Inevitably Yours

QUINN

“I’m so sorry that happened,” I told Michael over the phone. It was really late when I got home, and I could text him about everything. It took him even longer to respond.

“Don’t be. But there is something I think you need to know,” he said.

“No, M, I am really sorry. I didn’t know he would do that. I didn’t want to miss talking to you, and he was at the game for my birthday. I just-” I ranted.

“Quinn, breathe. I don’t for one second want you to misunderstand me. I’m absolutely furious that he took your phone; that was out of line. But I am a little at fault here,” Michael explained.

“No, I am,” I sniffed. I was the one engaging him when I was with Jaxx. I was naive to think it could go on in any capacity, and now he was going to tell me that we couldn’t be us until there was no Jaxx. Every time I tried to find the words to get away without making him mad, I couldn’t.

“Blue, do you remember what I told you when I stood on your back porch?” he asked.

“That you would be back,” I whispered. How could I forget? The tiny music note still hung from my neck. After so long, I wasn’t holding out much hope, but it was still there.

“And you told me not to make a promise I couldn’t keep. I refuse to break that promise. There is no way that the Moon Goddess can keep me away from you, okay? I am coming back,” he said.

“But…”

“No, nothing else matters. I am not telling you to do anything, but you need to know I am an option. And Goddess, Quinn, you are my only option. There isn’t anyone else for me.”

I didn’t know what to say. I wanted that; I wanted him to be my option. “When?” I had to ask.

“As soon as I can,” he said vaguely.

“Okay,” I said. How did I tell him I didn’t know if I could be an option for him? I was trapped in a nightmare of my own making. If I told him, he could go away. Then what would I do?

Hesitantly, Michael continued, “There is something else I should be honest about.”

“Is everything okay?” I asked, worried something might be going on with his family again.

“We don’t talk about it much, and I would never push you to do so. I think you know by now how I dealt with stress and feeling out of control before I met you. Well, when I told you to start dating, I reverted back to my old habits,” he admitted. I could tell he really didn’t want to tell me about this.

“M, I mean… we aren’t really together. It doesn’t exactly give me the warm and fuzzies, but how could I be mad at you? I think I know you better than most, so I guess I always had an idea,” I told him. I couldn’t blame him when I had a boyfriend. I constantly used him for comfort when he was never obligated to be there for me.

“I promise to tell you anything and everything you want to know when I get back to you, Q. Some things are too dangerous for me to tell you right now, but I never want to have to hide things from you. When I come back for you, I will never do it again for the rest of our lives. But, I was going somewhere with that….”

My brain started to connect the dots. “So tonight…”

Michael launched into an explanation of who Nic was and how the night’s events transpired. It wasn’t the easiest thing to listen to, especially after how flirty things had gotten between us.

“I f****d up. I haven’t slept with anyone else since we started sexting and talking more. I’m sorry, Quinn. I will understand if you need time…” he admitted.

I sighed, trying to decide how I felt. An uncomfortable feeling stirred in my chest, like some monster wanting to get out. I wanted to be the one that comforted him, but I was the reason why he needed that comfort. I couldn’t begrudge him that when I wasn’t even brave enough to be entirely honest with him.

“I already said it’s okay, M. I’m not mad at you,” I said quietly. I had to ask. “Since you’re telling me, does that mean it’s over?”

“I only want you, Quinn,” he promised.

“Then none of that matters,” I said, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Not to make it awkward, but she wanted me to relay that she’d never touch me again without your consent, and she wants badly to be friends so she can stay mine,” he blurted out. It sounded like he was trying to hold back a laugh if I wasn’t hearing things.

“Without my consent?” I asked, confused.

“It’ll make more sense when you meet her. She’s very… flirty,” he said, and I could hear just a little bit of fluster in his voice. I wondered if this Nic girl got into trouble with her ‘flirty’ nature.

“How about I meet her, and we’ll see about being friends first?” I could be friends with his friends as long as they could respect our relationship if we ever got there.

“Seriously?” he exclaimed. “I honestly didn’t think you’d want me around her, let alone you wanting to be friends!”

“Michael, if I told you that you couldn’t be friends with anyone you’d slept with, you couldn’t have friends, at least not female ones,” I pointed out while giggling.

“Fair enough,” he laughed in return. Then his voice got serious again. “But, changing the subject back.”

“Yea?” I asked, my heart beating a little faster.

“I can understand if you can’t answer this right now, but Quinn, can you be my option?” he whispered.

“Only if you’ll be mine,” I said. It was what my heart wanted. I just needed to figure out the rest.

–

“Miss Samuels, my favorite student!” Mr. Ganbar said. Carl and I turned around, away from his locker.

“What did you do now, Q?” Carl asked.

“Nothing, of course,” Mr. Ganbar laughed. “I think I might have found you a job.”

“Really?” I asked excitedly. “Where?” Now that we were a few weeks into school, I was working Saturdays and Sundays, but that would soon be cut further when winter came.

“The football coach’s daughter needs some tutoring,” he explained. I g*****d. Anna was a ditzy popular girl and a total Daddy’s girl.

“Now, don’t complain yet. How does $20 an hour up to 5 hours a week sound?”

“Like I’m finally getting a car!”I almost shouted.

“Should I tell him you accept then?”

“Yes!” I said, jumping up and down a little.

“Perfect find him at lunch tomorrow,” Mr.Ganbar smiled.

Carl looked at me as he walked away. “Is your boyfriend going to be okay with yet another thing taking up your time?”

I shrugged. “Does it matter?”

“Quinn, you literally lied to him last week that you were at work when you were at my house for dinner,” he pointed out.

“You eavesdropped on my conversation?” I asked incredulously.

He put his hands up. “Q, it wasn’t on purpose. You were taking a minute on the phone, so I came to check on you.”

“Well, how I talk to my boyfriend is my business,” I told him. I didn’t need him getting in the middle; I couldn’t stand the embarrassment if he found out.

“Q, you aren’t a liar. You are honest and hate hurting people’s feelings. If you are lying to that guy, then something is going on. You didn’t even look happy on the night of your birthday, and I saw him take your phone,” Carl said, getting defensive.

“Please, just stay out of it,” I sighed.

“He isn’t hitting you, right?” Carl asked quietly.

“Do you see any bruises?” I said. “Maybe we should study tomorrow.” I turned and walked away quickly. Carl didn’t follow me. I pushed back the tears stinging the back of my eyes.

–

“You’ve been tutoring for like a month now, right?” Carl asked as we walked home from school. We were going to his house so we could read through each other’s English papers before they were due at the end of the week.

“Yep. I think I will have enough for something halfway decent and actually running in like another month or so. Rach and Vern are trying to get me as many shifts as they can until our hours are cut,” I explained. My phone chimed in my pocket. I smiled, knowing it was Michael.

When we got to Carl’s house, his dad and sister were already home. His dad was stirring a big pot that had a spicy and savory smell wafting through the house. “Mr. S, that smells awesome!” I said. “What’s in that?” I hurried toward the stove to look in the pot.

“I can’t give you all my best recipes, Quinn! You make them better than me, and then what does a man have?” he laughed.

“Fair enough,” I smiled. “Can I taste it?”

He handed me a spoon, and I gobbled up a spoonful of the rich, red liquid. “Mmmm,” I hummed happily. Carl’s dad laughed again.

“There’s enough for you to stay tonight,” he informed me.

“Earth to Q, English papers? No car means forty-five minutes to walk home, so we gotta get moving,” Carl said impatiently.

“You know, Quinn. Mrs. S and I were talking the other day. We have that old car sitting next to the garage. It needs a few parts, but Carl didn’t want to fix it. I was thinking of scrapping it, but she thought we might offer it to you. You certainly have saved enough to get it fixed up,” he said.

“Wait, what?” Carl and I said together.

Mr. S waved dismissively at Carl. “You don’t want the thing. I would rather it get fixed than go to scrap anyway. What do you think, Quinn? I could call your dad about arranging to move it.”

“Oh, my Goddess! Thank you! Yes, please,” I squealed. I ran back around the counter and hugged him hard.

“Ooof,” he gasped. “I’m not the young, fit wolf I once was. Ease up on me now.”

“Sorry,” I said, pulling back. “But really, thank you so much.”

“You two go study,” he smiled. I skipped back over to Carl, who just rolled his eyes and led his way to his room.

–

“So, I’m Quinn, and I’m the head stat girl,” I introduced myself. I looked around the room at the new recruits for the wrestling stat girls. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was supposed to say. I didn’t know I was in charge of the meeting until I walked in.

Someone raised their hand. “What is a stat girl exactly?”

“Oh, that’s easy. We are scorekeepers for the wrestling team. We go with them to their matches and tournaments and sit on the sideline and keep the score,” I explained.

“Why?” someone else asked.

“Each team has a stat girl or other scorekeeper to make sure that none of the ref’s calls are missed or made by mistake. Sometimes the people that are keeping score at the table miss things or the ref forgets their position,” I answered.

“Is it fun?” another person asked.

“I think it is. After I learned how to score the matches, I fell in love with the sport. And I made friends with the team. We get to go with them, and when we aren’t keeping score, we can do what we want,” I said. “There are even a couple of trips each year where we go overnight.”

“Are the guys hot?” someone in the back said. A few people laughed.

I looked over at Mr. Ganbar, who just raised his eyebrow. I was alone for this one. “Okay, we have a rule that you can’t date the team. It just helps stop the drama. But you can ogle all you want, and there is plenty of others to look at, too.”

“I’m in then. Have you guys seen those uniforms?” the first person laughed.

–

“Alright, we will go in here and sit with the team. Some of them are probably still weighing in. You guys know where the boards are to see when matches are, and I will try to point out your wrestlers to you, but I don’t know all the new ones yet,” I explained as we left the second gym for the tournament.

They followed me up into the stands, and I took a seat next to Riley. “Girls, this is Riley. He is one of my wrestlers this weekend.” I introduced him. He nodded to them. I pointed out a couple of others in the stands.

“Where are all the new ones?” I asked Riley. He rolled his eyes.

“Dickin’ around in the locker rooms. All the freshman move together,” he explained. “Who else do you have this weekend?”

I grabbed my clipboard and flipped through it. I took three wrestlers while the other girls all got one or two. “You, Don, and Jake.” Don was Christy’s little brother, and Jake was a wrestler in my grade.

“Shouldn’t be too hard,” he commented.

“Jake’s too fast for the new girls, but otherwise, I took it easy on them,” I smiled. I pulled out some homework from my backpack While Riley put in his headphones. Twenty minutes later, the group of new wrestlers came into the gym and headed toward us in the bleachers. Riley poked me and pointed to them.

“She really does have blue hair!” one of them called as they came up the bleacher steps. I frowned.

“Why did we get stuck with ugly stat girls? Other teams have at least a couple of hot ones,” another said.

“What did you just say?” one of the new stat girls scoffed.

“The blue one is the worst, but you aren’t much better,” the kid replied. My mouth hung open.

“You need to shut right the hell up,” Riley growled. “Now.”

“f**k you, sophomore,” one of the kids said. He was bigger physically than Riley, but I didn’t think Riley cared. He stood up, and other guys on the team took notice.

“You aren’t going to come up here and talk s**t like that when this is your first time on the mat. Give Quinn and the other girls respect, or I’ll kick your a*s,” Riley said.

“Riley, don’t,” I said, not wanting him to pick a fight on my behalf.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“She wolves should be seen and not heard,” one of them said. My eyes roamed the group, looking for Don. We had met at least a few times when I was at their house with Christy. He stood at the back, looking anywhere but at me.

“You’re kidding me, right?” someone growled behind us. I looked over my shoulder to see Drew, who had finally gotten to the varsity team now that he was a senior. “What backward a*s s**t is that?”

“We don’t even need girls,” he defended himself.

“I would tell Quinn not to keep your records for that, but she is too nice for that. So, I think instead, it’s time to warm up, and you’re my partner today,” he growled.

“We partner by weight and skill!” one said, fear seeping into his voice. Drew had gotten much larger in the last year and mentioned he had been to a few off-season clinics.

“Not today,” he said. Riley pointed to the one who called me ugly.

“You’re with me,” he said.

The team was rounded up and taken down to the mats. Drew started making them drill much harder than necessary for warm-ups. “That one is scary,” one of the new girls said.

“No,” I told her. “He teaching them a lesson.”

“He wasn’t exactly in the position to be calling anyone ugly,” another commented. I rolled my eyes. It was going to be an interesting season.