Her Offensive Line

Chapter 2

 The next morning Katie woke to the murmur of voices in the kitchen outside her bedroom door. She snuggled closer to the body beside her and tried to tune out the sounds. After the pull-up contest the previous night she had been overwhelmed by her brother's teammates.

Most had come up to high-five her or slap her on the back in congratulations. Some had thought nothing of pulling her into a hug and off her feet. These guys who spent so much time in the gym seemed to find it endlessly amusing to be able to lift her up as though she weighed nothing.

Katie had found their familiarity disconcerting and was overwhelmed by the way they welcomed her into their exclusive circle. After being picked up for the third time, she grabbed Tessa, ducked away from the crowd, and went in search of Brady. She was thankful to find him quickly and was relieved it didn't take much convincing to get him to walk her and Tessa back to the Hillside apartment complex where he rented an apartment on the floor above them.

To Katie's surprise, Danny, Cooper, and Nick walked back with them, intent on crashing at Brady's place.

As the group had crowded into the Hillside building's elevator, Katie's phone had chimed with an incoming text message.

How was your night? Sleepover??

Just getting in. My place?

Sure... see ya in 10

The boys had continued up to the fourth floor as Katie and Tessa had made their way to apartment 309—the 3-bedroom they shared with Casey, who was on the gymnastics team at Carson. Katie worked out in the gym, but as an elite gymnast who had gone professional, she wasn't eligible to compete.

Tessa had whispered a soft "goodnight" and padded off to bed. After changing into her pajamas, Katie had waited for her visitor. A soft knock sounded on the door and she'd swung it open with a gleeful smile. She'd squealed a bit when she'd been wrapped up into a tight bear hug, followed by a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

After being somewhat manhandled by strangers just an hour before, she reveled in the familiar feel and smell of Cole Maddox. He had been her best friend for the past two years and had seen her through some of the toughest days she'd ever experienced. He'd been a Godsend when she'd felt helpless and alone. Aside from her family, he was one of the few people she knew and socialized with who wasn't part of the elite gymnastics community.

After depositing Katie firmly back on her feet, Cole had swept her into the kitchen.

"Tell me about your night," he'd said as he started rifling through her refrigerator.

"Tessa and I went to a party with Brady at the Football House. It was okay. Not a lot of people. I thought it would be a huge rager since they won today."

Cole back out of the refrigerator and held of a takeout container full of vegetable lo mein. "Can I eat this?"

"Uh, yeah. I think it was Casey's but she put it up for for dibs yesterday.

"So you went to the Football House and beat their asses in a pull up contest?"

"How do you know about that?"

"Twitter."

Katie shook her head, both at his response and his offer of a forkful of noodles.

"I don't think I'm on Twitter anymore. I haven't been since, you know."

Cole shook his head at her and stuffed the lo mein into his mouth. He did know. Katie had gone dormant on social media just a few months before they'd met. "You don't have to be on Twitter to be on Twitter" he said around his mouthful of food.