The Fumble Of A Quarterback

Chapter 20: You're The First Person

TW: mentioning about rape.

Look out for the <>!

As we silently walked down a paved path by the stadium, I kept waiting for him to speak up, but instead he just glared at his shoes. 

With a sigh, I tossed my gaze towards the trees that lined the path. They rustled in the breeze and few people passed us, paying little attention as they stared at their phones. However, every time someone passed us, Everett pulled his cap lower over his face, as if worried people would recognize him. 

He didn't want to be seen, and I wondered if he was always this careful on campus. While we walked in the neighborhood, he was more carefree, but here, it was as if he was on needles.

Minutes passed by and I wasn't sure when Everett would speak. Since he invited me, I did not want to be the first one to say something. I expected him to make the next move. 

Finally, with a heavy sigh, Everett spoke up, breaking the silence between us. "I really haven't told anyone what Charles did to me. It caught me off guard when you mentioned it the other night."

I nodded. I didn't mean to make him uneasy, that was never my goal. I just wanted answers and understand what happened.

"Your dad told me that talking about it could help. I never believed him, so I held all this information to myself. But I am getting so tired of holding it in. I want to talk about it with something I trust. I think I want to talk about it with you."

There was that word again. He trusted me, but I still wasn't sure how much weight that word had with him, because I didn't trust him. What did I do to make him trust me? 

My pace slowed, to match his as I waited for him to dive into the story. This was his to share, and he was the only one that could push forward. I was just here to witness the soul cleansing.

He took a seat on a park bench that overlooked a small lake that the university named mirror lake and I followed his lead.

There used to be a tradition in jumping into this lake after the football team played Michigan university, but that tradition was nothing more than a story. The tradition stopped when someone died in the lake years back and to avoid lawsuits, the university drained the lake before the game. 

People had complained about this tradition for years, saying it was dangerous, but the university did little about it until that death. It was funny how the university waited until the last possible second to make a choice about a subject, but by then the damage was already done.

"When I first got on the team, I was pretty lost, just a freshman from a farming town. I looked for a lot of help and Charles was the first one to guide me. He was friendly and nice which made me feel like I was part of the team almost right away. He invited me to everything and brought me into his group of friends."

My stomach slowly turned into knots as I waited for the story to continue. There was a heaviness in his words that made me feel sorry for him. 

"He started being a little handsy on after the first game. He started to slap my butt while changing in the locker room or giving me foot massages after a practice. All of that was a little odd, but I thought nothing of it since locker rooms could be erotic places."

I frowned. I had read about this kind of stuff before in phycology. It sounded like grooming. Charles was grooming Everett to see if he would do what he needed to and stay silent.

"When he first tried to come onto me, we were at a party and we were both a little drunk. I pushed him off and told him I wasn't interested. And he listened for a few weeks. But then one day when we were training together after everyone left, he held me down and..." Everett's voice shook slightly as he rubbed his hands on his thighs.