The Misadventures of Owen Bonner

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten:

            Danny and I were playing soccer outside. My parents had thrown me out of the house and Danny needed an equal to practice with, but Fisher was busy so he settled on me. It’s not that I’m bad at sports, I’m just not motivated enough to move my legs. So, as I stood in front of the goalie net, my limbs reached for Danny’s kick in a very delayed reaction. When he’d make a goal, I’d shrug, get back in the middle, and cross my arms in front of me. Danny rolled his eyes every single time.

            “Dude, how am I supposed to get better if you’re slacking off?” Danny exclaimed, frustrated. He grabbed the ball off the ground and nudged it under his arm.

            “Beats me; sounds like a personal problem.”

            “Alright, here!” He threw the ball square on my chest with no cushioned blow. I lost my breath for half a second and rubbed the sore spot. “I’ll be goalie. Maybe you’re better at staying in one place.”

            “Fucking hell, can we go play Super Smash Bros or something?” I pleaded as I trudged away from the net. Danny put on his goalie gloves (something he failed to inform me on) and positioned himself in front of the goal. He squatted a little on his knees as his calves bounced from side to side; he looked like he actually knew what he was doing.

            “Ohhh yeah, bud. After you score a goal.”

            “Alright,” I nodded, accepting his challenge. I put the ball on the ground and took a deep breath for dramatic effect. “May the lord, Kirby, give me strength. Amen.”

            “Holy tits, you’re a nerd. C’mon, kick!”

            It was still autumn and windy as heck. I took my hands out of my sweater’s pockets and blew on them to provide heat. I backed up a couple feet to gain momentum and aligned myself in correspondence with the ball. My eyes maneuvered from Danny to the ball and Danny again. I rested my weight on my leg and I sped forward, heading right toward the white-and-black checkered ball. Impulsively, I picked a path and swung the inside of my foot right where the ground and ball met. And the thing was off! Unfortunately, though, my “impulsive path” ended up being Danny’s teeth.

            He yelled, “OH-GA-JEEZ” and freaked out even more when he saw blood spurting out of his gums. I jogged over to him, slightly panicked and slightly hysterical with laughter, but I didn’t dare show any of those emotions when I came up to him. Sadly, I lost it when I saw his already swelling lip.

            “Owen, I’m gonna fucking obliterate you,” He tried to say, but his busted lip couldn’t sound out some letters. I realized too late that because I was laughing and slapping my knee so much, I forgot to say sorry, but I figured I was already too deep to make a difference.

            “Sorry, bud. Speak up, couldn’t catch that.”

            “Get me an ice pack! Or get me to the hospital! Or, fuck, get me my mom!”

            “It’s not serious enough for the hospital and your mom’s not home, so… do you have frozen peas?”

            “It’s like you’re not even trying,” I complained. I turned to look at Danny, but he just gave me daggers whilst his right hand held up a frozen pack of peas to his face and the other was crossed against his chest. The controller was sitting on his lap, untouched. I swear, if looks could kill, Danny would be a goddamn slaughter house.

            “It hurts,” He muttered.

            “Yeah, looks like it too,” I nodded, unpausing the game. To be frank, it wasn’t a very exciting play through, considering my opponent wasn’t really playing in the first place. I've never won more games in my life time. 

            Danny said a string of words that I could not, for the life of me, comprehend. I laughed afterwards because he sounded funny, in which he got really mad. He dropped the ice pack from his face and sat up forcefully. He gave me a look of pure disgust. 

            “Leave!”

            That much I understood.  

        A/N: Shot chapter, eh? - Parker