More Than A Game

Chapter 20

The next couple of weeks went by pretty fast. The telephone became repetitive with constant ringing from coaching officials checking in about Brayden's progress, the interview I done with Travis gained me high praises from many of my lecturers and most of my time was spent with Chad.

This afternoon, I agreed with Chad to meet him at Adelaide Oval, who of course was a little devastated since football was over. Ever since they were eliminated out of the preliminary finals after losing to North Melbourne, Chad was shattered to miss out on the chance to play in the grand finale but made a promise to himself that he'd train harder and help his team out more next year.

"Babe, you don't need to keep beating yourself up about it. You and the boys done amazing, it's sad that the season is now over for you but you never know, there's always next year to blast the other teams right out of the water." I would always say to him. In hearing this, he would smile and kiss me on the head just like sweetheart that he was.

Waiting near the front entrance, I suddenly saw Chad marching out the doors as he made his way towards me. Dropping his black gym bag on the ground, he ran fowards and clasped his hands against my torso and began to slowly lift me up and bought me close to his lips, gently spinning me around. Reaching onto his lips, he held me up for several moments before settling me onto the ground.

I removed my lips off his and looked into his eyes, flashing a bright smile, watching him flash one back.

"So, how was it saying goodbye this season Chad and the rest of the Port boys?"

"You know, it was hard for me, but not as hard resisting the urge to do this to a beautiful princess." he said as he leant in for another kiss. I didn't realize my eyes were closed until the cool breeze blew against my skin. Slowly, I opened my eyes and saw Ollie awkwardly walking away from us from behind Chad's head. Chad noticed me, looking rather confused before suddenly turning around, calling over Ollie.

Well, looks like this is going to be interesting, I thought to myself as Ollie walked over to Chad and did his best to avoid me.

"Hey buddy. You excited for the end of preseason? So many exciting things happening in the next few weeks."

"Yeah, I'm actually excited to spend time with my beautiful girl over here. Anyway, how are you going with your post season plans? I bet you have all the ladies' lining up."

"Nope. Not much going on for me. I'm just going to chill, probably see the family and spend time with a very special lady." The moment he responded, I could feel my cheeks getting warmer. Chad was obviously oblivious to my reaction as he just laughed and wished him luck as he made his way in the opposite direction. It had almost been a two weeks since I last had my kiss with Ollie (and of course had those reoccurring nightmares) and already he was treating me like a stranger.

"Where were we Carmen? Oh yeah, that's right. We should take a walk, there's something I need to tell you." He added with a cheeky wink as I stared at him with confusion. He picked up his gym bag, both following the path leading into the park, as we became caught in a sincere conversation about our favorite actresses.

During our conversation I couldn't help wonder about Ollie's ignorance towards me and who this special girl was. I could feel my stomach twisting in knots as I begun thinking about Poppy and her smug smile as she devoured his touch whilst slowly doing more than a friendly kiss. I know I shouldn't really care but there was something about that equation that made my heart slow down. Chad's soothing tone bought me back to reality as his heart melting brown eyes stared back at me rather innocently.

"As much as I was enjoying our conversation on how bad*ss Jennifer Lawrence was in Mockingjay, there's something I've been meaning to ask you Carmen. I know we've only known each other for several months now and it seems a little inconvenient but since the AFL season is coming to a rapid end, The Brownlows are coming up soon at Crown. I've been wondering who to take with me for a while and decided that I'm going to need a princess to guide me across the red carpet. So, what do you say? I know it's a lot to take in and I understand if you say no, but it's been a long dream of mine to take lucky lady to the biggest night of football."