Under these Stars

Chapter 23: Soccer is life.

"What are you doing for winter break?" I ask Hunter as we grab our food and sit in a table. 

"I'm probably visiting colleges and traveling." He takes a fry and dips it into his ketchup container. I don't know why such a small action fascinates me. I have officially become a weirdo. "How about you?"

"I'm doing the same too." 

"But aren't you a junior? You're getting a head start already. Nice." He nods.  

"Oh wait, unless you're playing professionally? You need to verbally commit soon, huh?"  He realizes.

"What colleges are you visiting?" We both ask each other at the same time, causing a smile to reach our faces. He motions for me to go first. I shake my head and tell him to. 

"Fine. I'll go first." I hesitate a little bit too long. 

He notices. "You don't have to tell me. I get it. It can be personal for some people." 

"No, it's not that. Well, it's not just that." I take a sip from my water to help my dry throat. "I'm just supposed to make a decision or have my eyes set on a school soon since I want to play soccer in college."  I sigh once more. "But that's the thing. Do I want to play soccer in college? I can always choose to play intramural or club soccer. I don't know what's holding me back if I am ready for the time commitment." 

I laugh shakily before looking at him, "Sorry. I haven't talked to you in a while and I'm already throwing all my baggage on you. I normally don't do that. Honestly, I don't know why I'm doing it now."  There's just something about him. I feel like I can trust him even though I barely know the guy. Maybe I'm just swooning under his handsome looks.

"No, it's fine." He flashes a grin, which makes me think it really is his looks. 

"I'm here to help you out. Plus, we're friends, aren't we?" He raises an eyebrow at me. Those steely grey eyes reveal none of his thoughts behind his question. 

"Y-yeah! Duh." I laugh even though for some reason I'm cringing inside. I don't have feelings for him but wow I think I just got friendzoned. I try not to appear affected because even I don't know why I feel this way. 

We continue discussing college and I soon discover that we have similar colleges we are eyeing. The colleges he is looking at are Cal Poly Slo, Stanford, Cal, or UCLA. He is considering playing soccer for college rather than football even though he loves both sports. His family isn't really helping him with this decision since they're divided about it too. His father's side are heavy football fanatics while his mother's side are soccer fanatics. I thought my position was tough, but he's got it tougher. Either way, I have a gut feeling that he's going to choose soccer. I might be biased though.

"Where do you imagine yourself in five years?" I wonder quite suddenly. My mind has been thinking about the future a lot because of college.

He looks at me strangely before bursting out laughing. I can't deny that his laugher makes my stomach do flips. His usually steely grey eyes lighten with happiness, an emotion I realize I rarely see in him. 

Gosh, stop analyzing the guy. Just be in the present with him right now. Enjoy his company. You overthink too much. 

"What was so funny about that?" I frown a little, but say it in good humor.

"You're an interesting girl Dela." He smiles and observes me. I don't quite like being under his eyes. His eyes feel like they can see right through my smile. They dig deep and I'm once more reminded why I sometimes avoided him. 

There I go thinking too much. He's just an ordinary guy. Well, a guy who has definitely changed as I got to know him. There's more layers to him than I think.