Guarding Her

Twenty-one

"What is he doing here?"

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My mother waltzes up to us. "Oh sweetie introduce me to your friend!" She exclaims putting her hand on her chest. "This is Victor, Victor, this is my mom."

"Nice to meet you ma'm." He shakes her hand gently. "My, what a gentleman you have here." She giggles. Oh gosh, could this get anymore awkward?

"Wellll we better be going." I call as I jerk Victor out the door to his truck. He opens my door for me then runs to his side sliding in.

"I'm really sorry about that back there." I shake my head with my fingers on my temple. Victor laughs quietly while beginning to drive. "No it's alright, I know how parents can be."

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We arrive and Victor heads to the guys changing rooms with the other football players leaving me alone.

There's a good amount of people here, especially since its two schools playing against each other. I awkwardly walk around not really knowing what to do. I decide to buy a drink since I have some time to kill before the game starts.

I wait in line at the concession stand, looking around at the crowds of people. I spot a man in his mid fourtys smoking about 25 feet from me. It's hard to tell in a crowd like this but it almost seems like he's watching me... I squint my eyes trying to see his face clearer when someone starts yelling behind me.

"Hey lady move up in line will ya?!" An angry teen calls. I snap back to reality stepping forward ordering my drink. I'm about to pay when a male hand lays a twenty on the counter.

"I've got that."

I look up to see Dylan. "Oh no it's fine! I can get my own." I rush out but he just shakes his head. "Add another drink and one large pretzel too. With cheese sauce." He smiles down at me.

I smirk shaking my head at him. After Dylan grabs his stuff he takes ahold of my hand leading me through the crowd of people. I look back at where that man was standing only to find him gone.

It's a crowded place, he could have been looking at anyone.

Dylan leads us up to a row that's not got as many people on it and sits down. "So miss Clarke, I'm guessing you like pretzels?" He says in a weird voice tearing the snack in half.

"Actually, I'm allergic..." I look down.

Dylan's eyes hold shock and embarrassment while his mouth hangs open. "Oh I'm so sorry I-I didn't know. I'll go get you something else." He stands up and I start laughing. He sits back down realizing it was all fake, taking some cheese sauce on his finger and pokes my nose. I do the same back causing us both to hold our stomachs from laughter, catching a few weird glances.

I use a napkin to wipe off the sauce while Dylan just uses his thumb.

"Are you ready to watch the show of a lifetime?" Dylan asks handing me my food with a humorous smile. "Yeah I've never actually seen the degrading of high school jocks so this should be interesting." I take a sip of my soda.

The players run out onto the field and the crowd goes wild cheering for their team. I roll my eyes as all the girls seem to be going nuts. They'd throw themselves at a dead raccoon if it had abs and a little after shave.

Victor came into view scanning the crowd with a smirk on his face. His eyes catch mine and he smiles from ear to ear waving at me. I smile and wave back shyly.

Dylan leans close to my ear so I'll hear him over the load crowd. "He seems happy to see you."

After about an hour I begin to feel the effects of my soda. "I'll be right back."

"Want me to come with you?" Dylan questions standing up. "Oh no I'm fine, thank you though." He nods sitting back down.

Surprisingly theres still a bit of a crowd around the concession stand and bathrooms. I go and take care of my business, walking out and through the crowd of people I feel a tap on my shoulder.

I see a girl about my age with a sweet smile handing me an envelope. "Some guy wanted me to give you this."

My eyes widen and my heartbeat
Accelerates. He's here, Right now. Oh gosh he's probably watching this exchange. I scan the area but don't see anyone watching. But I somehow know that he is.

I notice the girl is still standing there looking at me. "Um thank you." I smile shaking my head.

"No problem!" She grins scrunching her nose up and walks away. I fold and shove the envelope in my back pocket hurrying towards Dylan.

I sit back beside him quickly looking around me.

"Whoa there cowboy." Dylan laughs. His smile drops when he looks at me for a second. "Hey is everything okay?" He puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Y-yeah everything's fine. Just fine." I smile fakely.

Dylan leans closer to my face furrowing his eyebrows. "No tell me what's wrong."

I chuckle nervously refusing to make eye contact. "I don't know what you're talking abo-"

"Clarke," he grabs both side of my face making me look at him. "You can tell me anything, you know that right?" He whispers the last part. I nod my head holding eye contact.

He gives me a small smile but it doesn't hide the worried look. He wraps his arms around me in a warm hug. I retaliate holding back tears.

As the game continues on and Dylan would laugh when one of the guys would messed up.

Victor scored a couple touch downs, both times he would look up at me grinning. After the game was over I saw Victor motion me over to the edge of the field.

As me and Dylan walked up Victor wrapped me up in a hug. I was stiff at first because he's never hugged me before, not to mention he's sweaty. I eventually hug him back. "You did great."

He pulls away smiling down at me until he sees Dylan standing close behind. "Dylan." He nods his head, Dylan doing the same.

"So I was wondering if you wanted to go get something to eat?" He puts his hands on my arms, looking down at me.

"Um, sure." I look back at Dylan hoping Victor will invite him too.

Victor sighs "you wanna come too?" He asks in a bored tone.

"Sure do." Dylan smiles wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

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I hope you liked it! Don't forget to vote and comment. I love reading the comments you all put out there. some of you guys crack me up. 😂

Thank you for reading!

Jo🥀