It was already lunchtime after his run with Ryan, but his heart is still beating like he just finished a marathon.
"Hey, bro, are you okay?" Mark asks, concerned. Jake focuses his eyes again, snapping out of his daze.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Jake replies abruptly.
"Wait, I recognize that look," Evan says with a smile. "Who is it this time?"
"What? Who? What are you trying to say?"
"You know what I mean, Jake. You always get like this when you're crushing on someone. Spit it out."
"Evan!" Mark exclaims, his eyes lighting up. "We should know who it is!"
"Who then?" Evan asks. Jake rolls his eyes as he watches them speculate.
"Ryan! Ryan Adams! We've seen them talking to each other." His friends know him too well...
"Ok, maybe," he replies.
"Ha! I knew it!" Mark exclaims. Evan smiles just as broadly.
"Shut up," Jake says with another eye roll.
The lunch bell rings and Jake makes his way back to class. The school day drones on and on, taking forever to finish. Eventually, the bell, his saving grace, rung and he left last period to go to the locker room. He changes into his uniform, turning to a corner to try to avoid any eyes. Once everyone is ready, the team gathers around the coach in the middle of the field. They're all in their scrimmage uniforms when coach begins talking.
"It's Thursday, team," he starts. "You know what that means?" The team looks around at each other.
"Uh, it's game day tomorrow?" a stray voice murmurs.
"That's right! It's game day tomorrow!" The team smiles at his enthusiasm and let out a few week cheers. "What was that? Come on, get excited!"
The team lets out loud cheers and hollers. "That's right! Now break into your teams and get ready to scrimmage!"
They break out of the circle and into teams. Jake gets into the o-line in front of Ryan. The ball gets hiked and Ryan catches it, running back to get out of the way of the defense. Jake runs out into the open yards away and He turns and dodges again before throwing the ball down the field to Jake. Jake, gladly, catches it, and runs down the field, gaining eleven yards before he gets tackled.
They scrimmage for the rest of practice, but the other team ends up winning. Though they didn't have all the starting players, they had more than Ryan and Jake's team did.
The boys went into the locker rooms and showered and changed. After they finished, Ryan walked up to Jake. His golden hair was sticking up from being towel-dried, but it was still damp. Jake's dusty brown was pressed tightly to his head, so he quickly ran his fingers through it to unplaster it.
"Hey, great job out there, Jake."
"Thanks Ryan, but you honestly carried the team," Jake replied with a laugh.
"Well, maybe I need to do more weightlifting because apparently my carrying needs work since we lost anyway."
"Oh shut up, Ryan. You know full and well that you're one of the best high school quarterbacks out there."
"If that's true, then I guess you must be pretty darn close to the best wide receiver. I'd have to say Tyler Lockett's a bit better than you, though. Sorry," Ryan responds with a smirk.
"Hey, I said high school, not professional," Jake retorts. He's smiling all the same, though. "Also," Jake cuts back in, "there are tons of better wide receivers than Tyler Lockett. The Seahawks? Seriously? We live in Atlanta for crying out loud!"
"Well, I can't help it that I'm from Seattle. Lockett definitely is the best wide receiver ever, no matter how good you get. There is no changing my mind on that."
Ryan and Jake walk out of the locker room together bantering, hair still wet and spirits high. When they reach the parking lot, Jake curses beneath his breath. "Ugh, my dad isn't here. This is why I've been trying to convince him to help me buy a car. I told him I could pay for most of it, I just need a little help!" Ryan laughs.
"Well, I can give you a ride. Follow me." Ryan led him to a blue car parked beneath a tree. "Okay, Jake. Hop in." He obeyed and buckled himself in, and soon the car started.
"In all seriousness, though, Jake," Ryan says, "you really are an extremely talented wide reciever. And if Mason feels the need to make fun of you for dancing, I'm sure you must be pretty good at that too." Jake feels a heat flushing on his cheeks and another swarm of butterflies in his stomach.
"Thank you, Ryan." They sit in silence, not knowing what exactly to say.
"Hey, do you want some music?"
"Yeah, sure," Jake replies. When they reach a light, Ryan quickly grabs his phone and searches for a song with a smirk. When he presses play, Jake recognizes the song almost instantly: it's none other than Zendaya's Replay. Jakes smiles. He grew up listening to this when he was younger (because it was one of Tom's best friend's songs of course) and he knew it by heart. After Replay finishes, they listen to a few more of Zendaya's songs and before they know it they're at Jake's house. Ryan pulls into Jake's driveway and parks.
"Hey Ryan, do you want to come in? Our house is a bit chaotic right now since Big Jake and Z and Haz and Lily are all still here, but I'm sure they'd be happy to meet you."
"If you're sure it's ok, I'd love to."
Jake grins broadly. "Of course it is! Let's go!" Ryan turns off the car and follows Jake up to the front door and slides in the key, opening the door with a click. "Hey, Mom, Dad, I'm home!" The commotion in the family room makes its way towards the door, and soon seven pairs of prying eyes are set on the two juniors.
"Who's this, Jake?" Tom asks with a smile.
"This is Ryan. He's the quarterback, remember?"
"Oh, right. The legendary quarterback we've heard so much about?" Big Jake says.
"The one and only," Ryan replies.
"Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Zendaya."
"I know who you are," Ryan says with a laugh, a blush spreading on his cheeks, uncommon for the popular quarterback.
"Of course you know her, but do you know me?" Haz cuts in.
"You're Mr. Holland's friend, right? Harrison Osterfield?"
"Yeah, but you can call me Haz."
"And just call me Tom," Tom cuts in.
"Yes, sir," Ryan says. Jake looks back at him and sees the common look almost all of his friends have when first meeting his father and friends; the look of shock and joy.
"I'm Lily, Haz's wife," Lily cuts in, practically beaming.
"And I'm Jake's mom, Emma." Ryan shakes both of their hands.
"Well, come on in, Ryan. We're glad to have you. Would you like to come in? We were about to play some Monopoly." Tom glances towards Emma and they make eye contact, beginning to laugh.
Hannah looks at Tom and pokes his side. "Daddy," she whines, "you didn't let me introduce myself."
Tom looks down, surprised. "Oh, you're right. Introduce yourself, Hannah."
"Well it's less fun now that you've said my name," she says with an eye roll. Tom watches her walk away, a dumbfounded expression on his face, before looking back up at Ryan.
"Well, are you coming?" Ryan follows the group inside, and Jake smiles happily at the mindless chatter he's making with Haz and Big Jake. Maybe his crush on Ryan would turn out fine; I mean, he was fitting in perfectly with his family, anyway.
YOU ARE READING
Just Me
Fanfiction*The sequel of Meeting You* Jake Holland is the son of none other than Tom Holland and his wife, Emma. He was the wide receiver for the football team and a sophmore and was amazing, just like he is at almost everything he tries. He loves his family...
