her friend then went over to Mr. Jaspers bar and possibly hung out with Nancy all day. A while later she came home and rushed behind him to her bedroom and the bathroom adjacent to it, he was excited she was back.
“How was today, did you enjoy yourself?” he called to her and heard the shower running.
“Yeah, I met up with some friends from the bar and watched a movie.” She called out stripping her clothes quickly and jumping into the cold shower then cursed nearly slipping to her death.
“Are you alright in there, Michelle?” He asked.
“Yup, I’m fine just slipped.”
“How was the movie?” He asked her.
“Uh…it was boring, we talked most of the time.” She said.
“How is she?” Presley asked now outside the bathroom door.
“How is who?”
“Nancy.” He asked.
“Oh, Nancy is fine. She’s still wild.” Michelle said and scrubbed quickly.
“I bought some pizza for dinner. I really would like to talk with you.” He said.
“Ok, I will be out in a second.” She yelled and finished her shower and got dressed. He was waiting for her on the couch when she emerged from her bedroom. There was a large vase on the table wrapped in a big pink bow with red and pink roses coming out of it. It was beautiful and her heart fluttered at the sight of them. “Presley! They are so beautiful.” She said and came over taking in a big whiff. He smiled at her and patted the seat on the sofa beside him. She joined him on the sofa and kissed his cheek and thanked him.
“I’m glad you like them, I didn’t know how else to apologize for last night.” His eyes dropped down in embarrassment and shame. He cleared his throat.
“I didn’t mean to bail on you like that. I just don’t want you to think our relationship is all about intimacy. If we even have a relationship...” She was silent and he continued to speak. “I want to ask you something. Will you go out with me? I know I am not the brightest tool in the shed when it comes to love, but you are the only person in this world who understands me and I want you in my life. Please Michelle, give me a chance to be with you and I promise you won’t regret it.” Michelle blinked her eyes and stared at him. She opened her mouth a little surprised at his request and lowered her head.
“Well,” she tried to explain. “Sure Presley, I really like you a lot. I have always had that attraction to you and it’s only right that I give us a chance. But I need some time to think about this.” She said and Presley nodded.
“Of course Michelle, you know that you have all the time you need. I am enjoying you being back in my life and I want you to enjoy it too.” He patted her hand softly and saw guilt in her eyes. “Are you ok Michelle? Did something happen today?”
Michelle
I don’t know what to tell you! I am trying to keep it together. Do you have to hold my hand like I’m three years old Presley? Stop smothering me! Michelle had signals going off in her head and one by one she tried to smother them. Don’t look at me like that, like you care about me and what I have done. Don’t act like you’re my best friend when all you do is criticize. Don’t look at me like I am to blame, because of what I have done…
“I-I am fine, just a little tired.” Michelle could hear her voice shaking but she just couldn’t stop it. What has she done? It was a huge mistake. Hopefully he wouldn’t notice the shame in her voice. Michelle kept beating herself up in her head and Presley continued to speak holding onto her hand.
“Tomorrow is game day so my boys are coming over for a little football party around noon. I hope you join us, I would like to introduce you to them.” He told her and she nodded. They both went to bed soon after that and Michelle felt better after a good sleep. There was no reason to draw any more attention to herself because what happened with Jake would never happen again.
The next day Michelle slept in attempting to get whatever beauty sleep she could until she heard a bunch of loud voices in the living room. The sound of the men in the other room caused her to jump up and get dressed quickly and she exited her bedroom in a flash. Presley greeted her with a soda and introduced her to all the guys around the room and in a strange unison they greeted her. She sat down between Presley’s friends and listened to their conversation as they watched the game.
“Man I have said it once, and I’m going to say it again. Ramirez is the best quarterback these jokers could afford, and had he been able to get some blocking in we would not be playing these idiots right now. This game wouldn’t even exist if we had some defense last week.” said Presley’s friend Chauncey.
“No bro!” yelled his friend Eric. “I am telling you this, it doesn’t matter who has the ball, the quarterback or the running back the blockers are focused on one thing. Marcus Williams. That’s all they need to focus on, the other fools are just sad and sorry. No point to block them, they are going to hit the ground in the end zone all by themselves. Fumbling little twinkle toes can’t make three yards without tripping like a pansy.”
“What!” Yelled Chauncey and he and Eric went back and forth. “Marcus Williams is no better than Gary Hampton on a bad day! Gary Hampton has talent, now let me show you young men a thing or two. There is a difference between talent and skill. A quarterback has to have talent, that’s a natural God-given gift. Now see a running back, all that fool needs is skill to get him from one point to another. A to B is all he has to worry about. How he gets there is his problem, shaking, shimmying, jiving, diving and jumping is all included in his options. But true talent is in the Quarterback and Marcus Williams…” He stopped and looked around the room for effect. “Marcus Williams has NO talent.” Then there was a loud riot between the men.
“Wait now hold up Uncle C!” said a younger guy maybe in his teenage years known as Manny. “Uncle C, at least Marcus Williams can run. If your boy Gary Hampton could move a little maybe he wouldn’t get tackled every time he had the ball!” Then there was another riotous shout between them. Michelle wondered how they could hear each other, and with all the noise how did they decide whose turn it was to talk?
“Look youngster like I said you have talent and you have skill,” Then Presley’s friend Jason cut him off and it was not to Michelle’s surprise that he jumped out of his seat to talk too.
“Skill doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have enough talent to catch the ball. While you all are talking about Gary or Marcus, the honesty is that if their roles were flipped, neither one of them could catch, run or let alone HOLD a ball!” Then they all burst into laughter and their voices fought for the spotlight.
Jason continued. “No wait, let me finish! I will show you some talent Mr. C. Put Gibson from the Phoenix on the line with Marshall and Thomas from Texas on the same team. Now you have a plan, that team is going to get the ball to score a touchdown every time it hits the air and no one is going to stop them.”
“Yeah but you know these cats trading these teammates from state to state don’t have a plan involved when they make their final decisions. That’s why they fired the coach of the dingbats from Tahoe.” said Presley starting up another riot.
“Fired?” said Eric. “They fired the coach? No man you’re kidding me!” The guys argued during the whole game and took a break to scream and yell when someone scored. Michelle was amazed by them, she enjoyed hearing them speak this foreign language and she was constantly reminded of how it used to be at her parent’s house on game day.
Sunday’s were always about football at the church and they made the sermon end early so congregation could be home for the big game. They celebrated as if it was tradition, Church and football on the same day? It was a holiday every week and kept you happy until Christmas and New Year’s started it all over again.
This was the day she enjoyed the most, even though Mother made her slave to get all pretty on Sundays she still enjoyed the youth group and eating Sunday dinner while dad watched the game. Michelle didn’t have a clue what was going on in this game called football, but she love
d how the men enjoyed it.
She looked over at Presley and he was already looking at her smiling. She smirked back at him and took his hand in hers and at that moment it didn’t really matter what came their way. They were happy, and this moment marked the first reason of her new side of life that meant everything she existed for was worth the trouble. Yet still she was curiously asking herself…”I wonder what Jake is doing right now?”
Presley
The holidays rolled around and Presley began to see less and less of Michelle at night. She was home during the day, singing and joyful so he believed all was well with her. But once it hit six or seven pm she was out on the town doing Heaven knows what and having a great time doing it. She would come home early in the morning and sleep most of the afternoons, but Presley was so work consumed that he didn’t notice the tension building between them.
She was still his beautiful and dainty little princess who he showered with gifts and money when she asked for it and even set aside a substantial amount of time out of his day just for her, but that didn’t stop her from leaving at night. Presley tried to confront her about it, making sure she wasn’t sneaking out to play bingo with the local madmen or something else crazy like that. The only response she gave him was “hanging with friends” and told him not to