To Play Through The Pain

“Where are you going?” Z clutched the back of my neck and spun me around as I walked by him with my head down. Damn.

“Home.” I answered.

“Where are you going before you go home?” He leaned down so that our faces were level, the smile on his lips knowing and very infuriating.

“Nowhere.”

He laughed, “Incorrect!” He tapped my forehead and his smile turned into a smirk, “In case you do not remember, we had a wager. And you lost that wager. Do you remember yet?”

I growled at him and shoved his face away from mine, “Yes I remember, you idiot. I was trying to sneak passed you!”

He grinned and leaned on his locker, “Well, you didn’t. So my car or yours?”

I sighed, “Mine I guess. Pizza after?”

He nodded, “Hell yeah! Don’t you know me?” Z slung his arm around my shoulders and we walked out to the parking lot together. Jackson joined us and slid his arm around my waist on the other side.

“Did I hear pizza?” He grinned.

I rolled my eyes with a laugh, “You did. How about we text you when we leave and you can meet us there. We have something to take care of first.”

“Sounds good!” He broke away from us and ran off into the parking lot. We heard him yelling at Owen and Sam as he went and I knew I was going to see them at the pizza place later on.

“So!” Z clapped his hands together and grinned at me like the cheshire cat as I climbed into my truck next to him, “Were you thinking off the shoulder? Lace? Something tight and shiny?”

I glared, “I was thinking you should keep your mouth shut!”

He laughed, “So touchy you are!”

I scoffed, “Okay, Yoda, whatever you say.”

He shrugged, “I am just trying to get a game plan together. I have been asking quite a few girls about these things, and they all told me one thing!” He raised his voice to an annoying falsetto and waved his hand in the air as he spoke, “‘Always know what you want before you go in, or else you will be there all day!’”

I growled at him again, “Shut up Mackenzie.”

He glared, “You are lucky you are driving, Olson.”

I shrugged. I was the only person allowed to call him Z, the nickname I gave him years ago during a debate on whether or not his name, Mackenzie, was at all manly. I told him in my infinite eight year old wisdom that Z is a manly name, and he told me that it was a letter, not a name. I have called him Z ever since, and he has not let anyone but me. Everyone else calls him Joshua, his middle name. He doesn’t like Josh, and he doesn’t even let me use it. He he is either Joshua or Woods, his last name, to anyone who is not... well me.

“What are you going to do? Hit me? Remember last time you hit me, Z? Didn’t go to well did it?”

He laughed at the memory. I’d broken his nose on accident. “My brother still won’t let me forget it.” He shook his head.

I grinned at him, “I won’t either.” He leaned forward and turned up the radio. As he sat back he threw his head back and squeezed his eyes closed while he belted the lyrics. While most people would be off key and horrible, Z wasn’t. He had a very pleasant voice that I had always loved. Whenever I am sick or upset I ask him to sing me to sleep at night, whether he be sleeping over or on the other end of the phone or Skype line with me. It worked every time.

I pulled into the mall parking lot and found a parking space. When I turned off the truck Z whooped, “Let’s do this!” And jumped out of the car with a battle cry. I rolled my eyes and slid out of the truck, locked the doors, and made my way toward the mall. Z jogged up behind me and wrapped his arms around my middle.

“Come on, don’t be bitter!” He gave me a sloppy kiss on the cheek and I shook from his grasp.

“Let go!” I wiped my cheek and glared at him as he laughed.

“My dear, Peony, what would I ever do without you?”

“Die.”

He shook his head and laughed as he held the door for me and followed me inside.

“How about this one?” Z held out a dress that looked like it should be a shirt with a joking expression on his face.
“Yeah, lemme just shrink a foot. That wouldn’t fit me if I was four inches shorter.” And it was true. I was a whopping six foot one. No heels for this girl!

Z grinned, “I know, I was just kidding.” And then his face sobered, “I would never let you wear something like that, and you know it.”

I smiled at him, “I know, Joshie, I know.” He glared at the nickname and I laughed and picked up a dress, “How about this one?”

He considered it and then shook his head, “No, no, it is soooo not your color.” He pursed his lips and put his finger on his chin, trying to look like a girl. I threw the garment at him and he caught it with a smile, dropping the act.

“I think it’s pretty.” He threw it over his shoulder and continued looking through the dresses.
“How did you convince me to do this, again?” I mused as I slid dresses by me on the rack.
“You lost a bet, love.” He shot me his infamous grin and winked.

I rolled my eyes, “Don’t use that on me, I’m not one of your whores d'oeuvres.” I grumbled. Z was a very attractive young man to put it lightly. With medium brown hair, grey-hazel eyes, strong squared features and a very meticulously sculpted athletic body, he attracted girls like he was covered in magnets. And he enjoyed it very much.

“Speaking of whores d’oeuvres, why not ask one of them to homecoming? Why me?”

He gave me a look, “I told you. I want one dance where I actually have fun with my date. I have fun with you. Why not you, Peony, you know I love you.”

I gave him a look right back, “Mackenzie, I know just as well as you do when your ‘fun’ happens on your dates.”

He sighed, “I’m not a bad guy, P, come on.”

I looked up from the rack I was scouring in shock, “I know that. Why would you even say that?”

He groaned, “Peony, why are you looking so deeply into it?”

I pursed my lips and turned back to the rack I was currently at, “I’m just curious, Z.”

He walked over to me, holding a couple dresses out to me with a small smile on his face, “Don’t be, can’t I want to spend a dance with my bestfriend and not have to worry about anyone else? I like going places with you, and it’s me senior year. I can bag all the girls I want, but I will never have fun with them like I do you.” He shoved my shoulder, “Now go try these on.” He pointed to the dressing room with a stern look on his face and ushered me in the direction.

“You are so pushy today!” I complained and retreated into the dressing room. After fifteen minutes of trying on, I decided on a short form fitting gold sequin dress. It was strapless, the bust was made of horizontally pleated gold fabric, and the rest of the dress was covered in gold beads and sequin. It reached slightly above my knees and it accentuated the tan I got that summer from playing at the park and hanging out at the beach with the guys. Without showing Z I stepped out of the dress, covered it with a pile of discarded dresses and made my way out to him.

“No luck?”

I smiled, “No, I got the dress, I just don’t want you to see it. I want to surprise you. It’s part of the fun.”

He raised an eyebrow and followed me to the checkout desk, “Is this a trick?”

I shook my head, “Nope.”

“Are you buying an ugly dress on purpose?”

I made a face, “This will be the school’s first time seeing me in anything more feminine than a pair of fitted jeans and a tight football jersey. If this must happen, I am going to make sure I look good. Now go away so I can check out without you seeing it.” I pointed to the door and he laughed.

“Alrighty then.”

I smiled at the cashier, “Put it in a bag it can’t be seen through, I don’t want him peaking.” I fished the dress out of the others and handed them all to the cashier at once. She quickly checked me out and handed me my dress covered in a black bag, still on the hanger. I thanked her and hurried to Z, who threw his arm around my shoulders as we made our way back into the mall.

“Don’t you want jewelry? Or shoes?”

I shook my head, “No jewelry needed, and if I wore heels I would be taller than you.”

He scoffed, “Not true! I am six foot seven. You are a pipsqueak compared to me. Get heels!”

I rolled my eyes and bought a pair of simple black pumps. As we walked out of the store I glared at him, “Happy?”

He nodded and smiled at me, “I am, my love.”

I just rolled my eyes and we made our way out to my truck. I hung the dress in the back seat and threw the shoe box on the floor beneath it.

“Want me to call Jackson?” I nodded and he did. Soon we were parked at the pizza place and seated in a booth waiting for the others with Cokes between our hands on the table.

“So what does the dress look like?”

“Hot.”

He waggled his eyebrows and I laughed, “It’s good to know you want to look hot for me.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Who says it’s for you? How do you know I don’t want to make someone jealous?”

Z smirked and leaned forward, “Because I know for a fact that you are not interested any anyone. If you were, I would have beat the shit out of him by now.” His smirk turned into more of a baring of his teeth and I raised my eyebrows at him. He leaned back to a normal sitting position and looked over my shoulder. I followed his attention and waved at Jackson, Owen, and Sam as they walked in.

“By the way.” Z whispered, leaning in again, “They don’t know about our date yet. Want me to break the news?”

I rolled my eyes and he laughed as the others sat down, Sam next to me, Owen next to Z, and Jackson on the end where he pulled up a chair.

“So what was it that you two had to do?” Sam asked as he threw his arms around me.

Z gave his smirk that was really more of a teeth baring and met Sam’s eyes, “I took her dress shopping. She is going to homecoming with me.”

“What?” All three said at once, looking from me to Z with growing smiles on their faces. What kind of a reaction is that? And why is Z giving them looks?

I narrowed my eyes at each of them, trying to figure out what was going on but they looked away from me. I glared at Z who was smiling at me innocently.

“What?”

“Nothing.” He said, still smiling sweetly.

“Okay,” I said slowly, eyeing him with suspicion. His expression didn’t waver. I noticed that Sam’s rm wasn’t around me anymore, and that he was sitting a little closer to the edge of the seat. Ouch, rejected. Do I smell?

“What do you think about Friday’s game, Woods?” Jackson cut in.

Z shrugged, “They have no chance against us. Our offensive line is fire, our defensive line is a wall, and they have a kicker. That’s it.” He shrugged again with a smirk, “We’ll send ’em home with their tails between their legs.”

Owen barked and Sam howled while Jackson and I laughed. We ordered a short time later and chatted until the pizza came.

“Peony, can you come out and help in practice tomorrow? Coach doesn't want me throwing too much.” Z said after he swallowed a rather large bite of pizza. I nodded enthusiastically and swallowed my sip of Coke.

“Yeah, definitely, tell Coach I’ll be there.” Z is the only quarterback on the team. The second string quarterback got suspended for smoking pot at school, and kicked off the team. So it’s just Z this year, and Coach treats him like fragile goods. He wants nothing to happen to him because the team can’t afford it, so he doesn’t throw more than twenty shots at practice- after warming up of course. His arm would not be worn out. Because I have quite the arm, Coach has me come to practice sometimes to work the offence while Z studies them and makes corrections. I love it. I never really thought about trying to join the team before, but I kicked myself this year when I spent my first practice them them. I wish I had thought of that.

“Good. He’s really going overboard with the coddling lately. Season hasn’t even started yet.” He rolled his eyes and took another bite of his Pizza.

“He has reason to. You’re all the team’s got. Thank God you’re decent.”

“Hey!” He glared as he chewed, “I’m more’n decent!”

I stuck my tongue out at him and was about to say something, but he reached across the table and trapped my tongue between his thumb and forefinger, “Tongues belong inside mouths.” He scolded. I pulled away from him and sputtered and wiped at my tongue before I took a big gulp of Coke.

“Why would you do that? Ugh, Mackenzie, who knows where those hands have been?” I threw my napkin at him, hoping it would wipe the smile from his face, but it didn’t. He grinned and laughed.

“What?” He put his hands up in question, “You think these hands are in dirty places? What ever would have given you that idea?”

I glared, “I don’t know? Catching you and Missy Greenhouse under the stairs this morning?”

He smiled and leaned forward, “You jealous?”

“Why would I ever want to get Missy Greenhouse under the stairs?” I deadpanned and he laughed.

“I’ve washed my hands since then.” He shrugged and reached for more pizza. I sighed and did the same.

Later on, Z jumped out of my truck and leaned on the door to talk to me through the open window. I had brought him back to the school parking lot so that he could get his truck.

“So, lemme see the dress.” He grinned.

“No!”

“At least tell me the color. I need to match.” He batted his eyelashes exaggeratedly and I groaned.

“Gold.”

He eyed me up and down then nodded, “Gold’s good.”

I raised an eyebrow at him, “Thank you.” I sighed and slumped in my seat, “Can I stay at your place tonight? Paul came back, and I just can’t deal with him right now.”

“Of course. Do you need me to go home with you for a second, or do you want to just come straight to my place?”

I shrugged, “Your place. I have my dresser there, it’s not like I need to get clothes or anything.”

Z smiled, “Alright. I’ll see you there. If you want to go home, don’t go without me.”

I nodded and smiled at him, “I wouldn’t, you know that.”

Ten minutes later I had pulled into Z’s driveway and we entered his house to be intercepted by a naked whirlwind.

“Joshua!!” The naked boy called and threw himself into Z’s arms.
“Hey, little man.”

Naked Boy, or formally known as Loren Woods, turned and smiled at me, “Hey, Peony.”
“Hey, Naked Boy, why don’t you put on some clothes?”

He shook his head viciously and struggled out of his brother’s arms. Z dropped him and we watched his naked form retreat into the depths of the house.

“He is going to be just like you.” I shook my head and headed for the stairs to the second floor.
“Hey! I do not run around naked.” Z made a face at me. I just laughed.

“Not in front of me. But there is the locker room we have to remember, and most of the parties you go to. I know what goes on on the second floors!” I wagged my finger at him and he rolled his eyes.

“Ha. Ha. Very funny.” He pouted as he changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt, “And I do not run around naked at parties!”

“You did once.” I reminded him and he scoffed.

“I was not naked! I was wearing a jock strap!”

“What the hell is the difference?” I laughed as I changed into a pair of Soffe shorts and a tank top.

He looked at me with his eyebrows raised, “The difference is, my wee wee is covered by a jockstrap.” He said aloofly. I threw my jeans at him and he caught them with a laugh, “What? You asked!”

I made a face, “Yeah, I did.” And shook my head in self mockery. Why would I even open that door? I knew he would go there.

He scooped up our dirty clothes and threw them in the hamper. “Come along little doggy, it’s movie time!” He swung his door open and we made our way downstairs and into the living room where he told me to pick out a movie while he made popcorn.

I was stuck between Thor and Bridesmaids when he walked in with a bowl of popcorn in one arm and a two liter of Coke in the other.

“Which one?” I asked, holding them up.

He scoffed, “Bridesmaids, of course. I don’t want to listen to you swooning over Thor all night.” He raised his voice to a falsetto, “Oh Thor, you can hit me with your hammer all day, baby!” He rolled his eyes as he plopped on the couch, “Yeah right, I am not going through that again.”

I laughed at him and put the DVD in the player, “Come on, you’re just jealous.”

“I am not jealous! I am much more manly than Thor!”

I raised my eyebrow at him, “Really? You took me dress shopping today, Z. And you asked for advice from cheerleaders.”

“That means nothing.” He pointed at me with a serious expression on his face, “You have nothing against me.” The way he raised his eyebrows made me laugh and his face softened with a smile as I made my way to the couch and sat next to him. We situated ourselves so that I was laying across his lap with my head on the armrest of the couch and the popcorn was rested on my stomach. This proved slightly problematic when I laughed for the first time and the popcorn almost went flying. Z caught it and sent a mock glare to me.

“Woman, it took me forever to make this!” He whisper-yelled.

I glared at him and shoved a handful of popcorn in my mouth.

“Oh, that is so sexy!” He moaned, “Do it again! Do it again!”

I slapped his chest, “I will go to the other side of the couch.” I threatened and he shook his head with a smile on his face and went back to watching the movie. It ended too soon, but when it did we both yawned from exhaustion and went to bed.

Before he fell asleep I heard Z ask, “What does your dress look like?”

I smiled and snuggled deeper into the blankets, “You’ll see at homecoming.”

He grunted and was out like a light. Even when he had a day off from football practice he was still exhausted at the end of the day. I reached over and rubbed circles into his back until I fell asleep.