Blindside

Gifted

Osiris 

“Good work today gentlemen. That’s all for today, hit the showers and get out of here”

I grab my helmet and start to locker room. Practice was light just as I had expected it to be with tomorrow being our first game. I loved the first game of the season; Saturday night football under the lights for the big home game. This year we had a great tight knit squad and I had high hopes that we would do well, quite possibly take home the state championship. I was surprised to see some of the juniors at practice tonight though, among them was Cleos brother Cairo. I hadn’t seen the kid yet up until today, but one thing is for certain, the kid was good and big for his age. At that thought, I scanned the crowd looking for him. Spotting him hanging back speaking with coach, I turned to head back in the direction of the field, I can’t already make Cleo mad at me the first time I go to hang out with her.

Smooth one man, start to like the girl and nearly forget her brother.

Shaking my head, I hit a light jog back.

“Hey man, where are you going?” I hear from behind me. I stop to look back and find Oliver walking in my direction.

“Hey. I’m just heading to talk to Cairo. I’m giving him a ride home tonight”

“Oh? What for?” He asks, curiosity bleeding into his features.

“Uh, well, I’m heading there to help Cleo study” I reply, gripping my neck awkwardly and looking away. I don’t quite want to meet his gaze.

“I’m sorry, did you say you’re going to ‘help Cleo study’?” He says, laughter in his voice.

“Uh, yeah, yeah I did” I say with a sigh in response.

“Huh, interesting. Looks like someone is going to get double brownie points then” He answers. At that, I whip my head in his direction, narrowing my eyes at him. This is Oliver though, guy loves to yank my chain and this was no exception, so of course I find him standing there in a relaxed pose and a wide smirk on his face.

“F**k off man, I’m just trying to help” I reply in annoyance.

“Mhm, sure you are. Just as I’m sure that you’re taking Cairo home just to be thoughtful”  

“Oliver, I’m telling you man, I could deck you right about now”

“Oh just chill out, you know I’m just yanking your chain. I will say though that you don’t ever make this kind of effort, it’s nice to see. Cleo is cool, just be careful or Corbin will have your ass”

“I know, trust me I know. I’m still trying to figure my head out. All I know for sure is that I like spending time with her and I’ll jump on any opportunity to do so more. She does legitimately need help though and what’s the use of this freak brain of mine if I don’t use it where I can” I reply. At that he nodded in understanding. 

“Okay, well message me later if you wanna review plays for tomorrow” He said, waving and heading off to the locker room.

“Sounds good man, talk later” I replied then continued over to Cairo.

I wasn’t lying about any of what I said. Oliver was right, Cleo is great and there’s something about her that pulls me in, and for the first time I don’t want to ignore it. I actually give two shits about what she has to say, it helps that she’s smart and cares about more than what the kardashians are doing. This week walking her to some of her classes helped open that up. I’m sure she could have made it safely, but I wasn’t going to take any chances when it came to Kaden, the guy is a total s**t bag. So here I am now, eager to take another opportunity to be around her, and if she needed help studying, I was going to do what I could to help her.

As I approached Coach and Cairo, I waved to alert them to my presence. Catching Cairo’s attention, he waved back in greeting.

“Good work tonight Banks, be sure to be dressed for tomorrow. I can’t promise you’ll play, but your ass better be on that bench. Understood?”

“Yes coach”

“Good. Now get out of here. Eat and get some rest.”

“Yes coach, thank you” Turning toward me and coming my way, Cairo said “Hey man, what’s up?”

“Dressing for the game tomorrow night huh? That’s some impressive s**t” I replied.

“Uhh yeah, I’m a bit shocked but also grateful. This is a big deal for me” he said, surprise clear in his voice as if he didn’t want to jinx it.

“That’s what hard work does. Keep playing like this, and opportunities will only get better for you. Anyway, I’m giving you a ride home. I wanted to give you the heads up so you can let your ride know”

“Oh s**t, really? Thanks man!” He said, shock written all over his face.

Chuckling, I replied “No problem, I’m going there anyway so this just makes sense. Meet me in the lot in 15, my truck it the blacked-out limited”

“Okay, sounds good man. Thanks!” At that, he took off I assume to find whoever was his ride home.

I turned around and went to go get cleaned up before heading to Cleo’s. The last thing I wanted to do was subject her to the stink of practice.

~~~

Cleo

“Cleo! I’m home!!” I hear Cairo yell from the front door.

“In the kitchen!” I yell back as I finish plating dinner.

“Mmm smells good in here” Osiris says as he enters the kitchen “What’s for dinner?”

“Well I figured you two would be hungry, so I did up some pan seared steaks, baked potatoes, and sautéed veggies”

“F**K YEAH CLEO” Cairo exclaimed, rushing up and giving me a bone crushing hug.

“Can’t.. Breathe.. Put.. Me.. Down.. Cai” I struggled to get out.

“s**t! Sorry!” he apologized and set me down “Seriously though, I love when mom and dad are out of town. Friday dinners when you cook are the BEST” he added and rounded the island to sit in front of his plate.

“Holy s**t, you didn’t have to do all this” Osiris exclaimed.

“Honestly it’s nothing, plus the steaks were already in the fridge from earlier in the week and had to be cooked. Dig in!”

Cairo wasted no time tearing into his meal. I rounded the island and took a seat between him and Osiris.

“Slow down Cairo before you choke” I urged, earning me a look that said ‘leave me alone’.

“Meh, he earned the calories tonight” Osiris said from next to me.

“Oh?”

“Do you want to tell her?”

“Tell me what?”

Finishing what was in his mouth, Cairo replied “Oh, I practiced with the senior varsity team today. Coach wants me dressed for the game tomorrow”

“What! Holy s**t Cairo! That’s amazing, you have to call mom and dad to make sure the get back in time tomorrow for the game!” I said, buzzing with excitement and reaching over to pull the big lug into a hug.

“Okay, okay, I will. Can I finish my food now?”

“Haha yes, eat up!”

At that, we each focused back on our plates and quickly finished up dinner. After clearing our plates, I turned to Osiris.

“Alright, now that that’s done, shall we get started?”

“Yep, let’s get to it”

~~~

“Okay, so really you’re on the right track, you’re just overlooking small pieces of information”  Osiris says as way of explanation. “For the most part, in some of these scenarios, you’ve just confused your variables, therefore taking you to the wrong answer”

We were now sitting in the upstairs wreck room going over my quiz, him sitting on the couch next to me.

“Damn it, okay”

“Cleo, you’re smart, just remember to slow down. The information you need is right in front of you, you just need to take another moment to weed out what isn’t important and what is, the plug the information into the equation. Mr. Jenkins has a tendency to be vague and then toss you into a corn maze while expecting you to find your way out”

“When did you say you took this class again? The term just started” I asked, legitimately curious. This was an advanced class only offered in the senior year, yet Osiris had managed to take it already.

“I didn’t” he replied, grabbing his neck and not making eye contact.

Huh, he seems to do that when he’s embarrassed or nervous. Noted.

“Okay...Sooo...?”

With a big sigh, he caved “I took it last year”

“But this is advanced calc. Osiris. The only way you could have taken that class already is if....” I replied with my eyes going wide in realization.

Noticing that I had figured him out, mild horror took over Osiris’ features.

“HOLY s**t! YOU’RE GIFTED!” I yelled.

“Jesus Cleo, it’s not that big of a deal. Yeah, I’m smart, that’s it, that’s all, moving on” he replied, trying to sound nonchalant.

“No no, we are not ‘moving on’. What sort of classes are you taking right now?” I questioned.

“Nothing crazy. Mostly advanced classes, except for art. I could have graduated last year, but I chose to come back” 

“Damn, that’s impressive. Huh, who would have thought” I say jokingly.

“Hey!” he snapped back. 

“KIDDING!” I replied then broke down into a fit of giggles.

“Just because I’m athletic doesn’t automatically mean I’m dumb” 

“Oh, for sure, totally” I teased.

“You little s**t” he growled before shoving me over. This made me laugh harder as I fell to the floor.

“Oh shut up. You know what..” he started, now laughing himself as he reached for me on the floor with a gleam in his eye. 

Realizing what he was about to do, I scrambled to move away as fast as I could, but my socks on the hardwood made my escape that much more challenging.

“No! I know what you’re thinking! Don’t do it Osiris, I am not responsible for what happens to you!”

“Empty threats” he answered back, his laugh turning into a full cackle at this point. He then got up from the couch and made for the chase. 

“Game on”