An End To The Distance Read online

  "Would like for me to get you some pen and paper?"

  Peyton spat sarcastically.

  "So you can write a letter to me of how you feel and then run off to Finland again?"

  Peyton responded calmly, excusing herself past Kat before Kat turned around and shouted,

  “Peyton, I’m sorry!”

  Peyton rolled her eyes and turned around scoffing.

  “Oh, well since you’re sorry.”

  She spat back before turning back around and disappearing into the distance. Kat stood outside of Tegan’s classroom staggered. What the fuck had just happened? Peyton wouldn't even talk to her? Kat shifted her eyes to the floor letting two warm tears fall and stain her shirt. How in the world did she get herself here?

  TEGAN sat Jasmine’s tea on her desk and tried to muster up a smile but it was a thin one. Her body still coursed with venom as she didn't know whether to be angry at Jasmine, Peyton or both of them.

  “Hi there.”

  Jasmine smiled warmly at Tegan.

  “Hi."

  Jasmine drank her tea with gratitude slowly as she focused her eyesight on Tegan who was gazing back at Jasmine. Jasmine finished sipping her tea and a complete silence had become thick in the air.

  “I was just talking to Peyton about the game against Stanford Friday. You did fantastic.”

  Tegan pulled her phone out of her back pocket and pretended to be engaged in a text message rather than Jasmine.

  "Thanks."

  "You're one hell of a player."

  "Mmhm."

  Tegan finally looked up.

  "So that paper that was due. My computer crashed and it didn't autosave. Can I turn it in to you today?"

  Jasmine furrowed her brow, searching in Tegan's eyes for any sign that she had

  Tegan rocked back and forth on her heel and grinned widely.

  “You came to my game?”

  “I mean, yeah... to see the whole team. Handball is a very entertaining sport…for me.”

  Jasmine shook her head and sipped her tea this time out of awkwardness not understanding the shit that had just came out of her mouth. Why couldn’t she have just left it at going to see Tegan play? She had to mess everything up and make Tegan think that she didn’t come just for her when really that’s all she came for.

  “Yeah, yeah. Of course… So Peyton tells me you went to Stanford. I didn’t know you played handball…at all.”

  “Well I did. I was center forward my freshman and sophomore year but somehow or another I became a goalkeeper.”

  “That’s a huge change. I don’t think I could handle switching my position like that. I think I’m pretty good as a forward right now. “

  “Yeah you really are. I watched you and you have great speed and amazing control with the ball. And that goal was beautiful!”

  Tegan blushed. It was a fabulous goal. Her defender had made a gorgeous pass up the court and she got her head right on the ball, sending it pass the keeper’s hands. Tegan was extremely happy that Jasmine got to witness a little bit of her awesomeness. Maybe she wouldn’t think she was so bad now.

  “Thanks. I’m glad you came. That was a good game for all of us.”

  Except Peyton.

  KAT talked with the school’s coach, as she would be in charge of the handball team’s practice for the next couple of days. She got to the court early so she could set up necessary drills. Kat placed cones in the needed areas, and had a full day of practice planned ahead of her. Soon, the girls showed up on the court, still high off their win from last week. Peyton walked up to the court, with her dark shades on and headphones in her ears nodding to the beat of the current song. She sat her duffle bag down on the bench with the rest and put on her boots before jogging over to the court where Tegan was doing her stretches.

  “She’s staring at you, you know?”

  “I know. It’s so awkward. I don’t know what to do.”

  “Just see what she has to say. It can’t hurt.”

  “Uh, it actually can, Teegs. Just because I don’t go around wearing my heart on my sleeves, doesn’t mean I’m not damaged.”

  Peyton rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth, remembering all that happened on Friday.

  “You know, I can’t believe how I played on Friday’s game. Did you see me?”

  “I did…you weren’t that bad, Peyt.”

  “Tegan, I was so bad. You don’t have to try and make me feel better. I know I sucked ass.”

  “Well you can blame Kat for that. You haven’t seen her in two years, the love of your life. I didn’t expect you to necessarily be at the top of your game.”

  Peyton shrugged her shoulders not knowing what else to say but agreeing with Tegan before Kat blew her whistle and called everyone in a huddle around her. As she spoke, Peyton’s eyes fell to her feet again but this time she listened. Her voice was raspier than normal and wasn’t so high pitched. She sounded so mature and here was Peyton being a little young college student. Suddenly Peyton felt small and her ego seemed to shrivel. For some reason Peyton’s eyes decided to look up and she immediately made contact with Kat’s icy blues. Fuck. Peyton hadn’t meant to do that, she didn’t even know why she looked up in the first place but she did, and now she was staring at Kat and couldn’t take her eyes off of her. Neither could Kat. After what felt like an eternity when really it was only five seconds, Peyton darted her eyes in another direction. For a nanosecond, Kat had forgotten her trace of thought but with the look at the other girls, she retrieved her memory. Kat demonstrated the drills they were going to do and then said have at it. She mentioned that she was going to give each player an evaluation card of the things that they needed to work on from Friday’s game. Great. Peyton was anything but happy. She wondered what hers would say. Maybe somewhere along the lines of:

  What in the hell was that because it sure wasn’t handball.

  Peyton puffed out a large sigh as she made her passes, actually focusing on what she was doing so she wouldn’t mess up. She wouldn’t give Kat the satisfaction of seeing her play horribly…again. Towards the end of practice, Kat set up a game and joined the players. It just so happened that there was a shortage of players on the red team so Kat joined that team. Peyton was on the blue team. Peyton received the ball and passed it to Tegan. Tegan scored and did a little dance before high fiving Peyton. Peyton smiled while jogging back into position. Later on, Kat had the ball and made way past the blue defenders and scored. Peyton rolled her eyes as all the girls on the red team ran up to her and hugged her. Peyton’s tricks and skills were put to the test as she zipped past several defenders and managed to send Tegan a ball in the air that she made a goal. Kat smiled thinly when Tegan stuck her tongue out at her, already planning a way to get another goal. She made her way right down the middle of the court, managing to get past two defenders, then here came Peyton. Kat, knowing that Peyton had some serious great technique, tried to pull a trick on her and it worked. Surprisingly. Kat was a little shocked when the ball got past Peyton, which made her shooting a little off, and she hit the post. Kat ran backwards back to her place and watched for the goal. Lauren trapped the ball and passed it up the court to Peyton. She was getting closer to goal and Kat noticed. Kat was going at full blast to try to get the ball and ended up colliding with her in the process. Peyton fell to the ground and winced in pain.

  “Ow.”

  Peyton squinted her eyes and hissed loudly.

  “Oh my God.”

  Everyone ran over to Peyton and Kat was the last to arrive even though she was the closes to Peyton. The girls made way for Kat and Kat knelt down on the turf and pulled off Peyton’s right boot and sock.

  “Whoa.”

  All the girls gasped in unison. Peyton’s ankle had a huge scar on it where Kat’s boot had made contact and was already swelling up.

  “Peyton, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to run you over like that. I really didn’t.”

  Kat’s voice trembled and her eyes began to sting. She thought s
he would cry. She left her girlfriend for two years and the first thing she does when she comes back is injure her?

  Way to go, Kat.

  Peyton sat up and wiggled her foot. It wasn’t serious. Peyton stood up and hopped over to the bench. Kat called the game a quits with the blue team winning 3:2. Whatever, the score didn’t matter at the moment. She had hurt Peyton and now felt like shit. Kat dismissed the girls after handing them their evaluation cards and watched Tegan help Peyton hop to the their dorm in the distance. Kat rolled her eyes and blinked back a couple of forming tears as she snatched her gym bag and headed to the college’s yoga room. She needed to relax. Kat hadn’t felt this stressed since…since she was down a point against the great Kathy Mortensen. She ended up winning that game but still---it was stressful. Kat had worked up a sweat during Yoga but her stress had still remained. After a shower, Kat headed to a drug store.

  “NOW you just sit right there and chill.”

  “Where else am I going to go Teegs? My foot looks like a potato.”

  “Whatever. Just sit still and keep that ice on it. You know, you didn’t do too bad today.”

  “I know!”

  Peyton grinned to herself at the thought of her performance of today’s game. That’ll show Kat. She wondered what her evaluation card would say now.

  “Oh shoot, we never got our evaluation cards.”

  “I can get them from Kat later. Right now I need you to keep icing for another fifteen minutes.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Peyton saluted Tegan before carefully reaching for her bible on her nightstand as well as her reading glasses to read a couple of verses to kill time. Tegan warmed up the heat pad and when fifteen minutes was up, she switched it out with the melting ice bag. Before Tegan left to get Peyton the necessary bandages, she started the clock back and Peyton continued reading. Fifteen minutes later, there was a light knock on the door. Peyton pushed herself off of her bed and hopped on one foot to answer the door. Peyton almost lost her balance standing on one foot and from being shocked when she saw Kat standing in front of her.

  “I forgot to give you guys your evaluation cards so here you go.”

  She handed Peyton two index cards filled with blue ink on them. Peyton recognized the blue ink. It was from Kat’s favorite pen. The same pen she used to write Peyton her letter. Peyton grabbed them and adjusted her standing position so she wouldn’t fall.

  “Thanks.”

  “How’s your ankle?”

  “It’s fine.”

  “I’m really sorry.”

  “It’s okay. It didn’t hurt that much.”

  Kat gave Peyton a look. They both knew that she wasn’t talking about Peyton’s ankle.

  “Well thanks for the evaluation.”

  “You're welcome.”

  It looked as if Kat was about to say something else but Peyton closed the door on her and hopped back to her bed. She threw the index cards out of anger but giving their lightweight, they just flew to the ground. Peyton grunted, unsatisfied that her throw didn’t suffice her anger. After minutes of silence and Peyton staring into space busying herself with mindless thoughts, she picked up the two index cards and found the one that had her name on it.

  “IS chamomile tea like a Dennings thing or something?”

  Tegan grinned as she placed the styrofoam cup on the hospital desk connected to the bed.

  “Guess so. That’s all Jassie and I use to drink back in the day when it was cold and rainy outside.”

  “And you liked it?”

  Tegan didn’t mean to scrunch up her face but she just didn’t understand how someone could possibly enjoy ruining their taste buds like that.

  “Yep. I take it you don’t?”

  Mr. Dennings laughed.

  “No, it’s disgusting…no offense.”

  “None taken. Thanks by the way.”

  “No problem. I’m not huge on hospital food either.”

  “Yeah, the Jello here is probably several weeks old.”

  “And I’m pretty sure the bread is molded over.”

  Mr. Dennings scrunched up his face.

  “Well jeez Tegan. I still have to eat that stuff. You’re not helping.”

  “Oh right. Sorry. Green bread is good for you…”

  Tegan deadpanned. Mr. Dennings’s laugh turned into a fit of coughs and he sipped his tea as Tegan patted his back.

  “So I wanna know how your game went last week. I couldn’t watch it on TV. We don’t get that station in here.”

  Tegan grinned, reliving the moment.

  “Amazing! I don’t know---I just, it was perfect! My passes were great, the timing was just right. That night felt good.”

  “I assume you scored?”

  “Oh yeah!”

  Tegan was about to tell the older man in full detail just how her goal happen when she heard someone outside of the door.

  “Good afternoon, Rebecca. He’s in here?”

  “Shit!”

  Tegan looked around the hospital bedroom for a second exit when clearly there wasn’t one. Not even a curtain to hide behind. The door bumped Tegan in the back and she moved out the way and tuned around to face Jasmine. They had identical facial expressions.

  “Tegan?”

  “Professor Dennings, hi.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I just---I was um, visiting Mr. Dennings.”

  “Well that is very thoughtful of you Tegan.”

  Jasmine smiled at Tegan, never taking her eyes off of her as she took off her leather brown jacket, placing it on the chair next to the hospital bed. Tegan smiled sheepishly at Jasmine and that’s when Jasmine’s dad interrupted their staring contest.

  Jassie, that’s Tegan?”

  Jasmine widened her eyes and turned to smile thinly at her father.

  “Hi daddy. Did they give you enough morphine? I can tell the nurse to give you some more.”

  Jasmine was just about to turn her foot to walk out the door, anything to avoid an awkward conversation that she knew she was compelled to have but her father stopped her.

  “No, no. I’m fine Jassie. Sit, please.”

  Jasmine gritted her teeth and sat in the chair next to Tegan.

  “Tegan and I were just talking about our favorite tea.”

  “Chamomile.”

  Tegan stated, smiling at Jasmine.

  “How nice.”

  “She was so kind to bring me it. Jasmine you know how much I hate hospital food.”

  “I understand that dad, but I have to abide by the rules. And you should too.”

  Jasmine gently took his empty cup of tea and placed it on the counter. Tegan stayed quiet, not really having a place to talk. Instead, she observed Jasmine. Jasmine was dressed in dark jeans, a sweater, leather boots and the jacket to match. Tegan had never seen her wearing casual clothes and she looked really good. Not that Tegan expected anything less. It was Jasmine. She would listen quietly as Jasmine and her father would spit playful banter back and forth to each other as they told Tegan the many memories they shared over the years. Jasmine had laughed several times and Tegan’s heart just about liquefied the first time she had heard it. She could tell Jasmine was genuinely happy being around her father. The sound warmed Tegan’s entire body. She couldn’t help smile. It made her happy. It could just about cure any disease. Tegan didn’t realize she had been smiling the entire time at Jasmine. It was contagious. When Jasmine caught her staring and smiling, she paused.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. I just have to get back to um, school.”

  “How’d you get here?”

  “I took a taxi.”

  “Tegan!”

  Tegan raised an eyebrow.

  “What?”

  Jasmine’s protective instinct took over her that she wasn't aware she had and Jasmine offered Tegan a ride before she could process what she had just said.

  “That is a lot of money. Come on, I will take you.”

  Jasmine grabb
ed her jacket and slipped it on before grabbing her keys.

  “I’ll see you later, dad.”

  Jasmine ushered Tegan out of the door first and they took the elevator down to the parking lot. Tegan walked slowly behind Jasmine, listening as her heels echoed around the parking lot whenever she took a step. Jasmine pressed her key and Tegan heard an engine began to run. She looked to her left to see a black Macan with a license plate reading JAZATTK.

  “Really Professor Dennings?”

  “What?”

  “You can afford a Porsche? I may need to start teaching.”

  “Get in.”

  Jasmine laughed. Tegan listened to the sound of the smooth engine as Jasmine drove.

  “You know school is that way right?”

  “Mmhmm.”

  Jasmine calmly tapped the steering wheel with her thumb. She let her convertible top down, as it was a calm day outside.

  “Okay then. I hope you’re not trying to kidnap me because I’m pretty sure everyone at the hospital saw me leaving with you.”

  “Trust me, I’m not…You hungry?”

  “Yeah I am, actually.”

  As if on cue, Tegan’s stomach grumbled. Jasmine drove them deep through the city and parked outside of a restaurant that Tegan had never been to before. It was black inside and the outside was brown. Typical eatery. It was noisy when Jasmine and Tegan walked inside so Jasmine asked the waiter for a table outside on the deck. The waiter took two menus and sat them at a table outside. It was nice weather for November. The sky was blue with only few ominous clouds and the city was quiet with the noise of a few cars zooming by and the chatting amongst the people sitting around them.

  “Is there a kids menu I can get?”

  The waitress raised an eyebrow before handing Tegan the colorful paper menu and the four-pack of crayons. Jasmine stifled her laugh and began to scan her adult menu. “

  You know what you’re gonna get?”

  “Yeah. Grilled cheese. You can never go wrong with that.”

  “Oh come on Tegan. Get out of your eating comfort zone. Order something from my menu.”

  Tegan took the menu and began to study it, searching for something that seemed appealing to her. She spotted a double bacon burger and settled for it. She could splurge this once. Jasmine chose the same burger as well and ordered for both of them. After the waitress brought out drinks to their table, Tegan handed hope a red crayon. Jasmine raised a brow at Tegan.