Not a Love Story

Five // Some Football Player

Oliver Greene

I heard a deep sigh from Ben as he sat back in his chair.

"I don't get it." he said, shaking his head.

"What?" I asked, looking over at him.

"This." Ben replied, gesturing to the paper in front of him. I let out a light sigh and stood up, standing next to him. "I can't remember all these different parts." he elaborated, pointing to the cell diagram on the worksheet he was working on. I looked over his shoulder, seeing his incorrect labeling of the diagram.

"Hold on." I replied, reaching over to grab my biology book. "It's this picture at a different angle. Does that help you better visualize it?" I asked. His eyes passed between the worksheet and the book, slowly nodding.

"Yeah actually, thanks." he responded, briefly looking over at me.

"That's what I'm here for." I said, realizing I was still looking over his shoulder, causing me to take a step back and sit back down across from him.

I looked up at the clock a while later to see it was nearly 6 o'clock and Ben was still diligently working on the worksheet I'd given him, his pencil poking his lip as he thought.

"It's almost 6. Do you need to get going for practice?" I asked him. His eyes shot up to the clock and he nodded.

"Yeah, thanks for keeping track." he replied, starting to organize and pack up his things.

"Sure, no problem." I said, picking up my stuff and putting them in my backpack.

"So I have practice right after school Monday and Wednesday. Tuesday and Thursday I start at 6:30 and Fridays are game days. So would right after school Tuesday and Thursday and 7 Monday and Wednesday work?" Ben asked as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. I thought for a second, making sure that wouldn't interfere with my volunteer schedule.

"Yeah that works."

"Cool. Thanks, Oliver." he said, a smile on his face.

"Yeah, of course." I said, feeling my cheeks heat up when he said my name. We silently walked to the door side by side. I pulled the key out of my pocket and locked the library door, Ben waiting for me.

"You have a key for the library?" he asked, his eyebrow raised.

"Uh, yeah. The librarian, Barb, knows me pretty well. I've tutored a lot of people after school in the library so she lets me lock up." I said, gesturing to the key. Ben chuckled.

"Wow I guess you are kind of nerd." he said.

"Yeah I guess. If it's what I have to do to get into a good college I don't really care." I replied, shrugging. Ben nodded.

"I get it. I have to get to practice, but I'll see you tomorrow at 7?" he asked.

"Yeah. See you then." I replied.

"Cool. Bye, Ollie." he grinned, I turned my head to look at him, confused by the sudden nickname. He smiled as he started to walk backward down the hall.

"Bye, Ben." I replied with a small wave. He turned around and headed down the hall towards the locker room.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding before walking down the hall toward the parking lot. I tossed my backpack into the passenger seat as I got into my car. I checked the time, realizing I'd probably be late. I quickly buckled and headed towards the animal shelter.

"Oliver, you're late." Shirley said in a sing-songy voice as I entered the animal shelter.

"Sorry, Shirley. I got caught up with tutoring." I said, offering her an apologetic smile as I put on the volunteer apron behind the counter.

"You know it's fine, Oliver. Looks like you'll be walking the dogs and cleaning some crates today. Sound good?" she asked. I nodded.

"Sounds good." I replied, giving her a thumbs up as I grabbed the leashes and made my way to the dogs.

"Hi guys! Are you ready for a walk?" I greeted the dogs. Their tails wagged when they heard that word. I took four out at time, hooking them up to the leash before taking them outside.

By the time I had finished walking all the dogs, there was only about an hour until the shelter closed. I quickly made my way to the cats, checking which crates were empty and needed cleaning.

"Oh hey Oliver!" Esther, one of my co-workers, said. Esther was the same age as me but went to a different school across town.

"Hey Esther. You have cat duty?" I asked.

"Yeah. I've also been working with John and Shirley to finish organizing the adoption drive this weekend." Esther replied.

"That's right! I forgot you were doing that." I said as I moved to another cage to clean.

"Yeah! I've been working on it a lot, so I'm excited. I just need to print more flyers and get some volunteers. Actually! Would you be able to take some flyers and hang them up at your school?" she asked.

"Of course! Do you have some I could take?" I asked. Esther nodded.

"I'll go grab some. I'll be back!" she excitedly said, turning to leave the room. She returned a few minutes later with a stack of flyers.

"I'll start hanging them up tomorrow." I said, putting away the cleaning supplies and taking the flyers from Esther.

"Great! Thanks, Oliver." Esther said with a smile. I nodded in response.

"If you need more volunteers this weekend I'd be happy to help." I offered. The smile on Esther's face grew.

"That would be great! Thank you." she said.

"Of course." I responded. She checked the clock before responding.

"I've gotta go, but I'll see you this weekend." she said.

"Yeah, see you." I replied, waving as she left. I did a once over of the room, making sure all the cats were comfortable and any empty crates were closed before making my way to the front desk to drop off my apron.

"Have a good night, Shirley." I said as I hung up my apron.

"You too, Oliver!" she called as I pushed open the doors and headed into the parking lot.

By the time I parked in the garage it was nearing 9 o'clock. I walked inside, hearing my mom watching TV in the living room.

"Hey mom, I'm home." I greeted, setting down my stuff.

"Hi, honey! Dinner's in the microwave. How was the shelter?" she asked, muting the TV.

"It was good. Esther organized an adoption drive this weekend and I volunteered to work it, so I'm going Saturday morning to help." I responded as I opened the microwave door and took my plate to the table.

"That's nice of you. Just don't forget your brother needs the car to get to training on Saturday." she replied.

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that. I'll text Esther and see if she can give me a ride." I responded, pulling out my phone and typing a quick text to Esther.

"How's tutoring going?" she asked. I felt my heart jump at the mention of tutoring. I shrugged.

"Fine I guess. I'm tutoring some football player who needs to pass bio or he'll get kicked off the team." I responded, taking a bite of my food.

"Well I'm sure you're going to help him out." she said with a smile. I nodded and smiled. She unmuted the TV and went back to watching it while I finished my dinner.