Chapter 25
BURTON
I’m up early the next morning, trying to prepare for the long day ahead. I keep glancing at Laney’s house, hoping she’ll make an appearance as I run back and forth along our street.
It was fun talking to her about all the aspects of lacrosse, and I was grateful her eyes didn’t glaze over hearing about it. She listened and asked questions, connecting the details I’d already talked about with the plays.
When she fell asleep, she laid her head on my shoulder and kind of cuddled up to my side. The guys silently made fun of me, pretending they were playing a game of charades of me and Laney kissing.
Do I want that to happen? Absolutely. Just not where my roommates can see.
I haven’t even gotten the chance to ask her about the Skittles yet. Laughing, I shake my head. Not that I should put everything on a few green-colored candies.
I finish my workout with no sign of Laney, so I head inside and shower. Clark is already in the kitchen, making what looks like an extensive meal with pancakes, eggs, and bacon.
“Are you trying to carbo-load for tomorrow or something?” I ask, smiling at him.
Clark’s expression is focused, and he shakes his head. “I thought I’d make breakfast for the house. That way we’ll have enough energy to give to the fans today.”
I didn’t think of it that way, but I appreciate the gesture.
“Remind me that I need to get some toaster waffles before we come home tonight.”
Shaking his head, Clark says, “You haven’t kicked that habit yet?”
Grinning, I say, “Remember what happened in the championship game last year? Jackson ate my waffles, and we lost.”
Clark rolls his eyes. “Dude, we’ve lost even when you’ve eaten them.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“Because”—I shake my head, not sure if I should show the nerdy side of myself this early in the morning—“it just is.”
We have a lively discussion at breakfast with the roommates and then all head out to the field. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to chat with them and not be completely wiped out from everything going on in my life.
Once we get to the field, I’m impressed with the transformation of the opening gate already. I can’t imagine what it’s going to look like inside.
There’s a large balloon arch that’s being set up, and then there are posters of all of us, big ones, with our names and numbers at the bottom.
That’s probably a good idea so if the people don’t know who we are, they can figure it out easily enough.
There are a few blow-up slides and several booths along the field.
I pick up a stick and a ball, slinging it toward the large tarp. The speed on the screen says eighty-five. That’s not terrible.
“This is incredible,” Stack says.
“I’m surprised they did it for us,” Finny says, turning in a full circle.
“What do you mean by that?” Clark asks.
Finny shrugs. “Lacrosse isn’t the biggest sport out West. So doing something like this to support us, well, I’m touched.” He holds a hand to his chest and gives a fake sobbing face.
He’s right. Many of the sports are probably used to the fanfare and the big events, but in the six years I’ve been playing in the PLL, I’ve never experienced anything like this.
Clark folds his arms over his chest. “Maybe we didn’t ask before. Us coming to them with an idea—”
“Your idea,” I say with a laugh.
“—helped them see we want this. We want this sport to grow. Let’s just hope we get enough people to fill the festival and make it worth it.”
I hadn’t thought of it that way. If we only get fifty people through the gates, does that show management they wasted their time?
We set things up and man our stations. The doors to the field open, and in run at least thirty kids, with their parents trailing behind them.
Not a horrible start, I guess.
But as the hour continues, in filter more and more people, helping me breathe a little easier.
I’m done with my first station when a microphone squeals.
“Sorry about that, everyone,” Laney says from a platform on one end of the field. “Welcome to our FanFest to celebrate the Salt Lake Lancers!” She waits as the applause gets loud and then slowly dies down.
“We have some amazing players here, and I can’t wait for you to meet them. If you’ll just divide so they can walk up there, we’ll get this party started.”
The crowd parts, but the rest of us freeze. Clark takes charge and runs through the crowd, giving little kids high-fives on the way up. The rest of us follow, climbing the stairs to the platform.
Are there people from one corner of the field to the other? No, but there are at least four or five hundred, which is a pretty good turnout.
Laney walks down the line, asking us to introduce ourselves. When she holds the microphone in front of me, I make my voice go deeper and say, “Burton from Northern Virginia, and I graduated from Boston University.”
The crowd cheers, and I give them a big smile.
“Let’s give a big hand to our Lancers!” Laney calls out. There’s clapping and whistling, and it’s all surreal. We don’t typically have an overflowing number of fans, so this is a pretty cool experience.
She sends us off the stage, and the large screen behind her lights up.
“We’ve loved seeing all the posts you sent in.
Lacrosse is a team sport, but it needs the fans to keep the momentum high.
We love seeing you get excited about the season.
You’ve visited fields, parks, and watched games.
You’ve worn Lancer colors and recreated our logo.
You’ve shared the pictures with so many people.
As a club with a newer sport to Utah, we thank you for supporting us. ”
The applause is loud, but I can see the buzz of excitement in Laney. For being a small-town farm girl, she’s great at this.
“We want to thank our lacrosse sponsors for donating all the equipment for the kids today. There are tables in the back set up for you to go through and have your child fitted in their gear. The entire package is for you to keep.” She waits for the applause to die down.
“Once everyone has their gear, we’ll split the kids into a few teams for scrimmages.
Then we’ll have our “Challenge-a-Pro” events and announce the winners of a few different categories here from the scavenger hunt.
Enjoy the day, and I’ll be back to share more about our program. ”
There’s a mad dash to line up next to the gear tables, and I can’t help but chuckle. This is an incredible opportunity.
“Thanks for putting this together, Clark.”
“Like you said. I just came up with the idea. This is a hundred times better than I thought it would be.”
“Weren’t we supposed to host a VIP or something?” It was part of the winning package for the intermission game.
Clark shakes his head. “The marketing team decided to shelve that for another event. For this one, they just wanted to get as many people here and enjoying lacrosse as possible, without separating them.”
I nod and search the crowd for Laney, seeing her talking with a group of fans, a wide grin on her face.
She’s something else, someone way better than me, and yet, there’s something between us, a certain chemistry I haven’t felt in a long time. Do I deserve her? Probably not, but I’ll take every moment I can get with her.