But maybe next time call me an imbecile when I’m not in front of your girlfriend, would that work for you? ” In a voice that I was extremely proud of for how solid it sounded, I said, “Okay. It hurt my pride, but I balled it up and tucked it neatly into my sternum. I wasn’t going to promise anything or apologize. I wasn’t going to remind him this was one bad game out of so many. The only thing I could do was nod jerkily and accept the ultimatum he’d given me.

Learn to compartmentalize your life, he’d said. The man who called me Taco, and played soccer and softball with me, was a completely different person from the one standing before me in that moment. The idea that I thought we were friends floated right up and center.īut Pipers time wasn’t friend-time. He would try to take starting a game away from me? For playing crappy during one single game? More embarrassment flooded my system, lined carefully with anger. “Learn to compartmentalize your life, do you understand me?” he asked in that somber crisp voice I had a feeling he had learned to wield perfectly in the last few weeks.Īs much as I hated to admit it, my face went hot, and I knew I was blushing with humiliation. Thirty-Eight was one of the younger forwards, Sandy, a rookie on the team who would be a force to be reckoned with in the near future. I probably sucked air in through my nose. Do that shit again and I’ll have you coming in as a sub for Thirty-Eight,” he threatened, oblivious to the woman who shook her head as he spoke, before finally turning around to walk off. “Your team deserves your attention, and I deserve better from you. Kulti looked at her for maybe five more seconds and then turned his attention back to me as if she hadn’t spoken. The man who guarded his words like they were gold didn’t let me down.

I don’t even know why I bother,” she hissed at him. “God, I forgot how much of an asshole you can be. The German turned his head and stared at her long enough that she scrunched up her face and stepped back. “Kulti?” The woman waved her hand around in his face. Why does the Microwave Make the Food Hot but Not the Plate?

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