Free Just Rules by Anna Casanovas, Carlie Johnson

on me, but I did what I had to do.
    I turned Susana into Susan, into a dull woman incapable of affecting me, into the woman who had restored hope in my best friend.
    However, it didn’t work at all. Sure, it distracted me for a while, but that’s it. Every time I was around Susan I fought with her.
    Her insults make me furious…That’s why after seeing her I have the best fucks of my life with the first woman who crosses my path.
    I can’t believe I’ve been acting like this for a year. It’s completely absurd. Yet it’s the only thing that makes sense.
    The best thing to do is to just forget about everything. Even though Tim and Susana aren’t going to get married anymore, it’s obvious she hates me. She won’t even give me the chance to be her friend, and I’m not sure if I even want to be anyway.
    My phone rings and I see Mike’s name on the screen.
    “Where are you?” Is the first thing that the coach asks me when I pick up.
    “Walking down the street. What about you?”
    “Pacing back and forth in my yard in order to restrain myself from wanting to strangle you, captain. Why the hell did your agent insinuate that you’re willing to not renew your contract for another season? ”
    “I’m thirty-five, Mike.”
    “And I’m fifty-seven.”
    “I don’t want the club to transfer me to a lower division or to sit me on the bench for the whole season. Maybe it’s time to retire.”
    Between you and Tinman, I don’t know who to kill first. Look, Mac, you don’t have many years left, that’s true. I know that you’re too smart for your own good. Surely when you retire you’ll create an empire, but it’s not going to be next year. The Patriots need their captain this next season.
    “Mike…”
    “I need you, Mac.”
    “That’s not true.”
    “Yes it is.” Mike sighs. “Look, Mac, I know that these past few months have been very difficult for you with the wedding of Tim and…” He fell silent. What the hell does Mike know? It doesn’t matter anymore, right?
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Take advantage of your vacation to clear your mind. Relax. Get out of town. Do what you want,” he grumbles. “But call your damn agent and tell him that you’re not going to retire this year.”
    “I’ll think about it.”
    “Do it.”
    He hangs up on me before I can say anything else. Mike is the strangest coach I’ve ever met in my life. He’s a very clever man and famous for his bad temper.
    “Why would he say that about Tim’s wedding? Was he trying to say that I was having a hard time with the fact that Susan and Tim were going to get married? Have I been having a hard time with it? Is it really that obvious?
    I arrive to where I parked my car and I unlock it. I throw my gym bag on the passenger seat and get behind the wheel.
    Driving relaxes me, and the ride home allows me to think about what has happened these past few days.
    We lost the Super Bowl.
    Susana was worried about me in L’Escalier.
    Tim and Susan aren’t getting married anymore.
    Susan has a freckle on one of her cheek bones and another on her back. How many more does she have? I step on the pedal in order to get to the freeway and get away from the city. In my SUV I drive past the restaurant where Tim made me have dinner with him and Susana almost a year ago. It was the day that Susana began to hate me and the day we started our personal war against each other.
    And the only relationship I could see myself having with her without going crazy.
     
    Meatpack Bistro one year earlier .
    I don’t know why Susana insists on wearing those plain and boring suits. Of course Tim seems to like them, a lot, actually, judging by the way he holds her by the waist.
    But she maintains her distance. Why can’t she relax?
    I have to quit looking at her. She just frowned. Surely she’s going to insult me at any moment.
    Thank goodness.
    I can talk to her when she argues with me..
    Tim has been asking me for weeks to have