It was a typical dog day of summer, the temperature was hovering around 90, the humidity was 100%, and I had been wearing a helmet and shoulder pads for the past hour and a half. We had just finished some conditioning drills and coach had sent us to get some water.
As we were crowded around the water taps drinking our fill and cooling off Ben Schenck loudly said so that everybody could hear it, "Hey Mike, what the fuck are doing hanging out with a lesbo." Ben was a loudmouth asshole, a fellow sophomore, and he had decided for some reason at the beginning of the summer practice that he was in competition with me for something. For what or why I was completely unaware of, but he constantly tried to outdo me, when ever I said something he found a dumb reason to chime in, and most annoyingly he made a big deal about it when ever he was able to do something better than me.
I shot back at him, "what the hell are you blabbing about now?"
"My sister saw that girl you've been hanging out with, Summer, with a girl who is a known lesbian at Hollins." He chided with a smug look on his face. This was entirely likely since the girl Summer was sleeping with, who her and I had chatted about, went to Hollins, and Ben's sister went there too.
"So? I fail to see where you are going with this." At this point most of the team now was attentively listening to our exchange.
"So it means the chick you are trying to get in the pants of, is a carpet-muncher," he accused. "And you are never going to get anything off her."
I grinned a bit, considering what had happened Friday night, "Who says I am trying to get in her pants. Maybe I am just getting some tips on how to eat pussy from an expert." This caused a few people to chuckle.
Ben, not liking the fact that I had turned around his verbal jabs into a joke shot back, "Whatever, you're just bullshitting."
"I don't know, why don't you ask Stephanie if she thinks I've gotten better." This caused a sudden silence to spread across the group that was listening to us, as I realized that I may have stepped over an unmarked line. Stephanie was Ben's girlfriend, and Ben was notoriously jealous. If I had paid closer attention to the rumor mill I would have known that she was hooking up with a slimy twit named Roland on the side... and I would have avoided the subject like it was radioactive.
Ben was on me before I knew it, he threw a punch at my head which I barely blocked with my arm. I brought my other elbow up but the strike bounced off his shoulder pads. Ben quickly wrapped me up around my shoulder pads and head; so I grabbed the arm nearest to my neck, stepped back into Ben and rolled him fully over my shoulder. He hit the ground with an audible thump and the rest of the team was grabbing the two of us to keep us from each other.
Coach bellowed, "Schenck run the hill, Smith laps around the field, don't stop till I tell you... everybody else to the 50." And for the next 30 minutes Ben and I ran... not the most effective punishment, except that when Coach finally had us stop running, fighting was the last thing from my mind.
Coach marched us into his tiny office, sat down behind his desk and barked a single word command, "Talk!"
I had already decided that I would take the heat for this, and before Ben could interject I looked up and said, "Sorry Coach, it was my fault. Ben said something I didn't like and I responded with something really crass. He had every right to take a swing at me, it won't happen again."
Coach silently looked at us for a minute then said, "Schenck hit the showers, and close the door behind you." Ben obediently and hastily left the room. Coach stayed there behind his desk looking at me like he was trying to discern something. "OK, Listen up if you want to talk shit you save it for the other team, not your teammates! I don't need your smart mouth ruining morale, am I understood?"
I nodded, "Yes sir."
Coach continued, "I know Schenck is an asshole, hell his older brother was a royal pain in the ass... but you are going to let it go, and you are not going to antagonize him, am I understood?"
I nodded, "Yes sir."
"Good. And another thing, if I catch you pulling that Kung Fu bullshit again your ass and that bench are going to become best friends. Am I understood?"
I considered for a moment telling him that it was not Kung Fu, but Jujutsu... but I thought my "smart mouth" had gotten me into enough trouble for one day. "Yes, Sir."
"Good. Now hit the showers."
-=*=-
As I was leaving the gym and wandering out into the parking lot I was surprised to find Summer out there with her little Honda talking to my friends from the team, Stan and Marty. I usually got rides to and from practice from Stan. As I approached, Summer waved at me, Stan and Marty started heading over to Stan's car. Stan called over his shoulder to me, "See ya in the morning Smith, try not to pick any fights on the way home." He and Marty laughed at their lame jab as they got into Stan's Mazda.
Summer was smiling at me as I approached, "Stan said I could drive you home today, as long as you aren't too tired for practice tomorrow morning." I rolled my eyes. "Get in and tell me of your devious plans to get me introduced to your little neighborhood Lolita."
I laughed as I got into the car. Summer got in on the driver's side and said to me a little coolly, "I heard you got into a fight today defending my honor."
I was not sure what she had heard about it, but decided to play it off, "Nah... not really."
Summer hauled off and punched me in the arm and repeated emphasizing each word so that I might get the hint, "I heard you got into a fight today defending my honor."
Taking the cue I hammed a response, "Oh yes my dear lady's reputation was besmirched by a foul brigand so I smote him mightily upon the head." This caused Summer to erupt in peals of giggles. I sighed a little exasperated, "I thought you didn't like me fighting."