AR - Take the video

“I’ll check it out,” you say, taking the flash drive.

“This too,” Carla says, lifting a box from under the table. It’s gift-wrapped. “A welcome home present for you. From the Free Gurls.”

“Uh, thanks,” you say, accepting it.

In your car outside the Free Gurls hangout, you consider the flash drive in your hand. You had a chance to do this on your own, with just Adella, your way. But it looks like you’re going to be working with the Free Gurls on this little project. You feel slightly less worried about that now that you know that your Mom goes back with these women. That makes you feel as though you can trust them. And your Mom is an attorney. She wouldn’t be cool with serious criminals. So Free Gurls can’t be all bad.

You hope that some of that is true, and not just what you’re telling yourself.

You’re worn out, and you know that Adella will be too when she comes home from work. You still want to cook, but you don’t have the mental energy to do anything that would take effort. So you stop by the grocery store.

With the flash drive in your pocket and the basket in your hand as you stroll down the aisles, you feel like a person that you never thought you would be. You have… a job. You have a girlfriend that you unofficially live with. You’re enmeshed in some seriously grownup BS with Winter Soccer now. You’re a minor celebrity and now a coach as well. What happened? Less than a year ago, you were a lonely college student jerking off to lesbian porn in your dorm room.

You feel like an adult. An adult who… doesn’t know how to cook anything other than spaghetti or scrambled eggs, but still. It’s not a bad feeling. Taylor Swift has a new album out; you feel even better as you listen to that and drive to Adella’s tiny apartment.

As you wait at one of Gurlberg’s four stoplights, you see a family on the sidewalk. One of the kids is on your soccer team. She spots you and waves. You wave back. Surreal.

Seeing her makes you wonder how Valeria and Alice are doing tonight. One way or another, those two will be the key. They’ll carry or the Cowgirls will have a very sad little season. That thought irks you. Kids don’t need that kind of pressure. And Winter Soccer is still supposed to be about fun. So much for that.

Speaking of fun, what about Kayla? Hooking up with Ellen’s kid? God. What if she marries him? What if they have kids? You know nothing about Ellen, but people treat her like a supervillain. What if Ellen’s coming to Thanksgiving in a few years? You start to sweat.