Team Manager CHAMP!
Chapter 28
“WHOA, GIRL! Let me see that hand!” Natalie said to Tori in the locker room after track practice. Tori had just put her engagement ring on.
“This hand?” she asked innocently as she held out her hand.
“Does this mean you… he… are you…?”
“Yes! He proposed after the game Saturday and I said yes. We spent all weekend celebrating, so I was a little sore running today.”
“Evil girl! Congratulations!” The girls in the locker room all gathered together to look at the diamond on Tori’s hand.
“Really? You’ve only known each other for, like, three months!”
“Less, actually. But I know it’s right. We’re getting married right after graduation and then, after the honeymoon, we’re enlisting in the Marines. I think we’ll get matching tattoos.”
“Now that’s commitment,” Amy said. “A ring you can take off. A tattoo is forever.”
“It seems like a long time, but it’s everything I want. He’s kind and considerate. Did you know he didn’t show up for the celebration at school Saturday? He was preparing my room with flowers and candles and a massage. He even got a big tub to put in the old shower stall to fill with water so we could take a bath together. And then, he carried me to the bedroom and got down on his knees to ask if I’d marry him. I’d marry him tomorrow if I could.”
“It’s a new twist to living in your parents’ basement. You can live in their barn,” Rosie said.
“I’m on my way home to face the parents now,” Tori sighed. “I know they’ll be concerned, but they are pretty cool when it comes to how I run my life. They put up with a year and a half of having Dennis and eleven girlfriends. I think they’ll adapt to this.”
The girls continued to chat and celebrate. Natalie walked with Tori to her car, surprised that she’d grabbed her hand to come with her. Across the parking lot, they could see Brandon waiting by his car.
“Nat, it’s really cool,” Tori said. “I know you guys will worry about me and I want you to know this is what I really want.”
“You know we all still love you, honey. We want you to have the very best of everything,” Natalie said.
“That’s kind of it. I don’t make comparisons, but Brandon is a lot like Dennis. Except he’s all mine. You could have had Dennis to yourself if you’d said so in the beginning. You just let Diane and Brenda and Amy and Rosie and and and, horn in on your man. I would never have let that happen if I’d been in your shoes. But that didn’t work for me. I’ve made love to Brandon more in the past month than with Dennis during all the months we were together. I know that’s not a sufficient gauge for whether the relationship is right, but this is right for us.”
“Oh, Tori. I’m so happy for you I want to burst.”
“Maybe someday you’ll have the same thing,” Tori said, hugging her friend.
“I don’t think that will ever happen,” Natalie said. “Not like you have. But we’ll have our happy ever after, even if it’s different than yours.”
“Good luck,” Tori whispered.
“And God bless you both,” Natalie responded.
Tori waved across the lot to Brandon and he got in his car as she got in hers. Natalie walked home.
“Hey, lover. Can we talk for a few minutes?” Natalie asked Dennis on the phone.
“Of course! You sound down, babe? What is it?” he asked.
“Oh… I don’t want to talk about this on the phone. Can I come over?”
“Sure, you can! You know I’m always available to you,” he said. His heart started beating in his throat. “Nat, you aren’t breaking up with me, are you?”
“No! Oh, no! I’m sorry. It’s something different. I just need you to hold me.”
“I’ll meet you on the way.”
Both teens left their homes and headed toward the other, still talking about trivial things with a lot of ‘I love yous’ thrown in. When they met, they disconnected and Dennis kissed his girlfriend in the middle of the street. They held hands as they walked back to his house.
“I feel so dumb,” Natalie said. “Tori and Brandon got engaged.”
“Wow! That’s fast. I like Brandon, but I didn’t expect them to move to that level already.”
“Yeah. I guess that was part of what was on my mind. I worry for her. But we should be happy for her. It’s what she wants, right? Why am I sad?” Natalie asked, leaning against him.
“She has been a big part of our life,” Dennis said. “We made love together. We shared intimate secrets. I guess, in a way, it’s like she’s leaving us again.”
“She’s chosen a life path that is so different. They’re going into the Marines together. It feels like every decision is going to put more miles and more experiences between us. I’m so glad Amy and Lana are graduating with us. It would be terrible to go away without them,” Natalie said.
Instead of going straight to Dennis’s bedroom, they went to the kitchen and fixed tea. They took a cup to Dot in her usual chair. Somehow, she didn’t look as mournful and dejected as she had a year ago. This time, she was just waiting for Tom to get home.
“So, what has you two so quiet tonight?” Dot asked.
“Lots of things, Mom,” Dennis said. “I think we just figured out how big a change is coming into our lives when we graduate. Tori got engaged.”
“I see. And now you think your circle is getting smaller. You feel like everyone you know and love is going in different directions and you will be all alone,” Dot said.
Dennis and Natalie looked at her and nodded.
“Did you go through that, Mom?”
“Honey, by the time I graduated, I was married, had a baby, and was living out in the country away from everything I knew. I felt trapped and abandoned and alone. I never thought about my friends leaving. I’d left them all behind. If it hadn’t been for Elsa showing up about the time I got pregnant again, I’d have felt like I had no friends. Then, she and Randy were just a mile away and we spent as much time together as we could, even while we were all working as hard as we could with families and farms to care for. I guess I won’t say it will be easy for you.”
“Mom, I didn’t know you felt trapped and alone,” Dennis said. “I’m so sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Dennis. I knew what was going to happen the first time I dated your father. My mother warned me. His mother warned me. But being a farm wife and living with Will was all I wanted. The thing is, it’s that way for everyone. We’ll all make a decision and live with the consequences for the rest of our lives.” She glanced toward Peg’s bedroom—only for a moment, but enough for Dennis and Nat to notice.
“The thing is, we’re taking the ones closest to us with us,” Natalie said. “Amy and Lana will graduate with us and go to Salter U with us and when we get there, we’ll be joining Brenda and Ardith. But I worry about Tori. They’re going to join the Marines. They know that being married is no guarantee they’ll even be stationed together. Talk about being isolated and alone.”
“That’s a life many people have chosen and done fine with. Have faith in them. And don’t stop being their friends.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
Dennis and Natalie collected the cups and rinsed them, then headed to his room for bed.
“Will it be okay for you to stay over?” he asked.
“Yeah. I’ll let Mom know. We’re both eighteen now and I can tell Mom and Dad are loosening the reins a bit. I think Mom knows I was down, too. She probably thinks it’s because basketball season is over. I guess that’s part of it, too.”
“Yeah. I like track and leading conditioning exercises, but there’s nothing quite like basketball.”
“I wish we could travel with Brenda and Ardith. Boston is so far away.”
“Just think. Next year we’ll be traveling with the team.”
“I wish Ardith would hurry up and make the offer official so we could celebrate.”
“Don’t wish for that too soon,” he answered. “She said she’d make the offer as soon as they were out of the tournament. We do want them to go all the way.”
“Do you think it’s possible?”
“I talked to Coach Dearborn about it this morning. He warned me not to get our hopes up too high. In women’s sports, co-ed colleges have a distinct disadvantage. There are women’s schools that are on this bracket. They have the same total student body as the co-ed school, but they are all women. That means, they have twice the number of students to recruit from. It’s almost the equivalent of Bartley going against the Saints. The level of play at a school twice our size is really amazing. More people to choose from.”
“Well, I don’t want them to lose, just so I can get a piece of paper a week earlier. Let’s go to bed and cuddle. Maybe in the morning I’ll feel like making love before we go to school,” Natalie said. They got ready and slipped into bed next to each other, just to hold the other’s naked body and have skin contact.
It was a long time before class when the two found themselves making love. It was one of those instances that began before either was fully awake. They held each other and there was some rubbing together. That led to sleepy kisses with eyes still closed and a hand drifting to cock or pussy. Before long, Dennis was fully erect and Natalie rolled on top of him, sliding back to catch the tip of his cock on her opening. She sighed as he gradually filled her and they rocked back and forth together.
“I love making love to you,” Nat whispered. “I feel so… like you’re a part of me.”
“Yes,” Dennis said eloquently. Most of him other than his cock was still asleep. He sure liked the feeling, though.
They continued for quite a while, though not long enough in either of their minds. In five minutes, Natalie’s finger on her button brought her up to her peak as Dennis’s cock began jerking inside her. They kissed and cuddled and fell back asleep for another two hours.
“Hey, congratulations, you two,” Dennis said when he saw Tori and Brandon at the track Wednesday afternoon. It was the first day that week they’d moved outside for a run. There was still a chill in the air, but they kept moving.
“Thanks, Dennis,” Tori said, moving directly to him and kissing him on the cheek.
“Hey, it means a lot to have you congratulate us. I hope there are no hard feelings,” Brandon said, sticking out his hand for Dennis to shake.
“Not at all,” Dennis said. “Just take good care of our girl here. Tori means a lot to all of us, not just to me. And let her take good care of you, too. It’s a two-way street and I know Tori wants to share it with you.”
“Dennis, you’re so sweet. If it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t even have known what I wanted. As soon as I decided that, into my life walked Brandon,” Tori said. “It’s not a dream come true. It’s like I just had to decide what I wanted and I’d find it.”
“I think that’s great advice for all of us. Certainly a lesson we all need to learn,” Dennis said. “What’s your event, Brandon?”
“Middle distance. 400, 800, and 1600 if I have to.”
“Great! We need the help. Next Tuesday is the assessment meet at State. If there’s any way I can help you get ready for it, let me know. And you know that goes for you, too, Tori.”
“Coach Andy has already suggested we get with you to work on starts. I feel a little behind, coming off of basketball season. This kind of running is different,” Tori said.
“True, but you’re in good shape.”
“No kidding,” Brandon grinned.
“You, too, fella. What we need to do is translate those quick bursts on the basketball court to sustained running. Let’s head over to the blocks and work on those starts.”
Dennis, Lana, Amy, and Natalie had a laptop connected to the big screen TV in Natalie’s family room to watch the first game of the sweet sixteen Friday afternoon. Because of the time difference, the game was at 4:30 in Iowa and they’d cut out of track practice a little early to make the tipoff time.
It was a rocky start for the Crusaders. The Pioneers started the quarter with an eleven-point run before the Crusaders answered with a nine-point run of their own. At the end of the first quarter, the Crusaders trailed 13-11. It seemed they just couldn’t get ahead of the East Coast team, though. A few fans had made it to Massachusetts, but the usual support the Crusaders had from the stands was sadly missing. They tied the game several times, but when the last two minutes of the game started playing out, the five-point deficit was just too much to overcome. Ardith sent in players who could afford to foul, but the Pioneers sank every free throw opportunity. They led by seven at the end of the game and the Crusaders would be coming home empty-handed.
“Wow! Did you see the way they played?” Amy said. “Poor Brenda managed only two three-pointers. I can’t believe they blocked her shot from clear back there!”
“We were just overpowered,” Natalie said. “We might have seen our last championship.”
“We’re losing a lot of seniors this year,” Dennis said. “I think I counted four. With you and Amy playing, that would bring the team to just nine. I know there are JV players at Salter. Ardith said she was dressing a few for the playoff games.”
“I thought there were more people on the bench than we should have,” Natalie said. “They didn’t get to play, but at least they got to dress for a varsity game in the sweet sixteen.”
“Maybe Ardith will recruit someone from that team that almost beat us in the tournament,” Amy suggested. “Or from some of the bigger schools.”
“There’s no question that having a team make it this far in national competition should make it easier to recruit. I’m sure we’ll start seeing some announcements in the next few days.”
“I’m glad you’re talking to her as much as you do,” Natalie said. “I don’t get many opportunities to touch base.”
“Most of my contact has been with Bren,” Amy said. “Geez! It’s hard all living separately like this. Do you think there’s a chance that we’ll all get to live together this fall? Gransy has offered to come and be our house mom.”
“That’s cool,” Lana said. “I like her and she seems to like taking care of us. Will she be okay with Ardith?”
“I think so. I explained the whole situation to her. It was part of getting her to sign off on letting me graduate early and go to college. I had to make a full disclosure of our relationships and intentions,” Amy said.
“My parents did the same thing,” Lana said. “I know they called and had a long chat with Ardith. She referred me to their Director of Liberal Studies and Ms. Harrington was really helpful. They usually restrict enrollment to students who are above the legal age for compulsory education in the State. But a diploma trumps age in this state. So even though I’m only seventeen, they’ll still admit me as a provisional student. That means I’m limited to thirteen hours and won’t be eligible for much in the way of financial aid until the next year.”
“I had to talk to an admissions counselor, too. Salter actually has a pretty large women’s sports program that includes volleyball, soccer, golf, tennis, swimming, track and field, and cross country,” Amy said. “But until I turn eighteen—which is a few months before you do, sweetie, I’m provisional and not only restricted to the number of hours I can take, but also to JV teams. They left it up in the air as to whether I’d be able to play varsity basketball because I’ll turn eighteen before the first game in October, but they can’t offer an athletic scholarship until then either. Gransy says I’ve got a college fund that she manages and I won’t have trouble with college financially.”
“That’s great,” Dennis said. “I really got a big advantage by going off to DMACC as part of my high school education. I know you two have taken a lot of courses, but they all simply substitute in for high school classes. You’ll get hours of college credit and passes out of some classes, but you still count as first term freshmen. With my AA degree and coaching certification, I’ll enter as a third year transfer student. My offer letter says I’ll be working off a part of my costs as a student trainer and I have a tuition scholarship through a state grant. I might get an athletic scholarship by the second semester.”
“Go you,” Amy said. “Natalie?”
“I got my letter this week. It was all in the works and I was already accepted at Salter, but the financial details were unclear. Dad’s going over all the paperwork with a fine-tooth comb, but basically, I got a full athletic scholarship as a recruit. They expect me to be down there in August to begin training and conditioning. Then it’s a go,” Natalie said. “Um… Ardith said she’d come up for a signing ceremony soon. I have to commit.”
“You’re our superstar!” Amy said.
“It’s only age and experience that have you locked out of that this year,” Natalie said. “You’ll be a superstar by Christmas.”
“All I want for Christmas is to be a superstar. Like Natalie. And Brenda, too,” Amy sang.
They all laughed and waited for the calls from Brenda and Ardith that wouldn’t come until after the second game was over in Boston.
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