Chapter 26

Lucky had been in plenty of pressure situations before. He had hit home runs in the bottom half of the last inning to win baseball games, made winning baskets in the final seconds of a basketball game and scored touchdowns late to win football games. He had never let the pressure in an athletic contest overcome him.

But the following day, the nerves were so bad he barely contained himself.

Lucky knew it was bad when he caught himself wondering what clothes to wear. Lucky decided not to share that with anyone, not wanting anybody to know he actually gave any consideration to what clothes would look the best.

He was still sore. Every breath caused waves of pain to rip through his body. His right eye had turned an ugly shade of blue while the left eye was nearly swollen shut, the cut making it look even worse.

During the day, Lucky went to practice and avoided talking about the incident from the night before, although the news had already spread throughout the football team and the community. He came home after practice, watched some football and took it easy. Oklahoma was playing on television and he had planned to watch the game, but decided going to a movie with Gabby was a better way to spend the evening.

Happy and Andy came by early in the afternoon to see the damage. They didn’t have a chance to see the effects at practice or talk about it.

“Well, you look like crud, but I figure you‘ll live,” Happy mentioned.

“I’ve seen worse,” Andy added.

“I figure he’ll live.”

“You guys are just so hilarious,” Lucky responded.

They sat down on the couch and talk turned serious.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into D.J.,” Happy muttered, shaking his head. “I tried to find him this morning after practice but his mother said she didn’t know where he was. He sure hasn’t been acting like himself.”

“He needs to get straightened out,” Andy added.

“I can’t believe he sucker-punched you,” Happy said, looking at Lucky’s eye.

“I couldn’t either,” Lucky agreed.

“You going after him?” Andy asked.

“I don’t know yet,” Lucky responded, which was the truth. There was a part of him that wanted to get even, but he also knew that was the wrong way to think and act. If Lucky acted that way, he would lower himself to D.J.’s level. Lucky just wished things were like they used to be, but knew that would be hard.

They had other fish to fry, namely going to get some food, so Andy and Happy left.

Gabby arrived to pick him up just before five. He went with jeans and a light blue shirt, going with the church look.

She also had on a pair of jeans and a pink blouse, dressed nicer than Lucky had ever seen her. She even put on some makeup and wore the perfume he liked.

“You look nice,” Lucky said and got a smile in return.

“You clean up good, too,” she added. “Ready to roll?”

“Sure.”

They left the house and took off in her car. They talked nonstop during the drive. The radio was set on some classic rock music. She sang along with some of the songs, humming when she didn’t know the words. Her voice was as good or better than anybody on the radio, Lucky decided quickly.

“You have a nice voice,” he mentioned.

She smiled, continuing to sing along and tap her fingers on the steering wheel.

“You should sing in the choir at church,” he added.

“Not old enough,” she replied.

“I don’t think there’s any age limit.”

“I thought you had to be an old lady.”

Lucky shook his head, it just seemed like you had to be a blue-hair. “What do you want to see?”

“I don’t know,” Gabby admitted. “I don’t even know what’s playing.”

“I don’t either. Since you asked, I figured you’d picked one out.”

As they arrived in Fort Smith, Lucky asked her to turn a different direction. They drove by a row of restaurants on Rogers Avenue.

“Why don’t you pull in there and we’ll eat,” Lucky directed, pointing at Applebee’s.

“You sure?” Gabby asked. “I didn’t bring much money.”

“I got you covered.”

“Good, cause that’s my favorite place. I love the rib things they serve.”

“Riblets,” Lucky corrected. “I like them too.”

There was a large group waiting just inside the front door. Lucky put their name on a waiting list and they crowded into a corner, waiting for their name to be called. They waited almost thirty minutes before hearing their name called, not that Lucky cared. There was a television to his right and he watched some of the Oklahoma game. They were escorted to a table by the window and sat down. She ordered the riblets, he had the combination of riblets and chicken fingers.

Lucky wound up with barbecue sauce all over his hands and face, of course. Gabby stayed clean and found the mess on his face and hands quite humorous, as did the people at the other tables.

“Why’s everybody staring at me?” Lucky whispered. He had a glob of barbecue sauce on the end of his nose, along with a big mass smeared around his mouth.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, wishing for a camera. D.J. certainly would never let himself get barbecue sauce splattered everywhere. But he wasn’t as much fun, either. “Maybe it’s the black eyes.”

They both cleaned their plate. They declined dessert and hit the road after Lucky paid the bill.

As they got in the car, Gabby finally decided to let Lucky know about his mess. She handed him a wet napkin and helped him clean up.

There was a lot of traffic along the road, all four lanes jammed with cars and trucks. When they finally arrived at the theater, they parked and got out to decide which of the twelve movies to see.

“What do you want to watch?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he responded. “I haven’t really seen anything that looks good.”

“I don’t either.”

They talked it over and decided to bypass the movie and go to the mall instead. They went in most of the stores and looked at as much stuff as possible.

She came across a pair of matching hats that looked like the kind Gilligan used to wear. The hats were multi-colored and probably the most horrendous things Lucky had ever seen.

“Are you really gonna wear that?” Lucky asked.

“Sure, we need something to remind us of our first…uh, well, I don’t know.”

He didn’t really know how to classify this either and found it amusing the way she put it.

Gabby put her hat on and handed the other to Lucky. He looked at it with more than a little distaste.

“Hope nobody sees us,” Lucky declared, putting the hat on. He had washed the sauce off his face but looked so silly she couldn’t keep from laughing.

“Do I look that bad?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah.”

They didn’t see anybody they knew, which was a relief. Gabby acted like she could care less, and probably didn’t.

They stayed at the mall until closing time. They left and stopped to get ice cream with Lucky choosing strawberry while she selected the chocolate-chip cookie dough.

Lucky had never tried her kind before, but took a bite and became a quick fan. He did not know if this would budge strawberry out of the top slot, but it definitely put some pressure on.

As they rode back to Petros, Gabby sang along with the radio again. They rode with the windows down and the breeze blowing in.

When they got back in town, they were surprised there was so little traffic. Gabby drove straight to Lucky’s house and pulled up in the driveway, parking right in front of the garage.

“I had a good time,” Lucky stated, starting to open the door and get out of the car.

She put her hand on his.

“I did too,” she added, smiling at him. “Thank you, Lucky.”

Lucky smiled back, feeling no pain as he got out of the car and started walking toward the house. Gabby smiled, waved and started backing out.

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D.J. skipped church the following day. In a way, Lucky was glad D.J. was not there because he did not know what to say. He really wanted to strangle D.J., but knew that was not right. The Bible said turn the other cheek and that was what he planned, even though it was hard. But Lucky also wished D.J. was at church, hoping something the pastor said changed his recent behavior.

They actually did not see each other again until school on Monday. Lucky tried to act like nothing happened, although everybody stared at him and whispered about what happened. Everybody expected a big fight between the two so they stayed close during breaks.

D.J. was a little late for the first-hour class. After arriving, D.J. went straight to his seat and sat down, not bothering to talk with anybody. Lucky talked to a couple of people in class. Everybody expected Lucky to go postal and attack D.J., but they were disappointed.

Practice was normal, nobody saying anything about what happened or acting like something was wrong.

Gabby called Monday night to thank Lucky and tell him how much she enjoyed going out Saturday.

After practice on Wednesday, Andy came over to Lucky’s to get some help with an English paper. Andy was a good student in math and science, but struggled with English.

After finishing the homework, Lucky and Andy headed off to church. Andy needed to stop by his house and change clothes before they went. Lucky thought that was an excellent idea as he might get a chance to see Gabby. So they walked to his house, laughing and talking about football and school. As they neared the house, Lucky started getting a strange feeling, one that increased the closer they got.

He thought it might be nerves knowing Gabby would probably be there and they might run into each other. But Lucky felt different, as if something was wrong.

As they walked up the sidewalk, they heard voices and laughter on the porch. As they mounted the stairs, they saw two people standing close together at the end of the porch. The bad feeling Lucky had grew worse.

When he saw them, Lucky almost got sick to his stomach. The punch from the other night did not hurt nearly as bad as seeing D.J. and Gabby standing together, holding each other close with their arms around each other.

Gabby turned to see who was on the porch and her smile disappeared. She lowered her head and turned in the other direction. D.J. smiled in their direction and laughed. Andy shook his head and walked toward the door, opened it and entered quickly.

Lucky’s feet were slow to get started but he finally made his way into the house, not believing what was happening on the porch.

He wanted to get away. Lucky had never felt so disgusted and felt the anger rising. He wondered how this happened after Gabby saw the way D.J. acted and they had such a good time together Saturday.

Andy changed quickly, telling Lucky how sorry he was for what his sister did. When they left, they went out the backdoor and through the backyard instead.

They barely got to church on time, sitting down just as the pastor’s wife started playing the piano. Usually during a church service, Lucky felt such a peace, but that was missing tonight. He just wanted to go home.

They got a ride home with Cole. D.J.’s car was parked in the driveway at Andy’s house and they all saw it. When he got home, Lucky still had some homework to finish, but struggled with his concentration, taking much longer than it should have.

It was a night of an uneasy sleep for Lucky Lester.

Chapter 27