The Game Changer: The Final Score

by Trio, L. M.

  “I know, but I was just really happy when you said you would go with me.” He laughs.

  I hate for him to leave and want to be with him really bad. Before I think about what I’m saying, I blurt out, “You didn’t see my apartment, yet. Do you want to come up for a minute?”

  “Yeah, sure,” he answers quickly… a little too quickly. Then, not to seem over anxious, he adds, “I mean, I can come up for a minute, but then I gotta head out, my flight leaves early.”

  He follows me up to my apartment and I slowly open the door and invite him in. His eyes scan the room. I know by his expression, that he’s impressed.

  “Wow, JJ, this is great,” he says, looking around.

  The walls are covered in various paintings that I’ve painted over the last couple of years. Mya’s sculptures are scattered throughout the apartment, some are large floor sculptures while others are smaller and placed on stands or tables. We have a huge work area by the large open wall of windows that lets in great light during the day. It also gives a great view of the city lights by night. Floor lamps are placed all over for when we work at night.

  “Thank you,” I say proudly. “It is kind of cool, isn’t it?”

  “Awesome, I guess you guys did this yourselves?”

  I nod my head proudly and walk him around the apartment, answering all of his questions about the different works of art. I like that he’s interested and asks about all of the different pieces.

  He’s really into Mya’s sculptures and thinks she’s really good. I wish she was here so she could see how impressed he is with her work. She’d like that. She likes him. She told me the night we went out for ice cream that as much as she tried not to like him, she just couldn’t do it. She thought he seemed like a great guy and a lot of fun to be around.

  “The view from here is great. You can see the whole city,” he says as we stand by the large window looking out into the bright colorful lights of Ybor City.

  “I know. A lot of nights I sit here with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine just looking out. It’s a great view.” I point to the bench covered with pillows that sits in front of one of the windows.

  The light breeze fills the room from the opened windows, along with the aroma of the cigar shop and various cafes that surround the building. He holds out his hand for me and I reach out to him. He entwines our fingers and kisses the back of my hand.

  “It has the same effect as the docks or the beach. I’ll bet it’s relaxing, listening to the sounds, and I like the smell of the air,” he adds, smiling as he reads my thoughts.

  I step closer to him and he wraps his strong arms around me, squeezing me tightly.

  “I had fun tonight; I’m glad I went. Thank you,” I say, resting my head against his broad chest, listening to the sound of his rapidly beating heart; a familiar sound that I always found soothing.

  “Me, too… but as much as I hate to leave… I think I better get going,” he says reluctantly, holding my head close to his heart. He kisses the top of my head.

  “Oh… that’s right, you have to get up early,” I reply, looking up at him, not wanting the night to end.

  “Well, yeah… that, too.” He laughs and puts me at arms’ length. “Walk me out?”

  I unwillingly take his hand, leading him towards the door. He thanks me again for the evening and suddenly it becomes awkwardly quiet. As we reach the door, I hesitantly begin to open it. I feel his presence behind me so close that his body is practically touching mine. His hand slides over mine as he gently pushes the door closed and then slowly turns me towards him. My heart feels as if it’s going to explode from my chest.

  We stand here, staring at each other, for what seems like forever. Finally, he lowers his head and kisses me. My hands wrap around his waist and I pull him closer to me. He cups my face in his hands while his tongue glides between my parted lips as he presses his body against mine, pinning me to the door. My body tingles as he slides his hands down my neck, while his mouth devours mine. I slip my hands under his shirt, running my fingers down his back, pulling his hard muscular body against me. His hand moves slowly down my body caressing the top of my thigh as it inches its way up my dress.

  Every intimate moment that we ever shared surges through my head. Despite being apart from each other for so long, it only takes this one night to know in my soul that he needs me as much as I need him. I respond by kissing him with the same urgency as I run my hands down his chest, gliding my fingers softly over his solid stomach. I’m so caught up in the moment that I’m startled when I’m abruptly bumped from behind by the door causing us to suddenly stop in place. Luke reaches up with his hand and holds the door closed, while we stand there staring at each other, breathless.

  “Jess?” Mya calls out from the other side, as she jiggles the knob once more.

  Luke rests his forehead against mine, letting out a deep breath. He smiles and kisses the tip of my nose keeping me in place. His hand remains firmly pressed against the door, preventing Mya from being able to open it.

  “One more before I go,” he whispers in my ear as he kisses me passionately once again. My hands remain under his shirt, wrapped around his waist. I pull him towards me, not wanting to let him go.

  “Jess, is that you?” she asks, now sounding concerned as she continues turning the knob.

  “Yeah, Mya… just a second,” I call out hastily, distracted by the interruption. We regretfully break free of one another.

  Luke takes a step back, giving me space to move away from the door. I try to gather myself together before opening it. Neither of our breathing has returned to its normal state. Luke’s practically standing on my heels when I open the door to greet Mya and some guy with spiked hair and a tattoo on his neck. She looks at me, and then looks up at Luke.

  “So that explains it,” she says dryly.

  “Hey, Mya,” Luke says cheerfully.

  “Hello, Prince Charming.” She winks, causing him to blush.

  “I was just saying goodbye to Luke, he’s leaving tomorrow,” I say defensively.

  “Don’t let me stop you. I’ll be in my room.” She leads the guy into her bedroom. “See ya when you get back, Luke!” she calls out enthusiastically.

  “See ya, Mya,” he calls to her, and then returns his attention back to me. “Who is that?” he whispers, referring to the guy following behind her.

  “I have no idea.” I shrug. “I’ve learned not to ask. This happens quite frequently. Freshman year I spent a lot of nights on the community couch. That’s why I was so glad when we moved here and I had my own room.” I laugh.

  “I don’t blame you,” he says, laughing. “Mikey said she’s got a bit of a wild side.”

  “I don’t doubt it for a second.”

  I can see his mind working and a scowl is forming on his face, his jaw tightens and begins to pulsate. “Now that I’m thinking of it, I don’t like the idea of her bringing strange guys back to your apartment; it’s not safe. What if it’s some psycho? No offense, but I’m sure Mya doesn’t attract the most normal guys.”

  “Oh, normal guys. You mean, like you?” I tease, trying to distract him from worrying.

  He laughs at my sarcasm. “Wow, did you just crack a joke, making fun of me?”

  “I’m kidding,” I say, laughing as he tickles me.

  “You’ve got a point. I just spent the last couple of years with a bunch of lunatics. How do you know I’m not some nut now? After all, you’ve only been around me for less than a week,” he teases playfully, squeezing my waist.

  “You were always a nut,” I say, laughing and pushing him away, but he pulls me back in, once again wrapping his arms around me.

  “I love to see you laugh. I love being around you… you make me happy.” He kisses the top of my head.

  I feel the same way, but I’m still afraid to say it out loud. I wrap my arms tightly around him and bury my head against his chest, hoping he knows how I feel.

  “JJ, all joking aside, I’m serious abou
t the strange guy thing. I don’t like the idea of you being here with some guy you don’t know in your apartment. It worries me,” he says with genuine concern.

  “I always lock my bedroom door when she has some stray guy stay over.” I shrug, trying to make light of the situation.

  “What if you have to go to the bathroom?” he quizzes.

  “I never thought about it. I don’t usually get up to use the bathroom during the night.”

  “Agh… Now I hate leaving you. I’m going to be worrying about this. Do you want me to stay… on the couch?”

  “Didn’t you tell me earlier that you had to be at the airport at four in the morning?” I laugh.

  “Yeah, and I still don’t have my shit together, yet.” He chuckles. “Hey, why don’t you come to my house?” Then he catches himself. “Wait, I swear it’s not a ploy to get you into bed. You can have my room and I’ll take Mikey’s.”

  I shake my head at him and laugh. “Luke, it’s fine. We’ve never had a problem. My door is locked and I have my cell phone with me. Don’t worry. Besides, you’re leaving too early, it will be too much,” I try to reassure him, although I’m tempted, knowing there will be no way we’d sleep in separate rooms. “You better go, it’s getting late and you’ve got to be up early.”

  It’s clear that neither of us is ready for the evening to end, but then again, neither one of us takes the initiative to pick up where we left off before the interruption. Knowing Luke as I do—or did—his mind is now focused on the stranger in Mya’s bed. He’s conflicted on whether or not to leave… and this has nothing to do with getting me in bed, it’s all about being in protective mode now. I finally persuade him to go and he gives me one last distracted kiss before leaving. He no sooner gets home, when my phone rings.

  “Hey, are you up?” he asks.

  “I am now,” I reply sleepily.

  “Sorry… I just wanted to check on you and tell you once again that I had a great time tonight. I’ll miss you,” he adds quietly.

  “Me, too.”

  ***

  (Luke)

  After that evening, we call each other every night while I’m away. Most nights, we talk for an hour or more. The time apart strengthens our relationship. In order to move forward we have to discuss the past. We talk everything out, especially what went wrong. I never knew that all of the time I was gone she thought I slept with Alexa before I went away. Thinking back, Mikey and I never actually discussed that night. It was a night I wanted to forget. If I knew that Mikey suspected the same thing, I would have told him that nothing happened between us. I would never have let her go on believing I would sleep with anyone other than her. Walking away from her like I did was bad enough. Knowing what she believed to be true put things into perspective for me as to why she never tried to contact me.

  And vice versa, when I told her about how horrible it was for me while I was away, she finally understood why it took me so long to come back to her. I witnessed some terrible things while I was away. I told her how I would hear crying during the night of guys being abused. It was bad and I had nightmares about it for awhile. Thankfully, because of my size and my attitude, I can be intimidating when I want to be, no one messed with me. I told her how I couldn’t show weakness or any type of emotion to anything that was going on around me. I had a few friends, but mostly kept to myself. I told her it was one of the reasons I didn’t want anyone I cared about around me. I was afraid it would soften me. After building up that wall for so long, I had a hard time breaking it down once I got out. I told her every bit of how screwed up I was.

  We talk and we listen to one another. Not all of our conversations are deep. After getting the worst over with first, we rekindle the most important part of our relationship, our friendship. Our friendship is what attracted me to her from the moment I met her. She looked at me in a way that no girl had ever looked at me. It didn’t matter to her if I played baseball or mowed lawns. She cared about me and thought of me as her friend. She listened to what I had to say and offered her advice. She made me feel important because she trusted me enough to be a part of her life, a life that she kept private from most people. We told each other things that we knew would only stay between us. It was instant, and I knew even then that it was too special to ever let go.

  As the weeks pass, we now talk easily and playfully with one another like we used to. On this one particular night, I joke with her about the kiss we shared the night of the fundraiser.

  “It was like the first time I kissed you all over again, remember the Fourth of July?” I ask.

  “Yes, it was,” she adds sweetly.

  “Yeah, but only this time, I think I could have gotten you to go to bed with me,” I tease.

  “Oh please! No way! I knew that’s what you were thinking.” She starts laughing.

  “Five more minutes… that’s all I needed, if only Mya didn’t show up.”

  “Nope, never would have happened,” she denies. “Are you trying to say I’m easy or something?”

  “Well, I know firsthand you’re easy.”

  “Only with you,” she teases.

  “I’ll keep that in mind when I get home.”

  We’re looking forward to seeing each other. By the end of our five weeks apart, I know one thing for sure. We belong to each other.

  Chapter 16(Jesse)

  I breeze through my last exam of the day, then head to my shift at the gallery. After tonight, my schedule is clear for the next several days and I’m excited to have the time off.

  Frank and I remain friends, but nowadays, things are more business-like. The private lunches and dinners come to an end, but he continues to teach me the ins and outs of the business. He’s planning another showcasing event for me sometime in late winter. It means a lot to me, knowing that he respects my work.

  In the beginning, it was somewhat awkward. One day, while Jazz and I were alone in the gallery, we were talking in the office together about Luke. We didn’t hear Frank enter from behind. He acted as if he didn’t hear, but it was embarrassing just the same.

  The following week, he stopped by the gallery with a tall beautiful blonde on his way out for the evening. He’d left his wallet in his desk. He introduced her to Jazz and I. Jazz later told me that her father owned several hotels in the Tampa Bay area. I was happy for him, but couldn’t help thinking he brought her in to let me know he’s moved on. It was for the best, though. After that, the awkwardness seemed to fade away between us.

  The Rays got swept their last three games, putting an end to their season. In the few short weeks Mikey played with the Rays, he managed six home runs, eleven RBI’s and was featured on ESPN top plays of the week on two different occasions. Mikey has gotten so much recognition for his performance during the series that it pretty much clinches his starting position with the team come spring.

  While in Texas, Mikey was introduced to Lora Rae, one of the up and coming actresses from one of those hit teen shows on the CW channel. She lives in LA, but is originally from Texas. She was at the playoff games and asked a mutual friend to introduce her to him after the game. Luke told me she invited him to a club later that evening. He said it was the first time he’d ever heard Mikey sound nervous to meet a girl. Then again, it was his first time meeting a celebrity “it” girl.

  Luke said that he wasn’t in the club with her for more than five minutes when she pulled him into a private area in the VIP lounge and had sex with him. Needless to say, they’ve been hot and heavy ever since. He’s barely been home, spending the last few weeks in LA. After all, it was a long season. I guess he was ready to chill and have some fun.

  Since the paparazzi are known for following Lora Rae around, Mikey has been photographed with her numerous times. A couple of times they were spotted getting coffee in the morning at the local Starbucks. One night, they were photographed in a club, and twice holding hands in a park. Mikey has been eating it up. He loves the attention. Deanna, not so much.

  I met Lora Rae bri
efly when he first began to see her. He flew in to pick up some of his things to bring out to LA. They stopped by The Blue for drinks. I thought she was just as beautiful up close as she is on TV. Only she seems a little full of herself, well for that matter, so is Mikey. Maybe I’m being hard on her because she’s famous. Or maybe, it has to do with my best friend freaking out. Mikey brought Lora Rae to Arizona to watch one of Luke’s games and Deanna was there, along with Jeffrey, the four of them watched the game together.

  ***

  (Deanna)

  I can’t get over Mikey dating this celebrity girl. It’s making me crazy for some reason. I call JJ for the millionth time.

  “JJ, can you believe this? I’m finally moving to Tampa and he’s leaving.”

  “De, who said he’s leaving?” she asks, curious as to where I get my information. Obviously, I’m getting it from the tabloids, she’s everywhere I look.

  “Oh, you had to see them. I spent the whole day with them and they were all over each other. It was disgusting, actually,” I complain while JJ laughs.

  “It’s not funny. He’s going to leave. His contract will be up at the end of the season next year. He’s going to end up in LA, you watch. He loves that shit. You know him.”

  “He’s not going to leave and go to LA. The Rays are going to give him a huge deal. Luke told me they’re not going to let him go,” she tries to convince me. “Besides, this is one of those whirlwind romance things, they won’t last another month.”

  “I don’t know about that. Did you see him in the magazines? Just Google her, he’s all over the place with her… looking all smug. Ugh!”

  “Yeah, I did see that.” She chuckles, agreeing with me. “But, you know him, he likes getting all of the attention. He’s probably already getting annoyed that she gets more attention than him.” I laugh, agreeing with her this time. “Besides, he can’t wait for you to get here, he’s so happy that you’re moving here.”

  “Was so happy, before he met her,” I add dryly.