After All These Years

Rewrite

Jason and Elizabeth had been friends since the summer before their junior year of high school after she, her twin brother Nicholas, and her family had relocated into town.  He originally became fast friends with Nicholas after they challenged each other to pick up basketball game at their local rec center.  It was a few weeks later when he first met Elizabeth and the moment he laid eyes on her he knew that she was going to be a staple in his future.  Seconds later, she'd grabbed his hand with a wicked smile before tossing him into their pool and just as he came up for air she lifted herself into air and folded into a cannonball next to him drenshing him with water again.  She laughed wickedly as her brother lectured her that she was the reason she didn't have any friends while Jason admired her for youthful spirit and 

Jason was lucky enough to spend most of the summer around her even though his original intention was to hang out with Nicholas.  The more days they spent together lounging by Jason and Elizabeth's family's pool, the more he got to know her and the more comfortable they became around each other.    It didn't take Jason long to realise he had more of a connection with Elizabeth than he did with her brother, and genuinely had more things in common with her.  He found himself only coming over to their house when he knew she would be there and by the time summer ended, Elizabeth and Jason were spending time together without caring if Nicholas was around or not. 

 When football practice started toward the end of summer, it was no surprise that Nicholas quickly became very popular when he was awarded the starting quarterback of the varsity football team.  Elizabeth had asked Nicholas and Jason if she could come watch a few practices because she was bored out of her mind sitting at home and it was too close to the start of the school year for her to try to pick up a summer job.  Jason was originally surprised when Nicholas outright refused her suggestion, demanding she stay away from the field, with the justification that he was trying to get familiar with the plays and with teammates and they didn't need any unnecessary distractions.

Jason was very aware how strikingly beautiful Elizabeth was. Spending the summer around her while she was in a bathing suit left little to the imagination and he found himself captivated by her all the time, but he looked at her differently that most adolescent teenage boys.  She was more than just a pretty face with a womanly figure.   She was the type of girl that you settled down with, brought home to meet your parents, and hoped to eventually marry.   She was, in his mind, the woman ever man should be looking for to wind up with, but the guys on the football team were still very immature and only really cared about superficial and surface level qualities. 

 Nicholas dragged out introducing the entire team to his sister as long as possible, but in his final locker room speech before the beginning of the season, he set expectations and demands with the boys around him.  Nicholas made it abundantly clear to them that Elizabeth was off limits. She was to be respected, and protected, but never romantically approached. 

Of course, Nicholas' demands backfired, making her that much more desirable amongst the group adding on a 'forbidden fruit' temptation.  While the locker room talk  afterword about Elizabeth was pretty standard for boys of their age, Jason was grateful that even though the team talked a lot of game, none of them had the balls to actually pursue her.

 As the fall of their junior year went on, Elizabeth had more and more exposure around the football team, the teenage desire to get her attention faded as Nicholas scrutinized and scolded anyone that even attempted to ask her for coffee.  It was too much work to try to defy Nicholas so it wasn't long before anyone that originally looked at Elizabeth as someone they could date, was only look at her as one of the team, or as if she was a sister of their own.    Elizabeth became such a staple around the team, that their coach had asked her if she wanted a job making sure the boys stayed hydrated on the sidelines and during timeouts and considering he hadn't been able to make any friends outside of the guys on the team, she was happy to oblige.