Love Heals

Nobody could blame Emilio for being eminently confused by her. He was not alone. And then she would smile and look at him as if she was aware of her effect on him. But when he approached her, she stared at him, puzzled, like she couldn’t understand why he would think that she was available…

*****

It had taken Emilio two months to get up the nerve to ask Rachel out. In that same amount of time, he talked it over endlessly with Cameron, tried writing it out in a note and practicing in front of the mirror. Even asked his mama for advice. He’d dated someone else too, just to take the edge off.

“Seriously, just do it,” Cameron said after training on Thursday, harshly tugging loose his knee brace and pulling it off. His locker slammed shut with a clang and Emilio didn’t miss the irritated frown on his lips.

“But what if she says no?”

“Then she says no,” Cameron replied as he shouldered his bag and pushed past Emilio to head down the hall. “The world won’t end, dude. I promise.”

Emilio wasn’t  so sure about that, but he could tell Cameron was already in a bitchy mood so he didn’t push it as he hurried to walk with him.

“Whatever. You can say that because she’s totally been crushing on you since forever.”

“Dude, seriously? This again?”

“Peanut butter cookies, man. Peanut butter.”

“That was because I was sick man; she’s my friend!”

“Feelings that pure don’t just disappear, Cam,” Emilio said, fighting a smirk.

But Cameron wasn’t grinning back. In fact, Cameron was practically glowering as he shoved open the door and stepped outside, took the few steps down to the sidewalk with a quick, determined pace.

Emilio frowned. But Cameron was still walking, not looking back and clearly not in the mood to hang around.

“Cameron–“

“She’ll say yes!” Cameron shouted, his back still to Emilio as he rounded the corner. Out of sight.

Cameron’s moodiness wasn’t really unusual and, after seven years, Emilio wasn’t mostly used to it, but he was been even bitchier lately and Emilio still couldn’t figure out why.

He thought it over on his long walk home, worry knotting tight in his stomach with every step. He thought about it over dinner too, and while he was trying to do his elliptical training, but still got no closer to a conclusion. Cameron had always been a little weird about Rachel, but he didn’t hate her. They all ate lunch together at the catering tent and Emilio knew for a fact that Cameron and Rachel talked and laughed and got along even when Emilio wasn’t  around. But he also didn’t miss the way Cameron sometimes got a little tense when she was around, how he went quiet and a little more reserved.

Emilio had asked once if Cameron had a thing for her. But Cameron had only frowned at him, confused.

“She’s like my sister,” he’d said, still staring at Emilio like he’d grown a second head. “Only a little less annoying.”

“Right,” Emilio had laughed, somewhat embarrassed and suddenly a lot relieved. “Right, yeah. Of course.”

They’d never talked about it again and Cameron had never discouraged Emilio from his pursuit of her. Just… hadn’t exactly encouraged it either. It made sense, Emilio thought. Cameron was afraid it would mess up the dynamic of the friendship between the three of them, but Emilio was determined to prove him wrong. To prove it would all be alright.

*****

See, the problem wasn’t that Emilio was a soccer player. Hell was, in her chosen profession she would tripping over them all the time, it was in the job description. And Rachel knew how to handle the over-inflated sense of entitlement from dumb jocks just fine, could weather the heated, hungry looks constantly thrown her way with little care. Yeah, so she had gotten into a few scrapes here and there with guys stupid enough to pull their macho, di*k-first bullsh*t on her, but she had always come out on top. In a manner of speaking. She held her own. No big deal.

The problem was Emilio wasn’t like other jocks.

Not that Rachel realized that right away; her hackles had raised at the scent of athletic pheromones the second they met. She hadn’t cared that Emilio was one of the hottest guys she’d ever seen, tall and broad and gorgeous. One look and she was on the defensive, just waiting for the lecherous grin she’d seen so many times before, the one that was somehow supposed to make her bend over and beg for it.

But Emilio had just smiled and shook her hand and offered to show her around before the club meeting, exuding an eager exuberance that had Rachel first bewildered and then oddly charmed.

Somewhere in the span of the past two months, that charm had morphed into something a hell of a lot stronger. They had gone from co-workers to friends with an amazing ease, the labels applied to them by society and biology having little bearing on their relationship in all that time.

“So, you’re, like, celibate,” Emilio had said that first time, brow creased as he settled back in the couch. They’d been hanging out together for a few weeks at that point, gotten nice and comfortable with each other. Comfortable enough Rachel didn’t even hesitate in calling Emilio a friend anymore; soccer player or not, Emilio had proven himself to be a good guy.

Rachel had shrugged and taken another sip of her beer. “No, not really,” she said. “I mean, yeah, I’m not like..on the market or anything but I’m not anti either.”

Emilio frowned a little then, head cocked to one side. “So you just don’t like being hit on.”

Rachel shrugged. “Like being hit on just fine. Just don’t appreciate some asshole pawing at me like he owns me, you know? I don’t need to be fu*kin’ pinned down and dominated. I just wanna get to know someone; not a jock though – no offense.”

Emilio had seemed to consider that for a moment, the rim of the beer bottle pressed to his bottom lip before he shrugged and tossed Rachel a quick smile. “Yeah. Huh. I guess I never really thought about it that way before. Makes sense.”

And that had pretty much been the end of it.

It had come up again a couple more times since then. Like any topic of a sensitive nature, it had usually only been broached over beers or in the quiet, too-still hours when training had exhausted them too much to sleep.

And every time, Emilio had been strangely understanding. He never pushed his agenda at all, never once tried convincing Rachel that all she really needed was the right athlete to make her bend over like every other decent female in the world.

Rachel didn’t want to think too hard on why that always came as a disappointment.

*****

It wasn’t until Emilio met her new roommate Ruby that Rachel realized how truly fucked she was. She and Ruby were living together in a huge four-bedroom house provided by the academy for interns at that point, Rachel on the ground floor and Ruby upstairs. Which meant Rachel got to hear the first time they hooked up as well as the many, many, many times thereafter.

And the thing was, she liked Ruby. A lot, actually. She was sickeningly cute and whip-smart and always eager to join in on the field pranks when needed. She could completely understand what Emilio saw in her, particularly when it came to s*x. She was totally his type, after all, and Emilio had been dropping hints that he was horny for weeks, had told Rachel as much. The opportunity with Ruby was nothing short of perfect.