FALLING in love

Chapter 33 - Did someone say "party"?

Nathan

"Soooo.... What's the point of this game? I mean if you're just playing yourselves, then why the hell do I have to sit through 3 hours of football?"

That's the first thing Angie asked me the minute we met up at the coffee shop on campus, right after Kacie had convinced her to go to our Spring Game. She's frowning like a toddler being all kinds of cute. All that's missing is her stomping the ground.

"Well. It's not really an important game in terms of winning or losing. There's nothing at stake in terms of placing or anything like that. We're just playing ourselfs, and scores don't matter at all. I've heard of some other teams' scores being as high as 112 points to 21 after the final whistle, which is really unrealistic in any real game," I answer. But I can see my answer isn't cutting it, as Angie's face scrunches up even more.

"But it's still a big effing deal," I quickly continue. "Both for us and our fans. It's the first introduction the fans get to the current team and their first chance of the season, to sit in our stadium and watch us play. It's a highly anticipated game for our fans, and it's also one of our most watched games. All seats are filled and I can't wait to step out on that field." She looks at me like I'm a complete idiot. She doesn't give a flying hoot that I play football, or that I'm a big deal around campus. In fact it's one of the things she dislikes the most. She's always annoyed when people come up to us for no other reason than to fawn over us and congratulate us. It's one of the reasons I like hanging out with her so much. It's quite freeing actually. I don't have to be a character with her or our friends. I can just be me. There's so much more to me than football and she sees that, and appreciates all the other aspects of me way more. I can just be like any other guy. And that's great when most times I have to be that guy. The leader and the hero of other people's lives.

"Huh! I still don't get it. Why even play if it doesn't matter?" she huffs.

"The game shows the coaches what plays work, what needs to be tweaked or changed, what players show promise and which ones don't. You need to play well, or you might see yourself replaced when the season actually starts. So, despite it being a seemingly unimportant game, the stakes are high."

"So if you do bad you're off the team?" she says, sounding indignant on my behalf.

"It would take a lot to get kicked off the team." I laugh. "But I won't be QB1 next season if I don't perform to the best of my abilities."

"But why do I have to gooooooo?" she whines, still clearly not sold on the idea.

"Because Kacie asked and you said yes?" I try, but I can see it's not gonna hold up. "Because it would mean a lot to me and the guys," I smile.

She stops and looks up at me as if to determine whether or not I'm lying. I'm not. Don't get me wrong, I'm buzzing! But I'm also nervous as hell. It's not only an important game for the fans but it's an important game for the coaches, players and overall organization. But I don't want to tell her that. But it must be written on my face 'cause she asks. "Why would it matter if I was there? Or any of us was?"

"Because there's a lot at stake for me. For us. H, Luke and I. It would be great to have a friendly face in the crowd."

"But you just said it was all fans."

"Not everybody in the crowd wants me to lead the team. Most fans don't like that I've taken the QB1 spot from Paul Stroud. He's the senior, and most feel that it's only right that he plays in his final season as QB1".

"Huh! It sounds to me like you need me there to put a hex on all the effing football eejit fans that don't want you to play. You're far better than Paul Stroud, at least that's what Kaice says. And you're far better looking, that's what everybody says," she smiles.