Hotdog Bump-in Talk (Rodney)

Why couldn’t doctors just mind their own business? That was the main thing going through his mind as he waited in this long time to get a hot dog. The week before during practice, he was tackled by Wes and his stupid helmet smoked his knee, and of course, the doctor had demanded that he stay off of it for a few weeks until it healed. It wasn’t the first time Rodney got hurt on the job, so he didn’t understand why this time was any different. Apparently his knee had popped out of place and twisted. It had already been fixed, but now it had to heal. He was convinced that Wes did it on purpose just so Rodney wouldn’t be able to play in the home game tonight. Now he was stuck on the sidelines bored out of his mind. It would be different if he was watching a game that his high school students were playing, but watching a game that you would normally be playing really pissed him off. It just made his hate for Wesley Hunt even stronger. He was so bored and pissed that he had to step away for just a few minutes to clear his mind. And what was the best way to do that? Eating was a good start. So now he stood in a long line of a bunch of excited and hungry little football game goers. Luckily Melissa was the one running it. At least he didn’t have to wait that long.


When it was almost his turn to order, he limped forward just as the girl who had just received the items she had ordered spun around to leave. Rodney’s knee hurt to bad to step back, so he just let it happen as he stood there watching her hot dog fall to the ground. He moved his eyes from the hot dog to the girl when she began talking to him. “Oh, it’s fine. Thank god you didn’t have ketchup or something messy on that thing. My white shirt would have been in serious trouble.” He smiled at her. He had seen her before although couldn’t remember her name for the life of him.


“I can help the next person in line,” Melissa said from behind the hot dog stand window.


Rodney looked over at Melissa and then back at the girl in front of him. “How about I buy you another one? It’s the least I can do, considering the fact that I got in your way.” He moved up to the window. “Can I have two of whatever hotdog she just ordered?” Melissa nodded at him with a smile. “I’m Rodney by the way. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you around campus, just not sure of your name.”

Rodney laughed when she told him that his non-ketchup splashed shirt looked great. Rodney wondered if she was flirting with him. He still wasn’t certain when girls really were hitting on him or not. And his best friend and roommate Axel hadn’t been around in a while to give him pointers, so he still wasn’t for sure. He was always one to see things when it came to how people felt, but he was pretty oblivious when it came to girls. But when she introduced herself as Claire, he was pretty sure what she had said before was just her being friendly. This was The Claire, the one he had heard some of the guys in the locker room talking about. Apparently she had a huge crush on Wes, so the team said and joked around with Wes about all the time. He wasn’t sure if it was true though, and he wasn’t going to ask her about it. But when she asked him if her name rang a bell, it was almost like she was waiting for a specific answer. He hesitated, “Uh, yeah, I think I’ve heard some mention of a Claire with the guys.” He was pretty sure now that those rumors were true.

”Alright. Here you go guys!” Melissa said from behind the counter. "With ketchup too."

Rodney turned towards the counter grabbing both hot dogs and handing one of them to Claire. “Here you go. Try not to drop this one, okay?” He chuckled. “Hey, if you don’t already have a set seat, you should come sit with me. If I have to sit on the sidelines for the entire game, I’d rather sit with someone than by myself.” He watched her hoping she would say yes. Maybe he could figure out what the hell she saw in Wes. He couldn’t understand why girls liked him so much. To Rodney, he was a complete ass hole.

When Claire asked him exactly what he had heard from the guys on the team, Rodney was almost positive that that would be the next question she asked him. He wanted more than anything to just ignore it and move on. He didn’t want to tell her what was being said behind her back. It wasn’t just because what was said in the locker room was supposed to stay in the locker room. It was also because not everything was nice. And none of what was said was said by the person she wanted it to be said by. He sighed. He wasn’t one to lie at all, but telling her what was said wouldn’t make any sense at all. Wes wasn’t the one who said the things, so why did it matter? It was just stuff that would upset her to hear, and he didn’t want to upset Claire at all. Not when he was going to be spending time with her. “Eh, I don’t really hear much in the locker room, and I sure as heck don’t remember specifics. I just remember hearing the name Claire here and there. Nothing major.”

He chuckled. “Okay, I’ll make sure to be careful this time,” he said referring to him bumping into her again while she held her hotdog. And his chuckle got even louder when she blurted out that she could use a good view meaning him. He wasn’t sure exactly what to say to that either. He could feel his cheeks flush. “Man, Claire, you definitely know how to make someone feel uncomfortable,” he said with a goofy smile plastered across his face. He reached past her to grab his coke that was still on the counter. He brought it to his lips taking a sip. He was getting better at this flirting thing. He was able to notice some flirting if it was that obvious like Claire’s comment. But as far as flirting back? Yeah, he was still working on that one. “So, shall we go sit down so you can see this amazing view that you speak of?” He grinned at her.

Rodney watched her when she spoke about not getting much attention. He was immediately irritated at Wes. He knew that was the main person she wanted to be getting that attention from. How hard was it for him to even talk to Claire. Even if Wes didn’t like her like that, why was it a problem just to talk to her. She seemed like a really cool gal, but Wes probably didn’t give her the time of day. “Well, they are missing out then,” he gave her a smile. “And besides, I’m way cooler than them anyways.” He was just joking. Most of them were pretty cool guys even with them all being complete airheads. But Wes was too busy with his own life that he didn’t give a shit about this awesome chick he was talking to right now. It brought him back to a few moments before when she had told him that she wasn’t expecting much as far as the football team talking about her. He just wanted to ask her why the hell did she like him anyway. What was it about him that everyone just fell in love with? He couldn’t understand it one bit. Maybe later on he would ask her once they actually sat down and were watching the game.

When she told him to lead on and gave him that funny nickname for him bumping into her, he laughed. “Alrighty, Mrs. I Love Ketchup.” It was a stupid comment which probably wouldn’t get a laugh at all out of Claire. He did that sometimes. Made comments that he thought was funny but really weren’t at all. He turned towards the bleachers and headed towards them. It was nice to have someone to sit with. Coach wanted him to sit closer to the other players, but Rodney always sat higher up on the bleachers, so he could see everything that was going on on the field. Rodney made his way over to where the team was sitting. A few of them looked his way but didn’t say anything. He made his way up the bleachers slowly. After his little shopping errand with Mandy the other day, his knee was pretty much aching. He refused to walk with the cane and crutches the doctor had asked him to use. Those were just a bit much to be using around campus. It would heal. It always did. It would just take some time and then he’d be out on the field again. “Let’s sit right here,” he said nodding at a few benches up from the football team. There was just enough room for two in the middle of the bench. “Look okay?”

Rodney smiled at Claire when she suggested that he was the one who was flirting with her. Was he really flirting with her? Had he succeeded in doing that? Obviously not because he didn’t even know he was doing it. She was definitely not getting upset with him though, so at least he was doing something right. He was really just being nice though. Although flirting with her wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. She was very attractive. But she wasn’t Merry. Was it weird that he felt like he was cheating on Merry for hanging out with Claire at this moment? Rodney had to stop thinking that way. Merry only liked him as a friend and that was that. She was so into Connor anyways. He might as well just give up hope now.

Her laughter brought him back from thinking about Merry. “Okay, okay. Laugh it up. My jokes suck. I get it.” He chuckled. It didn’t bother him. He knew his jokes were totally lame, and he sort of expected people to laugh at them just because of how stupid they really were. “Alright. We’ll have to think of a new nickname for you. One a bit more hip.”

When Claire approved the seats, she had grabbed his hand which was a bit unexpected. It was nice though especially when the last time he held a girl’s hand was his last girlfriend which was ages ago. Once they moved past all the people in the stands, both of them sat down at the same time and began to watch the field. The game still had two hours to go. He wondered if Claire would be the focused on the game. He hoped not. He wanted to do something more than just sit there and watch a game he couldn’t be a part of. He wanted to badly to ask her about Wes even though it wasn’t any of his business. And there wasn’t really much else he could think of at the moment that could be talked about. “So, any particular football player you’re rooting for? I know all the girls have at least one they want to score that touchdown to win the game. Who does Claire Diastone want that to be?” Well played. He wanted to pat himself on the back for how epic he was for bringing Wes up that way. Even though Wes was nowhere in the question he just asked. If Claire wanted to talk about him, she would now have a way to do so without feeling awkward. He took a bite of his hotdog and waited for her response.

Rodney smiled at her when she asked him if he was pretty sure about that. “Hell yeah I’m pretty sure about that. Almost every girl in this stand has at least one football player they gush over. You see how there are less girls in the stands now that I’m not playing?” He joked. That was definitely not true at all. He was pretty sure Mandy would be the only one who’d be in the stands for him if he was playing and of course Merry and Marina if they weren’t too busy. Most guys would probably be rooting for him just because he was a really good player.

Rodney’s eyes left her when she answered his question. He knew it was coming, so he was already expecting the answer she was most likely going to give him. He took a bite of his hotdog again and continued chewing trying to think of something to say. He didn’t want her to think he was annoyed by this. Although his pure jealousy of Wes was creeping up in him. Wes seemed to have everything Rodney didn’t. He had the girls. He had the looks. He had the position on the team. He even had the social personality to get pretty much anything he wanted. It sucked! While Rodney sat back and let all of it happen. But he was going to be nice about this because he did ask her, and he knew she’d be upset if he started talking smack about him. But even though he wanted to do that anyways, he wasn’t the type to do that at all. This was just going to be a nice conversation of getting to know Claire. There would be no bashing. Just an understanding.

When Rodney swallowed his food, he looked back over at her. “Ah, so you are a Wes fan too then.” He glanced up above their heads at the huge sign that two girls were holding up. It read ‘We love you, Wes’. “Have you joined the club yet? I hear the slots are filling up fast.” He gave her a joking smile nudging her a bit to show her that he was just messing around with her. “So, what is it about Wes anyway? I mean I really do want to know. He’s like the star player. It’d be nice to get a few pointers.”