"Oh, there she is," Vivian stood to greet her other guest.
A tall, slender woman with dark skin and big brown eyes approached us. She seemed so refined, in a light blue dress with pearls strung around her neck. I stood with Vivian to be introduced.
"Emily Thomas, I am pleased for you to meet Dr. Michelle Vassar. She is an alum from Stanford University, and was on their women's basketball team."
Dr. Vassar offered her hand, "Nice to meet you, Emily." I smiled and shook it firmly.
When we sat down, Vivian beamed and proceeded to gush about my acceptance to Stanford and my scholarship to play soccer for the university. I'd never had anyone so openly proud of me before, and at that moment I wouldn't have wanted it to be anyone other than Vivian Mathews.
After spending hours talking about Stanford, medical school and Dr. Vassar's professional experiences, I drove to the soccer field feeling lighter and more excited about my future than I had in months, replaying the entire conversation in my head.
I emerged from the bathroom dressed in my soccer gear and spotted Evan standing along the sidelines.
"Hi," I said, coming up behind him.
He spun around at the sound of my voice and his face lit up, making my heart falter. "Hi. How are you feeling?" I was relieved that he was over his skepticism regarding my feigned illness.
"Great! I had a really nice brunch with your mom."
"Good," he returned, pulling me toward him. I wrapped my arms around his chest and held him tight. He gave me a kiss and said, "Good luck in the game."
I grimaced. "Sorry, but I'm probably not playing today. You don't have to stay if you don't want to."
"I'll stay." His arms squeezed tighter around my waist. "Then we can do something after."
After benching me the first half of the game, Coach started me the second half. I had a feeling it had more to do with us being down by one, and he preferred winning to upholding his policies. He announced that since I wasn't sick any longer, I could play. He conveniently didn't mention the two missed practices.
We came back in the second half and won by two. It was a good thing Evan had stayed after all.
"Do you want to follow me back to my house?" Evan asked. "Jared and Sara are there. They want to go bowling with us tonight."
"Bowling?" I questioned dubiously.
"Yeah," Evan chuckled in amusement. "You've never played before, have you?"
I shook my head, making him smile wider. "Yes, I'll follow you," I sighed.
"Emma," Sara laughed, "you already let go of the ball. You can't steer it down the lane like that."
I continued to lean to the right, hoping the ball would redirect itself and not veer so far left. My body movements didn't help. I only knocked down two pins.
"Sorry," I frowned. "I suck."
"It's your first time," Jared consoled, trying to keep me positive. "We'll come back. Just try to keep your wrist straight so you don't spin the ball so much. Don't worry. Sara's not all that great either." He ducked away when Sara swatted at him.
It felt good to laugh. I hadn't done it very much of it lately.
After Evan rolled a spare, Jared stood up and said, "I'll try to take it easy on you, Evan." Evan gave him a mocking smile. "Oh, are you coming to New York this weekend before you take off to Hawaii for April break?"
"I'm not sure," Evan told him, sitting next to me and draping his arm over the back of my orange plastic seat.
"You really can't come with me?" Evan asked me again while Jared selected the perfect ball.
"To Hawaii?" I laughed like he'd just asked me to fly with him to the moon. "No way. I couldn't afford a trip like that. Besides I have to stay for soccer. It's the same reason I'm not going with Sara to the Keys."
"First of all, I told you, you wouldn't be paying for it. And secondly, you already got into Stanford to play soccer. You can miss a week." He begged one more time, "Please, come with me."
I smiled, and before I could allow myself to even consider it, I said, "Sorry, I can't."
"I've tried, Evan," Sara interjected. "Believe me, I've tried. I think she's trying to soak in as much time in Weslyn as she can before you're off to Stanford."
"Yeah, right," I shot back with a horrified face that made her laugh. "I can't get out of Weslyn fast enough."
"Speaking of which," Jared chimed in after he motioned for us to admire his strike that was flashing on the screen above our heads. "When are we going to officially celebrate your admittance into Stanford? The both of you, actually."