Like Gods

[24] the game

The tension that followed his and his mom's little... fallout was suffocating, and when Dylan then had to sit down with her on Wednesday, it was more than a little bit awkward. 

"I'll be coming home late tomorrow," he said at the kitchen table.

"Why?" His mom asked immediately, turning her gaze toward him and put the fork she was holding on the table. 

"There's a football game that I've promised to attend," Dylan explained, moving his eyes to his dad with a pleading look.

Before his mom could say anything, his dad smiled wide and exclaimed:

"Of course, you should go! That's a great idea." 

Dylan sighed in relief. Maybe he should bring some of the soccer team, too? It would probably be really fun. 

"Wait for a second, haven't we decided that everyone should go home after school?" His mom spoke up, frowning at her husband.

"Come on, Marie," his dad sighed, "it's a football game! Don't you remember when we used to go to them?" 

"I remember that we used to get wasted and cheer for the wrong team," Dylan's mom sighed, making him, William, and Riley exchange surprised looks. 

"It's a Thursday and I don't drink," Dylan defended, pleadingly looking at his mom. She sighed after a moment's silence. But she did nod.

"Fine, but just this once," she said and Dylan grinned, "oh, by the way, kids, your dad and I are going to grandma and grandpa over the weekend, do you want to come?" 

William smiled. "Sure, I'd love to meet them again." 

Dylan, however, squirmed. "Well, I kinda have some things planned." Riley nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, me too," she smiled.

__

He wasn't at all surprised when he got to the football field on Thursday and it was already packed to the brim. Both Greenhill and Wedgewood tended to get very territorial, after all. A few yards away, he saw Landon waving him over and he grabbed Felicia's wrist, pulling her with him through the crowd. 

Even in the November-chill, the massive number of people around them made Dylan sweat a bit.

"Why are our games never this packed?" Cole asked as Dylan and Felicia finally had gotten through the ocean of bodies.

"Because this is football in America and we play soccer," Landon laughed and Cole shot him a dirty look.

"Soccer is still the, what? Fifth most popular sport?" 

"And football is the most popular. Period." 

"I can't believe you just said 'period'," Shawn chuckled.

Dylan smiled. "Come on, we should grab some seats," he said.

The group found a relatively good place to sit about five minutes later, just in time for the game to start. As the air horn blew, Dylan looked out over the field, trying to find Chris among the other players. It wasn't that hard since he was basically in the middle of the field.

"How did you get your mom to revoke the grounding?" Felicia yelled over the other voices when it was half-time. 

"I got some help from dad," he yelled back with a wide grin decorating his face. 

"That's nice," Felicia smiled and pulled out her phone. 

Dylan took that time to do the same and sent a text to Chris.