The Athlete

by Elin Peer

  “Was she a friend of yours?” I hadn’t unpacked much and the place still looked unorganized.

  “Yes. Julie played for the Dolphins three years ago until she got an injury. She hosted a big party in this apartment about a month ago. It got preeettyyy wild.”

  “Oh yeah?” Stepping into my shoes, I looked over at them. “Could you tell me your names again? There were so many of you today at practice.”

  “I’m Sander.”

  “No, I remember you of course; we spoke at training.”

  He smiled. “Right, and this is Silas, Jeremy, and Sara.”

  “Ah, Sara. You’re the one with the cat.”

  Her face fell and she shifted her balance so I looked to Sander, who was giving me a discreet shake of his head.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you were the one who had a personal day today.”

  “I did. Charlie was vomiting last night. He’s not feeling well.”

  “Is Charlie your cat?”

  “Yes. I’ve had him for fifteen years, since I was ten.” Sara blinked her eyes as if fighting back tears. “He’s family and I worry about him.”

  “Fair enough, but skipping practice because of a cat, is that normal?”

  It was clear that they thought me insensitive so I changed the subject when we left the building. “Why don’t you tell me more about the wild parties you guys have?”

  Silas, Jeremy, and Sander were happy to share details and Sara cheered up a bit as they recounted memories of parties that had been epic.

  “One time, we played a game where we had to guess who was in front of us by only touching. We were blindfolded the whole time and I was the only one to get five out of five correct.”

  “I didn’t get a single one right,” Silas admitted with a grin.

  “Julie once hosted a costume party. It was so much fun.” Sara smiled at Jeremy. “Remember when you came dressed as an Nman?”

  That comment made me raise a brow. “Really? And how does someone dress up as an Nman?”

  Jeremy gave me an insecure smile. “It was silly.”

  “I have a picture.” Sara was walking while using her wristband. “It’s here somewhere.”

  “There’s no need to show him.” Jeremy tried changing the subject. “Is soccer very different in the Northlands?”

  “Here’s the picture.” Sara projected the image above her wristband. Jeremy had a large fake beard and a scowl on his face. His shoulders and arms were puffed up with some material that created the impression of exaggerated muscles, leaving him no visible neck.

  “Is that real leather?” I pointed to his pants and didn’t comment on the shirt that said, “Women should marry, not rule.”

  “No, of course not. It just looks like leather.”

  “Huh!” I took a last glance at the picture before walking on. “So that’s how you see us?”

  “You shouldn’t have shown him that.” Jeremy was blaming Sara behind me. “We were supposed to make him feel welcome.”

  “But it was such a great costume,” she defended herself. “You shouldn’t be ashamed of it. It was just a joke.”

  His voice was low as he spoke through his teeth. “Did you see Hunter laughing?”

  I kept walking but threw a comment over my shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. You looked like the spitting image of my former mentor, Mr. Maximus. It was a fine costume.”

  Jeremy ran up to me. “You’re not mad?”

  “No, of course not.” I winked at him. “Do you still have the T-shirt? I might want to borrow it.” I could tell he wasn’t sure if I was serious or not.

  We ended up in a local restaurant that was a favorite of theirs. I had a pizza with substitute meat that resembled pepperoni in taste.

  “I have to ask a question.” Looking around at Silas, Jeremy, Sander, and Sara it was clear that I had their full attention. “Aren’t you bothered about the showering?”

  Silas tilted his head. “I’ve never really thought about it. As long as I have been playing sports, I’ve showered after practice. Don’t you shower after training in the Northlands?”

  “That’s not what I meant.” My eyes went to Sara. “I’m just not used to showering with women.”

  She leaned back in her seat and tucked her hands under her thighs. “It’s normal here.”

  “Well, it’s not normal where I come from. Men and women would never shower together.”

  “But what about the people who don’t see themselves as either or.”

  I crossed my arms. “What are you talking about?”

  “It’s very limiting to put people into a gender box. Many don’t like to define themselves as either male or female.”

  I groaned. “If they don’t define themselves as male or female, what do they define themselves as?”

  “Human, of course.”

  “For Christ’s sake…” I shook my head. “Please tell me that we are only talking about a few here. You all define yourself as male or female, right?”

  “To be honest, I don’t think much about it.” Jeremy looked at Sara. “When you first joined the team you preferred to be referred to as ‘they’ rather than ‘she,’ didn’t you?”

  “Yes.” She grinned. “I was doing a lot of soul work at the time, and as you know our souls have lived many times and been both male and female in past lives. I wanted people to address my soul rather than the vehicle I’m in.”

  I squinted my eyes. “What vehicle?”

  “My body. It’s nothing but a vessel for my soul and even though my body is female in this lifetime, I’m so much more on the inside.”

  “That’s how my brother feels. He changed his name to Neutral for the same reason.” Silas looked serious and I had to bite my lips to prevent myself from laughing.

  “Sara, does that mean I have to say ‘they’ when I talk about you?”

  She shook her head. “No, I’ve realized that it’s not that I’m neither male or female, it’s actually that I’m both. You can address me as ‘he,’ ‘she,’ or ‘they.’ It makes no difference since my soul is all those things.”

  “Got it.”

  I can’t have looked too convincing because Silas gave me a sympathetic smile. “Once you get used to it, it’s fine.”

  Suppressing a shake of my head, I took another big bite of my pizza.

  Sander placed his elbow on the table and leaned in like he wanted me to spill some interesting gossip. “Was Ema giving you a hard time today? I saw you stayed behind to talk to her.”

  I gave a dismissive shrug. “It was fine.”

  They exchanged glances. “Emanuela can be rude. You shouldn’t take it personal, it’s just her way.”

  “I noticed. Why is she like that? You Motlanders are typically kind and polite. Did the captain miss out on the kindness gene or something?”

  They seemed to consider it with some serious thought. “I think it’s because of how she was raised. Her family seems nice enough, but they do have a very straightforward way of communicating with each other and with all the nostalgia role-playing, some of it must’ve rubbed off on her.”

  “Wait a minute, Sander, you know Emanuela’s family?”

  He shook his head. “Not well. But we see her family once a year when we have our yearly team-building day. Emanuela’s family unit runs the Nostalgia Park. It’s about an hour from here. You’ll see it when we all go in a few weeks. It’s a fun place. There are all sorts of things from the past that you can try out. It’s like going back in time.”

  “How so?”

  “They have different areas and each one represents a different time period. Last year we went to the ancient European section. We had to wear these white robes that were called topaz and re-enact the first Olympic games with different kind of sports.”

  Silas leaned forward. “It wasn’t a topaz, it was a toga, and the best part was the show after dinner. I’ll bet you would have loved it, it was violent.” He said the last word as if it was secret. “There were actors dre
ssed up as gladiators and they were fighting.”

  Sander nodded with eagerness. “That’s right. This year we’re going to the prewar section; it’s my favorite one. They have a street from the time when there were cowboys and saloons, and with each street you move up in time. Two years ago, I went with friends just so I could try out the old-time hoverbikes.”

  “They have those?” I leaned forward, my voice a bit eager. “What about motorbikes? Any chance they have the antique ones that touched the ground? I’ve always wanted to try one of those. And cars? Do they have old-school cars too?”

  Jeremy smiled. “Yes, they have all that. People come from all over the world to spend days there. The Nostalgia Park opened eight years ago. It’s funny because with the integration of our countries there’s a new curiosity about how things used to be. You know, before we were divided.”

  “It sounds like a fun place.”

  “It is.” He chuckled. “And each year they close off a section and make an event for us only. It’s really something. They try to make everything as authentic as possible. That means the robots and the actors are really rude to the guests like in the olden days, when people would say offensive things all the time. It’s all part of the experience, but we think Emanuela got so used to being rude to people when she worked there that she doesn’t know how to turn it off.”

  “But if this amusement park only opened eight years ago, then I don’t buy that Emanuela is rude because she was raised there. She has to be older than me and I’m twenty-two. She wasn’t a kid eight years ago.”

  “True. She just turned twenty-five. But her family unit was always involved in the entertainment industry. They run one of the country’s biggest physical centers.”

  The edge of my lips curled upward. “You mean one of those places that have sex-bots?”

  “Yes, that too. They offer everything related to your physical needs, be it clothing, food, manicures, pedicures, massages, hairstyling, tattoos, fitness, and of course sex.”

  “Interesting. And you think that’s why Emanuela is rude?”

  Again, they exchanged glances. “We’ve tried talking to her about it, but she insists that she doesn’t mean to be rude, she just prefers to say things as they are because being polite takes too long and she comes from a busy family.” Sara was stabbing her fork around in her salad. “We’ve tried doing love circles, but she doesn’t like them much.”

  I laughed. “At least I’m with her on that one. Love circles make my ears red. I hate being in the middle and have everyone sing to me.”

  “You have love circles in the Northlands too?”

  “No. But I was in the first experimental school, so I went to school with ten Motlanders and they introduced us to love circles.”

  “That’s nice.” Sara gave me a warm smile. “I’m happy to hear that you have some experience with our culture. Hopefully you won’t think ill of the rest of us, just because Emanuela doesn’t always behave her best.”

  “That reminds me that we should probably warn you.” Sander sighed. “When we go to the Nostalgia Park we’ll be split into different teams. The goal is that we work together to strengthen the friendships on our soccer team, which is why we will be rotating teams throughout the day. Being professional athletes, we’re all competitive by nature, but some take it a little too far. From experience we can tell you that it’s better to let Emanuela win since she is a sore loser.”

  I scoffed. “Tough shit, I’m not letting anyone win. Least of all her.”

  Sara looked over her left shoulder before ducking her head and whispering, “Mind your language, Hunter. Someone might hear you and report you. Cursing isn’t necessary.”

  “Agree to disagree. Cursing is my native language and I like it a lot.” I held up a hand. “And just so we’re clear, no love circle is going to cure me of that habit, so don’t even think about it.”

  Silas picked up his glass of kale smoothie. “In that case, I think all we can do is just offer you a warm welcome to the Dolphins. We are excited to have you here and we hope you’ll like it.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate it, you guys.”

  Sara was just about to take a sip of her own smoothie when she lit up in a smile. “So nice of you, Hunter. You didn’t differentiate between our genders. I see you are a fast learner.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Tension

  Emanuela

  Being a soccer player had been my dream since I was a little girl. Now twenty-five, I still got goose bumps when the audience cheered my name during games. The team members were like family and I’d been honored when they chose me as their captain two years ago. I didn’t even mind the long hours of training, signing autographs, or the traveling that took me away from my friends and family.

  But I did mind the weekly sessions with Donna.

  She always kept digging about my childhood, the strange ways of my family unit, and the fact that I had been part of our business operations from a young age. Sometimes I made up horrendous stories just to get through the weekly sessions with her. Donna might be highly educated, but she was naïve and gullible enough to eat it all raw. It wasn’t very nice of me, but at least it kept me entertained.

  I wanted to be in today’s session as much as I wanted to dip my head in the toilet after someone had just made number two. In a chair next to me sat Hunter, looking like he wanted to be here even less than I did. While he was leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed and his legs wide, I sat on the edge of the seat, my knees bouncing up and down as I was trying to keep myself from running out of the room.

  Donna had a desk in the office but she pulled a chair over and sat down in front of us.

  “Thank you both for coming. I’m sure you are aware that the tension between you is a cause for concern among the other players, Coach Amy, and the rest of us staff connected to the team.”

  Hunter and I stared in different directions and neither of us answered.

  “Sometimes clearing the air can be a helpful way to resolve things and since you two don’t seem to have problems with confrontation, I thought it would be a great idea to do it in a safe environment.” Despite her voice being soft it still ground on my nerves.

  “Hunter dear, why don’t we start with you?” Donna crossed her legs and folded her hands in her lap. “You’ve been here for two weeks and you seem to be doing really well with everyone on the team, except for Emanuela. Would you agree?”

  “I don’t have a problem with her. She’s the one who has a problem with me.”

  “What do you say to that, Emanuela?” Donna’s eyes fell on me.

  My foot was still tapping the floor, my teeth chewing on my inner lip. I so did not want to be here. “I can’t force myself to like someone when I don’t.”

  Donna’s head tilted to one side. “Hmm, interesting.”

  My nostrils flared a little. This was what I hated about her – the stupid sounds and the way she made it appear like she understood me better than I did.

  “You do realize that when we don’t like people it’s often because they remind us of something within ourselves that we don’t want to be faced with. What part of Hunter is it that annoys you the most?”

  I tightened my jaw. My rudeness had gotten me in trouble too many times for me to open up and tell them how it infuriated me that he thought he was better than us and how everyone seemed to think he was the best thing that ever happened to this team. I wasn’t blinded by his exotic looks or fascinated with his being an Nman. He wasn’t the first man with muscles that I had seen and when it came to soccer, his obvious talent was overshadowed by his lack of finesse.

  “I know why she doesn’t like me,” Hunter muttered next to me. “I’ve known from day one.”

  I could feel his eyes burn the skin on my neck.

  “It’s because the captain is the only one here with some balls.”

  Turning my body toward him, I narrowed my eyes. “Are you saying that I don’t share? In case you haven’t notice
d there are enough balls for everyone.”

  Humor played in his eyes. “That’s not what I meant. I’m saying you’re the leader of the pack, the alpha, and you don’t like that there’s an even bigger alpha in the house now. You’re pissing on your territory but we both know that I’m bigger and stronger than you.”

  I gaped at him before turning to Donna. “I feel like I just traveled back to the Stone Age. Who talks like that? Pissing on my territory? How ludicrous.”

  “It’s a figure of speech. I’m not suggesting that you actually piss on the soccer field.”

  Donna was scratching her cheek. “Hunter might have chosen a strange way to describe it but there could be some truth to it. Do you agree that you feel challenged by Hunter?”

  “No! Not even a little.”

  “Is that right?” He leaned forward again, getting closer to me, and this time he spoke in a low rusty voice that made my skin heat up. “Are you sure about that, Ella?”

  It wasn’t the first time that he had intentionally misspoken my name, but it was the first time where he didn’t just annoy me, but alarmed me. There was a challenge in his words.

  “Are you sure you’re not feeling that your authority as the team captain is being challenged by Hunter?”

  This time I did snort. “No, I don’t feel challenged by him at all. I was chosen for the role by the team. There is no way they would ever choose someone like him. He is rude and obnoxious.”

  Donna blinked her eyes. “And would you say that those are character traits that you share with Hunter?”

  I didn’t want to share anything with him so despite the fact that I had been in this office accused of rudeness by my team several times, I denied it with a firm “No.”

  “All right, let’s say that it’s true you don’t feel threatened by Hunter, but could you explain your hostile attitude towards him then?”

  Hunter and Donna were both focused on me.

  “I don’t know. I guess it’s because I’m very protective of the team and he’s an outsider.”

  “No, Emanuela. Hunter is not an outsider, he’s part of the team.” Donna used a firm and unhurried tone when she spoke. “New players have been added to the team before and you’ve always made them feel welcome. I have to say that I worry this is a matter of racism.”