The Football Player's Parallel Obsession

Webb's Explanation and Apology

Webb

After grabbing our drinks, I lead her to a corner booth that’s kind of secluded. She looks hurt as she sits down and I feel my heart clench in pain. I never wanted to hurt her. Here goes. I can fix this if nothing else to take her pain away.

“Sofie….I’m really sorry about this morning. I swear I didn’t mean what you thought. It all came out wrong. I meant that you were stuck with me. Not the other way around. I’m not good at talking to girls Sofie. Not in any way, even just for a simple project. And I heard you thought I was going to dump you as my partner…again. I never was going to ask for a trade.” Wow I got all that out. Guess the need for her not to be angry with me overwhelmed my shyness.

“So why did you in chem lab? You stuck me with Ryan freaking Tanner.” Her head is tilted to the side as she just waits.

“Because I was sooo awkward. I couldn’t even form a full sentence around you. You were a girl and I was extremely painfully shy.” I feel my cheeks burn as I admit this. “I’m sorry you got Ryan, but I would have been worse. Look I’ve never been good at talking to the opposite s*x and I apparently haven’t gotten much better in the last three years. I’m sorry Sofie. Really and truly.” I sigh relieved I was able to talk to her this much.

“I do remember you being almost mute. So it wasn’t because you said I was ugly and couldn’t bear to look at me?”

I am taken aback and see she can tell by her expression. “Ummm no, I never said that! I couldn’t find my voice is all. Sorry about that.” I look down at the table ashamed of being such a coward. My hands are shaking again.

“Apology accepted. Thanks for pushing past your discomfort to explain.” She says softly. I jerk my head up and look into her eyes.

“I’ll try to phrase things better.” She nods.

“Why did you think I said you were umm ugly and the rest?”

“Ryan said you told him that when you asked for the trade.”

“I absolutely did not!” Jackass! Next time I see him…. “You should send me your contact info so we can keep in touch about our project.” I hold my phone over hers and she does the same.

“Can we meet Sunday afternoon and try to knock out a big block of it?” She nods looking glad about the extra time. “Here’s my idea….”

Sofie sits directing me to her apartment complex. I keep glancing over to make sure she hasn’t gone back to being upset with me. “Where are we meeting on Sunday?” She asks as I pull into the parking lot.

“I live with Clint and Colby and it’ll be noisy. Library or coffee shop?”

“Coffee shop.” She declares.

“I have practice at 4:30 so how about 1:30? Would give us a few hours.”

She nods “I’ll meet you there. And by the way, you are the one stuck with me. I suck at writing papers. Absolutely terrible. You must be good at it since she paired you with me. I was a much better chem lab partner.” With that she jumps from the truck and heads in the building. I watch until she’s inside before leaving. I walk in our apartment and hear the guys playing something in the living room. I walk in and see Colby and Clint concentrating on the video game.

“You make it right?” Clint asks without looking away.

“Yeah she’s speaking to me again. Going to meet on Sunday to work on our paper.” I grab a water from the fridge and sit to watch them. We have practice in an hour and I dread going today.

“Good. I was going to threaten to kick your ass Webb. She’s too nice for anyone to hurt her.” Colby declares.

Clint “you adopt her or something?”

“Think I might. She’s genuinely sweet. Her mom abandoned her and her brother as young kids. Admitted that today after I asked her about her peppermint stash. Made me want to hug her and hide her away from the world like a little sister.”

I blow out a breath “that’s really f****d up.”

Colby nods “she told me there were silver linings to it and consoled me over feeling upset about it. I’m introducing her and Delaney to Ava.”

“In the vein of protecting her, guess what Ryan Tanner told her when she asked him why we traded chem lab partners.” I struggle to keep the anger out of the statement.

Clint looks away briefly “scared to ask from that tone of voice.”

“Said I told him she was ugly and I couldn’t bear to look at her.”

Colby’s eyes widen and he blows out a breath “Jackass. I’m throwing the ball at his head next time he’s playing his video games on the sideline.”

I nod in agreement. “Maybe I can run into him as I go out of bounds…” I can’t even fathom why he would have told her that. All I said is I wanted to work with Clint. He’d agreed easily saying he’d prefer to have a girl partner because they talk more and he wouldn’t have to. Polar opposite of me.

I wait nervously in the coffee shop for her to show up. Behave today Webb, don’t say anything stupid. Then I see her causing me to almost groan and I know I’m sure to screw this up. She’s so f*****g beautiful. I thought she was the minute I laid eyes on her as my chem lab partner and I haven’t been able to forget her since. Her hair is pulled up and she’s not wearing her glasses today. She wears a tank top and shorts but I see a sweater tied around her waist. Her eyes meet mine and I stop breathing for a second as she smiles a little at me.

“Hey Webb.” She says softly as she sits down.

“Hey. Weekend ok?” I manage to ask.

She looks up and grimaces. “Same old, same old. And you? Practice today right?”

I nod. “At four thirty. We should uh have plenty of time to work. You get to write anything?” She nods and hands me three sheets of paper. I hand her the six I finished yesterday.

“Overachiever.” She mutters playfully.

She’s laughing by page two and I smile. Her laugh is adorable. Our first paper is a funny commentary of a football game. We decided to write it as if the two announcers know nothing about the game. I read Sofie’s and realize she is well versed in the sport. Hers is sarcastic and funny. “This is great Sofie. Very funny. I….I like it. We need to fix a few things though to make it…make it flow better. Let me ummm show you.” She moves closer to me causing my pulse to pick up and her scent catches my nose. It’s the same as I remember, peppermint and vanilla. I explain how she can make her paper longer and add in the elements Mafferty wanted. We decided to do a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern like commentary for this paper. She has the wit to pull this off. I pretend I am tutoring and she’s not a girl to get through this. She’s leaning in close as I show her the difference between our papers. As she reads back and forth, I study her subtly. Her ears are pierced and I see the small diamond studs she wears. Never seen her wear any other jewelry. Her slim neck would look pretty with a delicate necklace. And my lips attached to it. I want to lean down and kiss her. Run my lips and tongue over every inch of her neck. I’ve never felt such a strong urge to do so with any other girl. I wonder how smooth her skin is and if I could leave my mark on her, dot that beautiful neck with hickeys. What the hell is wrong with me today?!

I close my eyes to regain control of myself and open them as she turns her head to look at me asking “what if I change the wording to….”

I nod trying to forget my thoughts. “That would be good.” When my timer goes off, I frown in its direction. Damn football practice. And that makes me frown more. I love football. Never wanted to skip it as badly as I do right now.

“Webb? You alright? Looking like you want to punch your alarm.” Sofie says with a smile.

“Didn’t realize how fast time was passing.” I tell her half honestly. Have two and a half hours really gone by?

She chuckles “guess you survived my company today. Go practice Mr. Bigshot Tight End.”

“See you in class tomorrow.” I get up reluctantly seeing a guy at the bar staring at her. He keeps trying to catch her eye. It’s not my business if some guy in a coffee shop wants to ask her out right? I hurry to my truck before I do something stupid.