Starstruck

Chapter 5a: Heavenly bodies (part 1)

CHAPTER 5

Heavenly bodies (part 1)

"Meet me back here fifteen minutes after the game ends," Uncle Louie said as we walked through the stadium gate a few hours later.

"I will," I promised, trying not to grin at the sight of my pudgy, balding uncle in his tight, faded, black-and-yellow Jaguars jersey.

He disappeared almost before I got the words out, in a hurry to join his buddies. When I thought about it--which wasn't often--it struck me as kind of weird that a bunch of men in their fifties still liked to hang out at high school football games. Maybe they were reliving their youth or something. Shaking my head at the incomprehensibility of old people, I went to find Bri and Deb.

"We thought you were never going to get here!" Deb greeted me from the second row of the metal bleachers, close to the fifty yard line.

"Yeah, we've had to fight people off to keep a seat for you," Bri said. "We got here way early--figured you'd want a good view of Rigel."

"And where he'd be able to see you," Deb added. They both grinned at me.

I grinned back. My earlier excitement, dampened for a while by all of Aunt Theresa's grumbling about Uncle Louie and me going to the game, bubbled back up. "Thanks, guys! I really appreciate it. My aunt made me do the dishes and stuff before she'd let me leave."

Aunt Theresa didn't exactly treat me like a slave, but I definitely had more chores to do than my friends did. Of course, they both had siblings to help out and I didn't.

"So, Rigel actually asked you to come to the game?" Bri apparently needed to verify what I'd told her on the bus that afternoon. Not that I blamed her. I could still hardly believe it myself.

"Pretty much. He asked if I was going and said he'd see me there."

"Oh, man, I can't wait to see the look on Trina's face!" Deb gave an evil grin of anticipation. "She doesn't know yet, does she?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so. She was still looking smug in Health class."

"Besides, you don't think Rigel would just come out and tell her, do you?" Bri laughed. "No guy is that brave! By the way, M, you're welcome." She winked at me.

Now I laughed, though I still squirmed a little inside at the memory of what she was referring to. "Yeah, I definitely owe you--both of you. Though I pretty much wanted to kill you when you first jumped down his throat."

"He just needed a reality check," Deb said with a shrug. "Most guys do every now and then, according to Maggie."

"Look, the team is coming out to warm up," Bri squealed, pointing. "There he is!"

Of course I looked, and of course I zeroed in on Rigel immediately, even though his uniform and black helmet made him look like everyone else. Only not.

I watched him jog across the field in form-fitting gold pants and a black jersey with a gold 7 on the back (I hadn't known his number until this moment). What made him stand out from the others, I wondered? He wasn't the tallest player, or the biggest. How had I instantly known which one was him?

Maybe it was the way he moved--just a little more smoothly, more confidently, than anyone else. Or maybe it was just that I was so obsessed that I'd have been able to locate him with my eyes closed, in a crowd of hundreds--or thousands. Or millions.