A Tantalizing Kiss

State Cup

My legs ached.

                My chest burned.

                My eyes blurred.

                Air was coming in short and shallow. It wasn’t enough, but I had to make worthwhile. Sweat dripped down my back. The feeling had become normal by now. My throat clenched painfully as I swallowed dryly. I needed water.

                I wiped away the sweat on my forehead with the back of my hand. My eyes glanced over at Coach, who was shouting names to return to the bench. It had only been a few minutes since I had gotten into play, and already I was exhausted.

                The intensity of the game was horrifying.  

                It was Saturday evening. The lights on the stadium were lit up blindingly bright. Most of our concentration centered around the ground, thankfully. The clock was slowly ticking down. I glanced up quickly to note that we were now in the single digits. 4 minutes and seventeen were left in the game, and that was in the overtime amount. I shook my head softly, bringing my attention back to what it mattered.

                The tides could change at any moment.

                It was a tie game at the moment, with the scores 1-1. We had scored the first goal, and we could only hope to score the winning one as well.

                I jogged lightly, but as quickly as my burning legs could manage, down the field to where the ball was playing on our side. Rodger and a player for the opposing team were at it as we struggled to bring it back to the opposite end of the field.

                I moved over to an open space, running around the defending players.

                “Rodger!” I shouted.

                He looked up, kicking the ball towards me at the same time. The ball bounced off my shin and onto the inside of my foot as I directed it the opposite way. My eyes landed on James who stood as our defender far down the field.

                He was in the clear.

                I brought the ball in front of me, giving it a strong kick forward. James’ eyes never left it as it soared towards him through the air.

                He bounced it off his chest.

                My view was blocked as twelve kids and a referee chased after the ball. Quickly, I followed after it as well, determined to keep it on that end of the field. As I neared, I could see that James had passed the ball off to Levi, who was fighting for it with one of the opposing players.

                “Levi!” I shouted.

                But I could see that he wasn’t going to be able to get me the ball. Another player had already come over to where I was, blocking me off. I tried to move past him unsuccessfully. Levi struggled to keep the ball with us.

                Out of my peripheral, I could see the black and white soccer ball quickly rolling over to where Davie was. He stopped it with his foot, quickly turning to protect it as he passed it to another player. I never saw who the other player was.

                Levi cussed loudly, which was interrupted by the shrill scream of a whistle blowing.

                Everyone froze in their place, eyes on the kid on the ground.