A Tantalizing Kiss

My legs ached.

My chest burned.

My eyes blurred.

Air was coming in short and shallow. It wasn’t enough, but I had to make worthwhile. Sweat dripped down my back. The feeling had become normal by now. My throat clenched painfully as I swallowed dryly. I needed water.

I wiped away the sweat on my forehead with the back of my hand. My eyes glanced over at Coach, who was shouting names to return to the bench. It had only been a few minutes since I had gotten into play, and already I was exhausted.

The intensity of the game was horrifying.

It was Saturday evening. The lights on the stadium were lit up blindingly bright. Most of our concentration centered around the ground, thankfully. The clock was slowly ticking down. I glanced up quickly to note that we were now in the single digits. 4 minutes and seventeen were left in the game, and that was in the overtime amount. I shook my head softly, bringing my attention back to what it mattered.

The tides could change at any moment.

It was a tie game at the moment, with the scores 1-1. We had scored the first goal, and we could only hope to score the winning one as well.

I jogged lightly, but as quickly as my burning legs could manage, down the field to where the ball was playing on our side. Rodger and a player for the opposing team were at it as we struggled to bring it back to the opposite end of the field.

I moved over to an open space, running around the defending players.

“Rodger!” I shouted.

He looked up, kicking the ball towards me at the same time. The ball bounced off my shin and onto the inside of my foot as I directed it the opposite way. My eyes landed on James who stood as our defender far down the field.

He was in the clear.

I brought the ball in front of me, giving it a strong kick forward. James’ eyes never left it as it soared towards him through the air.

He bounced it off his chest.

My view was blocked as twelve kids and a referee chased after the ball. Quickly, I followed after it as well, determined to keep it on that end of the field. As I neared, I could see that James had passed the ball off to Levi, who was fighting for it with one of the opposing players.

“Levi!” I shouted.

But I could see that he wasn’t going to be able to get me the ball. Another player had already come over to where I was, blocking me off. I tried to move past him unsuccessfully. Levi struggled to keep the ball with us.

Out of my peripheral, I could see the black and white soccer ball quickly rolling over to where Davie was. He stopped it with his foot, quickly turning to protect it as he passed it to another player. I never saw who the other player was.

Levi cussed loudly, which was interrupted by the shrill scream of a whistle blowing.

Everyone froze in their place, eyes on the kid on the ground.

Levi groaned, tilting his head back as he clutched at his ankle. The referee quickly crouched down next to him.

I was close enough to hear just barely what he was saying.

“What hurts?”

“My ankle…” Levi cussed again, “I think I twisted it.”

Coach pushed past me, crouching down next to his injured player. “Levi, think you can put any pressure on it?”

He grunted, gently, pressing it against the ground, “No, Coach, I can’t. It hurts like a fucker. I can’t play on this.”

“Alright kiddo.” Coach sounded annoyed, “We’re gonna take you out of the game then. Come on, I’m going to support you as we walk over.”

The two adults helped Levi up. Coach slung his arm around his shoulders, moving so that Levi barely used his hurt ankle.

The crowd was silent as they walked off the field slowly. Once Coach got him off, the referee whistled, grabbing everyone’s attention once again.

He held up a red rectangle, “You, 26, off the field for foul play!”

The player who had knocked Levi down, rubbed the back of his neck with embarrassment. He didn’t put up any fight as he walked off of the field quickly. It didn’t seem that he had intentionally tried to get himself kicked out of the game. I watched as he sat back down on his bench, opposite our own. His scowl was matched with a beat red face.

The referee whistled and the clock started once more, with a penalty kick for our side to begin once more.

Donald had come to replace our injured player on the field.

I forced myself to push Levi to the back of my mind. He would want us to win the game before he’d want us to be concerned for his well-being.

The clock was down to one minute and two seconds as I checked once more.

The soccer ball managed to stay on the opposing team’s side of the field the rest of that time. It was getting tougher and tougher to score a goal.

Their goalie was good.

I caught the ball in the last twenty seconds, fully knowing that could I not make this shot, we’d go into overtime.

The clock ticked down quickly as I moved around the players, trying to get a shot ready. The goalie’s eyes were trained on me as I moved to the left of the goal, my eyes on the target. The small space between his side and the pole of the net.

I could hear the crowd chanting down the numbers as I brought my leg back, swinging as hard as I could manage.

A groan sounded in unison from the crowd as the goalie reached down, catching it easily in his hands.

The referee whistled, and everyone moved back to their benches. Levi had disappeared from ours, presumably in the first aid station.

I grabbed my water bottle quickly, downing the last quarter in there. The cool liquid felt rejuvenating as it moved down my throat. All around me, my teammates chugged from their bottles as well.

Coach held the clip board in front of him tightly. It was evident that he was incredibly nervous. In all the years he had been a coach for our soccer team, he had never gone into a penalty shootout on the State Cups Final game.

“Alright guys. Do not make any mistakes.” He said, looking each of us in the eyes. “We’re so close to winning. I can taste it. You boys have been amazing so far; don’t let me down in the final shootout.”

We were silent as he gave us the pep talk.

“Anthony, Tyler, Davie, Rodger, and Mason. I want you five out there kicking the shots. The goalie’s good, but he’s short. Hit it over his head high enough so he can’t jump. That’s how we scored the first one.”

The five of us nodded.

“We’re going second.” He said. “Whatever the outcome of this is, I’m proud of you boys. You’ve been working hard for this. Second or first, you guys did great. We’re still coming home with a trophy either way.”

“Let’s make it first!” Rodger said.

The exhausted members of my team cheered a chorus of ‘Yeah’ in agreement with him. I smiled, giving him a playful shove.

The referee walked up behind Coach, looking at us.

“You guys ready for the shootout? Everyone knows all the rules for it?” He asked.

Coach nodded, “Yep. Alright boys, good luck out there! Remember what I said earlier. No pressure!”

The five of us, and the goalie, weakly stood up, still out of breath from the game.

While the previous five games of the tournament had been shortened from 90 minutes to only 50, the last game had the full playing time, in addition to overtime. We had been out on the field for a vast majority of the long game.

Thankfully, we didn’t have any more running involved.

Unfortunately, the pressure had been doubled.

The five of us lined up before their goalie, a ball in front of each. On the opposite side of the field, five players stood before our goalie.

I crossed my fingers behind my back as we watched the first person take a penalty shot.

He back up slightly, taking a running start. His foot met the ball perfectly, and it flew through the air, sailing just past our goalie’s open hands.

The crowd on the left half roared obnoxiously.

I glanced at Anthony, who was first in line. “Good luck, bro.”

He smiled weakly, “Thanks.”

The time it took to get through the eight other players seemed to get increasingly longer for each kick. I was the last on my team to kick. The crowds cheering had gotten increasingly louder as well. Tension was set. Anthony, Davie, and Rodger had all scored a point, but Tyler had been the only one from our team to miss. I could only hope it would stay that way.

From the opposing team, the same number of plays had made it as us. My fingers were crossed tightly as we watched the last of their players take his shot.

He lined up with the ball, moving back more than any of the others had. Our goalie was in a crouch, hands ready to jump at wherever the ball wanted to go. The player ran up quickly, extending his foot just in time to hit the ball.

It arched over head, going towards the top of the goal. I watched as our goalie jumped up, trying to catch the ball before it sank into the net.

The ball hit the horizontal pole of the goal, bouncing overtop of the entire goal.

Silence filled the stadium as we all turned to the referee to see what the verdict of the goal was. He raised an eyebrow in surprise, but shook his head.

It didn’t count.

Three goals, two misses.

I lined up with the ball, taking a deep breath. It all depended on me now. I needed to score the last goal.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion.

I back up just as everyone else had, taking a running start to hit the ball. My eyes followed it as it rolled through the air. The goalie reached his hands up, moving in the same way ours had to catch the ball. His fingers were extended, just barely touching the top of the goal post.

My eyes never left the ball as it curved slightly to the left mid-arch, blowing just past the goalie’s hands.

I blinked.

Noise erupted all around me.

I blinked.

I could feel people all around me screaming and chanting, slapping my back, hugging me, talking to me.

I blinked.

Crowd members spilled out onto the field chaotically, rushing towards our team. People bombarded my vision.

I blinked.

“Mason!” A feminine voice called to me.

I turned my head in a daze, my eyes landing on the blonde running towards me. She wore a black jacket, open to reveal a bright red shirt with my number painted sloppily on it in white paint. Her black shorts hugged her thighs nicely and her bright blonde hair had been pulling back into a pony tail. She grinned, running towards me.

“Oh my gosh, Mason!” She wrapped her arms around my neck, nearly knocking me over.

A grin lit up my face as I slid my arms around her torso tightly, lifting her off of the ground quickly. “Did we win?!”

She pulled back as I set her on the ground, giving me an incredulous look.

Much to my surprise, Rose stood on her tiptoes, pressing her lips against mine gently. My hands curled around the fabric of her jacket as I pulled her tighter against my chest. She slid her fingers through my sweaty hair. The kiss was slow and gentle, but it sent tingles through my body. Rose nipped at my bottom lip, her tongue gently teasing me.

She pulled back before I had a chance to depend it, smiling playfully. Her teeth bit down on her bottom lip gently, “Yeah, Mason, you won the game.”

“I won the State Cup.” I breathed.

Her fingers were still tangled in my hair. “Congrats big boy.”

“I won the State Cup…” The words seemed foreign to me. But they felt amazing to speak. I glanced down at her as a thought crossed my mind, “Are you hungry?”

“No, I’ve been eating from the snack stand. Why?” She frowned slightly, confused by my change of topic.

“We’re going on a date.”

“Now?”

“You owe me a long over-due date.”

“Now?” She stared at me incredulously, “Mason, it’s ten-thirty at night! Nothing is going to be open this late anymore!”

She couldn’t wipe the grin off of my face, “You promised a date. We’re going on one tonight. We’ll find something.”

“Mason, nothing—”

I clamped a hand over her mouth, shaking my head, “You’re not ruining this for me, Rose. We’re going on a date. I won the State Cup.”

Her lips pulled into a smile underneath my hand as she nodded, finally giving in. I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her against me once more. Rose giggled as she hugged me back just as enthusiastically.

“I’ll admit, Mase, you had me worried that you would mess up.” She whispered in my ear quietly.

“I don’t mess up.”

She giggled, pulling away, “I think you need to go over to your team so that you can accept your trophy.”

“I alright got my trophy.” I smirked, slipping my hands down her back so that I cupped her ass tightly. I gave a playful squeeze, earning a look of embarrassment from her.

She pulled away quickly.

“I’ll be right back.”

She nodded, smiling. Rose crossed her arms over her chest, watching as I ran over to where the rest of my team stood.

We lined up, quickly shaking the hands of the losing team’s players. They gave us disdainful looks as we walked past, but shook hands regardless. I tried not to seem too smug as I walked past each of them, realizing we were better than them.

“Dude…” Rodger’s eyes widened next to me as he caught sight of the massive trophy in our coach’s hands.

He grabbed my elbow, dragging me over with him to where Coach stood, holding the trophy proudly.

“Damn, Coach, that’s fucking huge!”

“And you boys earned this!” He grinned.

Rodger reached out, stroking his fingers down the smooth side of it.

“Much bigger than any of the other years we have in the trophy room at school…” Someone commented. I didn’t see who it was, but he was absolutely correct about that. Not even the football team had a trophy this nice.

“Excuse me?” A new voice asked over top of us. “I’m with the school’s magazine. Could I get a picture of the winning team and the trophy?”

“C’mon guys!” Coach shouted, “Picture time!”

“We’re going to be famous!” Rodger teased, laughing.

~*~

It took a good half hour before I found that I could leave the soccer field at all. Parents wanted pictures, the local news station came to interview our Coach—which meant that our team had to stick around for show—all sorts of various distractions.

I found Rose standing off by herself near the exit of the field. She rubbed her eyes tiredly as she sat down on the ground with her knees to her chest.

I walked over to where she sat, smiling apologetically, “Sorry about that, Rose. I didn’t realize it’d be so hectic.”

She shook her head, “It’s not a problem.”

“How come you came alone? I would’ve thought you would have brought a friend or something with you.”

“I wanted to watch you play.” She shrugged casually.

I shook my head, offering a hand out as she stood up. “Sorry about hugging you when I was all smelly and sweaty.”

She giggled, “I didn’t care.”

“Oh I’m sure you didn’t.” I rolled my eyes.

Rose sighed as we started to walk towards where my sister and Jason stood over on the opposite end of the field.

“Mason, it’s almost eleven o’clock.” She sighed, “I need to get home tonight and that’s going to take an hour to drive. I think we’re going to have to postpone the d—”

“Stay with us.” I said quickly, without thinking it through. “Joey has joint hotel rooms for us. We can kick Jason out of one, and you can have it.”

Rose shook her head, “I couldn’t do that to you guys.”

“I’m offering.”

“I couldn’t…”

“Rose.” I grabbed her wrists, pulling her to a stop in front of me. “I promise I won’t do anything funny. You’ll have the bed to yourself if you want. I’ll sleep on the pull-out couch. It’s really not a big deal. Joey wouldn’t mind.”

“I…”

I grinned, “Cool. Call your parents and tell them you’ll be home tomorrow.”

She blinked, surprised, “I don’t have any clothes or…”

“You can borrow mine.” I said, “It’s dangerous for you to be driving alone so late at night. You’re going to stay with us.”

She hesitated before nodding, “Alright.”

I grinned, “Cool, let me grab a shower and then we can get onto our date.”

“We’re still going this late?” She groaned, “Nothing’s open, Mason! Except McDonald’s and Taco Bell.”

“We’re having Mexican tonight.”