Chapter 53
Harper
Jossand I are sitting at the game, with seats only two rows back from the field, deep in the thick of all the fan action. Everyone around us is dressed up in costumes and paint, waving flags, and yelling at the top of their lungs. The team is struggling today, but you wouldn’t know it by the way the crowd is still cheering them on.
The guys are just not in sync when they play. The normal plays they usually make look effortless, are turning into a complete mess on the field. Defensive holding, offsides, and unnecessary roughness calls have penalty yards mounting against them, and they’re backed up against their own end zone again and again. St. George, Lawton, and Westfield are playing their hearts out on the field, and Prescott and the rest of the line have been managing to hold the other team’s defense. But we’re struggling to keep their offense off the field.
“I don’t know a lot about football, but I don’t think this is good news.” Joss nods to the score.
“Not really, no.” They’ve got time. Hopefully, the coaches have something inspiring to say.
By the timehalftime rolls around the entire defense looks like they might keel over from heat and frustration, and when I spot Alex, I don’t think. I just run down to where they’re entering the tunnel. The group of fans standing there are a mix of cheers and insults. Some people encouraging them for the next half and some people booing them for their performance so far. A few fans shout Xavier’s name, and one waves a sign that says “XXL”.
“Alex!” I yell out his name as loud as I can, and the woman next to me who’s also wearing his jersey gives me a strained look.
“No one calls him that.” She gives me a roll of her eyes.
“Yeah? Well I do.” I look back just as he’s closing in on the tunnel. “Alex!” I yell his name one more time, and he finally looks up. His eyes lock on mine, something flickering in them. I pull the chain off my neck and dangle it out over the edge.
He walks over and looks up at me. “You came.” I can read the words on his lips more than I can hear them because the fans are shouting for his attention now.
“You need to put this back on,” I shout over the cheering.
He reaches a gloved hand up and takes it from me, his eyes meeting mine, frustration from the game still in them before he lifts it over his head, kisses it, and tucks it under his jersey.
I smile at him. “Go kick some ass!”
He gives me half a smile and nods before he walks back with the rest of the team into the tunnel, and I feel the racing of my heart start to steady a little.
“How do you know him?” The woman next to me has changed her tone.
I don’t exactly know how to answer that, so I go for the next best thing.
“He’s mine.” I shrug, and then go back to sitting next to Joss.
“So petty some of these women.” She shakes her head.
“I mean… I get it. Look at him. I’d be jealous over him too if he wasn’t mine. Have you seen how feral they get over your guy?”
Joss had agreed to come to the game with me and sit in the stands. Since she’s not a girlfriend she’s really not allowed up in the girlfriend and wives box, and I enjoy being down in the action anyway. We decided it’d be a good opportunity to bond.
“He’s not my guy. But yes, I know. They were feral over him in college. All that corn they fed him growing up in Nebraska. Dangerous. Someone should really look into it.”
I laugh and smile at her.
“Any progress on getting him to do the photos?”
“We came to an agreement.”
“Oh yeah?” I raise my brows in question.
“Let’s just say it involved personal sacrifice but one I’m willing to make for the cause.”
“Painful?” I ask, smirking.
She shrugs. “I like pain. It’s these games that are going to be the death of me.”
“Let’s get you a beer and a pretzel. That usually helps.”
“Deal.”
When they get backon the field after halftime, it’s like they’re a different team. Whatever the coaches said to them during the break must have worked, and the defensive coordinators seemed like they made enough adjustments that their offense is starting to struggle against us. Jones doesn’t have nearly the same amount of time to throw, and their running back is struggling to find gaps in the line to run. The whole stadium is back into the game now, screaming at the top of their lungs at every snap.
On the next play the quarterback forces a throw on a third down, aiming for the end zone, and one of the guys gets a hand on it, batting it into the air, and it lands in Alex’s hands. He tucks it and runs like his life depends on it, glancing behind him and up at the screen to see the guys who are chasing him. The whole stadium is on their feet screaming, and he’s headed for the end zone I’m sitting in. I’m in the aisle and scurrying down the stairs before I know what I’m doing, screaming his name at the top of my lungs.
There’s another player on his heels and he’s getting closer by the second, but Alex manages to dodge him, and he trips and falls. The crowd’s all on their feet, a dozen more people joining me on the wall now that Alex has a wide open twenty yards to the end zone. People rush down from their seats, screaming out his name as he runs it in easily.
The refs signal the touchdown, and the boards light up with “Pick Six”. The fans are screaming “Xavier” and “XXL” at the top of their lungs and I yell along with them, jumping up and down. He tucks the ball under his arm and looks up at the seats. He pulls the chain out, kissing the medallion, and I realize he’s looking for me.
“Alex!” I scream as loud as I can, and his eyes find me a second later.
He runs at the wall and jumps it, landing in front of me with the help of a couple of fans. He hands the ball to me and rips off his helmet.
“I love you, Saint.” The words are hard to hear, coming out like whispers between gasping breaths as he tries to get oxygen back in his lungs.
“I love you too,” I confess.
Then he presses his lips to mine, and the crowd gets impossibly louder. The rest of his defense has gathered beneath him hollering and shouting their approval before he tears his lips away from mine. Winking at me before he launches off the side and they catch him like it’s a stage dive, taking off running across the field toward their bench.
“Jesus Christ he’s getting fined for that.” A guy next to me laughs as they run off.
“Yeah, but it was worth it.” I turn around and hold up the ball and another cheer echoes through the crowd around me. Several women in front of me scream and raise their beers.
“Girl, let me know if he has a brother or a friend!” one of them yells at me as I run back to my seat, and I grin at Joss.
“My god that man is obsessed with you.”
“I’m obsessed with him, so it’s a fair trade.”
We watch as Gabe kicks the extra point and cheer as the Phantom retake the lead. Joss even starts to get into the game a little, yelling a few times and even jumping once when Colton throws a touchdown, at least until she catches me watching. When they win, the stadium goes so wild you’d think it was a playoff game and the two of us lean over the railing cheering for the guys as they shake hands with the other team and then watch as they do their on-field postgame interviews.