“There he is! The big man on campus comes to grace our lowly selves with his presence!”

As Wesley walks in the door, his best friend from high school and roommate stands up from the couch and puts one knee on the ground, bowing his head mock respect.

“Oh to be blessed by being in thy presence o Lord! Please, grant me the honor of kissing thine feet, such that I may proclaim loudly to have touched, nay, caressed thine skinneth!” Shouts Santiago in his best fake worship voice he has.

“Shut up!”

The two start laughing at Santiago’s performance, and Wesley walks over to sit on the couch.

“Boy am I tired,” Wesley says. “I really could use a nap.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Santiago responds. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drink as much as you did last night, and I saw you the night of senior prom my guy. No need to mention that you just barely walked in the door with your dirty clothes from last night’s party still on. I just know you didn’t end up sleeping very much. Also, speaking of those clothes, they stink! You really need to put something else on.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get to it in a moment. Let me sit here for a bit, Mom. But you’re right, I don’t think I slept much if at all. I’d say that was a good thing, but I can’t remember a single thing past midnight! I go home with a woman, and don’t have anything to tell for it! Luckily she was still into it this morning, so I still ended up getting some action. Even got her number, so hopefully there’s more coming.”

“Let’s go brother! I knew you had it in you! So was it good? And what’s this chick’s name anyhow? You do know her name, right?”

“Of course I know her name! It’s Sammy Davis. And yeah. It was good.”

“Sammy Davis, huh? Never heard the name before. Anywho, go get some rest. We can’t have our goalie sleeping at the net. Not like we ever need you with my defense anyway, but backup is always good. And for god’s sake man, put on some new clothes.”

“Ha ha very funny.You know for a fact that you need me on the team. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you stop a single kick from getting to me.”

“Yeah right!”

“You know it’s true, whether you deny it or not. Now leave me alone, I’m going to actually go and rest now.”

Wesley gets up from the couch, leaving Santiago to get back to the game he was playing before. Walking towards his room, Wesley decides to send a text to Sammy.

Hey, that soccer game I told you about will be at the smith recreational building tonight at 5 if you think you can make it

Entering his room, Wesley strips off his clothes and grabs a towel. With it wrapped around his waist he walks to the bathroom to take a shower. He sets the temperature to steaming hot and begins to relax. He puts some body wash on a washcloth and begins to lather up, cleaning all the grime and sweat from the party and other activities. He shampoos and conditions his hair, then hops out of the shower to dry off. 

Heading back towards his room, he checks to see if Sammy responded. Sure enough, there’s a message from her.

I’ll try and be there! I’ll see if my roommate can come too

Satisfied, he responds with a thumbs up emoji. He sets an alarm on his phone to wake him up so he can get ready and make it to warmups on time before the game. As his head hits his pillow, he immediately passes out.

A few hours later, Wesley wakes up to the sound of his alarm. Wow, I must have been crazy tired. I zonked out immediately. He gets up out of bed and starts looking for his gear. After finding and donning his jersey, shorts, socks, and cleats, he heads out. 

“Yo Santi!” He shouts across the apartment, not knowing if his friend was still there. “You here? If so, could I hitch a ride with you?”

“Sure, no problem,” Comes the reply.

The two leave together joking and bantering on the drive to the game. Once there, they meet up with the rest of the team and start their warmups. First they stretch, then practice dribbling, passing the ball, blocking, and kicking penalties. Sooner rather than later, it’s game time.

The game is rather uneventful. Wesley is able to block a few close calls, and the opposing team only manages to score a single goal. Wesley’s team pulls out a game winning goal in the final minutes of the match. Although excited about the outcome of the game, Wesley has other things on his mind. Looking around the stands, he hopes to find Sammy anywhere. He keeps searching, eyes trying to scan each and every face of the fans in the stands. Sadly, he doesn’t seem to find her. Dejected, he hangs his head down.

“Yo Wesdog!” Santiago calls out to him. “Why you looking like your mom just died? We won the game didn’t we?” 

“Yeah, I was just hoping that Sammy would come and watch, y’know?”

“Don’t sweat it bro, you’ll see her again. Just don’t fumble something good. okay? Be cool about it”

“I’ll do my best.”

“I know you will, you’re Wesley fucking Mil…. Hey Brooklyn! Who’s that you’re here with?” Santiago called out to someone that was behind Wesley.

Wesley turns around, and happily sees Samantha Davis walking with her long haired roommate over. Santiago moves towards them, and gives a hug to the roommate. 

“This is my roommate, Samantha,” Brooklyn responds. “But your friend over there already knows her very will, if you catch my drift.”

Both Sammy and Wesley blush at the comment, but grin at each other stupidly. 

“Wait a minute Wes,” Santiago says. “This is the girl you abandoned me for? Well props to you my guy! Nice to meet you Samantha.”

‘Nice to meet you too,” Sammy responds, “But I didn’t catch your name.”

“Santiago, the one and only, at your service.” Santiago says, bowing slightly while flourishing his hand fancily.

“That was a great game you guys played,” Brooklyn congratulates. “You guys were both amazing.”

“Yeah, you played fucking great!” Chimes Sammy.

“Oh stop flattering us!” Santiago replies. “I don’t want Wes’s head to get any bigger than it already is.”

“Haha real funny,” Wesley butts in. “But thank you guys for coming, I was really hoping you would make it.”

“Oh my god, you have no idea,” Brooklyn says. “Sammy was about to kill me for almost making us late! I guess you did something right, Wesley.”

“Shut up!” Sammy interjects. “Don’t say that! I just wanted to see a good soccer game, that's all. Anyway, I have to run to the bathroom, wait here for me.”

“We will.” As Sammy walks away from the group, Wesley turns directly to Brooklyn. “Hey Brooklyn, do you mind letting me in your apartment secretly tonight? I had a thought this afternoon of a cute way to surprise Sammy, and I need to leave some things in her room without her knowing.”

“Ooooh, is it a romantic surprise? If so, I can definitely let you in. Just promise to shower all the sweat off from the game first.”

“Yes, it is a romantic surprise. So do you think you could also get an excuse to get her out of the house at 8? That’s when I’ll stop by and you let me in.”

“I’ve got you. What’s the surprise?”

“Haha I can’t tell you, you might let it slip if I do.”

“Paranoid much? Just kidding. See you at 8.”

The three of them keep on bantering a little longer until Sammy returns. Once she is back, the group says their goodbyes. Wesley and Santiago return to their apartment and shower. Wesley freshens himself up, making sure that he looks perfect. He styles his hair perfectly how he likes it, puts on just the right amount of cologne and is ready just before 8. He then goes over to Samantha’s and Brooklyn’s apartment. As he arrives, he pulls out his phone to text Brooklyn to let him in. Shit. He realizes he doesn’t have Brooklyn’s number in her phone, he didn’t even know her name until they talked after the game.

I’ll just have to knock and hope that Sammy is already out and doesn’t answer. Wesley takes a deep breath then knocks on the door. As the door opens, he winces his face just in case it’s Sammy. The smiling face of Brooklyn happily greets him. 

“Hey there lovebird. So watcha got planned for my roomie?” She asks as she lets him in.

“I know it’s cliché, but I was going to set up rose petals in her room and light candles to set a really nice mood,” He responds, holding up the basket in his hand filled with rose petals, candles, and a lighter.

“Ooooooh that’s hot. I need someone like you in my life. You just raised my standards without even knowing it. Well, don’t let me keep you, get to it!”

Wesley then walks down the hall. Entering her room, he starts to get everything set up. First putting the petals all over, spreading them out evenly on everything. It leaves a very pleasant aroma in the room, adding to the ambience he had planned. Next he sets up the candles, putting them all around, but in safe spots just in case things got, well, rowdy. After everything is set up, he takes a seat on the bed and looks out at the twilit sky. He then notices something odd out the window.

Wanting to get a closer look, he walks towards the window. Once there, he can’t seem to find what seemed to stand out to him. It must have been a trick of the light. He opens the window to get some fresh air and admire the night sky for a moment. Looking out, he again notices what he thought he saw. It looks like a dandelion seed. That, in and of itself, isn’t too unusual. What Wesley noticed in this was that it was an electric blue. Maybe it’ll bring me good luck. 

Wesley reaches his hand out to grab the seed. He can’t quite reach it, and the motion of him trying to grab it pushes it away for a moment. He watches it flutter around, caused by him stirring the air around it. It slowly settles into a gentle drift once again. He reaches out again, this time able to wrap his fist around the thing. 

“Gotcha!” He exclaims victoriously. 

Wesley opens up his hand and begins to examine what exactly is in his palm. There it is. Just like he thought, it seems to be a bright blue dandelion seed. It must be a different type of dandelion I’ve never seen before. It is very pretty. He goes to sit back down on the bed.

Once seated, he looks at the seed once more. While looking at it, though, it seems to simply absorb into his hand.

“What the fuck! Where did it go? It was just in my palm, and now it’s gone.”

At that moment, his vision starts to get blurry. He starts to lose control of his body, and he feels like he is falling. He closes his eyes and his world starts to spin violently. Just as he feels he is going to vomit, he passes out.