Stone Cold (20 page)

The minutes ticked by and still there was no sign of Conall
or Jack. With disappointment mounting, Hannah pulled an envelope labeled ‘Conall’ in bold letters, from her jacket pocket.

It was 1:29
P.M. and with only a minute left, she walked to the benches and taped the envelope with his name showing, to the backrest.

Her only hope was that Conall was late again and he would get there and see the letter she’d left for him. Inside, it contained her email address and phone number.

Dejected, she walked back to State Street and hailed another cab to take her back to Aunt Grace’s.

No sooner had Hannah left in the cab than did a
young man approach the bench and open the envelope she’d left. He read the contents and after looking around, returned the letter to the envelope, reattached it to the bench, and quickly walked away. Not more than a minute later, a man in a black trench coat approached the same bench. After a good look around, Jack Barnes nonchalantly removed the envelope and placed it in his pocket.

Chapter
16

The rest of the summer had flown by for Conall. He kept himself busy by refining his football skills with the help of Carter and Max. Much to his surprise, they’d become even better friends to him than Bobby and Shawn.

His fear of fitting in when the new school year began was a distant memory. His looks, coupled with his friendship with the two most popular athletes in school garnered him a position of respect with most of the students.

Even with his newfound fame, Conall was still a quiet and reserved person. Most people would describe him as shy but
he thought a better word was introspective. He felt his time was better spent in observation than in conversation.

During the summer months, he’d spent a good deal of time in the weight room. Max and Carter had strongly encouraged him to go out for the football team in the f
all. To be a contender, he needed to increase his mass and get into shape, so Conall had taken up running when he wasn’t in the weight room.

By the time practi
ce season started, he’d put on thirty pounds of muscle and he’d grown two inches taller. The coaches took one look at his physique and had him start to train with their first string players.

It didn’
t take long for them to see that Conall was destined to be a star player. Not just for their team, but any team. He had a natural athletic ability and it was impossible to tell he’d only begun participating in sports less than three months before.

Conall was the most coachable player
on the team. He could execute any maneuver the coaches showed him, on the spot, with near perfect precision.

He could sprint faster than anyone on the team. He could pass, tackle, block, punt,
and catch so well that the coaches were not yet sure where they wanted to play him.

Instead of being jealous, Max and Carter were over
joyed with their find. Not only was he their teammate, but also their friend and they were happy they’d helped him develop his unknown talents. Plus their team would certainly benefit from having such an exceptional player added to the lineup.

The season started and as expected, Conall
did emerge as a star, so much so that college scouts had learned of his abilities and had started to come to their games to watch him play.

As the season progressed, the success and attention he was receiving felt amazing. He could never have imagined this in his wildest dreams. But he would trade it all if he could rid himself of the emptiness he felt deep within his soul.

He hid it so well that no one else could ever guess what was really going on inside of his head and heart. Eden knew him better than anyone else but even she didn’t know what he was really feeling. She was away at college anyway and wouldn’t be home until Thanksgiving if then.

No matter how many
girls flaunted themselves at Conall they were no match for Hannah. Months had passed since they’d waved to each other and he was growing impatient with the number of months ahead of him before they would be able to try again.

October wa
s almost over which meant his 17th birthday was on the horizon. His friends had let the cat out of the bag that the football team and the cheerleaders had planned a party for him for that weekend. He wasn’t the party type, and preferred no fanfare at all but there was nothing he could do except grin and bear it.

They’d decorated the school gym and had hired a band.
Hundreds of people showed up but Conall didn’t know most of them.

More than fifty
percent of the people there were teenage girls. He watched as Max and Carter used their best moves to try and win the attention of a few select females who were playing hard to get.

Conall didn’t have to use any moves. Girls naturally gravi
tated toward him but he couldn’t have cared less.

He
was only interested in one girl and he wished she was there. Instead he had to endure the presence of someone he didn’t much care for.

“Hi birthday boy! Let me give you a birthday hug and kiss.”

The hairs on the back of Conall’s neck bristled. He knew that voice coming from behind him all too well. His first thought was to pretend he didn’t hear her and walk away, no run away as fast as possible.

But n
ot one to be rude, he slowly turned around knowing he was probably going to regret it. It was exactly who he thought it was and he couldn’t hide the disappointment on his face.

“Kristen, what brings you here?” He couldn’t believe
Eden had told her friends about the party.

“
Eden told us about your birthday party and since she couldn’t be here, Courtney, Alison, and I decided to come in her place and help you celebrate!”

Conall could smell the alcohol on her breath. The shirt she was wearing
revealed so much cleavage it barely covered her breasts and her thong was showing above her jeans in the back.

“Lovely,” he
sarcastically thought to himself.

Before he c
ould stop her, Kristen thrust her body forward and slung her arms around him. He turned his head just in time to avoid a super sloppy wet kiss that thankfully landed on his cheek instead of his lips.

Kristen slurred,
“Come on Conall, I’ve wanted to kiss you for the longest time and now look at you! Wow! You’re even hotter than the last time I saw you.”

She
was prodding his arm and chest muscles before putting her palms against his cheeks to try and pull him in for a kiss.

Conall grabbed her hands with his, pulled them away from his face, and pushed them down to her sides as he stepped backwards.

“I’m flattered Kristen but you’re wasting your time. I have no romantic interest in you whatsoever.”

He didn’t want to hurt her feelings but she wasn’t going to get it any other way. He’d tried many times befor
e to let her down easy and it hadn’t worked.

Unfazed, she went on,
“That’s okay. I’d be happy just to have the chance to sleep with you, no strings attached. I’m that kind of girl.”

He took a minute to collect his thoughts. Looking at her and listening to what she’d just said, all he could think about was how pathetic this girl was and all the other girls out there like her.

“But I’m not that kind of guy. It’s time for you to go home.”

Conall found Courtney and Alison who were mingling with the other guests and asked them to take Kristen home. Fortunately they ha
dn’t been drinking and they’d see that she got home safely.

He was glad that the party was almost over. The game had taken a lot out of him and he was ready to get some sleep.

Most of the guests had left and he was about to do the same when he ran into Carter.

“Hey man, Max and I met some girls and we’re all going to go get some food at the diner. You in?” Carter hoped Conall would join them.

“I’m tempted dude but I’m beat. Too many hits today - body’s a wreck right now. Call me tomorrow and tell me what went down. Oh and thanks for the party, it was awesome.”

After a few high fives, t
hey walked out together and said their goodbyes with a chest bump and handshake in the parking lot.

“Later dudes.”

“Later Conall.”

Once again, he was alone with his thoughts.

*****

The rest of the season was a huge success. Scouts came from
far and wide, including colleges from the Big Ten, to watch him play.

His future seemed set.
Ohio State had offered him a full scholarship to play on their team provided he remained healthy through his senior year.

When football season was over, t
he next sport he was ready to tackle was wrestling. Max and Carter were on the team and began training him just as they had in football.

Their efforts paid off in a big way yet again. Conall wrestled in the heavyweight position and became the state champion in his weight class the first time out.

He was scouted and offered a full scholarship to wrestle in college by Clarion University, again as long as he remained healthy through his senior year.

Other schools had also offered full scholarships but Clarion and
Ohio State were the ones at the top of his list.

His parents were thrilled. They were paying for
Eden to go to college and it would be a tremendous help financially if Conall did get to go on a full scholarship.

The toughest choice he would have to make was between football and wrestling when the time came.

Satisfied he would be granted a scholarship, Evelyn and Darin decided to use some of the money they’d set aside in his college fund to buy him a car.

They wanted to give him additional responsibilities and felt he was ready to handle driving him
self and Kylie back and forth to school everyday.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve had come and gone.
Eden had been home for all three and Conall had gotten to spend some quality time with her.

Before she went back to school, she’d helped him pick out a car.

He chose a 1997 Toyota Supra Twin Turbo.

Evelyn and Darin placed restrictions on his driving privileges. The only other people besides themselves allowed in the ca
r when he was driving were Kylie or Eden. He had a 10:00 P.M. curfew on weekdays and an 11:00 P.M. curfew on Friday and Saturday nights if he was driving. He could only drive 20 miles outside of the town limits unless he cleared it with his parents beforehand.

Satisfied with the fact that he had a car at all, Conall did his best to abide by their rules. He was tempted to drive to NYC to see Bobby and Shawn but he knew his parents would never agree to that until he’d been driving
for at least a year.  

There was barely any traffic
in Bushkill as compared to NYC but many of the roads were windy and narrow. This was especially true from the Stone’s house to their schools.

Kylie
was in ninth grade and went to junior high which was about a mile away from the high school.

Most mornings, Conall left in plenty of time to drop her off and made it to his first class with time to spare.

This was not the case on one day in particular.

On the night of February 14, he’d had an extremely hard time sleeping. His day had been filled with watching happy couples
at school exchanging heart shaped boxes of candy while some girls received flowers and cards from their beaus. This included Max and Carter who both now had girlfriends.

He wanted more than anything to be able to send the girl of his dreams flowers, candy, or better yet, to be able to give her those things in person. He wanted to be able to kiss her, hug her, and touch her at least once.

Conall kept these feelings to himself. His best friends didn’t even know anything about Hannah. They were always trying to fix him up with pretty, available girls, but he wasn’t interested.

“I’m certain t
hey must think I’m gay and why wouldn’t they?” he lamented while lying wide awake at 3:00 A.M.

Several hours passed and although he hadn’t slept, it was time to get up for school.

It was foggy that morning which was typical for this time of year and the roads were a little wet from condensation. Kylie was in the front passenger seat messing with the radio.