the 4th star

Friday, Aug. 15, 2009
Barrin Simpson, prior to the game with the Montreal Alouettes…

“This is big. We need it. We NEED this football game… bad. Put it this way: On a scale of one to 10 for desperation, this one is like a 9 1/2. We want to get to 4-4 before our break. And so we’ve got to go to work. We could be sitting really good if we could get to 4-4 before our break.”

Friday, Aug. 21, 2009
Barrin Simpson, prior to tonight’s game with the B.C. Lions…

“In my mind, every game is a must-win. I like to win,” stated Simpson, turned out in a black suit that he said was his “business attire for a business trip, because I mean business. It’s a game we definitely need. No doubt about it, we need to go out there and play well and get a W. It’s really very simple. When it’s your turn to make a play, make the play. We need to execute and make plays.”

Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009
Barrin Simpson, prior to having the weekend off as the Bombers enjoy their bye-week…

“HUGE. That’s how I would describe this coming weekend. Must-huge. We can’t afford to relax but we need to relax. Whether that’s going home to spend time with your family or heading to the cabin for some fishing, it’s all about doing your job. Find a couch and lay it. We can’t afford to let another week go by stuck in neutral. It’s time to step up and show we’re men. No passengers. NO PASSENGERS!”

At the end of the night, Beau and Kevin moved the coffee table over to the far wall, folded out the convertible and held each other close as their tiny apartment fell silent. Their drunken fog kept them nice and warm. Even with the windows open to the cool city breath.

Veronica, trouble from the start, was left to her own devices. Ignoring the countless cabs that buzzed across and alongside her path, she rode her leather boots and increasing sexual frustration right into the small dive near her place, wondering what Kevin could possibly see in that little twerp.

As she re-applied her lip gloss and gave herself the usual pep-talk in the disgusting washroom before heading out the door with another nameless but willing stranger, she remembered she had to open the Starbucks in the morning. Kevin wasn’t coming in until eleven. With no Beau to steal the attention of the room, the coffee counter would be another chance to find that spark.

She knows it’s there. She knows it.

Veronica stared into her bathroom mirror the next morning. Her latest sexual outlet unsatisfying and removed from the scene, she understood the issue with the Friday Wrap Jam. Hearts don’t get broken, it’s the unrequited love that’s the problem. It takes over your life. That night at the post-exam week party? It meant everything to her, playing in her mind over and over again. To him — who knows? He’s just confused. He doesn’t know what he wants. Beau is just a delay, Veronica reminds herself. No matter that the trio is seven years out of college and all of their friends have moved on to families.

Settling wasn’t her bag, anyway. Veronica still wanted to travel. She wanted something more than suburbia. Not getting drunk with Kevin and his boyfriend at 3:30 in the morning, of course, but that will have to do for now. For some it’s the price in finding Mr. Right.

Damn, she says to herself in the mirror, I should’ve kissed him at the end of the solo last night.

That wasn’t the endgame. Not even close. Veronica has had her fair share of casual encounters in the past seven years, but she knows what she’s doing. Love will conquer all, she thought. Confidence is key and another chance always presents itself. Yes, things will be different Saturday night. The three of them are going out to that new club on the west side and she has a dress that is going to knock Kevin’s socks off. He’ll come around.

She knows it. She knows it.