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Every day Jaime saw the boy walk by. Headphones plugged in, hands buried in his pockets, eyes downcast. He’d seen him around school, too, but he always seemed to be in a hurry. The only time Jaime ever got a good look was during soccer practice after school. He walked past the field on his way home and Jaime made sure to keep an eye out for him every practice.
Sure, soccer practice was only three days a week, but that didn’t stop Jaime. He hung out on the field on his off days just to watch for the boy. Vic thought he was being ridiculous and a chicken for not just introducing himself and asking him out already and yeah okay he kind of was, but had he seen him?! He couldn’t just walk up and ask him out! Vic acted like it was so easy. It wasn’t.
Even if Jaime did finally work up the courage to ask him out, he had no idea when he could do it. They had one class together and the kid was practically out the door as soon as the bell rang to signify the end of English. Besides, he didn’t even know his name! What was he supposed to say? “Hi, I sit behind you in English and we’ve never talked before, but I’m Jaime and I think you’re really cute”? Uh, No.
Tony didn’t know why he chose to cut through the field after school that day. He didn’t even realize the soccer team was practicing until he was a quarter of the way across the field already. He couldn’t just turn around and go back, though, or he’d look like an idiot. He guessed he’d just have to continue on and stick to the outskirts so as not to get in the way.
Jaime frowned at his watch and stared back toward the fence encasing the field. He was late. The coach’s whistle blared loudly in his ear, turning Jaime’s attention back to practice. “Preciado! Focus! Switch with Arteaga.” Jaime smiled sheepishly and jogged over to switch places with the goalie.
He’d just slipped his gloves on when he noticed one of his cleats was untied. “Hold on a sec!” Just as he leaned down to tie his laces he noticed someone walking across the edge of the field, but not just any someone. He knew the back of that head anywhere. He finished lacing up and stood, staring as he walked. So, it came as no surprise when Tino kicked the ball right at his head and momentarily knocked him unconscious.
Tony was just about to pull his ipod out of his pocket when he heard a loud thump behind him and the soccer coach shouting, “Back up! Back up! Give him some room!” He whipped around and instantly recognized the guy on the ground. He was the really cute guy from his English class. He sat behind him and filled his English composition book with more doodles than actual notes and assignments, sometimes even disregarding the lessons altogether and dozing off, but still he came to every class with an eager grin on his face. His name was Jaime.
Before he knew it, Tony was standing over him asking if he was okay. Jaime squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, confused as to what on earth he was doing there. “Dude, are you okay?” He repeated.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m cool. I think.”
“You were out for a while there. Take him to the nurse, will you?” The coach was asking Tony. Looked like the coach just couldn’t spare any more players, but Tony didn’t mind. He nodded and helped Jaime to his feet.
“Thanks, but you didn’t have to do that.” Jaime said as soon as they’d walked into the nurse’s office. Tony shrugged. After explaining what happened, the nurse left in search of ice for his head muttering something about the dangers of sports. “You don’t have to stay either.” It was bad enough that Tony had seen what happened, but he really didn’t want to waste his time. He probably had better things to do.
“I just want to make sure you’re okay. I used to watch Tino play when we were kids and if he was aggressive then, well… Anyway, how are you feeling?”
Jaime laughed at the mental image of a tiny Tino kicking soccer balls so hard they knocked out other kids, but then winced at the sudden throbbing pain in his head. “Ow, fuck. Shouldn’t they have ice packs here in the office? Where the hell did she go?”
“Do you want me to go look for–”
“No, don’t worry about it. I’ll live.”
They remained silent for a while until the nurse finally returned, sending them both off with a disposable ice pack and a request to be a little more careful next time. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep him safe Ms. Tilman.” Tony had said with a laugh as he led Jaime out of the office. “Try to avoid balls to the face next time, yeah?” He added the moment they were out of earshot. Jaime didn’t comment.
As it turned out, they both took the same route home. Neither had any idea that Tony lived on the street behind Jaime’s either. In all honesty, Jaime thought the walk home would be quiet and awkward, but in actuality it turned out to be the opposite.
Tony made to pull his ipod out of his pants pocket, but stopped when he noticed how quiet Jaime had been since leaving the office. Instead, he turned to Jaime and asked him how to play soccer. Truthfully, Tony didn’t know a thing about soccer, nor had he ever shown any interest, but hey that was why he was asking.
As soon as the question had left Tony’s mouth, Jaime’s eyes lit up and he jumped right into an in-depth explanation that Tony was sure he caught about half of. Jaime went off at a mile a minute, gesticulating wildly and not once letting his smile disappear. “Um,” Jaime said after a while, slightly embarrassed. “I’m really bad at explaining things, I know.”
Tony shook his head, gazing down at the sidewalk beneath their feet to hide the blush on his cheeks. “No, that’s not it. I was just thinking that maybe it would help to watch one of your practices. If that’s cool with you, I mean. And…” Jaime stared at him. “Maybe we could do something after?”
Jaime could feel his face heat up all over again. “Like what?”
“I don’t know.” Tony looked up to meet his eyes and immediately regretted it. Jaime’s confused face was just about the cutest thing Tony had ever seen. “Pizza date? I mean– Fuck. I didn’t mean. I mean I did mean–” Tony didn’t know it was possible to fuck up a sentence that badly and yet there he was.
“A date?”
“If you want to. It’s okay if you don’t. It was probably stupid of me to ask. You can say no, it’s okay. Sorry. That was weird.”
“No, I want to!” Jaime yelled loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear. “I mean yes. I want to. Yeah.” He cleared his throat, slightly mortified. He’d been so loud it scared Tony and made him flinch. God, he was a walking disaster. He braced himself for the inevitable “Uh, nevermind,” but it never came. Instead, Tony laughed, grateful that Jaime seemed to want this as much as he did.
“Well, okay then. It’s a date.” Jaime watched Tony make his way up the porch steps leading to his house and waited until he’d shut the door behind himself before grinning and raising a fist in triumph.
“It’s a date.”
Tony watched on from the kitchen window, smiling to himself at the spring in Jaime’s step as he walked on past his house. And, wait a second, was he bobbing his head up and down and…singing?