The Game Plan

25

That night I sat at my desk, looking at the brochure I had picked up on the tour with Brady curled up next to me.

It might not be playing football, but the idea of sports broadcasting sounded interesting. It wouldn't be much different than the conversations I would have with the guys over the pizza around different teams and hot topics in the different leagues. Only now I could have the college degree to allow me to analyze the games and be able to discuss them on a professional level - pizza optional.

And if I couldn't play football again then this would be the next best thing.

My phone rang with another phone call from Nick.

"Britt?" He said, sounding shocked that I had answered.

I took a deep breath before dumping all of my current emotional baggage onto him.

"I am tired, I am sore, and I am sure as hell not in the mood for you to try to explain this. I trusted you. I let you in and told you things that I have never told anyone. I told you about how scared I was to lose football. I thought you understood. And then, you know that you're team is planning to hurt me." At the point I was borderline hysterical, and tried to rein my confidence back in.

"You knew. You knew and you did nothing. A speech in the locker room? Jesus Christ Nick thats a quick warning. You let a game come between us. A game. A stupid game that meant absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. And you lost on top of it. Was it really worth it? Stop calling." I snapped, pulling my phone away and pressing the red end button before he could respond or I could start crying.

I needed to process this whole Nick situation, which I had been avoiding since all week.

I picked up my phone and scrolled through the contacts before I found the one I was looking for.

I waited while the phone rang and the person answered.

"Hey, I need to talk to you about something. Can you pick me up and we can get ice cream?" I asked.

Thirty minutes later Liv pulled into the parking lot of our favorite ice cream shop and turned the car off.

"Ice cream first, then boy talk." She said, helping me out of the car and holding the door open for me.

We ordered our ice cream and she paid before we made our way to a booth off to the side.

"So what is up?" She asked, popping a bite of strawberry ice cream into her mouth.

"Everything is so complicated." I groaned, mimicking her action with my chocolate chip cookie dough.

"Nick knew that some members of his team would be playing dirty." I explained, watching her closely for a reaction. Her facial expression barely changed, just a small shrug.

"Well he can't control them. They aren't puppets." She said.

"But he could have told someone." I argued.

"And said what? Hey Coach, heard through the rumor mill that there was a plot to hurt my girlfriend and I think you should yell at them?" She asked and I shrugged, avoiding her eye contact. It did sound a little ridiculous.

"Plus, I'm sure he heard from someone who heard from someone who heard from someone." She added, pointing a spoon at me.

"Which decreases the validity." I finished, remembering her rule for all drama and rumors.

"I'm just saying." She said, shrugging.

"So tell me about UNC." She said, changing the subject.

"It was great. I met a player who played for UNC before he was hurt." I explained.

"Wow, that's awesome." She said and I nodded.

"Yeah, it was great. He was cool and he just wanted to be able to talk to me. He didn't want me to give up football or anything." I explained.

"So what did you get from the whole thing?" She asked.

"Well, UNC has a sports broadcasting program." I said.

"I never even thought of that!" She said.

"I know. I guess we were all pretty concerned with the here and now." I laughed.

"So you do have a chance at staying in the whole football world." She said.

"I'm not ruling out playing again." I said.

"What?" She asked, surprised. It was the first time I had really brought this up with anyone other than Brady.

"Well the doctor said its not likely, not that it won't happen." I said.

"You have a better chance at being hurt." She said.

"Yeah, I have the same chance when I'm on Luke's boat." I said.

"Well if its what you want, I support you." She said.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah. I also know better than to push you when you have your mind made up." She laughed.

"Oh come on I'm not that bad." I said and she gave me a look that told me she disagreed.

"Come on." She said, finishing up her ice cream and walking back out to the car.

________

Hey you - go to LimitlessOpportunity's page and read An Unlikely Duo. Its one of my favorite books and one of my favorite authors. She gives 100% of her heart to that book and you can't help but fall for those characters. Head on over and give her and the book the love they both deserve.

Also, The Game Plan will be wrapping up shortly which hurts my heart a little bit but all good things must come to an end. Thank you so much for all of your support, so many of you have been faithful readers, voters, and commenters. If someone told me when I wrote the first chapter that this book would be #152 in Teen Fiction I would have laughed out loud. The Game Plan is where it is today because of all of you. If you liked this book or think you would miss me when this ends (right now you're laughing because I know I annoy y'all lols), follow me or keep an eye out for other books I have up my sleeve!