I was trying to convince Sarah and Calley to wake up to drive me home when the front door burst open and the sound of suitcases rolling filled the foyer. The hung-over teenagers in the living room all started to stir at the noise. I rounded the corner to see who was at the door and ran right into Buck Johnson.
“Oh, hey there, girly,” he said, with a hint of Southern charm. “You must be one of Reed’s friends?”
“Uh, oh… yeah, I’m so sorry. I’m Nolan. Reed let a few of us stay over because the football celebration lasted so long last night,” I was vague, not sure how much information he knew or cared to know.
“Nolan, I’ve heard about you. Great name, kid!” he said, giving me a bit of a punch on the shoulder. I understood the charm of the best salesman in the business instantly. “Hell of a game last night, huh? I came in from meetings in Tucson for it and had to get back for a breakfast meeting this morning, but it was worth the drive. My boy’s something special,” he beamed.
I heard steps coming down the stairs and soon Reed was standing behind me. “Hey pops,” he said with a wave. “You just get in?”
“Sure did, you wanna roll these bags upstairs for me?” he said, handing over a big garment bag.
“Yep,” Reed said, smiling. He was turning to say something to me when I turned quickly as if I didn’t notice. I wasn’t ready to make eye contact with him. Thankfully Calley and Sarah were walking up with their purses and Calley had her keys dangling from her finger.
“Hey, Nolan. Cole’s going to give us a lift back to my car, you ready?” she asked.
“Sounds good,” I said. Then, not fully turning to Reed, I half thanked him for letting us stay over last night.
“Uh yeah, anytime,” he said, finally turning his attention to moving his father’s bags upstairs.
I didn’t talk much during the ride to Calley’s car or the ride back to my house. I had never been happier to see the wrap-around porch my dad built in my life. I climbed the steps and plopped down on one of the porch chairs next to my dad.
“Have a good time, kiddo?” he asked.
“Sure did,” I lied.
6. Without
I decided that I wouldn’t be attending any more desert parties after the football games this year. Even without my unhealthy crush on the quarterback, I didn’t really enjoy the drunk mingling in the 90-degree desert. And as the fall stretched on, the parties happened less and less as winter settled in and the football season became more and more serious. I wasn’t anti-social, by any means. I just didn’t let my imagination get carried away.
Reed and I ended up earning the highest grade in the class on our sustainability project. In fact, our teacher was so impressed by our model and paper, he entered it in a district competition being sponsored by one of the big solar companies in Phoenix.
Without the project, there was little reason for me to visit or call Reed. I found myself not able to delete the small string of texts I had saved from our few conversations. Most of them were about meeting times and whether or not I was coming over to work on the project. Then there was that last one, when I told him we were still friends. And we were. I just had to create some distance to keep my emotions sheltered until I could overcome this puppy crush.
My volleyball season finished in November, and I was pretty sure I would be allowed to play up at varsity the next year. Most of the girls were graduating, leaving only Tatum to lead the team. I dreaded the thought of that, but I was pretty sure I could hold my own on the court with her after some practice.
Homecoming went as expected. Reed was named freshman prince and Sarah was his princess. Tatum was the junior royalty and she and Reed spent most of the homecoming dance glued to one another inappropriately. I went to the dance with Sienna and a few of her friends from band. She had just started dating a new boy at our school, Bradley. They were in band together and both were musical prodigies. They competed at the district music challenge with a duet and were sort of inseparable ever since. Thankfully a few other girls were with us, otherwise I would have very much been the third wheel.
District play-offs flew by and Reed and the Bears breezed through allowing their opponents to score 17 points total. He really was a bit of a phenom with the football. The state championship game was a week or two before the holiday break and was held at the university stadium in Tucson. We ended up losing to Valley Christian Prep, a fairly sizeable private school from Scottsdale. They had money and a team of giants whom had played together since Pop Warner at 8. Reed was pretty bummed, losing by two touchdowns. But the papers were pretty fair, talking about his freshman status leading a young team against one that was mostly seniors. “A Force to be Reckoned With” was the headline over the article profiling him in the big paper.