Forward

Sneak

Jordan and Simone greeted Olivia by the entrance of the stadium before she was supposed to report to the cheerleaders' locker room. Seeing them from a distance made Olivia nervous. It had been awhile since she last saw them in person and suddenly she felt a little too seen. It was one thing to speak over FaceTime but here they were in the flesh.

"Liv," Simone sang, throwing her arms around Olivia's neck while wrapping her legs around her waist.

"Hi, Simone. It's good to see you too," Olivia grunted, trying to keep herself from falling over.

"Hey, sis," Jordan pulled his twin sister in for a tight hug. He hung on to her for a few seconds longer before letting her go. When he pulled away, he got a good look at her. She seemed healthy and that was the most important thing to him. "A cheerleader huh?"

"I can't wait to see this," Simone added, taking in Olivia's poms. "You really let those guys toss you in the air?"

Olivia nodded and laughed, "It's actually pretty fun. My partner is an ex-football player so I probably feel like a feather to him."

"Will I embarrass you if I stand up and dance," Jordan began dancing, forcing Simone and Olivia to cover their eyes.  He still didn't have a shy bone in his body and didn't care if the people walking by stared at him.

"Please, don't. Simone, make sure my brother stays in his seat. I don't need to look up and see that happening," Olivia cringed jokingly. "The parents haven't made it, yet? Where's Coop and Patience?"

"They went to breakfast so they're running behind. They'll be sitting with us too. Coop and Patience may not make it in time. Their flight got delayed from Texas."Jordan added, giving his sister another hug. "You better go get ready and we'll see you after the game?"

"Yep. I love you," Olivia shared one more hug and trotted off to the locker rooms. On the way, her phone buzzed with two messages from Spencer.

Spencer: Moms is cooking dinner at my place tonight. You can drop by if you're free.

Spencer: Or we can hang out afterwards... to keep things on the low so you don't get in trouble.

The latter was sounding very appealing and when Spencer added an upside down smiley face emoji, Olivia had already made her choice.

Olivia: Let's decide after the game. Good luck!

Let the games begin.
————
The first time stepping out of that tunnel was exhilarating for Spencer and Olivia. She had never danced in front of a crowd that large. Ravens fans packed the house for the season opener and were already riled up before the game.

The cheerleaders were split into groups and placed at different corners of the stadium. Olivia could see her family sitting behind the Ravens bench and suddenly the nerves came back. It was almost her groups' turn to rotate to that side of the field. Why were her nerves this bad? This was family.

The first quarter ended while Olivia's group made their way around the sideline. The Bakers stood up when they saw Olivia rounding the corner, shaking her poms and waving to the crowd.

"That's my baby girl," Billy called out, dancing to the music playing over the stadium sound system. Jordan stood up next to his father and copied the same corny movements. Olivia waved to them, her eyes glazing over with tears. They were embarrassing, but she had to admit that she missed that. Billy and Jordan never left her dance recitals without one embarrassing moment. Now was no different.

After halftime, the game was tied but the Ravens were mid-field. Lamar Jackson had been doing most of the running and wasn't connecting with Spencer. They were still building chemistry and it just wasn't 'on' this game. Spencer caught a pass for about ten yards before running out of bounds and almost running into Olivia who was attempting to move away from the collision.