Seth looked around him, then walked up to the team, reluctantly.
“Here’s last night’s game football, it was signed by all the football players and the coaches,” Cris said and turned toward Seth handing him the football. Seth took it and just stared at it. He didn’t comprehend any of the names even though he was reading them.
Seth cleared his throat and said, “Thanks guys I really don’t know what to say. This means so much, how could I ever forget you guys?”
Tasha walked up to the mike and said, “Seth the cheerleaders wanted to give you something too. We have worked on this since the first day we heard you were moving.” Handing him a scrapbook she continued, “We all got together and everyone brought pictures of you and we put them in this book. It’s our version of the yearbook except it spans many more years. We’ll miss you and wish you luck.” She hugged him as did the rest of the cheerleaders up there. “The cheerleaders signed a football, also and there are posters all around for everyone to sign and let Seth know how much he’ll be missed.”
Lia walked up to him and was the last cheerleader to hug him, “The best for last,” she whispered.
When the band started playing again it was a slow one, at Lia’s instance. She spoke with Zak before she went up there to make sure it was a slow dance. “Come on Seth you owe me a dance,” she said.
Pulling him to the area they were using as a dance floor, she wrapped her arms around his neck as he put his arms around her waist. They were dancing so close and ignoring everyone else they missed the evil looks they were getting from Courtney. No one talked to her except her best friend, Rita.
When the song ended Lia asked, “Are you ok now?”
“Yeah I’m fine, but I still don’t get why they’re acting like it’s the last time they’ll ever see me. I’ll be back next year for school at the community college.”
“Do you really think that? Honestly Seth if you get a scholarship to a college you can’t pass that up. Everyone here thinks that’s what’s gonna happen and they won’t see you.”
“Babe I’m not leaving you. I’m going to college here and that’s final,” Seth said.
“We’ll talk about that later. I have to go to the bathroom, walk with me,” she said.
Turning they walked to the house, “I’ll wait out here for you, Babe.”
“Okay.”
When she came back out Seth wasn’t there. She looked both ways for him, but couldn’t find him. Rita walked up to her and said, “You’re not going to find him any time soon, if Courtney has her way.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Lia demanded.
“Wouldn’t you like to know? I’m not about to tell you. I was just to tell you what I did,” Rita said laughing and walked away.
Lia was mad, not at Seth because she knew how he felt about her, but at Courtney. She walked around the house and when she got to the end of the house further away from the crowd she saw them. Courtney had her arms around Seth’s neck and was kissing his neck. Seth was trying to get her off of him.
“Isn’t this cute,” Lia said walking up to them. “I think you better get your hands off my boyfriend before I take you off him.”
Courtney laughed, “I don’t think he wants to, Dear Lia. He seems to be enjoying himself.”
“You are delusional, Courtney. I want nothing to do with you,” Seth replied trying to push Courtney away from him. “I told you the same thing get your hands off me!”
“I think you better leave this party right now Courtney, because I swear if you don’t get your hands off him I will knock you out,” Lia said through clenched teeth.
Courtney just laughed, but stopped the minute Seth pushed her way and Lia walked up and punched her right in the mouth as hard as she could. Her mouth started bleeding right away and she started screaming. “I told you, you scank I would punch you in the mouth. If you want to take this further I’ll be happy to knock you out completely.”
“You wait! I’ll get you for this, Lia. I’ll bring charges against you,” Courtney screamed.
“No you won’t,” Mr. Grayson said. “I’ve been watching you since you walked up to Seth and he wanted nothing to do with you. This young lady here gave you plenty of warning and I will testify that I saw the whole thing and she did nothing wrong, except to tell you to get away. Now if you want to keep it up I’ll stand back and let her finish. I agree with Lia it’s time you go home.”
“You can’t do that!!!!!!!!!” Courtney screamed.
“You watch me,” Mr. Grayson said.
Courtney stomped off in a huff. Mr. Grayson turned to Lia and said, “I don’t know where you get that right hook, but it’s a damn good one.”
Lia laughed, “Hanging out with Seth and my brother all the time when I was little. If I didn’t learn quick, I was the one getting hit.”
“Well they did a good job,” Mr. Grayson chuckled. “Now remember if she tries to get you in trouble you let them know I saw the whole thing.”
“Thanks, Mr. Grayson,” Lia said as he walked away.
“Lia?” Seth queried.
“I’m not mad at you. I’m just pissed at her. If it wasn’t for her friend letting me know what was going on, it might be a different story on how I feel about you right now. It sure looked like you were enjoying yourself from this angle.”
“I wasn’t, and what do you mean her friend let you know?”
“Well I think it was to make me mad and believe that you wanted Courtney, but they don’t know what we have. I think they thought I would get mad and walk away from you.”
“Yeah you walk away from a fight, that’ll be the day. They don’t know you,” Seth said kissing her long and hard.
“Babe, stop we have to go back,” Lia said.
“Why?”
“Because this party is for you.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right.”
They walked back to the party like nothing happened. They told no one, and for the rest of the night they danced, hung out with their friends and each other. The party was finally over around two in the morning. They cleaned up the whole mess and were headed back to Lia’s house around five. When they pulled up out front her Dad was leaving for work. He looked over at them and came strolling down the drive.
“Great, just great,” Seth sighed.
“Little late in getting home Lia, aren’t you?” Mr. Lombardi asked.
“Dad we had to help clean up and everyone left around two. It took forever, people are pigs. Hey we have a whole trunk full of food thought. We took some to Seth’s earlier; we left some with Paul’s family, and just divided the rest with whoever stayed to clean up. Right now I’m really tired so can you save the lecture for later?”
“I’m not lecturing just stating a fact. Both of you go in and get some breakfast your Mom was going to make you some. Where’s Cris?”
“I guess with Steph. He help us clean up and then took her home,” Lia said getting out of the car.
“Alright, well go in and eat,” Mr. Lombardi said. “I have to get to work.”
“Bye Dad,” Lia said. “Can you open the trunk Seth, so we can get all this food out?”
“Yeah,” he said stunned. “I can’t believe he didn’t yell at us. Wonder why?”
“When I told him it was me who got the booze that night. How can he stay mad at you when it wasn’t you who brought it?”
“Yeah I guess.”
“This is going to take us a few trips with all this food,” she sighed. “I’m so tired.”
“Just go in Babe, I’ll bring it all in,” he said.
“I’ll take some of it into the house,” she replied. Walking into the house she yelled, “Mom we’re home and brought tons of food.”
“I have breakfast ready for you. It’s warming in the oven. I made bacon and french toast. If you want eggs I can make them for you,” Mrs. Lombardi said.
“No, Mrs. Lombardi that’s fine,”
Seth said coming in the back door. “Where do you want this food?”
“Put it on the counter,” turning to Seth Mrs. Lombardi looked to see what he had. He carried in a bunch of plastic grocery bags filled with food, plus the bags Lia brought in covered the counter top. “Wow that’s a lot of food.”
“There’s more in my car. There was a lot left over,” Seth said.
“More? Did anyone eat last night?” she asked.
“Yeah, Mom they ate a lot, but there was just so much more,” Lia said.
Seth went back out and came in with three more bags and her crockpot, “That’s it.”
“That’s enough. You guys eat and I’ll put this all away I guess I’ll have to freeze some of this. There’s just too much it’ll go to waste.”
While stuffing her mouth full of french toast she turned to Seth. “So Seth you got a lot of cards tonight. Did you go thru them yet?” Lia asked.
“No they’re in my car, after we eat I’ll get them and we can open them.”
“Hey did you leave me any?” Cris said walking in the door. “I’m hungry and beat. I just want to eat and go to sleep.”
“What took you so long getting home?” Mrs. Lombardi asked.
“I took Steph home and had to explain why we were so late. She called her mom and told her we were cleaning up and I guess they didn’t think it would take that long. It was such a mess I couldn’t believe it,” Cris said. “Remind me never to have a party that big.”
“Okay we’ll remember that for your graduation. It’ll only be family,” Lia said.
“Now wait a minute I said I would never have a party that big. I wasn’t talking about you guys throwing one for me,” Cris said quickly.
“Hey Bro, that don’t matter they threw this one for me and I had to help clean up,” Seth reminded him.
“Yeah that’s because you didn’t make a quick exit right before the end,” Cris explained. “You have to know when to leave right before the last of the guests leave, then you don’t have to clean up.”
“Cristofer! I better never hear of you doing that! That’s the rudest thing you can do! I didn’t raise my children to behave that way!”
“I know Mom, I was just joking,” Cris said sheepishly.
“No you weren’t,” Lia said. “Since we’re done eating why don’t you go get your cards and stuff we’ll open them in the living room.”
“I’ll go get them,” Seth sighed.
“Don’t act all excited there, Seth,” Mrs. Lombardi said.
“I didn’t want anyone to get me stuff, I didn’t want the party. It was a nice thought, but not my kind of thing,” Seth said walking out the door.
“He had a real hard time of it Mom, he didn’t expect any of it and emotionally it was too much for him. After the gift Mr. Grayson gave him I thought he was going to break down.”
“So that’s why you stuck to him like glue,” Cris said. “I noticed, but I just thought you didn’t want to miss a second with him.”
“No I was because he was afraid of losing it,” Lia said. “And if you repeat any of this to him, I’ll kill you, Cristofer.”
“I’m not saying a word,” Cris said.
“About what?” Seth questioned.
“Nothing just Cris being his usual pain in the ass self,” Lia responded. “Let’s go in the living room I want to get comfortable while you open everything.”
Seth walked in behind Lia holding a stack of cards and a few gift bags. “Wow that’s a lot of cards,” Cris said. “Think they all have money in them?”
“Don’t know, but I guess we’ll find out,” Seth said sitting down next to where Lia plopped down on the couch. He handed her half the stack of cards, “Here open them and I’ll open these.
Chapter 13
Lia opened her stack of cards and put the money in one pile and his gift cards in another. He looked at the piles and asked, “How much is there?”
“About three hundred fifty dollars in cash and I didn’t count the gift cards. Open the other cards," she said.
He started opening them; he got through about five of them all containing money. He stopped and asked, “Why would they give all this to me?”
“I guess they all like you,” she replied smiling. She knew in her heart now that the people of this town respected him, because these cards are not only from kids, but from adults, too.
“I’m not gonna be gone more than a few months,” he said as confused as ever. “I’ll be back right after graduation.” He was silence for a moment then continued, “God how I wish I was graduating here. This really blows. I won’t even be here for my eighteenth birthday next month.”
With a twinge of panic she asked, “You’ll come back for your birthday right so I can spend it with you?”
He could see the panic in her face, and the anxiety in her voice. With a sigh he said “Yeah I make sure I’m back the weekend after, since my birthday is a Tuesday this year.”
“October eleventh is a Tuesday? Really? That stinks I won’t be able to spend your actual birthday it with you,” Lia sighed.
“I know but we’ll spend the weekend together.” He wished he never mentioned anything about his birthday. Seeing how it made her anxiety level shoot sky high.
“How? You’ll have a game and so will I,” she screeched. “God Seth how the hell are we going to do this? I don’t see how we can be together!”
“We’ll figure it out.” he said. Trying to comfort her he moved over to her; put his arms around her, holding her tight. To change the subject he counted all the money including what Mr. Grayson gave him. “Wow, seventeen hundred dollars,” he said.
“That’s great. It’ll help you with college,” Lia murmured, devoid of any emotion.
“Yeah it will, but it will be put to better use getting me back and forth to see you.” Knowing he had to get her out of her mood he quickly thought of something, “I want to take you out Thursday night just you and me.”
“Really, where are you taking me?” she said excitedly.
“It’s a surprise.” He knew she loved surprises. He also hoped she would concentrate on the surprise for a few days instead of his leaving.
“You don’t know where, do you?” Lia teased.
“Yes I do,” he replied as an idea started swirling around in his head.
“Then where?”
“Not telling you.”
“Fine don’t tell, but Babe, I have to go to sleep I’m dead tired. Come up here on the couch with me and hold me before you leave.” She said as she struggled to get up off the floor to sit on the couch.
Seth got off the floor where he was sitting and sat next to her. He pulled her over to him and she stretched out on the couch. She was asleep in minutes. Seth hated to move her, but he didn’t want to get in trouble either. He sat watching TV and the next thing he knew it was late afternoon he was stiff from sleeping on the couch with Lia. When he tried to move he couldn’t Lia had him pinned to the cushions.
“Babe you need to get up. I don’t know what time it is, but your Dad will be home soon. Lia!” Seth said.
She didn’t respond. Seth tried to get out from under her, but only half heartedly. Stretching out along side of her he liked when she wrapped herself around him. He thought, “I’ll just lay here for another minute or two.” He fell back asleep.
About two hours later Lia slowly got awake it was almost six o’clock and her Dad would be home soon. She took a few moments to lay there and feel the safety of being in Seth’s arms. She shifted closer to him, if that was at all possible, and when she did he woke up. Looking her in the eyes he smiled and kissed her. “I can’t wait till we can do this every night, but in a bed not a couch,” he whispered. “Geez, I’m really stiff.”
“Yeah so am I, but I don’t care this was the best day of sleep I got in a long time,” she chuckled.
“Me too, but your Dad will be home if he isn’t already. We got to
move,” he said as her Mom came in the living room.
“Oh I was just coming in to see if you two were awake suppers on the table.”
“What are we having?” Lia asked her Mom.
“Leftovers from yesterday.”
“Is Dad home yet?” she inquired afraid of the answer, but needing to know if she had to be on the defensive.
“No, he’s working a little late tonight,” Mrs. Lombardi answered. “Seth I put all your cards in the one bag with your money and gift cards. I called your Mom to let her know you were too tired to drive back home and were sleeping the day here.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Lombardi, I didn’t mean to fall asleep here,” Seth apologized.
“It’s fine Seth. Better here than behind the wheel of your car.”
Lia got up off the couch and hugged her Mom, “Thanks Mom for not freaking out on us.”
“Why would I do that? You two were so beat and I kept checking on you, just in case,” Mrs. Lombardi said.
After eating Seth said, “I have to go home, Babe. I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ll pick you up for school.”
“Do you really have to go? Can’t you stay a little longer?” Lia whined.
“Yeah if you want my Dad showing up here telling me how much I’m not helping them pack everything. Really don’t want to go through that scene here.” he said walking out the door.
“Oh ok, I’ll just go take a real hot bath and soak for a while I’m so sore from that couch.”
“You’re sore, for the most part I slept sitting up with you on top of me and after I woke up earlier I had the hardest time shifting your weight off me so I could lie down. So don’t talk to me about being sore,” he grumbled.
“Sorry I didn’t know,” she giggled.
“It’s not funny. I think I’m gonna be permanently deformed. My back will never straighten out again.”
“You are so over dramatic. Maybe you should go be on the drama team instead of the football team,” Lia teased.
“Yeah right. I have to go, I love you, Babe. See ya tomorrow,” he said and kissed her.
~~*~~
The week flew by and before Lia knew it, Thursday came. Seth was taking her out tonight, but she really wasn’t in the mood for it. She was getting more and more depressed as the week went on. She tried so hard not to show it in front of Seth, but that was getting harder and harder to do.