The Beautiful Game

Chapter Fifteen - Lou

I wonder if Alex would believe me if I told him that lonely Lou was currently sat in Michigan's lowest rated bar on yelp, sipping flat beer, with three college football players.

Heck, I don't believe it and I'm here.

"You can't possibly believe that to be true?" Kate guffaws around a mouthful of questionably cooked Cajun chicken, her dangling amethyst earrings glittering against her neck. Kate had once told me what each crystal supposedly did, whether it was for strength, healing, love et cetera; all I'm wondering now is if those earrings are going to protect her from the inevitable raging diarrhoea.

"I do, and you can't convince me otherwise." Seamus waggles his loaded cheesy fry at her before throwing it into his mouth.

    "Captain America is not the strongest Avenger! I actually can't believe we're even having this conversation."

    "You're going to say Wanda aren't you?"

    "She destroyed an infinity stone!" Kate slams her tiny fist onto the table in defiance, Seamus notices and despite their disagreement he grins down at her. He's almost triple her size, and she's about to throw hands.

    "Pfft, didn't matter."

    "Neither did the captain and his frying pan."

    "He kept them all together, he didn't give up! He's goddamn Captain America."

    "My God, you're totally one of those guys who yells and fist pumps in the movie theatre aren't you?"

    "Like that's a bad thing?"

    "Oh Lord."

    I watch them bicker as I pop curly fries into my mouth, it's a welcome distraction from Marcus and Ella's softly spoken private jokes and long, heated stares.

    "What do you think?" Ah, yes, the other reason why I need a distraction.

    Carter.

    Very real and three dimensional Carter. I say this, because I may or may not have glanced at his Instagram account this past week.

    His account is like something from ESPN, all action shots, touchdown celebrations and a great marketing campaign for Gatorade.

    It's a far cry from the Carter sat in front of me now; wearing a loose black sweater and his hair has dried curlier than I'd seen it before. He brushes it back off his forehead before he takes another long drag from his beer bottle. His adam's apple bobs in his tanned throat as he swallows. The laryngeal prominence wasn't exactly something I'd ever thought about before, especially not with a flutter in my chest. However, watching it move in Carter's neck was incredibly attractive and just, so, male.

     I do my best to ignore it as we study one another. He licks the beer residue from his full lips before he reaches to take another bite of his burger, his face surprisingly sauce free despite the copious amount of chilli.

    Last time I checked, Andrew Garfield was Spiderman; so, I'll admit I'm not exactly up to date with the Marvel Universe; but the memory of my brother Noah shouting 'HE IS LITERALLY THE GOD OF THUNDER' over his XBOX headset in this exact same argument with IronManzbitch96, solidifies my answer. Poor Noah was so revved up he had a nose bleed.

    "Thor." I shrug. Carter smirks.

     The tilt to his lips gets my temper going, the same smirk he gave me when I sat down and he commented on the fact I looked warm. Clearly unimpressed with my outfit choice.