Jaclyn Smith was a nerd. She knew it, too. But she was cute too. And so she sat in the bleachers of the football field with her roommate, wondering if she could ever get the quarterback to notice her.
Carson had been Jaclyn’s best friend since they arrived on campus. It hadn’t taken Carson long to join the college dating scene but she still put up with Jaclyn’s whining.
“You have a few classes together, right?” she prodded.
“Yeah,” Jaclyn said.
“So just try to get a study group going with him.”
“I don’t know. Not sure how smart he is,”
“He’s the quarterback. How could he be smart?” Carson teased.
“I have a few classes with him,”
“Oh, so now you’re bragging?”
“Shut up.”
“Hey, you’re the one who wanted me to come with you today. Look, everyone else is a girlfriend of a player or a fan,”
“So help me meet him and then I can be the girlfriend and you won’t have to come.”
“Come on, he’s not going to notice you today, let’s go. We’ll figure something out.”
On the field, Matthias Tenders wiped the sweat off his forehead, motioned for another play, grabbed the ball, found Jason open downfield and flung the ball before he felt himself get walloped. He fell to ground and heard his coach call out, “Faster next time.” The whistle blew and he ran the same play again. This time Jason was covered and he found Skyler. But before he could throw, he felt the same force and hit the ground.
His coach walked over to him, “Faster. And don’t hold to it, throw it away. You’ve got the arm, just make smart plays, kid.”
Matthias stood up, brushed himself off, said, “Yes, sir,” and called for another play. His team’s win last week put them up to 5-0, but now they were playing the number 3 ranked team in the nation. If he was going to make a name for himself and enter the draft early, he would have to do well this week in particular. So the coach was giving signals to the offensive line on when to let the d-line through.
In a game situation, Matthias trusted his line with his life. His roommate was Eli Noble, the center, and Eli knew everything about him. Almost.
By the time coach blew the whistle for the end of practice, Matthias was sweating like he was wearing a black tux in an August wedding. But he ran with the team to the locker room as the band took over the field.
He took a seat on the back corner bench. As the other guys filed in, he saw the football team’s own cliques forming. The true jocks seemed to stick together – the guys who wouldn’t have gotten in without their scholarship, and who needed to get to draft day to avoid being a middle school gym teacher. Nice enough guys, with the exception of the occasional druggie. Then there was the smart dudes. They liked football enough, but they were playing to get the education, not the other way around. They may be decent players, but they weren’t going to the NFL. Then there was his group, the student-athletes. The guys who played well and had a chance, but needed a good education too, just in case. Intelligent, but not straight A students. They filed in and listened to coach go over the same old speeches again, looking forward to their game. Finally, he was able to shower and go back to his apartment. He had homework to work on.
The TV blared:
“20-27 and a touchdown last week. This is going to be a game.”
“He’s going to have to be nearly perfect this week. Tenders doesn’t have it.”
Jaclyn got angry and switched it off, as Carson stepped in, “Aww, is someone making fun of your boyfriend?” Jaclyn laughed and said, “Yep.”
“So you think we will win this week?”
“I don’t know, but I think he’ll have a good game.”
“You should want him to have a bad game. Then when everyone else is against him you can be the thoughtful and understand shoulder to cry on.”
"What just walk up to him and say, “Sorry you stunk this week?”
“Sure,”
“The TV was smarter, I think,” Jacyln replied, “Come on, let’s get something to eat,”
Matthias’ apartment was small, but still bigger than most dorm rooms. It was one of the perks of being a football player. He and Eli shared the kitchenette, living area and bathroom, but each had their own small bedroom. Today had been rough, and so Matthias closed and locked the door to his bedroom before beginning his homework.
Eli knew everything about him, everything that is accept that he liked wearing diapers. Growing up he had been a bedwetter, and something about the security and comfort of the diapers then made him want to keep wearing them long after he stopped. Now, with his own room, he finally could. He pulled out the package from his dresser and noticed that he needed to order some more. Then he undressed and taped himself up in one before putting on a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants and sitting down to work on a book report.
After a little while, he was losing momentum. He set aside the book and pulled up Microsoft Word. For a while now he had been working on a story that he posted on some diaper lover forums. He had gotten generally positive reviews along with some helpful criticism. He often wondered what would happen if someone found out who ABQB was, but felt it was generic enough to avoid getting caught.
Finally Matthias’ stomach growled. Chick-fil-a was right down the road, so he could easily walk. He decided that today he would be brave, so even with his diaper on he opened the door and saw Eli and other teammates playing Halo. He called out, “Hey, anyone want anything from Chick-fil-a?” and got a round of “No thanks.” He grabbed his jacket off the back of the couch and closed the door behind him.
The first time he had gone out in a diaper, he had been scared to death. But each time, it got easier and now he enjoyed it most of the time. This particular night was cold, so not many other people were walking around, and he felt confident as he arrived at the restaurant.
“Look, there he is,” Carson whispered as she saw Matthias walk in, “He’s following you around,”
“Sure,” Jaclyn snorted, “Cuz the quarterback would never eat at Chick-fil-a,”
“Look, he’s a person just like you, why not invite him to sit with us,”
Jaclyn laughed, “No way.”
“If you don’t I will…”
“Go ahead,”
Matthias got in line and ordered, then started looking for a seat. Chick-fil-a was usually crowded, and it was no different tonight. He looked for anyone he knew, but didn’t find anyone. He was partially relieved. Then a girl came up to him, “Excuse me, would you like to sit with my friend and I?” It wasn’t unusual for fans to make requests like that, but he didn’t want to sit with a fan right now, so he asked, “Sorry, do I know you guys?”
Carson nodded, “Yeah, you have a few classes with Jaclyn over there,”
“Oh, okay, sure,” Matthias answered. Classmates were different. And he tried to be nice to fans too, signing autographs and posing with kids when he could. But classmates meant intelligent conversation if he could avoid talking about “the big game.”
He followed Carson to her seat and slid in next to Jaclyn, “Hey, Jaclyn,”
She blushed a little bit but said, “Hey. So how’s your report coming?”
Matthias smiled as he settled into a normal conversation. Jaclyn tried to keep from embarrassing herself and Carson watched to see if the two had any connection. They talked for a while after each was done with their meal, and soon realized how late it had gotten.
“Well, nice meeting you guys, I guess I’ll see you around” Matthias said sincerely, “Why don’t I take your trash for you?” He picked it up and moved over to the trash can and started dumping the trash, but a straw fell to ground. He leaned over to pick it up and tossed it back in the trash. Meanwhile, the Coke had gotten to him, and he released into his diaper as he stood there, enjoying the fact that no one would notice. Then he walked on into the bathroom to dipose of the diaper and wipe off.
Carson stared for a moment, then turned back to Jaclyn, “Did you see that?”
Jaclyn asked, “See what? That he actually talked to us? I know! I mean- that doesn’t mean he likes me or anything, but –”
“No, not that! When he leaned over… I can’t be sure, but it almost looked like he was wearing… a diaper!”
Jaclyn burst out laughing, “What! You’re imagining things, Car,”
“No, why would I imagine that? Look, watch with me as he comes out of the restroom.”
They both took another sip of their drink and waited. Matthias came out and walked out the door. “I didn’t see anything, Carson,”
“I could have sworn. I’m sure I’m not making things up.”
“Whatever you say Carson, come on, let’s get out of here.”
