Shifting Gears: The Complete Series (Sports Bad Boy Romance)

by Alycia Taylor

  “Hell yes, I’m available. When?”

  Joe laughed, “We start next weekend. I was going to have a listen to a female singer that my keyboard guy recommended on Tuesday, and then we’ll probably jam together on Wednesday. The wife sings too but she doesn’t want to commit to it every weekend. I know you’re going to school man, but it will all be in the evening. I know you’re good, if I like the girl maybe we can work out a schedule if we get the full gig.”

  I was ecstatic. If it had been during the day, I was ready to quit school. Not really, but hell yes! I was going to be singing at the hottest club in town. “Where are you getting together?”

  Joe handed me a card with an address on it. “It’s a storage garage; my brother-in-law owns it. It keeps us from getting kicked out of our neighborhood, so the wife likes me to run practices there.”

  A voice cut in from out of nowhere, “You got that right. Last time he practiced in the garage I think three people called the cops.” It was his wife Lyndie. I always liked her. She and Joe had gotten married young. They weren’t even thirty yet and had already been married ten years and had a couple of kids.

  “Maybe it wasn’t the volume they were complaining about…if you know what I mean,” I said with a laugh.

  “Hey boy, watch yourself if you want to play with me.” Joe barked, but with a grin.

  I said hello officially to Lyndie and we chatted for a few minutes before they left to go back to their seats. I must have still been grinning when Molly came back out because she looked around and said, “What is so dang funny? You’re always grinning like the Cheshire Cat.”

  I wanted to hug someone I was so excited, and I really wanted it to be her. I didn’t go there though, not yet. I didn’t want to scare her away already. Instead, I told her about Joe and the club.

  “Wow, that’s great,” she said, seeming genuinely happy for me. “Aqua is supposed to be a really fun place.”

  “I went there the night they opened. It’s nice. They didn’t have a very good band though,” I said. I couldn’t help grinning again, thinking about me and my guitar on the stage.

  “I’m happy for you,” she said. “Will you do me a favor?” she asked as we got close to our bleachers.

  “Sure,” Anything….

  “Will you tell Megan I’m going to take off now? I’m just too cold to enjoy this.”

  “Okay…didn’t you ride with them though?”

  “Yeah, it’s not that far though, just a few blocks. I can walk.”

  “Or I can give you a ride?” I said.

  “On your Harley? Um…thank you but I don’t think so.”

  “Have you ever been on one?” I asked her. I would love to feel her sitting behind me on Suzie.

  “No, I’ve never been on any motorcycle, actually. A scooter…or Vespa, I guess it was called, once.”

  “You don’t know what you’re missing,” I told her honestly.

  “Maybe another time, when it’s not so cold and dark?”

  “It’s a date,” I told her, excited just at the sound of it. “I’ll walk you home tonight.”

  “But…um, that’s really not necessary,” she said.

  “I’m sure it’s not,” I told her. “But I’d like to…if you don’t mind.”

  “Okay,” she said, resigned. I went and told Jake and Megan. Megan pointed her finger at me and said, “Be good.” Jake then pointed his at me and said, “Be great,” with a lecherous grin that earned him Megan’s elbow in his gut.

  Molly was waiting for me at the top of the stairs. As we passed Suzie on the way out, she asked me.

  “Will it be okay here?”

  I glanced at Suzie. She looked so sexy with the moonlight bouncing off her wheels. But she would be okay, and I told Molly so.

  “She?” she said with a grin.

  “Yes, her name is Suzie,” I told her. I knew girls didn’t get it. They didn’t name their vehicles, but my dad and I had named every one we had ever had.

  Molly leaned close then, and I almost couldn’t catch my breath. Her hair smelled like some kind of flower, and her breath smelled like chocolate as she said, “You don’t think she’ll get jealous and run me over, do you?”

  I walked her back to her dorm, thinking that I couldn’t believe that anyone, cute girl or otherwise could have talked me into leaving Suzie at the football game and walking. We walked fast because it was so cold. I wanted to grab her hand, but I just wasn’t getting the vibe from her that it would be okay…yet.

  “What are you doing tomorrow?” I asked her when we were about halfway back.

  “I have to work,” she said.

  “Cool. Where do you work?”

  “At the campus coffee shop,” she said, “I’m studying to become head barista.”

  “I hear that’s a tough title to snag,” I said, hoping it sounded less dorky to her than it did to my own ears.

  She smiled. I guess it didn’t sound too bad. “You have to see me operate the machine,” she said. “Then you’ll know I have it in the bag.”

  “What time to you get off?” I asked her.

  “I work ten to six tomorrow.”

  “So what are you doing after work?” I asked. Just ask her out all ready. Jeez, you act like it’s your first time. You’ve asked out like a thousand girls. Why is this one so different?

  “I-Um, I don’t know,” she said. Okay now, don’t ask another stupid question…just ask her if she wants to go out with you.

  “I was wondering if you wanted to maybe have dinner or something.”

  She stopped walking and looked at me. That’s a bad sign, right? She can say yes while she’s walking, but for a no, a person really needs to stop. Damn, it’s cold out here. My nose is frozen, and parts way south aren’t doing much better. Come on, Molly. Say yes, that’ll warm me up.

  “I really don’t think it’s a good idea Brock, but thank you,” she said. So…is she thinking dinner is not a good idea or a movie, or going out with me? Should I ask her, or will that just make me look desperate and stupid?

  “Oh, okay,” was what I said. Profound, huh? I tried to keep a neutral facial expression too. I really didn’t want her to think I was desperate. She started walking again, for a minute, and then she stopped and said, “I’m sorry Brock. It’s not you at all. I’m just not looking to date anyone right now.”

  “Oh, okay,” I said again. Hey, it worked the first time. We made it the rest of the way to her dorms in silence. I was crushed. I had envisioned asking her out, her saying yes and me…going in for the kiss at the end of the date. I looked at her now with her full, pretty, red lips and thought that maybe I’d never get to kiss her after all.

  She turned to me and said, “Brock, thank you so much for walking me home. I’m sorry you have to walk all the way back now. It’s so cold.”

  “It’s okay. You have a good night.”

  What else could I say? I walked back to the football stadium, and I climbed onto the back of the only woman who truly ever loved me, Suzie. The ride home was cold, but by that time I was numb and I didn’t care.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  MOLLY

  I went up to my room and watched out the window until he was out of sight. I think I really hurt his feelings. As soon as I said no and I saw his face, I wanted to take it back. I like the Brock who is always amused and I hated being the person who took that away from him. I felt mean, plain and simple.

  I blame this on Megan, and of course if Megan is to blame then Jake has to shoulder some of it as well. I told them both I didn’t want a boyfriend. If they hadn’t felt compelled to hook me up with hot-guy Brock, I would be ignorantly going through life, not even knowing he existed. And then he would still be walking around with his amused expression instead of looking sad and hurt.

  I mean, come on…it’s not like I was his only choice. He’s gorgeous, of the drop-dead variety. He could go to the club alone and leave with three women on his arm if he wanted to, I’m sure. He could leave with three wo
men with two good kidneys each. That’s five more kidneys than I have. He doesn’t know how lucky he is that I said no. However he looked at it, even if he only left with one healthy chick, he was getting double the kidney. I was doing him a public service, really. That way, when he found out about my lack of kidneys and the cancer on the one I had left, he’d be spared breaking up with me like Zack, my last boyfriend did. I realized then that I hadn’t been able to see him for ten minutes, yet here I was still staring out the window.

  I continued my silent rant, but threw myself on the bed where it was more comfortable instead. I lay there and went back and forth between, “I did the right thing. I don’t want a boyfriend right now. I don’t want to set myself up again. Guys aren’t good at dating girls with cancer. I don’t want to put him in that position,” and, “What the hell am I thinking?”

  Finally I pulled myself up off the bed and out of my pity party. I dragged myself into a hot shower. I was still freezing. Maybe that’s what happened; my brain was frozen over when he asked me out. Yes, that’s it; I’ll just call him now and say, “Hi Brock, this is Molly. I’d love to go out with you. I’m sorry I said no earlier, but my brain was frozen.” That should do it. I guess I wasn’t quite finished with the pity party.

  By the time Megan got back I was asleep. At least that’s what she thought, so she left me alone and at least for the night I didn’t have to explain myself. In reality I was playing over the scene with Zack in my head, the night he sat at my bedside in the hospital and told me that all of this cancer stuff was really just too serious for him. It wasn’t me, it was him. Hey, at least he didn’t do it in a text message.

  I made it out of the room the next morning still in luck. Megan was taking advantage of her Saturday and sleeping in. When I left for work, she still hadn’t stirred. I considered taking her pulse, but if she woke up while I was doing it, it might look a little weird.

  Cassie was waiting for me when I got there, and the fact that today was going to be the first day I got to work the coffee machine on my own, really seemed to excite her.

  “Hey! There’s my ardent student.”

  Ardent? I’ll bet she’s English major. It might just be me, but I think I would have gone with eager, or zealous…maybe even devoted. Ardent just wasn’t an impressive word if you asked me, but what did I know? I’m a liberal arts major.

  “Hi Cassie!” I said, trying to sound ardent.

  She showed me a few of the trickier moves on the machine, and by noon I was flying through those mochas and lattes and even getting the milks right. If my arm were longer I would have patted myself right on the back. I was so into the art of creating coffee that I didn’t even see Megan walk in. She yelled my name, causing me to literally jump in the air.

  “Hey, Meggs! Why are we yelling?” I asked her.

  She laughed and said, “Because I said your name three times. You were so focused on your coffee making.”

  “It takes concentration to do it right,” I said, embarrassed that she had caught me so focused on a coffee machine. “What are you doing here? Did you just get up and need a cup of coffee?”

  She laughed, “Okay, I slept in a little bit. We didn’t all go home and go to bed early though. How was your walk home last night?”

  “Cold,” I said.

  “Really, just cold? Isn’t Brock a sweetheart?”

  “He’s a doll,” I told her.

  “Molly, don’t be sarcastic.”

  “I’m not, I swear. I really think he’s a doll. I kind of need to get back to work though, so did you want a coffee…or?”

  “No, thank you. Jake and I are going to try out that new club Aqua tonight. You want to go?”

  “Um-no, I don’t think so,” I said.

  I was remembering Brock talking about that guy Joe wanting him to play there.

  “Aw, come on Molly. What are you going to do? You’ll just sit in the dorm room alone all night. Please! You’re turning into a hermit.” Megan made a pleading face at me, one that she knew I couldn’t say no to.

  “Molly! Two orders waiting!”

  It was Cassie, and I was disappointing my teacher.

  “Okay, Meggs. I have to get back to work. I’ll go tonight, now scoot before I lose my job.”

  Megan grinned, “Thanks Molly! You’ll have a great time, I promise.”

  “Yeah, yeah…Get out!” I told her with a smile.

  I made it through the day with only screwing up one order. Cassie was trying to be supportive, while telling me what I needed to do better at the same time. I was trying to keep a straight face. Maybe she wasn’t just an English major; maybe she was going to be an English teacher. At the end of her speech she said, “I can show you the basics, but you’ll have to find your own rhythm.” What I saw was a blind Chinese man, who said, “I can only point the way, Grasshopper. You must walk the path yourself.” Well, it would be funny if you had grown up with your grandmother who still watched old re-runs of Kung-Fu every weekend.

  Megan had left me a note telling me she had gone to get Jake when I got home. She said that they were going to eat and then would pick me up around eight. It gave me time to shower and get dressed. It was funny, or sad, that I put on the first outfit I picked out and left it on tonight when I was going to the club, yet for a football game I changed three times. Could the difference be Brock, perhaps? Shut-up Molly!

  I was ready to go by the time Megan got there. As I climbed in the backseat, Jake looked back at me and said, “Why won’t you go out with Brock?”

  Megan closed the car door and said, “Jake, leave her alone.”

  “It’s okay, Meg. I can handle him,” I told her. “I don’t want to go out with him.” So there. I gave myself points for not sticking out my tongue.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Jake said.

  “Jake really, Leave her alone.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with him,” I said. “I just don’t want to go out with anyone right now. What’s wrong with that?”

  “Nothing, Molly,” he said it with a sigh. “I just think you’d really like him.”

  “Maybe you should go out with him,” I told him with a grin. In true, girl-got-my-back form, Megan said, “Well, they do already live together.” Then we both laughed and Jake pouted the rest of the way to the club.

  I had heard about this place; the college crowd really loved it. I’m not a big fan of clubs. I don’t drink; I can’t really because of my meds, and I’m not a big crowd girl anyway. I prefer smaller, more intimate settings. I know I really should be thirty-five instead of nineteen. My grandma used to tell me that all the time and Megan does still. From the outside it looked like fun. It was the inside of a converted warehouse that was red brick and still had an original old wrought-iron fire escape running up the side. The Aqua sign was blue neon and there was also a giant neon martini glass with a giant green olive stuck in it.

  We paid our cover and got our hands stamped and went inside. The place was huge, and the first floor had a massive sunken dance floor and a separate drinking and dining room. People were dressed really nice. I looked down at my little black dress with the light blue skirt and hoped I was dressed okay. Megan saw me looking at myself and said, “You look great, Molly. I wish you knew how pretty you are. Everyone thinks so.” I smiled at her, because what else was I going to say to that?

  “Thanks, Meg,” I told her. Megan took me by the hand and said, “Dance with me Molly!”

  I looked out towards the dance floor where there were about a bazillion people, and then back at Jake.

  “Isn’t that your job, Jake?” I asked him.

  “She asked you first. I’m going to get something to drink. You girls want anything?”

  We both told him no, and Megan continued pulling on my arm until we made it to the dance floor. There was a hip hop song playing, one that Megan and I used to dance to on our sleepovers and when she’d come stay with me when I was too sick to go to school. For a few minutes I forgot everything, excep
t for just being with my best friend and having fun. For a few minutes…that was when I saw him. I looked back at Megan and she was grinning from ear to ear. Damn them! I’d been set up. Brock strode in the door like he owned the place. I would have sworn every female head turned to look at him as he did. He walked up to where Jake sat and they did their stupid boy bump thing. Jake wasn’t surprised to see him, and neither was Megan. I looked at her accusingly, but she pretended she didn’t notice. She just kept dancing.

  CHAPTER SIX

  BROCK

  I saw her as soon as I walked in. Two hundred people, most of them women, and she still stuck out. Damn, I’ve got it bad. She was dancing with Megan, and for a minute, I just stood watching her from the doorway. I liked the way her hair moved while she danced. I liked the way she moved her body, and giggled with Megan. She looked happy, and that gave her a glow that only added to how pretty she was.

  When I went over to say hello to Jake, I could tell she saw me. She gave Jake and Megan both a reproachful look. They had set her up; the poor girl didn’t know I was coming. I wondered again why she didn’t want to go out with me. I wasn’t a bad-looking guy. As a matter of fact, I’ve been told that I’m rather good-looking. I shower every day and I usually smell really good….I shouldn’t blow my own horn though, I have had one girl tell me that I was in love with myself. Okay…more than one. But I’m not in love with myself, really. I just have a good self-image. There’s nothing wrong with that, right?

  “Hey man,” I asked Jake. “You didn’t tell me Molly would be here.”

  “Is that a problem?” he asked. I could tell he was almost more upset that she wouldn’t go out with me than I was.

  “No,” I said, “I like Molly.”

  “She likes you too,” he said.

  “I know,” I told him with a grin. “Why wouldn’t she?”

  Jake laughed; he knew I was full of shit…kind of. “I’m going to cut in on your girl and dance with her.”

  “You’re going to dance with Megan?” he said. Molly was right; his head was stuffed with fluff.