Forever Together

Chapter 5

Tasha returned with breakfast and coffee to find Abby and Jimmy still on facetime.

"You know, I'm not even surprised anymore"

Abby and Jimmy stopped talking and both looked at her before all 3 of them started laughing.

"I do hate to break this up but me and your wife need to get to class." Tasha said while grabbing Abby's arm.

Abby and Jimmy's cheeks instantly heated up, turning red like pasta sauce.

"Oh cmon Tasha! 5 more minutes pleaseeee?" Jimmy whined trying to hide his red cheeks.

"No! She has to get to class and so do you Mr. Garoppolo, you guys can facetime again later and text all day long! Now say goodbye."

"Goodbyeeeee stellina" Jimmy replied with a pout.

"Byeee Jimmyyyy" Abby replied with the same pout.

Tasha just shook her head as she went to grab her backpack and text Jessie.

Abby closed her laptop and leaned back in her chair digesting their early morning conversation before she got up and packed her backpack for her classes.

"Sorry Tasha, I didn't even realize we were on for so long until you came back."

Tasha shook her head with a smile as they were walking out the door thinking of when Jimmy was in Italy with his family and her and Jessie would walk in to find them both asleep on facetime because of the time difference.

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Abby and Tasha walked to find their classes together as the buildings were right next to one another. They said they're goodbyes to each other and made plans to meet back at their dorm for lunch after Abby's meeting with PJ Fleck, the UofM football coach.

Abby's first class was her ethics in sports class. She walked in to the lecture room and saw 20 guys. She kind of stopped right in the doorway realizing that she was one of the few girls pursuing a career in sports. She took a deep breath and walked in replaying Jimmy's speech in her head saying how she was his stellina and nobody could dull her sparkle. As she walked to an open seat, she noticed almost every guy was watching her and taking her in. Her hair, her eyes, her beauty. She knew at least 5 of the guys would hit on her but it wouldn't matter, or so she thought. She took her seat and one of the guys sitting a couple seats down, got up and sat next next to her introducing himself.

"What's a pretty girl like yourself doing with here with a bunch of guys?

"Getting a degree, I see you already have one in sexist comments," she replied taking out her laptop.

"Now sweetheart, don't take it personally, you just don't know wat you've gotten yourself into and I'm trying to help you. Now if you wanted to go out for drinks, I can show you everything you need to know." He replied getting a seductive smirk on his face.

Abby still didn't even know this guy's name and he was already implying sex.

"Oh! Is that all? Well let me see," she said as she opened her laptop and started typing.

He looked at her with with a confused expression. The remints of the smirk still visible. She looked up at him and smiled before replying.

"Oh sorry, I was just searching for when I asked for your opinion. I know perfectly well how the sports world is, I grew up in it. The National Football League to be specific, you may have heard of it. I can answer any question with extreme detail while also dumbing it down so your mouse brain can understand. On another note, you must be new because you would know that women are the future of the sports world, corporate or on the field, and you are just one of the lucky few to have a front row seat to see it happen...?"

"Oh uh Jack."

"Well Jack, I hope you enjoy the view as we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

Jack got up and started to return to his seat."

"Jack?"

He turned around, still a bit shocked from their conversation.

"One last thing, I'm not your sweetheart and don't you forget that."

He nodded and sat back down as his friends all leaned in to get the details of the conversation. He sat there pouting while his friends were laughing thinking she rejected going out with him when it was much more then just that. Abby pulled out her phone to text the group chat of Jimmy, Jessie and Tasha to inform them of her first showdown. As she typed out the story to her eager friends, she knew it was her first but it certainly wasn't going to be her last.

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Abby packed her backpack up after class, checking to see the time 10:35, when she got a text from the group chat wishing her luck for her meeting with PJ Fleck. She texted a quick reply and pulled up the campus map on her phone to find the Athletics Building. Her meeting was at 11am, it was a 10 minute walk so she'd be 15 minutes early. She walked in to the building, looked at the directory and saw the football wing was on the 2nd floor so she took the elevator up. When the doors open she was met with offices on both sides lining the hallway. She walked down the hallway looking at the plaques to find Fleck's office. She should've guessed he'd have the office at the end of the hall. A corner office, it had a door connecting to the big conference room. Next to his office, she saw an empty one, with her name on the plaque. She pushed open the door looking around and taking it all in. The empty floating shelves, the closest, the Gopher decor on the wall, the window overlooking Huntington Bank Stadium. She turned around and saw her desk covered with Gopher gear. Hoodies, crewnecks, t-shirts, hats and beanies, a backpack, Gopher Nike's, pants, shorts, a scarf, gloves, a winter jacket, socks, a duffel bag. She couldn't even get through it all, there was so much. She started sorting the gear when she was interrupted by a knock on the door. She looked up to be greeted by PJ Fleck smiling at her.

"I see you've already found your office and all the gear I left out for you!"

"Oh uh yes hi sir, I'm Abby Steinke."

"PJ please, we're going to be working together for a long time so we might as well be on a first name basis." He replied extending his hand.

"Thank you si- PJ, I mean all of this is incredible and I'm so excited to get started."

"Fantastic, how about we go into my office so we can get into the details then I'll give you the tour and you can get all your gear sorted."

"Sounds good PJ!"

They went into his office and he explained how the season works and what her duties will be as a manager. Practice, game day and away game expectations. He explained how she'll check hotel bookings and flights for away games. Writing press briefs and scripts for the press conferences. She also let him know that she got the internship with the Vikings and how she'll have to work that into her schedule. He said that its no problem and if she can't make it all the time just to shoot him a text. On the tour he showed her around Huntington, where the trainers room is, the locker room, the practice field, the film rooms, the equipment rooms. When she got back to her office, she sorted her gear, hung up some of the extras in her closet in case she ever needed it. She sat down at her desk and started reviewing the roster and the injury list, writing down notes to clarify with the athletic trainer so she could add it to the briefs for after practice. After that she closed her laptop, grabbed her backpack and her new duffel. Before she shut the lights off, she looked around her new office excited for her new adventure and where it was gonna take her.