Play Maker (14 page)

W
hat was going on
? I thought, watching James and Mikey cross the room. James had invited me, hadn’t he? Why was he ignoring me? At first I had thought I was imagining things, but no, he was very clearly avoiding eye contact and giving me the cold shoulder. I felt hurt and confused by his behavior.

James entertained Mikey while Ethan entertained Maya. My mom was somewhere talking to Sheryl and her husband. I stood in the middle of a crowded room, completely alone.

This is what you wanted, I reminded myself. No strings attached. No tenderness, no special treatment, no kisses hello.

So why did it bother me? Why did I feel so slighted?

I tried to shake it off and focus instead on how happy Mikey was. Because even though James was ignoring me, he was doing his best to make this the best possible night for my brother.

“This is pretty nice of him,” Maya said, surprising me. I hadn’t seen much of her since we arrived and she had run into Ethan.

“Yeah, it is,” I said, keeping an eye on Mikey. I watched as James introduced him to the actor who played Ten. My brother’s smile had never been bigger. I held my breath, hoping Mikey wouldn’t fling himself into his arms like he had with James, but Mikey just seemed to freeze, his excitement morphing into nervousness and then back to excitement as the actor smiled at him and shook his hand, treating my brother just like he was any other enthusiastic fan. That seemed to break the spell, and Mikey pulled off his backpack, rooting around for the DVDs and pictures he had brought. My stomach dropped when I saw that he had snuck in a few more things than I had originally allowed, but the actor seemed happy to sign everything that Mikey gave to him, even posing for a few photos that James took. I knew he would want to frame those and put them next to his bed. I was so happy for him. This was going to be a night Mikey remembered for a long time.

Maya wrapped her arms around me in a hug. “He looks like he’s having a good time.”

“He’s having a great time.”

Mikey spotted us and waved. We both waved back. I noticed that James didn’t even

glance back.

I turned to Maya, remembering what had happened between her and Ethan. My own one night stand was becoming complicated and confusing. At least I could count on her to distract me with her own adventures.

“Ok. Spill,” I ordered.

She feigned innocence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I rolled my eyes. “Puh-lease. Obviously there’s something going on between you and Ethan. I didn’t even realize that you knew each other.”

“Well, we don’t.” Maya ducked her head and I realized she was blushing. She never blushed. “I mean, we really just met one time at the bar. And then again. Last night. Late last night.”

My mouth dropped open. “You guys hooked up?” Usually Maya and I kept each other pretty well appraised of each other’s adventures. And she hadn’t said anything to me until now. What else had I missed?

She grabbed my arm. “Shh,” she urged. “Not so loud. I didn’t expect to see him again. Obviously.”

“How was it?” I asked her, still not sure if she had been happy to see him.

Maya let out a satisfied sigh. “It was wonderful, Nic. He was, well, he was great.”

I gave her a hug. “That’s fantastic!”

“Yeah, except I wasn’t supposed to ever see him again!” She huffed with frustration. “This makes things a little more complicated.”

“Why?”

“Because I was kind of happy to see him tonight.” Maya bit her lip as if she was embarrassed of this fact. “And we’re having a really nice time.”

I glanced over to the other side of the room where Ethan was talking politely with my mom. He saw us looking and gave us a tentative wave. We waved back.

“He’s really cute, Maya,” I told her. “And seems really sweet.”

“He is,” Maya agreed. “But you know the rules.”

“I also know that
we
made the rules, something you made sure to remind me of last week.” I noticed that my best friend was glowing. “You like him. And he clearly likes you. Is the sex good?”

She nodded. “It’s so good.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“He doesn’t even live in this country,” she groaned, looking upset.

Oh. This was serious. More serious than I had thought.

“So you really like him. Like, you
like
him, like him.”

She bit her lip again. “I don’t know. Maybe? Ugh.” She threw up her hands. “What am I doing? I’m acting like all those people we hate, the ones who fall for a one night stand.”

But, looking over at James, who was treating my brother like a real VIP, I knew exactly how Maya felt. I put an arm around her shoulder.

“We’ll figure it out,” I told her, even though I had no clue how we were going to do that.

H
ours later
, we were back in the limo heading home. Mikey was fast asleep on the seat next to me, his head heavy on my shoulder, and my mom looked like she was on the verge of falling asleep as well. But both of them looked like they’d had a great time. Only Maya and I were wide awake, but it was clear from the way my best friend was staring out the window that she had plenty on her mind. I didn’t mind, I had lots to think about too.

James had barely spoken a word to me all night. By the time he brought Mikey back over, my mom had joined us and James spent an hour or so talking politely with her and essentially ignoring me. I felt embarrassed and awkward standing next to them, wearing a jersey with his number on it, while he refused to even make eye contact with me.

Luckily, Mikey got antsy after a while, so I had a reason to excuse myself from the conversation. We went back to our seats where Mikey showed me everything that he had gotten signed and recounted the entire conversation he had had with Ten. Then we looked through all the photos that James had taken.

“And this is when he shook my hand. And this is where he told me about flying the TARDIS. And this is where he told me what his favorite episode is.” He was so happy that I did my best to shove aside my own discomfort with the situation and tried to enjoy the rest of the evening with him. It was probably the last time either of us would have a chance to experience something like this. I was just glad to be with my brother.

Sitting in the limo, I fumbled with a stick of gum, needing something to distract me from my thoughts. The mint taste exploded on my tongue, familiar and comforting. Maya glanced over as I began blowing bubbles, but just gave me a small smile before turning back to stare out of the window.

I hadn’t seen her talk to Ethan for the rest of the evening. My heart went out to her. I completely understood what she was going through. The confusion of not knowing what the fuck was going on in your own head and heart. It was awful.

Though, I supposed this evening had been a pretty good indication of where this thing with James was going. And where it was going was nowhere. No matter the reason behind inviting us to this event, he had made it pretty clear that nothing was going to come of it. He had barely looked at me the entire evening and when we finally said goodbye, he gave Mikey a big hug and just grunted in my general direction.

I told myself to get over it. That we had both let this one night stand go way too far and James was just putting an end to it before it got any worse. Hadn’t that been exactly what I wanted, anyways?

I leaned my forehead on the limo window. I was getting exactly what I wanted, so why did I feel so unbelievably terrible?

I
was officially a wanker
, I realized when I got back to my hotel after the game and discovered that I felt pretty damn awful. It took three glasses of whiskey before I figured out why my mood had gone from over the moon to nose-diving into the gutter. It was Nicole. I had been a right arsehole to her all night and why? Because I was scared shitless that I actually liked her. What kind of grammar school nonsense was that?

I liked her. At least I could admit that to myself. She was sexy and funny and sweet and a little weird— in a cute way. Even her gum-chewing was endearing. I took a deep breath, half expecting my entire world to collapse onto itself with that internal confession. But nothing happened. I was just a bloke that liked a bird. Sure, it had never really happened to me before, but so what?

Now I just had to figure out what to do about it. Obviously not continue to ignore her. I wanted to slam my head against the headboard. I. Was. Such. A. Wanker. Instead, I drank more whiskey and fell asleep in my clothes.

When I woke up there was a banging in my head. Nope. Not in my head. At the door. Ugh. I felt awful, but I dragged myself out of bed and over to where someone was rapping their fist against the door like a drum.

I whipped it open to reveal Ethan on the other side, looking way better than I did.

“Jeez.” He gave me a disapproving look. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Nothing,” I muttered, heading back into the suite. “What do you want?”

“It’s not what I want,” he said, slapping me on the back. “It’s what
you
want.”

What I wanted was to go back to bed. Ideally a bed that had Nicole in it. Naked.

But Ethan was standing there grinning at me like he knew something that I didn’t. I hated that look. I sighed.

“Ok, I’ll bite, what is it that I want?”

“I just got a call from the For Foster Kids charity,” he told me, waving his phone. “They want to meet with you again.”

My spirits rose. I was very excited about working with this charity. They seemed to have an amazing long-term plan for all the foster kids they supported that was evidenced by how many of their employees had benefited from their programs. And it had Ethan’s sign of approval. After our first meeting he had mentioned that he wished he had a program like that when he was kid.

“That’s a good sign, right?”

Ethan nodded. “A very good sign. If they weren’t interested, they would have just told me. They’re not meeting with you to say no.”

Suddenly the day was looking up. “When do they want to meet?”

“This afternoon!” Ethan began rummaging through my closet. “Come on, let’s get you showered,” he glanced back at me with a disapproving look. “And shaved.”

I rubbed my hand over the stubble on my cheeks. I could only imagine how I looked. Not good, I imagined. Definitely not good enough for For Foster Kids.

“Ok, ok.” I nudged Ethan out of my closet. “I’ll make myself presentable and I’ll meet you in the lobby.”

“Great,” he said, looking back at his phone.

“And mate?”

He glanced back at me. “Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

Ethan grinned and gave me the two finger salute. “Get dressed,” he ordered.

“Wanker,” I muttered, wondering what I had done to deserve such a good friend.

A
half hour
later I had showered, shaved and made myself look as respectable as I could manage in the time frame given. Ethan got the rental and we were headed towards the For Foster Kids office in the heart of Downtown LA. I watched out the window as we headed to the building, finding more and more to love about Los Angeles, the closer I looked.

Gloria was waiting for us in the lobby of the building.

“We’re glad you could make it,” she said, shaking my hand.

“I appreciate you meeting with me again.” I made sure to turn my politeness up to eleven. It was important to be on my very best behavior today. I needed to counteract the image the tabloids had put out into the world. One I was eager to get as far away from as possible.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said at our last meeting.” Gloria led us to one of the conference rooms. We all took a seat. “And I have to admit, I was impressed with the amount of research you had done on our organization.”

“It’s an impressive organization,” I told her, meaning every word. This was the charity I wanted to work with. This is where I could make the most difference. Where I could give back to a community that had given me my best friend. Their interest in my time and participation, not just in my money and fame, was one of the reasons I was eager to partner with them. I was interested in volunteering to assist the kids in their program as well as working on fundraisers with specific goals.

“Thank you,” Gloria said, pulling out a stack of papers.

I noticed, with a sinking sensation in my stomach, that on the top of that pile were several print outs of online tabloid sites. With today’s date if I had read correctly. Shite. What had Rick done last night? I tried to remember if he had even stayed at the stadium after the game or if he had taken off to party on his own. A knot formed in my chest and I tried to formulate an explanation for whatever nonsense my soon-to-be former teammate had gotten into.

But Gloria didn’t look upset. In fact, she had a smile on her face.

“I have to admit, I didn’t think you’d take our advice to heart so quickly. Most of the celebrities we meet with aren’t interested in making such drastic changes to prove something to us. You surprised me, Mr. Martin.”

She slid the print-outs across the table. They were several shots from last night, taken from across the room. I was standing with Mikey, introducing him to some of the actors there, my hand on his shoulder. There was even one of him hugging me after I came out of the locker room.

“Children with special needs are some of the most vulnerable children in our program,” Gloria was saying. “This kind of commitment to them is exactly what we’re looking for in the people who get involved with our organization.”

I was glad that she was seeing a different side of me, but I didn’t want her to get the wrong idea about Mikey. This was the first time I really felt angry at the paparazzi. They had always been an annoyance, but one I accepted as part of the price of fame. But Mikey hadn’t signed up for that. The urge to protect him surged through me. I pushed the pictures back across to her.

“I appreciate what you’re saying,” I told her. “But I just want to make it clear that this wasn’t some photo shoot that I arranged to impress you and For Foster Kids. Mikey is—” I paused, not really sure what he was. “Mikey is a friend,” I finally said. “And he was invited as a guest, not in an attempt to win favor or change my image.”

Gloria was silent and I could see Ethan put his face in his hand. A part of me realized that I might have just shot myself in the foot, but another part of me knew that I felt really uncomfortable with anyone thinking that I had used Mikey as some sort of prop to redeem myself in the tabloids.

Then Gloria smiled. “You’re a surprising young man, Mr. Martin,” she told me.

“Please, call me James.” I could feel the tension in the room dissipate.

“James.” Gloria pulled out the stack of papers that had been underneath the print-outs. “Now that we’ve learned more about you, I have to say, we are impressed. And what you just said only solidifies my belief that this could be a great opportunity for both you and For Foster Kids.” She pushed the paperwork over to me. “I know you had originally expressed interest in helping with the college outreach arm of the charity, but I’d like you to take a look at our programs for special needs children in foster care. I think it might be a good fit for you.”

I eagerly took the stack of paper. “Thank you, I appreciate you thinking of me.”

“Either way, please know that we are looking forward to working with you.” Gloria rose and Ethan and I did the same. “We are excited for everything we believe we can do together.”

I couldn’t believe it. I shook her hand. “Thank you so much, Gloria,” I told her earnestly. “I can’t wait to get started.”

She nodded and turned to Ethan, shaking his hand as well. “I’ll call you later to arrange a press conference once we’ve finalized everything, if you’d like.”

“That would be great,” Ethan said. “Thank you so much for your time.”

It wasn’t until we were back in the car that the good news finally began to sink in. I grabbed Ethan’s shoulder and gave him an excited shake.

“This is going to be great,” I told him.

He grinned at me. “I never though I’d see you this excited about anything besides football.”

“What about you?” It was something we hadn’t really talked about. Not seriously at least. “Are you interested in continuing to work as my manager? Or do you want to stay in sports? I can recommend you to several promising players, if you want.”

But he held up his hand. “I’m with you, mate. Where you go, I go. Besides.” he pulled out a pair of sunglasses. “California is starting to grow on me.”

I shook my head at his ridiculous posing. “Something’s starting to grow on you, that’s for sure,” I joked. We got in the car and I started running down the list of everyone I needed to call. My folks, of course. A few friends back home. Nicole.

I really wanted to talk to Nicole. Wanted to tell her what had happened. And I wanted to tell her that I was staying in Los Angeles. Because I liked her. I waited again for that sense of the universe collapsing, but all I felt was a strange warm feeling in my chest. It felt good to admit it, at least to myself. Now I just had to tell her. And apologize for last night. But first, I needed to start embracing my new life.

“Hey mate.” I turned to face Ethan who was watching the road. This rental was nice, but now was the time to get something more permanent.

“Yeah?”

“Let’s go car shopping.”