What I Wish You Knew | ꪜ

Chapter Forty Five

45. One Step Forward.

Parker's POV

Football has never been just any sport for me. It wasn't an extracurricular activity, nor something I did to kill time. It's my future, it's what I always imagined myself doing for the rest of my life since I was four.

At night when there was a heavy downpour of rain outside, my grandma would cook her famous chilli bean soup. My uncle, mom and I would all curl up under a duvet as we watched re-runs of the football game. At the time, my family were hardcore Uva fans but I never had favouritism based on teams but rather player for player.

Tom Brady was my idol, of course, that's no surprise there. I can shamelessly say 90% of my room was Tom Brady themed down to my comforters, action figures, posters, clothes. . .any and everything I could get my hands on. Although I've passed that stage of fangirling I'll never forget my inspiration until I rise to the top.

That's why I was so hell-bent on defying my father when he insisted that I be the heir of his business. I don't see myself sitting in a board room as the CEO of a company I have no passion for running. I'll just grow to despise him and given that my feelings towards him are already complicated, I don't think this will do much in benefiting the 'forgive your father' cause.

The slightly damp grass beneath my feet crushed under my heavy weight as I skidded to a stop. My eyes had already caught sight of the ball propelling towards me and I quickly outstretched my hands, catching it with a firm grip. Within that split second my feet kicked off the ground as I sped across the field, gripping the ball to my chest like my life depended on it.

My wide receiver was nowhere in sight when he should have been. This was our last chance at scoring a point to win the finals. We were head-on, 30 to 28 and with only one down to go, the game was ours. I feared this would happen; they attacked all the reliable players, leaving me with the weight on my shoulder.

I didn't usually score touchdowns, that was mostly Milton's thing as the runningback but this was my chance to bring us to victory once again. From my peripheral view, I could see someone barrelling towards me but with the threat of throwing this game, none of the players would let that happen.

As quickly as he came into view he was tackled, giving me the opportunity to sprint across the field. The timer ticked down to 20, then 19, 18. Adrenaline rushed through my veins and I propelled across the field, dodging hands that jutted out towards me. The loud thumps of bodies slumping against the ground went on deaf ears.

The loud cheers from the frantic crowd had overpowered any other sound within ears shot and somehow knowing one of those voices belonged to Hayley made me smile. The goal line came into view, just inches away from me as the clock ticked down to 12, then 11.

With as much momentum as I could muster up, I pushed my feet off the ground and shot forward, my hands outstretched, barely over the goal line until something hard collided into me. With the heavy weight of a possibly 200-pound asshole, I went crashing into the ground, my grip on the ball never loosening.

The timer went off, the field suddenly went into a state of deafening silence. I listened as shoes scruffled against the grass and the heavy body which was once weighing me down suddenly released as he was shoved off of me. When my head rose from the ground and the dreading silence finally fell upon me it hadn't lasted a second.

The crowd went wild; before I could even comprehend what was happening I was hoisted off the ground, the ball was no longer in my hand but instead, it sat behind the goal line. When it finally dawned on me what just happened I couldn't contain the animalistic scream that left my lips as I burst into a state of excitement.