Homecoming - Chapter 15
Monday
Matt
Kennedy didn’t come by practice. And I knew I wasn’t the only one feeling let down. Jefferson hadn’t made a single kick all afternoon. It was like Kennedy alone held the power to help him do it. And the whole team’s morale seemed down. I had to fix this before homecoming. The last thing we needed was a loss on their big day.
I walked over the moat and into Tanner’s apartment. My stomach growled when I saw the feast that had been laid out on the dining room table.
Tanner was sitting there reading the newspaper. “Ah, you’re here!” he said as he folded it up and set it aside.
“What’s with the spread?”
“Nigel was in a spicy mood.”
“Ew, what?”
Tanner pointed to the food. “It’s all at least a 7 out of 10 on the Scoville scale. So watch out. Your unrefined palette may not be able to handle it.”
“I can handle spicy food.” It had taken me eating a lot of Mrs. Alcaraz’ cooking back in high school, but I’d gotten used to it. She’d definitely had fun torturing me with that extra spicyomelet when I spent the night though. Hopefully this food wasn’t as spicy as those death eggs.
“We’ll see about that.” Tanner poured me a glass of milk all the way to the brim. “Just in case.”
“Very funny.” I sat down and put some rice on my plate. “You know I can handle heat.”
“I have no way of knowing that.”
“I’ve eaten at Kennedy’s house before.” I took a bite of the white rice. I thought it was plain, but my mouth was already on fire. What the hell had Nigel done to this rice?
“Ah. Speaking of Kennedy, do you know a Felix Green?” Tanner asked.
“What?” I croaked, trying not to grab the glass of milk.
“He’s an old friend of mine.”
“An old friend ofyours?” I put some chicken on my plate, hoping that would cool my mouth down. But a bite of that just made it worse.
“Indeed. Rumor has it that the two of you schooled together as youths.”
“Um…we went to high school together.” I started coughing.
“That’s what I said.”
I laughed, but I’m pretty sure it was more of a hiss because my mouth was literally on fire. “That’s definitely not what you said.”
“Well, regardless, is he a good chap?”
“You just said you know him.” I cleared my throat and ate a green bean that might as well have been a chili pepper.
Tanner shrugged. “In the art scene, sure. But is he a good man?”
“Yeah. He’s a good guy.” I started choking again.
“Fantastic stamp of approval. He’ll be in town later this week. And I’m thinking of inviting him out to dinner. Good heavens, you’re sweating like a whore in church, young lad. Drink your milk.”
I hated that he was right. But if I didn’t drink something soon my head was going to explode. I took a huge gulp of milk.
Tanner looked very satisfied with Nigel’s disgustingly spicy food. He took a bite of the same chicken I’d eaten and didn’t look at all phased.
