It was late on a Friday afternoon and I was loading the last of our overnight bags and Tiffany's cheer bag into our car. This had become so routine over the years, I could pack me, my wife and my step-daughter for her cheer weekend trips in my sleep. Tiffany had been doing cheer since 6th grade and had made the Varsity cheer squad in High School as a sophomore. But this was her last cheer comp, her last time putting on her cheer outfit and competing as she was now a senior and graduation was only a mere 25 days away now. After football comes basket, which she cheers for both, but something I learned early on, cheer is an almost year-round sport. Early spring, they had competitions, called Comp Season. Which we were heading to this weekend. The trips were never very far, but a few of them a year were just far enough away we would stay overnight in a hotel. She had been accepted to Clemson back in December, just turned 18 in January and was busting at the seams to graduate and move off.
"Hey dad... are we all packed?" Tiffany asked as she walked out of the garage, but not looking up, staring at her phone.
"Yea honey..." I grunted, closing the back of our Explorer.
My step-daughter walked slowly towards the car. She was wearing a pair of short khaki shorts and a white V-neck soft cotton t-shirt that was probably one size to small, as it rode just across her belly button. She was very petite but had developed over the past year. She was only 5'1 and at most 110 lbs. soaking wet. Her size helped her make Varsity as a sophomore as she was perfect to be what they called the "flyer". The top of the pyramids and the one they throw in the air during their stunts. But her body had slowly developed with very tone and tan legs, small, but noticeable ass, and just smaller than handful cup size, about a B-cup? I am a guy after all, lol. She looked up at me, flashing me her gorgeous smile.
" Oh... I'm so nervous, excited, sad" she said, hugging herself... "this my last comp, but I'm also going to college." She opened the car door hopping in giddy.
For this particular weekend, the competition was scheduled to begin at 9 AM, which meant the girls had to be at the gym by 6:30. The drive wasn't exactly that far, roughly two hours, however, it was the end of March, and March Madness was almost over, and my favorite team was playing in the Final Four tonight and I was NOT going to miss... that came on late, since we are on the east coast and the game was being played in California, so I had decided we would leave right after we got home from work on Friday. I had also looked ahead and done a bit of research and picked out a hotel that also had a restaurant and bar and was only 5 minutes to the stadium. My wife, Melissa, came out of the house, looking much less downtrodden than Tiffany.
"Come here..." I said, holding out my arms, taking her into a hug.
"It's her last one," she said with bitterness.
Our embrace was interrupted by Tiffany knocking on the window from inside the car using her hands to motion us. I gave my wife a kiss on her forehead as we climbed into the car.
The ride was only about 2 hours, but traffic was slowing be down just a bit and I was getting more and more anxious as it was ticking closer and closer to tip-off. Ahead I saw the sign for our exit coming up.
"Finally," I said with a sigh of relief, to no one. Looking over, my wife had dozed off and in the rear-view, Tiffany had her headphones in zoned out. We checked in, the whole time I was anxiously tapping my foot and as soon as they handed us our room keys, I turned towards the bar.
"You sure you got the bags babe?" I looked back, a pleading looking in my eye.
"Yes, yes...it's only an overnight bag, go... go... watch your game...".
"Thanks..." I muttered as I made a bee-line to the bar. My wife and step-daughter grabbed their overnight bags and went up to the room. Showering and changing with plans to come down after and eat dinner with me.
The bar was empty when I showed up and the count-down to tip-off read 2:43. I had made it. I ordered a beer and settled into the stool for the game. A few minutes after tip-off another gentleman sat down next to me. Turns out, we were fans of the same team and quickly struck up conversation making small talk. Right before half-time, I eyed my wife and step-daughter coming through the lobby. I turned towards my new friend. "
Well, there's my wife and daughter," nodding in their direction, "but, if you're still here watching after we eat, next drink is on me?"
He smiled, "Sure."
We sat and had dinner, Tiffany completely engrossed in her phone the whole time. My wife made a few attempts to chat with me, but my attention was glued to the game only making the short "not paying attention" "uh-huh" yea... right" comments. Dinner was quick, my wife hadn't much of an appetite all day, with her feelings of apprehension about this being the last cheer trip. I looked at my wife.