In love with the girl next door

MIGHT BE SERIOUS ABOUT IT

I just stood staring at Summer point blank. I had never been faced with this kind of situation before and neither did I know how to react to the sudden confession. I was so nervous and I wouldn't say that I wasn't flustered at her words. I knew what it meant for a girl to openly confess their love for me as such but I was smart enough to understand that it could just be that she was being nice or worse, playing a prank on me. Nonetheless, I was speechless and unsure of what to say as my next response could be wrong and end up hurting her true feelings, or I either be made a fool of. Hence, I was left with two options.

However, to my advantage whilst I contemplated taking the fall as a fool so as to not hurt a girl's feelings for me, Summer's face seemed to flush bright red after staring at me all the while and she directly sprinted away from the doorstep which further increased the awkwardness of the situation, leaving me confused as to what was going on. Worse was how my head became empty and incapable of understanding the situation at all.

"Whoa, a deer in headlights!" Blaze's words suddenly resounding just right afore me brought me out of my dazed state and I shook my head.

"You alright, Did she say anything... Offensive to you?" Blaze asked looking over his shoulder warily towards the direction that his twin sister had just hurried off to.

"N-no." I stuttered, still not over the confusion.

"You sure about-"

"Are you ready? let's get moving" Seeing how curious he was getting about what transpired between me and Summer, I quickly changed the topic.

"Well, yes as you can see." He gestured towards his deep blue soccer jersey and joggers that seem to fit his athletic build perfectly with a playful expression on his masculine face that shared no resemblance whatsoever to Summer's despite them being twins.

"Ray said he'll be taking us" He stepped out of the house and closed the door behind him.

"That sloth, is he participating?" I asked.

"He did say he'll be cheering us on from the stands," Blaze said as we exited the gate. We both chatted our way to Ray's home which was just around the corner.

"Hey boys!" Ray came out a few moment after we knocked at the door and we shook hands.

"Ready for the game?" He asked heading towards the garage and we both followed behind.

"I'm quite nervous, I haven't played since high school you know?" I commented with hands on my waist.

"Yeah, you sucked in high school," Ray said with a wave of his hands in the air and a probable roll of his eyes, knowing how he reacted most times.

"I wasn't fit to play!" I retorted in my defense.

"Is that the reason you couldn't score a simple tap-in, bud?" Blaze asked with a mocking expression on his face.

"Hahaha! I tell you, Jax is the worst!" Ray held his chest as he laughed out loud at Blaze's mockery. By the way, the inter-high school competition was a flop, we didn't even make it past the group stage and it was all because of me missing a tap-in at the goal.

Screech!

The garage door made a loud squealing ear-piercing sound of metal grinding on another when Ray pulled it open and we both couldn't help but put a hand to our ears and made bitter faces.

"Holy crap! what the heck is that?!" Blaze cursed when the sound receded. However;

"Are you guys coming in?" Ray, seemingly unaffected by the loud noise queried standing beside the door to his ash V.W UP hatchback with his arms spread wide.

I shook my head at him, conveying my discontent and followed behind Blaze who had already rushed to take the passenger front seat despite his prior reaction.

"Whoo hoo!" Blaze stuck his head out the window and howled as Ray drove out of the garage.

"Now you wait until this.." Ray pressed the play button on the automotive head unit of the car and the soothing sound of music from the local FM boomed. Ray gave me a wicked grin and he moved his hand to the volume amplifier and turned up the music.

"Here we come, Fun'D lift!" He yelled out loud with the road music blasting in the background. The whole car reverberated along with the beat of the melodious yet, rocky music and when we hit the highway, Ray blasted the throttles.

"Yeah, Let's go!" Blaze howled once again and Ray pulled out a shade from nowhere, singing the lyrics of the music.

I took the moment to reflect on Summer's love confession earlier. I tried to recollect if we'd ever had any previous interaction that could lead to her having feelings for me but then I couldn't even register a time that we spoke alone without there being Blaze present. Not knowing what to make of the situation, I decided to act as though nothing of the sort happened.

We made a few detours and grabbed some snacks on the way but we managed to arrive at the stadium just about the right time and we all went in together and approached the changing room to well... change and kit up for the occasion.

"See y'all out there," Ray said with a cheerful gesture of his fist before leaving the changing room. I exchanged a glance with Blaze who shrugged and directly went to take a locker for himself. Of course, I didn't fall too far behind as well as I approached a vacant locker.

"Hey bro!" A guy with long blonde hair and a slightly tall build greeted beside me as I reached the locker and I gave him a nod in return.

"I'm Tyrese" He extended his hand for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you, Tyrese, I'm Jax" I shook his hand and flashed a friendly smile.

"Same here, Let's have a good game, yeah?" He said to which I nodded earnestly and he left afterward. I proceeded to remove my tracksuit, leaving only my white soccer jersey and I brought out my cleats from the kitbag that I brought along with me as well as my shin guard and high-knee length socks. Done dressing, I rejoined Blaze who looked more like a pro player than I do. shortly after, while everyone was busy discussing in the room and psyching themselves up for the game, the event master who seemed the age of an average coach came in along with a few officials and called out to everyone present.

"Players, I believe you all understand that this is a pay-to-participate event, so you shouldn't be surprised there is this much number. Rest assured, everyone here is going to participate to their heart's content" He addressed.

"Now we'll be putting you in your respective teams, but first, we need proof of your p*****t please step forward with your receipt and you shall be put in a team" Following the man's instructions, I went back to my locker to pick up the receipt and I returned when I found it.

"I think that bastard took mine, I'll be back!" Blaze approached me just about the same time and he rushed out of the room to find Ray. He was always like that, playing pranks on us just because he felt that it was fun. I wouldn't say that I wasn't worried about my safety in college, since we're both attending the same.

I had been allotted to team 'Barnabas' when Blaze came back into the room. He flashed the receipt at me, indicating that he found it and he approached the officials to show them afterward.

"Very well" The official nodded and passed him to my team.

"We're playing together again, just like old times," Blaze said with a quite serious expression on his face, standing by my side.

"It's not even been a year since we last played together" I replied with a confused expression as to why he made it sound as if it had been decades.

"Very well, old friend," He said, inhaling a deep breath and his eyes closed. I couldn't help but shake my head in disbelief at his unsightly act.

There were still those with issues and complaints, hence, we were unable to start the event as soon as we might have liked to. But surely, we were sent to the field to start the match, though it took quite a long wait before that happened. I played the left-wing forward role, my usual position while Blaze played central forward. We had a good time playing and I even gave Blaze an amazing assist.

...

"That was a good game, have you been training recently 'cause ya surely didn't play like the Jax I knew back in high school today?" Ray asked as we had lunch in a restaurant, dipping the fries In his plate in the tomato sauce.

"Not really. Didn't you see whom we were playing with?"

"Yeah, those guys are so old. I heard a few bone cracks as we played as well" Blaze commented in my favor.

"True, but you both played exceptionally today. Tell me, Blaze, how does it feel to finally have a win to your name since high school?" Ray suddenly asked with the obvious intent to mock Blaze.

"Well, I'd like to say a big thanks to Ray, my most loyal fan and supporter-"

"Cut!" Ray yelled out loud, cutting off his dramatic speech. It appeared that his mockery had just backfired on him.

We continued to chat and proceeded to the arcade to play video games. We had fun all through the day and it was pretty past dusk before we got home. We surely would have gotten home later if I didn't reject Ray's idea of partying- Yeah, I was the fun spoil.

Ray dropped us off in front of Blaze's and drove off after bidding us goodbye. Blaze was leaving for college later next weekend and that was the reason why we had this hangout planned out for today.

"I really had fun today man, Now I think I'm fully ready for college!" Blaze threw up his fist as we parted and I couldn't hold back my laughter at his drama.

"Later man" I bid him since we'd be meeting again before he left for college, it wasn't final goodbye yet.

I walked along the path toward my house and it was then that I heard;

"Psst!" I quickly turned around to find the source of the strange noise and it took me a short while to finally notice someone waving at me from over the flowery fence of Blaze's.

"Summer?! " I exclaimed in surprise. For some reason, I felt slightly spooked seeing her again.

"Come here" She beckoned with a slight pout of her mouth, seemingly not particularly content with my expression when I saw her. Probably not what she expected.

"How was the game?" She asked when I got closer with an excited smile and a curious glint in her eyes.

"W-well it was fun I'd say" I replied, not understanding what we were doing right now. Why was she speaking to me over the fence when she could just come out and do so if she needed to? And what was this conversation about though?

"uhh ... and here I was having a boring day" She visibly sighed and sulked.

"erm ... Sorry" I didn't know what else to say regarding her complaints. It wasn't as if I was responsible after all.

"You're responsible, you should have asked me to come along!" She exclaimed with pointed fingers and an unfulfilled expression on her face as if I'd done her wrong.

I was taken aback by her sudden claims and I just stared at her dumbfounded, uncertain of what to say...

"Anyway bye, I'll come by later" She suddenly said with a wave of her hand and a warm smile before disappearing into her house in a quick dash, leaving me baffled and standing aloof outside.

'I wasn't even given a chance to say anything. What was that conversation even about?' I thought as I strode into my house with the only plausible explanation for everything that just happened between us being;

'What she said earlier in the morning, I think she might be serious about it!'