Chapter 21 Lucas
Lucas
The team bus sped through the darkness as the post-game energy was lit. Another win was under our belts. We had five games left before the postseason, and we still had a chance at a bowl game or conference championship.
“Man, Lucas,” Ajax shouted from the front. “You were on fire tonight. What the hell has gotten into you?”
“A beautiful goddess,” Erik piped up.
“He’s glowing” came from our backup wide receiver, Cane.
I sat in the back, reading Mazzie’s text.
Mazzie
I hope you guys won. I’ve been thinking about you as I bust my butt at my new job. The cover band they had tonight sold the place out, and the restaurant was packed. Anywho, I just wanted to say I love you.
I typed out a text.
We did win by two touchdowns. The team is flying high. We’re on our way home. I would love to see you later. Call me when you get a break. Also, do you need a ride home? We should be rolling into Lakemont around ten p.m. Love you, Midnight.
Then I added four heart emojis.
It had been four days since we confessed our true feelings, and it still didn’t feel real.
Four days since she’d looked at me with those sultry green-blue eyes and said the words I’d been too afraid to hope for.
I felt as though being in love with Mazzie was like discovering a new language.
Everything was different now. The way she looked at me when she thought I wasn’t watching.
How her guard dropped just enough to let me see the girl beneath that armor she wore.
I was still walking around in a daze, half convinced I’d dreamed the whole thing.
Mazzie
Congratulations on the win! I’m so proud of you. Don’t worry about a ride. Bailey is picking me up. Also, I need to pass on staying the night with you. I want to be home when Kaylee wakes in the morning. We’re making pancakes for breakfast. Maybe tomorrow night. I’ll call when I’m settled at home.
Ajax peeked over the seat in front of me.
“Dude, I’ve been meaning to tell you. As dopey of a grin you’ve been wearing, I see the same expression on Mazzie when she walks into Biochemistry.
You two are good for each other. Actually, she’s been good for your game.
You played like a man possessed today. Don’t mess it up. ”
Whatever dopey grin he was talking about, I was sure I was wearing it now, knowing Mazzie was as happy as me. “I don’t plan to.”
I set my phone in my lap, about to close my eyes for a bit, when Ryker dropped into the seat beside me.
“Great game, huh?” He kicked out his long legs into the aisle.
“For sure. I’m walking on air. You?”
“There’s nothing like winning, but we can’t get too cocky.”
I wasn’t surprised my best friend was tempering his excitement. He concentrated on one game at a time.
“The guys are right. You are glowing. That grin on your face says it all. Has Josh made any more appearances?”
“No.” I’d filled Ryker in on how Josh had shown up at Mazzie’s house. “I could pay him a visit on his family farm in Cedar Ridge, but that would only be trouble.”
“For sure,” Ryker said. “Running into him on campus is one thing. Showing up on his turf would not go well.”
I had to trust that Mazzie was right that Josh wouldn’t do anything worse than grab her the way he had at the casino.
“How do you feel now that you’ve told her you love her?” Ryker asked. “The guys are right. Your performance tonight was better than I’d ever seen you on the field.”
“Then that says it all.” I poked him with my elbow.
“Women like her and Haven don’t come around twice.”
He was spot-on. I’d hooked up with a lot of women over the last three years, and some only wanted a football player on their arm and a future with an NFL player.
Others were having fun like me. But not one of them stopped me in my tracks like Mazzie did.
None of them made my heart beat faster, my stomach twist, or my knees shake the way she could when she looked at me, full of all that fierce fire and gentleness.
Coach Chapman rustled his way down the aisle toward us then swung his dark gaze from Ryker to me. “I heard from one of the scouts who was at the homecoming game last week. The one from the Portland Pioneers. He thought you both played well and have the skills the Pioneers are looking for.”
My eyes bugged out as Ryker’s jaw came unhinged.
The Portland Pioneers were playing decently, but word in the media was that their quarterback might be traded, which boded well for Ryker.
“Don’t know much more than that,” Coach said. “I wanted you to know because you’ve been asking.”
It was against the rules for a scout to approach us during the season, so any communication had to go through Coach, and even then the feedback was high-level and nothing that would suggest we would be shoe-ins to get invites to the NFL Scouting Combine or get drafted after our season ended.
“Thanks,” Ryker and I said in unison.
Coach returned to the front of the bus.
“Things are working out for us.” Happiness oozed off Ryker. “Although…” His voice dropped. “Sometimes I think about my dad. His dream was for me to play in the NFL. And football is all I ever wanted…”
“But?” I would kick his ass if he said he wasn’t interested anymore in playing in the NFL. The dude had been born with a damn football in his hands.
He shrugged. “Football isn’t the same without my dad here, and the game isn’t the only thing that matters anymore. I want a family, Lucas.”
He was gutting me. Aside from his aunt and her husband, Franklin, who was a father figure in Ryker’s life, Ryker had no other close family to speak of.
“Don’t you think about your future, a family of your own?” He yawned.
Nerves rattled my laugh. “But you were so excited when Coach told us about the scouts. What happened since then?”
“I see my aunt’s belly and the baby she’s about to have. Forget I said anything. I’m just talking.”
I swallowed the dryness in my throat. The idea of having a child freaked me out. “Haven is a sophomore, man. I thought you two decided you would wait until she graduated and you had a couple of years under your belt in the NFL?”
“We did, and that’s still the plan. Look, I’m just tired,” he said.
I toyed with my phone. “I would love a family one day. I’m not sure I would make a great dad.” Even before my father had gone to prison, he wasn’t dad of the year.
“You will be a great parent one day.” Ryker lightly nudged me. “Don’t think otherwise.”
“Parenting isn’t in my immediate future. I just told the girl of my dreams I love her. Talking about a family will definitely scare her away.”
We both laughed.
Then he jumped into the empty seat on the other side of the aisle. “I’m going to see if I can sleep the rest of the way.”
I popped my earbuds in, opened Spotify, and scrolled through my list until I found Kelsey Hart and his song “Crazy ’Bout You.” His lyrics hit me square in the chest and reminded me of how Mazzie made me feel.
I popped my head back and closed my eyes as the song started. I listened as Kelsey crooned about how it wasn’t easy letting go of your old self.
The old me had been resolute about not taking a chance on love again, but Mazzie had slipped past every defense I’d built since Natalia.
Every wall I’d carefully constructed. The night of the Wolf Howl, I’d thought my heart had jumped out of my chest when her steel coat of armor melted, and she’d stopped lying to herself about how much she needed me.
Best night of my life, aside from when she’d confessed that she loved me.
My phone buzzed with a text, and at the same time, the bus bounced slowly over a set of railroad tracks, jarring me out of stupor as my cell slid off my lap onto the seat next to me.
I fumbled to retrieve it, hoping the text was from Mazzie. My excitement fizzled out when I saw my mother’s name.
Mom
Did the team win today? Also, I know it’s last minute, but I want you and Mazzie to come over for Sunday dinner tomorrow. I would like to meet her.
We won. It was a great game. As far as dinner, I’ll have to ask her.
I didn’t think Mazzie was ready for the third degree from my mom. But I guessed it was now or never because if I knew my mom, she wasn’t about to let up until she met the girl who’d stolen my heart.