Status: previously known as 'Forbidden Love'
The Right Kind of Wrong
Gopher!'
“Gopher!”
Standing by the bench in the locker-room at the gym where they’d just been practicing, drying her hair, Emily squeezed her eyes shut at the familiar call that came across the room. She’d been one of three to be accepted onto the softball team and they’d been practicing for a few weeks together, meaning that she’d had time to meet and get to know all the girls on the team.
Sadly that also meant that they learned about her previous associations with the Minnesota Gophers as well as her now dislike for them. It took two seconds for the nickname to stick and she hated it!
“Yes?” she asked, looking up at her new teammate that was approaching her, in about the same state of almost dressed as she was.
“A few of us were thinking about heading out for a bite to eat, you up for it?” Ally – or Alexandra – asked as she reached her.
“Right after?” Emily checked as she dropped her towel on the bench.
“Yeah,” Ally confirmed. “We have this place we usually go to, thought you might want to come along.”
“I’d love to,” Emily nodded quickly.
“Great,” Ally light up in a bright smile. “Well, we’re leaving as soon as we’re all done, so…hurry up,” she added before heading back to where her own things were.
Not moving for a second, Emily grabbed a brush and made quick work of getting out all the knots in her hair before pulling it into a loose bun and fastening it with a plastic clip. Pulling a regular t-shirt over her head she stuffed all her things back into the duffle bag and slipped on her Nike trainers just as the other girls were finishing up as well.
Leaving the gym alongside Ally as well as Resa – a short form of Theresa – and Georgia – whose name was actually Hayden – Emily soon found herself driving to a small Indian restaurant she’d never before visited.
Parking across the street the four of them soon entered the place and finding a table they were quickly tended to, their drinks arriving just moment after they’d ordered them and she found that she was having a great time. Befriending new people had never really been a trouble and she’d been on teams before so she knew that whole dynamics, what surprised her was how easily they accepted her. She was after all the newbie who never before had play a single game of organized softball – and her week, almost two weeks, obligatory try in junior high school did not count.
But they didn’t seem to mind, or care, for which she was very grateful.
Their food arriving most of the dinner was spent talking about simple things, letting the three girls get to know Emily and letting her get to know them as well as learn everything she might need for being a part of the UND women’s softball team. It was a lot more than she would have thought.
“So, really, how does a gopher end up on Fighting Sioux territory?” Georgia asked curiously, nibbling on a piece of Indian bread. “I mean, I know you transferred, but why UND? You guys practically hate us,” she pointed out; the rivalry between the schools really wasn't a secret, especially to the people attending either one of them.
“I didn’t want to move back home,” Emily shrugged slightly. “I mean, there are many schools in the country but I had to pick one not too far away considering that I was over in Greece when I made the decision and I don’t have any family over here to help me move all my stuff.”
“Why not pick another of the UofM campuses?” Resa wondered. “That would be like going to the same school, just in a different city.”
“I don’t know,” Emily admitted softly. “Ever since I decided I couldn’t stay in St Paul, it just never felt like an option, it wouldn’t allow me to leave all the bad stuff behind.”
“I can understand that,” Resa nodded slightly. “Have you been back?”
“No,” Emily shook her head. “Not since early August anyway when I picked up all my stuff from the dorms. I haven't had a reason to return and most of my friends are sort of not keeping in contact with me,” she smiled sadly. She knew exactly why that was. They were friends with the hockey team, the same team Erik was still on and they didn’t want tension surrounding them, they didn’t want to keep contact with her as it could cause Erik to be mad or just… She knew what they were doing, they were taking his side whether they liked it or not.
“Why not?” Ally asked surprised. “Okay you joined the ‘enemy’ but that’s no reason for friendships to fall apart, real friendships anyway.”
“I know their reasoning and I try not to dwell on it,” Emily said evenly, not wanting to talk too much about it, it wasn't one of her favorite subjects around. “I email a few of them every once in a while, but that’s about it.”
“I'm sorry,” Ally smiled softly.
“Besides, you got us now,” Resa smiled widely. “And from what I hear, you're not lacking male attention,” she smirked knowingly. Clearly her ‘dating-relationship-whatever’ with Chris wasn't passing under the radar.
“What have you heard?” Emily smiled, keeping mum about it, she wasn't that keen on talking about her love-life, especially to girls she wasn't fully sure where she had.
“I saw you and a certain hot hockey-playing center making out a while ago,” Resa raised her eyebrow at her. “Nothing going on there?”
“There might be something,” Emily blushed widely, letting them now that it was something a little more than just ‘something’.
“That’s cute,” Georgia smiled widely. “The pitcher dating the center man…” she trailed off, wriggling her eyebrows suggestively.
“You should abort that train of thought right now,” Emily smiled widely. “Cause I'm not telling you anything.”
“It was worth a shot,” Georgia shrugged unbothered.
“So are you looking forwards to playing for the school?” Ally asked, finishing off her water in an attempt to cool her burning tongue, one of the bad side affect of hot, Indian food.
“It’s going to be different,” Emily admitted. “I've never done anything like that before, except one basketball tournament in my senior year in high school, but surprisingly I'm looking forwards to it, a lot,” she smiled softly.
“You’ll look good in the green threads,” Resa stated frankly, scrutinizing her new friend’s appearance.
“You think so?” Emily wondered amused.
“Yeah, and everyone can work the white and the black so you're good,” Resa smiled.
“Just be glad you joined us and not the Gophers,” Ally smiled. “I'm not sure that anyone can really pull off that maroon, gold combination,” she stated, causing them all to laugh and Emily to nod slightly. She knew a few people who actually could pull it off quite well, but she herself was never one of them.
Standing by the bench in the locker-room at the gym where they’d just been practicing, drying her hair, Emily squeezed her eyes shut at the familiar call that came across the room. She’d been one of three to be accepted onto the softball team and they’d been practicing for a few weeks together, meaning that she’d had time to meet and get to know all the girls on the team.
Sadly that also meant that they learned about her previous associations with the Minnesota Gophers as well as her now dislike for them. It took two seconds for the nickname to stick and she hated it!
“Yes?” she asked, looking up at her new teammate that was approaching her, in about the same state of almost dressed as she was.
“A few of us were thinking about heading out for a bite to eat, you up for it?” Ally – or Alexandra – asked as she reached her.
“Right after?” Emily checked as she dropped her towel on the bench.
“Yeah,” Ally confirmed. “We have this place we usually go to, thought you might want to come along.”
“I’d love to,” Emily nodded quickly.
“Great,” Ally light up in a bright smile. “Well, we’re leaving as soon as we’re all done, so…hurry up,” she added before heading back to where her own things were.
Not moving for a second, Emily grabbed a brush and made quick work of getting out all the knots in her hair before pulling it into a loose bun and fastening it with a plastic clip. Pulling a regular t-shirt over her head she stuffed all her things back into the duffle bag and slipped on her Nike trainers just as the other girls were finishing up as well.
Leaving the gym alongside Ally as well as Resa – a short form of Theresa – and Georgia – whose name was actually Hayden – Emily soon found herself driving to a small Indian restaurant she’d never before visited.
Parking across the street the four of them soon entered the place and finding a table they were quickly tended to, their drinks arriving just moment after they’d ordered them and she found that she was having a great time. Befriending new people had never really been a trouble and she’d been on teams before so she knew that whole dynamics, what surprised her was how easily they accepted her. She was after all the newbie who never before had play a single game of organized softball – and her week, almost two weeks, obligatory try in junior high school did not count.
But they didn’t seem to mind, or care, for which she was very grateful.
Their food arriving most of the dinner was spent talking about simple things, letting the three girls get to know Emily and letting her get to know them as well as learn everything she might need for being a part of the UND women’s softball team. It was a lot more than she would have thought.
“So, really, how does a gopher end up on Fighting Sioux territory?” Georgia asked curiously, nibbling on a piece of Indian bread. “I mean, I know you transferred, but why UND? You guys practically hate us,” she pointed out; the rivalry between the schools really wasn't a secret, especially to the people attending either one of them.
“I didn’t want to move back home,” Emily shrugged slightly. “I mean, there are many schools in the country but I had to pick one not too far away considering that I was over in Greece when I made the decision and I don’t have any family over here to help me move all my stuff.”
“Why not pick another of the UofM campuses?” Resa wondered. “That would be like going to the same school, just in a different city.”
“I don’t know,” Emily admitted softly. “Ever since I decided I couldn’t stay in St Paul, it just never felt like an option, it wouldn’t allow me to leave all the bad stuff behind.”
“I can understand that,” Resa nodded slightly. “Have you been back?”
“No,” Emily shook her head. “Not since early August anyway when I picked up all my stuff from the dorms. I haven't had a reason to return and most of my friends are sort of not keeping in contact with me,” she smiled sadly. She knew exactly why that was. They were friends with the hockey team, the same team Erik was still on and they didn’t want tension surrounding them, they didn’t want to keep contact with her as it could cause Erik to be mad or just… She knew what they were doing, they were taking his side whether they liked it or not.
“Why not?” Ally asked surprised. “Okay you joined the ‘enemy’ but that’s no reason for friendships to fall apart, real friendships anyway.”
“I know their reasoning and I try not to dwell on it,” Emily said evenly, not wanting to talk too much about it, it wasn't one of her favorite subjects around. “I email a few of them every once in a while, but that’s about it.”
“I'm sorry,” Ally smiled softly.
“Besides, you got us now,” Resa smiled widely. “And from what I hear, you're not lacking male attention,” she smirked knowingly. Clearly her ‘dating-relationship-whatever’ with Chris wasn't passing under the radar.
“What have you heard?” Emily smiled, keeping mum about it, she wasn't that keen on talking about her love-life, especially to girls she wasn't fully sure where she had.
“I saw you and a certain hot hockey-playing center making out a while ago,” Resa raised her eyebrow at her. “Nothing going on there?”
“There might be something,” Emily blushed widely, letting them now that it was something a little more than just ‘something’.
“That’s cute,” Georgia smiled widely. “The pitcher dating the center man…” she trailed off, wriggling her eyebrows suggestively.
“You should abort that train of thought right now,” Emily smiled widely. “Cause I'm not telling you anything.”
“It was worth a shot,” Georgia shrugged unbothered.
“So are you looking forwards to playing for the school?” Ally asked, finishing off her water in an attempt to cool her burning tongue, one of the bad side affect of hot, Indian food.
“It’s going to be different,” Emily admitted. “I've never done anything like that before, except one basketball tournament in my senior year in high school, but surprisingly I'm looking forwards to it, a lot,” she smiled softly.
“You’ll look good in the green threads,” Resa stated frankly, scrutinizing her new friend’s appearance.
“You think so?” Emily wondered amused.
“Yeah, and everyone can work the white and the black so you're good,” Resa smiled.
“Just be glad you joined us and not the Gophers,” Ally smiled. “I'm not sure that anyone can really pull off that maroon, gold combination,” she stated, causing them all to laugh and Emily to nod slightly. She knew a few people who actually could pull it off quite well, but she herself was never one of them.