Swish

Timeout - Matthew

~Matthew~

Hangovers sucked ass. 

Thankfully, someone in the Shepherd household had already blended the cure all in their Ninja earlier in the morning and placed it in the refrigerator.  

Before the blended green miracle that sloshed around in my cup, I had walked out of my apartment like a zombie, absentmindedly calling an Uber to drive me over to Eli's place just as snippets of the night before slammed into me like an eighteen wheeler on the interstate. 

Flashes of beautiful blonde hair swaying on the dance floor under kaleidoscope technicolor lights swam in my vision and for a moment I could pretend like she hadn't run away from me after one of the best kisses of my life. 

Maybe it was the novelty of kissing a stranger in a crowded club, the adrenaline from standing up to the guy she'd been dancing with just minutes prior, or maybe I was just plain idiotic for wanting someone who clearly didn't want me...but I couldn't help the rush of blood in my veins contributing to the itch that I just couldn't scratch, not without the vision of her dancing behind my eyelids. 

"You're here late bro.  I thought we said noon?"

"Sorry, late night.  Where is everyone?"

I faced Eli and noticed the dark circles under his eyes, shadowed and thick, like he hadn't been able to get much sleep last night, either.  

"Yeah same here.  V is at the studio and Elodie cut out early.  I'm not sure where she went, though.  I've got Evie for the day, though, so we can't go to the courts today, but I thought we could watch some tapes if that's cool with you?"

"Works for me.  Offseason is almost over and I'm trying to get in as much lazy time as I can get."

"I feel that.  Okay, I'll order a pizza-"

"Pizza!"

Evie's adorable squeaky high voice exclaimed her love for all things pizza in the doorway to her playroom, hair disheveled and wearing a hot pink t shirt with red leggings.  

"Bro, really?  What is she wearing?"

I couldn't stop laughing at the embarrassed look on my best friend's face.  

"V usually does this, or Elodie.  I'm not good at matching clothes or doing hair.  But give me a doll house to build or a swings and I'm there.  I can't wait until she picks a sport or hobby she wants to do so I can be more helpful.  Being a girl dad has more challenges than I thought," he said while dialing the number for the pizza place. 

Just before he put the phone to his ear, however, his phone began chirping a loud ringtone that had Evie jumping up and down. 

"Mommy!  Mommy!"

"No baby it's not mommy.  Hold on a sec man."

"Yeah, sure," I murmured while he answered the phone and spoke to someone named Phoebe. 

"She's where?!  I told her that was too dangerous.  What happened?"

Eli's face turned a sheen of pale white as he listened to the other person on the phone. 

"Ah, okay.  Can you go and get her?  I'm at home with the baby and she can't handle long car rides.  Oh, shit.  Okay, well I'll figure something out.  Thanks for telling me.  Bye Phoebe."

"What's wrong?"

Eli flipped his head up to me like I had just answered his prayers. 

"Elodie is up near Albany at Phoebe's uncle's dirt bike ranch.  Apparently Ben just broke up with her last night and she's back to doing her reckless bullshit."