Big Shot | ✓

39 | four best teams

I didn't believe in the jinx. It was perhaps one of the more rational things I gleaned from my older sister Amy. When I'd be watching a game at home, and some boneheaded announcer would say something like this kicker hasn't missed a field goal from this yardage in 35 games, Beth would chime in and go, "Well, now he just jinxed him."

Amy would shake her head and reply, "Nobody has that kind of power. You think if that guy did, he'd be sitting there announcing football games?"

And she had a point. If any mortal had the power of the jinx, they'd be off the grid, undetectable, working in secret.

But after posting my final article on Reid, essentially touting him and Clemson as the undisputed best with basically a guaranteed spot in the playoffs, the worst possible thing could have happened. I jinxed them. That whole curse thing that Reid had gone on about...I evoked it. Taunted it. Tested its power.

I swallowed down the slimy bile building in my throat as Reid took a seat at the press table next to Coach Riley. He'd found time to quickly shower before the press conference, his hair still wet and the gash on his chin hastily bandaged up. There were turf burn abrasions all over his hands and forearms. He was a literal embodiment of how the ACC Championship game went for the team - absolute shit.

"I want to start with you Coach Riley," one of the journalists at the front began. "What do you think went wrong for you in this game?"

"Oh, everything," he answered without hesitation. Reid tensed up beside him. "We weren't focused, not for one moment of that game, and that's where everything else falls apart."

When big upsets happen in college football, most of the time analysts attribute the loss to something called looking ahead. If a team is playing a "cupcake game" followed by a game against a tough opponent, it's not that uncommon for the team to fall into the trap of looking ahead - as in, too focused on the tough team in the future that they lose focus playing the easy team. That's how a lot of upsets happen. That's probably how this upset happened. 

"You're a two-loss team now," another reporter chimed in. "Historically speaking, the committee has not taken kindly to teams with two losses. Reid, if you were to plead your team's case to the selection committee, what would you say?"

I gulped again as Reid brought his hand up to his chin to gingerly press the bandage down. He heaved out a tired sigh before speaking. "The committee goes on and on about how their job is to make sure the four best teams make the playoffs. We are one of the four best teams. I firmly believe that."

For someone that just got his ass beat, he still exuded the vibe that he was the one doing the beating. Regardless of how I felt about Reid and how well I knew the softer, sensitive side of him, I knew if I was a football player on the opposing team, I'd be terrified to play against him.

The press conference concluded, and we all slunk back to our hotel depleted and defeated and quite frankly, doomed. We were leaving to go back to Clemson early the next morning, and I wasn't sure if Reid wanted me around or wanted his alone time. Mara was with Derek, leaving me to sit up in bed staring into the void, contemplating my options. Was he waiting for me to reach out to him? Or was his radio silence a sign that he didn't want to be bothered?

I quickly decided that none of that mattered. I knew where I stood with Reid, win or loss, so I texted him the only thing that did matter.

ME: i love you, i'm always here for you <3 

I'd almost convinced myself to go to bed when there came a knock at my hotel room door. The way my heart lifted in my chest told me that I knew it was him before I could even open the door, and the moment it swung open, he was on me. But not in a sexual way. He draped his body around mine in a tired, desperate plea for support, as if he'd drop to the floor if I hadn't been there to intercept him.