention, that I have eyes only for her and no other girls.  I raise my fist to my chest and bump it against my heart, before pointing towards her.  A smile covers her face, before she raises her fist to her chest too, bumping it and pointing back at me.  I'm so happy right now at her reply that I feel like I can conquer the world.  I put my helmet back on my head and run to my team, being the most pumped I've ever been before a game.

"I see your girl up there.", Chad says to me as I take my spot next to him.  He backhands me in the chest as a smile spreads across his face, "I hope sooner or later, that I can break that brick wall down, that her feisty friend has built up around her.", he tells me with a mischievous smirk spreading across his face.

I frown at him, "Look man, I don't know what you're up to, but don't mess with Tiffany unless you're actually interested in her personality rather than getting in her pants."

"I hate that you think so little of me, Tucker!", he says chuckling.

"I'm just saying, I've been working hard to get back into Melanie's good graces, and I'm not going to mess it up this time.  If you are my friend, you'll promise me that you'll leave Tiff alone, so it won't mess things up between me and Melanie.  I don't need her hating me again, because my friend can't keep his d**k in his pants.", I say to him, throwing him a warning glare.

"Geez, okay man! Have you ever thought that maybe I'd like to TRY the relationship thing, and that Tiffany is unlike any other girls that I've ever screwed in this town? That I like the fact that she doesn't throw herself at me and makes me actually have to work at it?  I for real wouldn't mind getting to know her in more ways than just sex.", he tells me genuinely, looking upset that I was giving him such a hard time.

"Well look, we'll skip the party tonight after the game, and I'll find a way to ask the two of them if they want to hang out.  We'll get some food and beer and hang out with them tonight.  You can stay at my house.  I'm sure Melanie will be up for it and usually she can talk Tiffany into doing almost anything, even hanging out with you.  It'll be a good time.  Besides, I'm not really up for partying, kind of burned out on it anyway.", I tell Chad.

He looks at me and smiles, patting my shoulder, "Sounds like a plan to me, dude!"

***

We win the game 28-7, fans screaming and cheering as they rush the field.  I look up to where Melanie and Tiffany are sitting, to see them still sitting there talking, rather than joining the crowd.  I wouldn't of expected them to do anything besides that, anyway, because this isn't really their scene.  I make my way through the crowd, and push past a few cheerleaders who run up to me trying to congratulate and hug me, ignoring them. I get to the bleacher steps and start walking up them, my cleats clonking against the metal below me.

"That was a great game, Tuck!", Tiffany yells at me as I'm halfway up the steps to them.

"Don't act like you actually knew what was going on, Tiff.  You might be smart, but I know you don't understand football.", I say when I reach them, laughing at her.

She chuckles at me in return, "Well you guys won, so it had to have been great.  That's all I need to know!"

Melanie is leaning back against the chain link fence behind her, one leg stretched out in front of her and the other pulled in, her hands grasping her ankle holding it in place.  Her nose and cheeks are tinted pink from the wind blowing against them so hard, and her lips are now shiny from the Chapstick I watch her glide on them. 

"You did awesome, Tucker.", she says gently as she smiles at me, putting her Chapstick back into her pocket.

"Well since you ladies think I did so great, how about you two congratulate me by agreeing to a little bit of fun tonight?", I say smirking at Melanie before I turn to Tiffany, "That is, if Tiff is up for it?"

"Boy, please! Do you know who you're talking to?  I'm the QUEEN of fun.", Tiff says dramatically as she points to herself.

"Promise not to back out, Tiff?", I ask her as I point my pinky at her for a pinky promise.

"Cross my heart and hope to die, Anderson!", she says as she hooks her pinky into mine.

"Awesome, meet me and Chad at my house in an hour! You can just crash at Mel's place tonight.  If that's cool with you, Mel?", I say, looking back at Melanie.

She smirks at me, knowing that I roped Tiffany into something she wouldn't of done in a million years, which is hanging out with Chad, before nodding her head yes.

"Chad isn't exactly what I have in mind, when I think about having fun!", Tiff says, standing up and punching me on the shoulder pad, "You tricked me! Now I actually have to do it, because I'm not a woman who breaks her promises!"

"Yeah, you seem like the type of person to be that way.  That's what I was counting on.", I say as I smirk at Tiffany, before I turn to look at Melanie and wink at her, "See you girls in an hour! Don't be late!"

I turn and start walking down the steps towards the locker room, when I hear Tiffany talking to Melanie behind me, "I seriously hate him right now."

"Yeah, but you'll learn to love him.", Melanie says back, making me smile at the fact that she used the word love, before I hear her finish telling Tiffany, "If there's any girl that can handle Chad, you're definitely the girl."

I reach the locker room and see that Chad is already stripped out of his uniform.

"We've got some girls to meet, Chad.  Hurry up and shower.", I tell Chad with a grin on my face.

He looks at me with furrowed eyebrows, "You actually got Tiff to agree to hangout with us?"

"She was fine hanging out with me.", I tell him chuckling, "It was you she had a problem with!  I had to trick her into agreeing to it."

He laughs a little under his breathe and shakes his head, "I'll take whatever chance I can get, I don't care that she had to be tricked into it.  She'll eventually warm up to Rad Chad."

"Yeah, how about you don't refer to yourself in third person?  And if you do, DEFINITELY don't call yourself Rad Chad?", I say as I laugh, before throwing a towel at him.

"Yeah, it sounded better in my mind.  I regretted it the moment it left my mouth.", he tells me while laughing at himself.  

We both shower and change into our spare clothes, before heading out of the locker room doors.  As soon as we walk into the parking lot, I see a group of four cheerleaders standing beside my truck.  I spot Sara immediately in the group and roll my eyes.  She looks straight at me when she hears the locker room door slam behind us, and playful smirk creeps up her face as she leans her back against the hood of my truck and sits down on my front bumper.  I see her tug her shirt down a little, revealing more of her cleavage in an attempt to seduce me. We get to my truck and all of them start smiling at us seductively.

"Ladies.", I hear Chad say with an annoyed tone in his voice, surprising me that he sounds so irritated.  Maybe he really was telling the truth about him being tired of screwing around with the same type of girls.

"Chad.", I hear Bethany chirp as she skips up to him, throwing her arms around his neck, "Are you boys joining us for the party at Sara's house tonight? Her parents went on a weekend trip, so we all have the house to ourselves!", she purrs at him.

Chad still has his hands in his varsity jacket pockets, not looking directly at Bethany as he attempts to ignore her, "Me and Tuck are celebrating the win in a different way tonight.  We have plans already."

I see Sara jerk her head from Chad to me, shooting daggers through my face with her eyes, "Which would be WHAT exactly?"

"None of your f*****g business, Sara.  Get the hint! You two are over!", Chad says to her with annoyance, while he peels Bethany's arms off of him. 

"We aren't over until I say it's over!", Sara yells at Chad angrily, before she looks back at me, "Do you understand?!", she says to me, putting her hands on her hips.

I chuckle at her, "Sara, I don't want any part of you.  You're annoying, and clingy, and care way too much about what other people think of you!  Not to mention you're just a f*****g bully.  I see the way you treat other girls in our school, hell, even the way you treat your own friends.  I don't even see how you have friends, honestly.  I don't understand how I got involved with you in the first place.  Me and you are NEVER happening again.  I can't even stand being around you.  The person I'm going to end up falling in love with, eventually, will be smart and genuine and kind.  They'll have confidence that radiates off of them and a happy, carefree attitude about life.  That's not you.  So, please, just leave me the hell alone!"

She snickers, "You're not wanting to be with a bully, but the person you're after right now, her and her friend harassed me in the parking lot before the game, right after you went into the locker room.  Bethany and I were walking through the parking lot, minding our own business, when her and that little pip squeak of a sidekick that she has came up and threw soda on me.  Isn't that right, Bethany?", Sara tells me as she looks back at Bethany, who just smiles and nods her head at me with a smirk on her face.

I laugh at her, "Yeah, that's a complete lie.  I'm sure you deserved whatever they did to you.  I know Melanie better than that!  She would never purposely torment someone, unless she's taking up for herself or her friends."

"You don't even know her, Tuck! You JUST started hanging out with her!", Sara yells at me.

"Wrong.  I've known her since I was nine.  We grew up together.  I've been in love with her ever since I was a kid...", I say, before I suddenly stop talking, my eyes growing wide at my confession I just spilled out in front of everyone, their eyes widening in surprise as well.

"Are you f*****g serious?  You were in love with someone else when we were dating? When we were having s*x? Please don't tell me you were thinking of that FREAK when I was underneath you?!", Sara screams with rage. 

I chuckle at her as an evil grin covers my face, "Every time, babe.  You never noticed how her bedroom window was right across from mine?  I'd stare into her room as I was screwing you."

Chad starts laughing hysterically, before clenching at his stomach as he tries to calm his breathing, "OH, MAN! This is the best s**t ever! It's like a reality show you see on t.v.", he says, before looking at me, "Come on, dude.  We've got some hot dates waiting on us.", he says to me as he walks towards my truck. 

I go to grab my keys from my pocket, when Sara suddenly slaps me across my face.  She hits me so hard that my ears are ringing and my face stings from the pain. I look back at her and smile, not wanting to give her the satisfaction from it that she was looking for, before spinning my keys around my finger and turning around to climb into my truck.  

I hear Sara scream at me one last time, before I finally climb into the driver's side door, "f**k you, Tucker!"

Chad and I get into the truck and slam our doors shut, sitting there for a moment as we watch Sara, Bethany, and the other two girls angrily spin around and stomp off.  I hear him chuckling to my right, before  I look over at him and start chuckling as well, "What are you laughing at, bro?"

"Well for one, I am so proud of you for finally putting that b***h in her place!", he says, leaning over and high fiving me, "two, you have no game, whatsoever.  The whole school is going to hear about you confessing your LOVE for Melanie by Monday, and the girl is going to run for the hills.", he says as he chuckles at me with pity.

"Nah, man.  Mel is different than that.  I've told her I loved her before.", I confess.

"What the hell?! When?", Chad asks, not laughing anymore, looking at me seriously.

I look over at him and smile, "The summer after our 8th grade year."

Chad falls out laughing again, "Man! That was over three years ago! Things are different now.  She's actually grown and understands love and heart break.  Love when you're fourteen is puppy love and girls just soak it up at that age, because of fantasies and bullshit they have built in their heads from books they read and movies they watch.  Girls at this age, though, they start understanding the world and how it actually works.  You're rushing in too fast, trying too hard.  Trust me, you're going to scare her away."

Suddenly my heart falls into my stomach.  He is right, girls are definitely different at this age than when we were fourteen.  Melanie already doesn't like being put in emotional situations after what happened with her dad and me.  Once she hears about this, she's going to put her guard up.  I've definitely messed up.

***

We get to my house and Chad carries in the beer, while I carry in the food.  My parents went to L.A. for the night, for a dinner date with a few friends and a musical.  He puts the case of beer in the fridge and I fire up the grill in the backyard because we decided on burgers, not really knowing what the girls like, so we decided on something easy.  I head up to my room to get showered and change, since I still smell pretty bad from the game.  Chad follows me up and does the same once I'm done, borrowing some clothes from me.  We both throw on some jeans.  I put on a plain white hoodie and an army green jacket over it and he settles for a school sweat shirt with a black jean jacket over that, because it's suppose to be cold tonight.  We spray on some axe cologne.  I put gel in my hair to make my curls act right on the top, not having to worry about the sides because it's cut short to where it only lays flat.  Chad just brushes his sandy blonde hair back and puts a ball cap on backwards. We decide we're ready and I look out of my window and across the yard to Melanie's window, to see that her lights are on, meaning they made it to her house.  I pick my phone up off of my dresser to text her.

*We're ready for you to come over when you are!* -Tucker

*Yeah, I smelled the grill when I let Sampson outside. -Melanie

*Come over, then. Ready to see you!* -Tucker

*We'll be there in fifteen minutes.  Still trying to talk Tiff down from the anger you brought out in her, with your little stunt you pulled ;)* -Melanie

*LOL get your asses over here! I'll deal with her when she gets here!* -Tucker

*Haha. Be there in a few, then. She's your problem now!* -Melanie

A few minutes later I hear a knock on the front door.  I yell at them to come in, knowing it's unlocked.  Chad is seasoning the burgers and I'm frying some fries, when the two girls walk into the house, but not the two girls I was expecting.

"WHAT THE f**k ARE YOU DOING HERE?", both Chad and I say at the same time.