Spencer's Face (Buckeye Hawks)

Taylor
POV
.

While practicing one of our
cheers, I glanced over at the crowd of guys standing around Senior Pole. A tall
guy with really nice dark hair caught my eye. His back was turned toward me.
From the back, he looked absolutely gorgeous.  I was sure I didn’t know him. I
knew all the guys in school by their backs. He had a wide back, broad
shoulders, and looked really good in his jeans. A pair of jeans that fit so
great they were causing my heart to jump. “Who’s that?” I asked Sally with
enthusiasm. “He sure looks good.”

“Who?” Sally said, stopping
mid cheer. She positioned herself for the view I was seeing. Sally was my
height, very cute with short blonde curly hair.

“That one, right there.” I
pointed to the guy with the nice butt. I physically took her head and pointed it
in the right direction, when no matter where I pointed she still couldn’t find
him.

The rest of the cheerleaders
stopped cheering to see who I was so curious about. We were all staring at him.
I hoped that he didn’t turn around right at this moment. “That’s Spencer.”
Grace chuckled hysterically. The rest of the girls burst into laughter with her.
Grace was taller than Sally and me. She had more curves too. The guys were
always turning their heads when she walked by. She was a really pretty girl
aside from being stacked. She had blonde hair that hit her shoulders, which she
actually straightened. Odd. I would have loved to have her curly hair. I had
mine permed every six months. Maybe it’s true: no one is happy with what God
gave them.

“What’s so funny?” I asked,
embarrassed. What was I missing? Sometimes, I still didn’t feel like I belonged
with this group of girls. I’d always played sports in high school, but I’d
given up on getting a scholarship in sports. I was good, but not great
apparently. So this year, I tried out for cheerleading. By some stroke of luck,
I’d made the team. However, everyone else on the team had been with the squad
for years. I felt like the newcomer and was always worried that I wasn’t
fitting in well.

“That’s Spencer.” Grace said
again slower, as if I should know who she meant if she said it slower. “You
know… the guy with the birthmark all over his face.”

“Birthmark?” I asked, shaking
my head. I couldn’t recall anyone with a birthmark in school. “I guess I’ve
never seen him before. He sure looks good from the back.”

“Wait until you see the
front.” Sally laughed too. She was always full of joy. She had one of those
bubbly buoyant personalities that really pissed you off if you were depressed
or having a bad day. I’d never seen Sally down in all the years I’d known her. She’d
always been nice to me. She’d always been nice to everyone.

The way she said it told me
that she thought if I saw the front, I’d run and hide from the guy. I couldn’t
imagine that. I’d never known Sally to talk down about anyone, so this guy must
look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame or something.

“Well, I’ve got to see
now
.
I’m not waiting.” I walked over to join the guys’ conversation with four of the
cheerleaders following behind me. I had to see for myself. I braced myself for
the worst.

“Hi, Taylor.” Zane said to me,
putting his arm around my shoulder. Zane had been a best friend since the
second grade. No matter what, we’d always be friends. We tried dating for a few
weeks, but it didn’t work out for us. We both realized that we were better off
as friends immediately. It just didn’t feel right kissing him. He was standing
next to Spencer. I could use him as an excuse to get closer to Spencer.

“Hi.” I said to each of the
guys. I looked right at Spencer as I said hi to him. He had light brown eyes
that were gorgeous. And, yes, he did have a large purplish birthmark completely
covering one of his cheeks. So, he had a birthmark. It wasn’t like a scar or a
deformity. My mom had always told me that birthmarks were kisses from angels.
Corny, but it helped me when I was little and kept complaining about the heart
shaped one on my butt. Of course, even when I was little, I didn’t know why an
angel would kiss my butt.

“Are you new?” I asked him,
being as nice as I possibly could. I was sure by the way he fidgeted that he was
self conscious about his face. I could just feel it. I checked him out from
head to toe discreetly. I loved how his jeans fit in the front as well as the
back.

His bicep flexed as he ran
his hand through his thick dark hair nervously. He opened his mouth like he was
going to say something, but nothing came out.

“No. He’s not new. He started
in the middle of last year.” Zane answered for Spencer when he didn’t answer me
right away.

Damn. He was so shy that he
didn’t even answer me. My heart went out to him. I automatically wanted to get
to know him better.

“Hey, I’ve got to run back to
the locker room for a second. I’ll meet you at the car.” Spencer said to Zane,
as he walked away, never turning his face toward me again.

I had the distinct feeling
that he was leaving because of me. “Bye. Nice meeting you.” I called after him,
taking one last look at his jeans. I looked at Sally and Grace and mouthed the
word, “Wow!” “Nice guy.” I said to Jose and Zane.

“Yeah, he’s really nice.” Zane
chastised me harshly, as if he thought I was being sarcastic, or somehow mean,
with my comment.

“I mean it. He’s really
nice.” I did mean it. There was something about his personality that was so
genuine and so sweet. Shy guys always got to me. I knew it was going to be hard
to get to know this guy, but I somehow knew it would be worth everything that I
put into it.

Jose gave me a dirty look. Jose
and I dated for several months last year. It ended badly, although we were on
friendly terms now. He wanted more than I was willing to give if you know what
I mean. I didn’t put out. Period. He dumped me. That fact had cost me a few boyfriends
over the years.

The next morning, I drove to
school earlier than usual. I was hoping to see Spencer again. The guys usually
arrived at school about thirty minutes early to hang out at Senior Pole and
talk football. Zane was there again, along with Spencer, Jose, and Dwayne.
Dwayne was another good friend and ex-boyfriend. I had a few ex-boyfriends, too
many maybe.

There were no girls at Senior
Pole as of yet. I didn’t let that deter me. I walked up to Zane and punched him
playfully in the stomach. We were always doing that to each other.

“Hey dude.  Are you ready for
the game tomorrow night?” I asked Zane smiling.

Even though Zane was my best
male friend, he was nice to look at. Longish blond hair and bright blue eyes. Great
body, muscular but not bulky.  He played wide receiver, and was very
competitive.

“Absolutely. We’re going to
kick some ass tomorrow night.”

“Good to hear. What position
do you play Spencer?” I asked Spencer point blank. I didn’t want him worming
his way out of the conversation and leaving this time.

“Halfback.” he answered
meekly.

“Second string?” I asked. I
wondered why I’d never seen him before. Of course, I’d just joined the
cheerleading squad. I barely knew what a halfback was. I was way more into
basketball than football. At least I knew the rules of that game.

He nodded, and turned his
head away. Damn he was really shy. So shy that it almost hurt me to watch him.

“But he’s being moved to first
string tomorrow night.” Jose blurted out. “Brian got hurt.”

“He did?” I asked. “How?”

“He fell off of his truck,
trying to climb over it.” Dwayne relayed the news to me.

It was a stupid thing that
Brian did. He would put his truck in drive, roll down both windows, and climb over
the top of it to the other side of it and get in the other door. Like I
said…stupid!

“Ouch!” I laughed. “Is he
okay?”

“He sprained his ankle. He’s
lucky he didn’t run over himself.” Zane said laughing about it.

“He’s such a dumb ass
sometimes.” Jose chimed in.

“But I guess that’s good news
for you. Huh, Spencer?”  I asked.

He smiled. He had the nicest
smile that I’d seen in a long time. I stared at him for a second. I stared at
him too long. He turned his face away from me, and ran his hand through his
hair, embarrassed.

“It’s good news for the team
too. We all think Spencer is better than Brian anyway, but his dad’s the assistant
coach…” Zane said.

I laughed. I wasn’t sure if
they were serious or not. I didn’t know enough about football to know the
difference. I barely knew which way the ball was supposed to be going when it
was in play. I thought Brian was pretty good though. The guys started talking
about football plays and totally lost me. I stood there mostly smiling to be
polite. I chanced a few glances Spencer’s way just to check him out. He caught
me several times, and I had to look away quickly.

“I need to get to class.” Spencer
said to Zane as he turned to leave.

I watched him walk away. I
liked watching him walking away. Zane turned to leave as well, then waited on
me. We had History together first period. We always walked to class together.

“So what’s up with you and Spencer?”
he asked. “You sure were checking him out.”

“Nothing yet.” I said to him.
“But maybe soon.”

“Do you want me to put in a
good word for you? Or set you up?” he asked me.

“I can handle my own flesh
peddling. Thank you.” I told him, joking with him.

“He needs a nice girl like
you. He’s had some girls that weren’t really nice to him here.”

“What? Who?” I asked him. I
couldn’t believe anyone would be mean to him on purpose.

“Vicky, Dwayne’s girlfriend.”
Zane said.

I knew her. She was a total
bitch to everyone almost. She had her select few friends that she was nice to,
and that was it. I didn’t see what Dwayne saw in her at all. None of the guys
liked her. They hated it that he brought her to all of the parties.

“What did she do?” I asked Zane.

“She acted all…I don’t even
know the right word. She acted like it disgusted her to even look at him. It
was more the way she acted when she said Oh.”

“Oh.” I said. I could just
imagine it the way Zane described it. Vicky was beyond rude. “You said
girls
.
Was someone else rude to him?”

“After Vicky did that, Dawn
and Terri joined in examining his face and making faces at him, laughing at
him, until he finally turned around and walked off. I called them all bitches
and walked off with him.”