Dylan panted lightly as he jogged after the soccer ball. They had been playing for about an hour, and the scorching heat had since long made his shirt stick to his body.
From out of nowhere, Landon came running and took the ball just before he could. How could that guy still have any energy? He must have practiced all summer. As Landon scored, the other boys cheered and the coach finally blew his whistle.
"Alright, let's wrap it up, guys." He yelled from the sidelines. Dylan sighed gratefully and turned to join the team which had formed a half-circle around Coach Jonas. "Really well played today, and I'm happy to see some new faces around here." He smiled at two of the sophomores. "I will post the results on the board first thing Monday morning. Okay, now go and hit the showers."
Dylan followed the team from the soccer field, into the gym and further into the lockers.
"That was a really good game!" Jake exclaimed, still having a slight pant, as he took off his gear.
"Yeah, this year we'll crush it! And you, Landon," Shawn beamed towards the captain as he took off his sweaty shirt, "There's no doubt that you'll get that scholarship." Landon smiled appreciatively.
Landon had undoubtedly worked harder than all the other players on the team. Not that the others hadn't worked hard, Landon had just worked harder. Dylan was one of the few who knew why, too. He knew that while his teammate played it cool, he didn't have that much money. A free-ride was crucial if he wanted to go to college.
"Dude, your chick is waiting for you outside." Dylan was ripped from his thoughts by Rhett, a junior who he didn't actually know that well, despite him having been on the team for over a year.
"She's not my chick." He responded shortly and grabbed his bag, swinging it over his shoulder, leaving the other boys.
"Hey." Felicia greeted as Dylan closed the locker room door, pushing herself off the wall that she'd been leaning against. "How'd it feel?"
"Good," Dylan answered. "Everyone seems to be in good shape. 'Specially Landon, I don't even understand how he does it."
"Yeah, I could tell he had a lot of energy, even at the end."
Dylan turned his head toward his friend with a slight frown. "You watched?"
Felicia laughed. "What else was there to do? You're my chauffeur!"
"Yeah, I guess that's true."
"Exactly."
They walked together towards Dylan's car without talking. As soon as both of them had closed their doors, Felicia sniffed in the air.
"Dude," she groaned, "you stink!"
At that, Dylan only laughed and turned the ignition. "Well, what did were you expecting? It's your fault." Felicia squinted at him, a smile tugging at her lips.
"How is it my fault?"
"Well, if you didn't insist on me driving you after practice, then I wouldn't have to shower at home and would be able to do it earlier, resulting in less of a stench." Dylan raised his arm and leaned toward her, making her squeal and push his arm away.
"You are gross!" She laughed as he lowered his arm, putting his seatbelt on and backing out of the lot.
"And yet, here you are," Dylan smirked.
"Yeah, well I wish I wasn't," Felicia stuck her tongue out.
__
It wasn't until 4:40 on the next day that Dylan gave up on waiting on his tutee. He'd been sitting in the library for almost an hour, and he was way too tired. Why had he even waited until then? And couldn't Christopher at least have sent a text or anything? Whatever, he thought and started packing up his stuff. At least Felicia hadn't had to wait for him.
The weather had changed a lot in three days, completely throwing off Dylan's mood and work ethic. Looking outside, he saw heavy clouds with only some sun streaming through and he sighed. Today had been a slow day. Too slow, he thought as he threw his stuff into the car.
His thoughts were cut off, though, by a hard knocking on his car window. Looking up, he saw Landon, sweaty and panting, outside the car.
"Open up, will ya?" He asked, impatiently bouncing on his toes. Dylan leaned over the seat and unlocked the passenger door, and Landon hurriedly got into the car.
"What are you still doing here?" Dylan asked, turning in his seat. Landon massaged his neck. Something seemed to bother him, but Dylan didn't like to push.
"Wanted to get in some extra practice, don't wanna fall behind."
"Fall behind? You? You know you're way ahead of all us other guys on the team, right?" His jaw dropped a bit at Landon's words, and he frowned. "There is a thing called over-achieving, you know." Landon chuckled softly at that.
"Yeah, but I have to..." He started but hesitated slightly. "Get ready for the recruitment period."
"You are ready, trust me." Dylan reassured, "You want a ride somewhere?"
Landon smiled, still looking a bit tired though. "Yeah. Dad said he'd pick me up, but he got stuck at work, and I'm scared it'll start to rain."
"What are you, made of sugar?" Dylan laughed and Landon joined in.
"I'm as sweet as it, yes I know, but I just don't want to get a cold. It is literally the fourth day of school, I can't get any absences this early." Dylan nodded, then began to pull out of the parking lot. "By the way, you can just drop me off at Shawn's, I think I forgot my jacket there yesterday after try-outs."
"Sure, you can put on some music if you'd like." He grabbed the aux cord and handed it to his friend. "Just, please, not metal."
"It's Jake who likes that sort of trash, not me, thank you very much." He laughed, connecting the cord to his phone and starting some top hit from his playlist. "You should really get a Bluetooth radio, dude, this is lame." He held up the phone, cord dangling from it.
"You don't even have a car, you aren't in any position to tell me what to get for mine. If you buy me one, I'll install it, but I have better things to spend my money on."
Landon raised one eyebrow. "Like what?"
"I don't know, maybe gas?" Dylan retorted. "So that I can drive you places like I'm doing right now."
"We both know that you drive Felly more than you do me." Landon winked. "You sure that there isn't anything going on between the two of you?"
"Seriously? No. She has Xander and I'm more than satisfied on my own. You guys gotta stop with that, boys and girls can actually be 'just friends'. Also, Felly? What kind of a nickname is that?" He chuckled.
"Yeah, okay, if you say so, but it is unusual," Landon smiled as Dylan turned at an intersection. He'd had plenty of practice driving everyone around, so he knew the streets like the back of his hand. "Also, Felly is a great nickname for someone called Felicia. Hey, did you see that Chris Davis is here? What's the deal with that, is he spying on the football team or what?"
Dylan nodded. "Yeah, I noticed that he was here," he didn't feel like mentioning that he was tutoring the guy, "Principal Evans said he'd transferred here."
Landon let out a huff. "Transferring in senior year, wonder what that's about." He said out loud, but kind of distant, probably not wanting an answer. Dylan hummed in agreement.
Soon, they arrived in front of Shawn's house and Dylan pulled up at the curb. "There. Do you want me to wait and drive you home, too, or are you cool?"
"I'm cool. I'll just tell dad to pick me up here when he's done." Landon stepped out of the car. "Thanks, dude."
"No problem, any time, just call." He was just about to close the door when Dylan continued. "Landon, don't practice too hard, you need time to build up your body after a workout. Otherwise, you'll be breaking it down.
"Yeah."
The ride back to his house was boring. Sure, he'd put on some music, but driving alone was just not the same. At least the talk with Landon had bettered his mood, and now he planned on doing some reading when he got home, instead of the sleeping that he had planned on earlier.
Suddenly, his phone started buzzing, and the music was interrupted by ringing.
"Ya hello?" He quickly answered the phone, not even bothering to see who it was."
"Hi, Dylan!" It was Felicia. The too-long hi was enough for him to know that she needed something. A ride, most probably. It was just after five, so the fact that she wasn't still with Xander was surprising.
"Where are you?" He sighed and made a sharp U-turn.
"I'm sorry, I really am, I just- Xander had a crisis and had to leave, and didn't have any time-"
"Where?"
"The college campus, east side." She sighed. "I am sorry."
"It's fine, I'm just a bit tired, it's been a long day." Dylan smiled to himself. "I'll be there in seven."
Five minutes later, he stopped the car by his friend. She opened the already unlocked door and got in. "First of all, how did you get here so fast? Weren't you home?" Dylan shook his head.
"Landon asked me to give him a ride to Shawn's." He explained as he started to drive the car again. "And I was at school for a while, so." He shrugged.
"Right! Who'd your tutoring session go?" She beamed, her excitement clearly showing.
Dylan chuckled bitterly. "It didn't, he just dissed it completely, didn't even send a text to tell me. I sat in the library for almost one and a half hours." Felicia frowned.
"What an ass." She commented, leaning her head against the seat.
"I know, I told you. Now, however, you gotta tell me why Xander was in so big of a hurry to not have time to drop you off." Dylan let one hand go of the wheel, relaxing his arm and lowering the volume on the radio.
There was a long pause.
"I think that one of his friends had gotten himself in trouble. He didn't say much, just grabbed his jacket and left, basically." Dylan mumbled a very, very quiet 'what a douchebag' and hoped that Felicia hadn't heard. Apparently she hadn't, or if she had, she didn't mention it. "But I get it, I would have done the same if you had been in trouble."
Dylan smiled at this. Fine, he would definitely had done the same for Felicia, and for anyone on the soccer team, but Xander could have at least given his girlfriend a reason. Had he really gotten worse? In the beginning, he'd only disliked Xander because the latter was rude every time they met. And yeah, maybe he'd felt threatened, but he had no reason to be.
"He said he'd call tonight, though," Felicia continued, "so I'm not that worried... okay maybe a little, but he'll be fine."Â She smiled nervously and grabbed Dylan's phone. "I'm changing the music now."
It felt like a significantly shorter time than it was before Dylan finally, at 5:46, pulled up at his own house after having dropped Felicia off. He was at that time almost out of gas and made a mental note to fill the tank soon. He locked the doors and sighed heavily. He really wanted to sleep, so he threw out the reading idea and started moving towards the house.
When he entered through the front door, the heavenly smell of food hit him in the face.
"Hey, Dyl," Riley beamed up at him, "I made pancakes. Mom and dad got held up at work."
"You are an angel, Ry." He answered and took a seat.
After dinner, the only thing he had the energy to do was go upstairs and throw himself on the bed.
///