m a c *
Memphis and I have been best friends since we were in eighth grade. It's now our senior year, and I made a deal with him: if I play football with him, he has to play baseball with me. He agreed and now I'm playing football. We hadn't lost a game yet, which was good.
"Alright, boys! Rest up tonight! We've got a game tomorrow! It's an hour away and they are one of our rival teams!" Coach Higgins shouts in the locker room. "So, what are we going to do tomorrow?!"
"WIN!" the team chants.
"RIGHT!!! Let's go Bears!!"
"You wanna stay over at mine tomorrow night?" I ask Memphis as we walk out of the locker room. "My mom can drive us home from the game."
"Sure," Memphis says. "Oh, Lauren moved home didn't she?"
"Yeah,"
"Yes! I get to hold Auden!!"
I laugh and push him gently.
Lauren is my older sister, and Auden is my niece. Lauren is nineteen years old, and she got pregnant at age seventeen, had her daughter at eighteen, and now her daughter has just turned one. She is no longer with the father of the baby, however, they are still on good terms and he sees his daughter often.
"Yeah, I think Lauren and Auden are coming to the game tomorrow," I say.
Memphis' face lights up with a huge smile.
Memphis and I go all the way to the back of the bus, as we always do, to sit away from everyone else. I flop down on the seat.
"Window seat?" I ask him.
"Nah, you can have it," he says. I crawl on down to the window seat and he slides in the seat beside me.
"I did confirm it, Lauren is coming to the game," I say.
"What about Auden??" Memphis asks seriously.
"She's with her Dad, but they're meeting after the game, so she'll be at the house later."
"Oh, ok, good."
I spend the bus ride scrolling through an eBook on my phone that we have to read for English. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It's about this girl who's married, but her husband isn't there and she gets pregnant and it's like a big crime and she has to wear a big scarlet 'A' on her chest for the rest of her life; the 'A' stands for adultery. I kind of find it boring, but whatever. Memphis spent the bus ride on his phone as well, but what he was doing, I have no clue.
We arrive at the field shortly and head to the locker rooms to get changed and to warm up. We're running drills and stretching when I hear my name being called. I turn around and see my mom, Lauren, and--to my surprise--Auden. I hit Memphis on the shoulder lightly and run over to the fence.
"I thought you weren't getting her until after the game?" I ask Lauren as soon as she reaches me.
"I was supposed to, but something came up and Logan had to go into work," Lauren explains. Logan is, obviously, Lauren's baby daddy. He's studying pediatric nursing in college and works as an intern nurse on the pediatric side of the ER.
I nod and take Auden, who's being handed to me over the fence.
"Hi," I say, tickling her belly.
She's got on baby black leggings, white baby Converses, a big blue bow and a baby football jersey. Lauren had the blue jersey custom made, and it says my name on the back, the front reading "my uncle can play better than yours" in black font.
Memphis looks at her. She sucks on her pacifier and reaches out for him. He takes her in his arms.
"Hi sweet girl," he says gently.
And, at that moment, I feel something so intense for Memphis. I don't know how to explain it or what it was, but all I wanted to do was be with him forever at this moment, frozen in time. I start to sweat and my heart starts to pound.
"W-we should go," I say, pointing at Coach.
Memphis hands Auden back over the fence to Lauren.
"Alright boys, the game starts in FIVE! We're going to go out there and give it our all!!" Coach Higgins says.
It's half-time, and we're winning 20-3. During the break, we stand around on our side of the field, having nothing else to do. Memphis comes running at me and jumps up, wrapping his legs around my waist. I catch him and hold him there for a second before letting him go.
