[Rin]Accidental Marriage[Davey]

[Rin128564]

"Yes that's true...which makes me wonder, what plans do you have after retiring? Will you work else where or try to get some job still relating to football?" She asked and nearly looked up to look at him but avoided doing so by looking straight up at the ceiling instead and continuing to swing her legs. On Sofia's end she felt like either becoming a conductor and having her own orchestra or simply being a violinist or cellist since she couldn't really play the piano in an orchestra unless it was a piano concerto. She would await his reply.
 

[Davey Word Hunter]

"Well, in an ideal world, I'll be such a success at playing quarterback in the NFL that my football contracts and the endorsement deals that are sure to follow will guarantee that I won't have to work at all after I retire," Alex replied, "Just the other day I heard a news report that Aaron Rodgers has signed a five-year contract extension that will pay him $110 million. Like I said, though, that is an ideal world, since very few quarterbacks make it big like that. Realistically, when I'm finished with playing football, there's the chance that I could become a coach. Alternately, I could become a sportscaster. If you watch the games, you will see that most of the sportscasters at the games and most of the experts on news shows like ESPN's Sports Center are former players. That's also true for baseball, basketball, and hockey. Being a sportscaster would be less stressful than being a coach. There's a tendency to fire the coaches when a team loses on a consistent basis, including the head coach. Basically a sportscaster has to look good on TV, and then he watches the games, reports what he sees, and then offers his analysis on what had happened." Alex smiled as he added, "If I'm good enough, I might have a football video game named after me." Naturally enough, he was referring to the highly-successful John Madden NFL series of football video games. It wasn't quite as simple as Alex had made it sound, though. John Madden was an outstanding football player, the Superbowl-winning head coach of the Oakland Raiders, an equally-talented sportscaster watched by millions, and an inductee to the NFL Hall of Fame. Overall, there were few names in the NFL that were as big as John Madden.

((OOC: FYI, the things that Alex said about Aaron Rodgers are true. At the present time, Rodgers is the highest paid quarterback in the NFL.))  

[Rin128564]

For a moment she wondered if he included her at all in his future now but feeling that was irrelevant and foolish to think about she shook her head and listened to him continue on about what he might do afterwards. She nodded and chuckled lightly, "Well either way you'll probably still have a successful career. I wouldn't mind having people recognize my name.To compose music and be known for it like Beethoven. Who doesn't know Beethoven? Then again most artists are recognized when they're long dead." She laughed and brought her gaze back down to the floor.

"I couldn't sit here and lie that I don't want to be recognized by fame...But there are only two people I probably would desire to recognize me, no one else really mattering much..." She sighed softly but knew that no matter how famous she became it would never be enough to please her parents.
 

[Davey Word Hunter]

Alex understood what Sofia meant, or at least he thought that he understood. He went on to say, "Fame is all well and good, but I'm sure that you'll agree that it's far more important to do your best at what you do and let the fame come along on it's own. When someone allows fame to become more important than anything else, he begins to lose focus on what's really important, and what brought him fame to begin with. That's when that person's performance begins to suffer. Not only that, but fame doesn't necessarily prove that you're doing your best. There are a lot of really good football players that no one hears about simply because they don't play in the glamour positions. Take offensive linemen, for example. All too often the only times that you hear their names mentioned in a game is when they are called for a holding penalty."  

[Rin128564]

"Yes, I suppose you can say it's an inner battle within me because a part of me could care less about fame and another part does but for wrong reasons." And by wrong reasons she merely meant being seen and known so that she could finally gain some acknowledgement from her parents. Even though she harbored a bit of anger toward them she still tried desperately to gain their love and attention. She had not yet realized that children should never work for such things to get from their parents. But how could one blame her for just wanting to have parents, a normal family?
 

[Davey Word Hunter]

"When you are famous, you can use that fame to bring attention to your favorite charity or a good cause," Alex pointed out, "Professional athletes to that all of the time, and so do celebrities. You could even start your own charity." These days it almost seemed that famous people were required to support a charity or a good cause of some kind. Of course there were some famous people who took on charities merely to look good and gain more publicity. Usually, though, it doesn't take long to figure out who is the real deal and who is just a poser.  

[Rin128564]

The mention of charities brightened up a bit and she smiled and looked at him though her eyes were glued to his face. "Now that you mentioned it I really hope that I get to start a program around here that reflects a program like El Sistema from Venezuela. Have you heard of it?" If he had not then she went on to tell him about how it was a program created to take children from poverty stricken families and simply give them instruments and teaching them how to play along with putting them in an orchestra. It was done to keep those children out of the streets. Keeping them away from gangs and from a bad path in life.

"I would really love to be able to keep children away from the bad, giving them something to look forward to. I think that such a program should be everywhere. Music is such a good influence!" She smiled brightly and proceeded to ask him if he was done and if he needed help.
 

[Davey Word Hunter]

"Yes, I'm done, and I could use a little help," Alex replied as he stepped from the shower with his towel wrapped around his waist. "That sounds like a very interesting program," he added. Of course Alex could point out that there were lots of sports programs that were intended to keep children off of the streets and out of trouble, but Sofia would know that already, and it would come across like one-upmanship.  

[Rin128564]

She nodded and helped him with what he needed help with. And in fact she did know about the other programs given to children, but she thought that music was equally as thrilling as sports. Or was it just her? She smiled at the thought and finished helped him before heading out of the bathroom where she went to the kitchen to check on Bo only to realize that he wasn't there.

"Right," she mumbled before turning and going back toward the bedroom but she was so lost in though she bumped into Alex slightly as he was walking out of the bathroom. She quickly grabbed his arm to make sure she didn't knock him off his balance.

"Sorry," she chuckled softly and then made her way inside the room.

 

[Davey Word Hunter]

"No problem," Alex said in return. He went to the bedroom and sat down on his side of the bed. Before he lay down, though, he paused to remember if there was some homework that he still needed to do or something that he needed to study for the next day.  

[Rin128564]

Sofia sat in bed for a moment clearly having something to say and at long last she turned to Alex and spoke, "I'm not going to school tomorrow. I'll drop you and Debra off then I'll go see how Bo is doing...maybe I'll be able to take him home so...yeah. I'll just copy any notes from class from you or Debra if you take any." She nodded more at herself before laying down and turning off the light. Truth be told she also didn't want to go to school for another reason. It seemed harder to do every day especially now that Helen was back and she only knew that the bullying would be worse since Helen was a lot more cunning and smart than Brandy.

 

[Davey Word Hunter]

Like on previous nights, Alex leaned over to Sofia and gave her a loving kiss on the cheek before he settled into bed. By now he had become so used to sleeping there that the time that he had spent sleeping on the living room couch almost seemed like a different lifetime. There was a part of him that was anxious to move their relationship to the next level, so to speak, but for the most part Alex was reluctant to do anything that would spoil what he already had, and so he was still willing to give Sofia the time and space that she needed to get used to him. Surely they won't go through their entire marriage without consummating it at some point in time. Of course his leg brace will limit the things that he could do, should that moment come sooner than later. Perhaps by the time that he no longer needed the brace, she'll be a bit more willing to expand their relationship. Until then, Alex will be content with the way things were at the moment. It was a bit disturbing that Sofia wasn't going to school the next day. It just wasn't like her to skip class. Even so, she probably had a good reason for it, and so he didn't question her.  

[Rin128564]

She smiled softly and when the bed settled she laid there motionless for a moment before slowly rolling over and leaning over to place a kiss on his cheek as well, "Goodnight." She murmured and laid back down and fell asleep, sleeping as peacefully. Though every now and then she would wake up and sit up, looking around for a bit and trying to go back to sleep. but found herself unable to do so. Sofia laid there and sighed still having worries which kept her from sleeping regularly.

 

[Davey Word Hunter]

Alex smiled when Sofia returned his kiss. It seemed that they had taken another step in the right direction. As luck would have it, though, Alex drifted off to sleep before he had the chance to contemplate that particular thought for any length of time.  

[Rin128564]

Unable to fall asleep again Sofia got out of bed slowly and carefully as to not wake Alex. Taking a book she walked into the closet and sat on the floor and began to flip through it, reading over her favorite parts. The door was slightly cracked to show the light on. Yawning every now and then she still sat there knowing that she would be unable to sleep anyway.