Serenity (2 page)

They clapped their hands as the huddle broke then lined up again. Jolin called out the play and set them in motion.

He felt their presence before the contact was made, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. The defensive end broke free again, coming around the side just as a lineman broke free, heading straight for him. Jolin let the ball go hoping the player he was supposed to connect with was in position. It was the last thing he remembered before being sandwiched between the two players and blacking out.

Tuesday, September 9

3:00 p.m.

“M-m-mom?”

“It’s okay, honey. I’m right here.”

Jolin felt a hand grip his and another rub softly up and down his arm.

He turned his head to look for her, but a sharp pain shot through his neck. His dad was standing behind her and turned away, his face looked ashen.

“No, sweetie, don’t move. I’ll call the nurse.” She turned and ran into his dad, they danced back and forth before she took him by the shoulders and pushed him to the side, walking out of the room. Leaving Jolin on his own with his dad. Jolin knew things were bad if his dad was here. His parents had been divorced for years. He lived in the next town and only came around if Jolin was in trouble or had a game. Jolin blinked a few times trying to focus on his surroundings. It was definitely a hospital room, but he couldn’t remember why he was here. Mom came back in the room followed by a doctor.

“So, how are we feeling young man?” The doctor took a stethoscope from around his neck and a light thingy from his pocket. He leaned in, shining the light into Jolin’s eyes. “How’s your head feeling?”

Jolin took a moment. How
did
his head feel? “It hurts…I g-g-guess.”

“Do you have any memory of how you got here?” he asked.

He shook his head. Pain shot through his neck again. Jolin cringed. “N-n-no.”

The doctor sat on the edge of the bed. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Jolin closed his eyes, the words were in his head, but didn’t want to come out of his mouth. “P-p-playing football?”

“Are you asking me or telling me.” He smiled. He was older, and his hair was thinning. He seemed nice enough.

“T-t-telling. I had a g-g-game.”

“Yes you did.” He nodded.

“It was three days ago, Jolin. You’ve been unconscious for three days.” Mom grabbed Jolin’s hand again and started rubbing it against her cheek, tears pooling in her eyes.

The doctor shot her a frustrated look. “Yes, you have been unconscious for a few days. You had a severe impact to the head. Helmet to helmet contact.”

Jolin’s mind couldn’t process what he was saying. If the doctor was saying he had a severe concussion, he’d be sidelined. It was his senior football year. He had colleges looking at him.

“You also had an injury to your shoulder. Rotator cuff was torn. We’ll need to do surgery, but wanted to wait until you woke up.”

“When?” His words failed him, but he already knew the answer. He needed to hear someone say it out loud.

His mom brought his hand to her lips and kissed it, holding it there, unable to look into his eyes. Jolin shifted his gaze to his dad. He forced the words to come. The one question he needed to know, but was afraid to ask.

“When can I p-p-lay?” he stuttered. His dad dropped his head, running his hand through his short hair, diverting his eyes from Jolin.

“Jolin. I won’t be able to clear you to play again. Your brain is severely bruised. Your short term memory may have been compromised.Now that you’re awake it’s apparent your speech has been affected. If you had another head impact, even minor, it could cause serious damage. Even death.You’ll never play again.”

“I’ll get b-b-better,” Jolin insisted. He watched as his dad struggled to keep it together, finally excusing himself from the room.

“Yes, you will improve, but you won’t play again.” The doctor stood to leave.

“I have t-t-to.” Jolin looked at his mom. “I have a scholarship.” Football was the only thing keeping his relationship with his dad together. He wanted to scream, but he knew everything was already gone. His dad… was gone.

“It’s okay, baby. We’ll figure it out.” A tear fell down her cheek. “We’ll figure it out. Just get better.”

Jolin closed his eyes. He couldn’t bear to watch his mom cry, he hated that it was him causing the tears, but knowing he’d failed his dad was all he could think about.

Monday, October 9

7:30 a.m.

It was a month since Jolin had been in school. Between the concussion and surgery, things had gone slow.

“Jo! Jolin!”

He turned around just in time to catch his girlfriend catapulting herself into his chest. Jolin’s back slammed against the lockers absorbing her momentum, and his good arm caught her around the waist. If she hadn’t wrapped her arms around his neck she would have slid straight to the floor. As it was she was painfully pushing his already injured arm into his stomach, pulling the sling tight across the back of his neck.

She smashed her mouth against his in a possessive kiss. “I didn’t know you were back!”

“Hey Lizzie.” Jolin pulled his mouth away and let go of her waist, attempting to remove her from his chest. She was still attached to him and it took an effort to get her to let go. “J-J-Jesus, Liz.” Jolin shook his head in frustration as the words fought to stay in his mouth. “G-Get down.”

Elizabeth slid down his body, her face showing shock at the stutter of words he’d just said. Her fake smile quickly returned when she leaned in, sliding her hands into his letterman jacket, trailing her fingertips across his abs. “Can you come over tonight?”

Jolin raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by….” He pressed his lips together to stop the stutter, but it came anyway. “T-t-tonight?”

She flashed what he thought was supposed to be a seductive grin, but it kind of scared him. “Later…
later
.”

He lifted his chin to avoid another one of her overly enthusiastic kisses. She seemed oblivious to the fact this was his first day back at school after three weeks in the hospital rehab facility. “Not sure.” The words failed him again. Jolin closed his eyes giving his mind time to catch up with his mouth. The doctor said his speech should return to normal eventually, but with severe head trauma he couldn’t tell him when. He also said to avoid stress and try to relax. He’d only been in school for fifteen minutes and his stress levels were already skyrocketing. He took a deep breath. “If Mom works. I’ll t-t-text you.”

Her smile faltered again. He figured realization he’d actually gotten hurt during the game was sinking in. Elizabeth stood on her toes to brush her lips across his neck, but ended up smashing her face into his chest when she was pushed from behind.

“What the hell,” she snapped, her flirty demeanor falling away.

“Hey, sorry,” Quill one of the football players waved her off. A tall girl followed at his heels not even glancing their way.

“Fucking whore,” Elizabeth said under her breath.

The girl didn’t break her stride as her hand came up to flip Elizabeth off.

“She’s such a waste of air.” Elizabeth ran a hand down her cheerleading uniform, smoothing invisible wrinkles from the polyester. Then she ran a hand over her slicked back hair, pulling the gigantic bow on the top of her head tight.

Jolin pulled her in and planted a hard kiss on her mouth, hoping to prove to her he was still the old Jolin, even though he wasn’t sure he was. “D-d-don’t worry ab-b-out her.” Jolin paused to let the words come. “She’s not even on your p-p-planet.”

That’s all she needed to hear. A big smile filled her face; her perfect day glow teeth blinded him. “Isn’t that the truth.” She snuggled into his side and they headed off to their Biology class. The mass of students parted like the Red Sea as they made their way down the hall. The Captain of the football team and the Head Cheerleader, king and queen of the school.

The bell rang before they got to class. Lizzie had pulled Jolin into the dark corners of the hallway, making up for lost time she’d said. He was thankful for his loose jeans or else what they’d been up to would be obvious to everyone. They walked past Mr. Carson without batting an eye. They ran the school, and the teachers let them come and go as they pleased. The perks of being popular.

“Glad you decided to join us today,” was all Mr. Carson said before assigning Elizabeth and Jolin to be lab partners for a Biology project.

“Dude.” Brock gave Jolin a fist bump when he sat down. “Keeping busy?”

Jolin raised an eyebrow and sunk down into his chair for the lecture. Not that it mattered. The football team always got a list of questions before the test. It would be unheard of for a member of the team to not make grades.

Serenity

Sunday, October 13th

8:30 a.m.

Mom was passed out in her room and boyfriend was AWOL, so Ren headed down to the kitchen to find something to eat. She wasn’t overly shocked to find absolutely nothing in the kitchen. What little food they had before Gram’s died had been eaten by the mass of
friends
Mom had invited over to help her work through her sorrow, and the neighbors complained so much about the recent noise coming from their house she didn’t expect a sympathetic casserole coming their way any time soon. The house was a disaster. It hadn’t taken more than a few days for her mom to strip the walls of anything worth a dime and trash anything that hinted at family. All the photos of Quill and her had disappeared. Grams took house keeping very serious and even though the house was small and run down it had been neat and clean when she was alive. Currently the counters were covered in half eaten food and bent spoons with drug residue burnt into them. Ren filled a glass with water and started cleaning the counters when the doorbell rang.

She opened the door to Brock Roberts, her mourning hookup, standing on her front porch. Brock was a football player and had an incredible body. His hair was dark and cut close around his ears but grew longer on top, flopping in his eyes continuously. As much as Ren hated to admit it he was attractive…until he opened his stupid mouth. His dad owned their rental. Not to mention he had provided a needed, but much regretted, distraction after the funeral.

“Hey, Ren.” He smiled in an ‘
I know what you did last weekend and want to do it again’
sort of way.

“Brock. What can I do for you?” Ren leaned against the door. She hoped her crappy attitude showed she wasn’t going to invite him in.

“To begin with I want to extend my families deepest sympathies about your loss.”

Ren waited. She knew there was more to it than that. His dad could have easily sent a card.

“Okay then.” He clapped his hands causing her to jump. “Can I come in?” He stepped forward, bringing his body into her personal space. He tilted his head to the side in a way that showed he knew they were much more familiar than she wanted to admit.

“Things have been kind of crazy since Grams. The place is a mess.” She closed the door behind her, keeping him on the front porch, but also bringing her closer to where Brock stood. They were chest to chest, and he wasn’t giving an inch. Chalk it up to false bravado courtesy of high school social rankings.

He smelled good, and she kicked herself for even allowing her head to go there. He was out of her league and a few secret, drunken make-out sessions at a club wouldn’t change that.

He lowered his head toward her. Ren’s head whacked the door when she pulled away. A broad smile filled his face. “Let me in, Ren,” he cooed.

Resigned, she reached behind and turned the knob, almost falling into the entry way as she tripped up and into the house. Brock followed and shut the door.

“What can I do for you?” she repeated.

“My dad wants me to learn his business so I’m taking over a few houses for him.” He moved toward Ren. She held her ground. She didn’t want him to think he intimidated her.

“Okay.”

“We were wondering what the situation was now that your grandma passed. You and Quill aren’t old enough to sign a new lease and the current one is up in a few months.”

“My mom’s living here now.” He was getting progressively closer to her. She kept her face blank of all expression. She needed to stay in control of this situation.

“So she’s planning on staying?” Brock raised an eyebrow. The smell of Mentos wafted from his mouth.

Brock’s dad was up on the happenings in their life, and Ren was sure he’d shared the fact her mom was in and out of their lives, usually more out than in.

“She’s here for now.” Ren crossed her arms over her chest. She was wearing one of Quill’s old football jerseys and a pair of workout shorts. Not her best look. She felt vulnerable without the usual costume of steampunk clothes and make-up she wore to school. It was as if Brock could see through her without the cover they provided.

His hands reached out and encircled her waist. “So she’ll sign the lease then?” His voice had gotten low and sent a chill through her. “Does she have a job?”

Ren wanted to step away from his touch. Her entire body screamed to jerk free of his hold, but she fought to keep control over the situation. “Quill and I work. We’ll make sure you get the rent on time.”

Brock laughed. “You don’t work enough hours to pay rent and utilities. Not to mention food to eat.”

“I think your only concern would be whether I can pay you the rent on time.” Ren stood straighter.

“Can you?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Well I don’t have it right now. With the funeral costs it will be tight this month.” Ren was lying. The funeral cost weren’t even close to being paid off, and she had no money set aside for rent. Anything Grams had, Mom spent before the body was in the ground. The only reason she showed up was probably to get the money from a life insurance policy Grams never had.

Brock pulled her into him. “Well then I guess that’s where your initial question comes back into play.”

“And what was that?” Ren was afraid to ask.

“What can you do for
me
?” He ran the back of his fingers down her cheek.

Ren swallowed. She didn’t like where this was going. Ren pulled her lip ring into her mouth and sucked on it for a minute before letting it slide out again. Brock took in a sharp breath, his thumb moved to caress the ring encircling her lip.