The Almost Season -- A Football Love story

Chapter 1

Charlotte felt her phone buzzing in her pocket as she grabbed her car's door handle. She read the newest text as she sat down.

I'm in the clinic, come say hi when you get here!

A text from Alyssa. It made the already-present butterflies in Charlotte's stomach strengthen even more. She liked the text and started her car.

It wasn't a long drive from her apartment to the facility, but with the fear of impending doom swirling her mind, it felt like a million years. When she pulled into a parking stall and grabbed her backpack to start heading in, she could feel her heart pounding in her throat. 

"You're so worked up over nothing. It's gonna be fine. It always-" Charlotte spoke quietly to herself before she got cut off by a voice behind her.

"Hey, Charlotte!" She turned around and saw Danny approaching her wearing a baby blue University of Mirington sweatshirt. Charlotte started sweating in her t-shirt just seeing him in long sleeves in the 85° late-August weather. 

"Danny! How was your summer?" The sight of a familiar face eased her mind. Charlotte and Danny had had classes together in the past, but she didn't know that he had gotten the football trainer gig until she had been invited to a day of preseason training in April. She took a subconscious calming breath as he responded.

"It was good! Just worked and fixed my car a bunch," he smiled at her. "How was yours?"

"Really fun! I did a bit of travelling, a bit of work. I miss it already!" Danny nodded in agreement as the two approached the glass front doors of the facility. He pulled it open to let Charlotte in first.

Charlotte tried to not let the high ceilings and loud chatter intimidate her. "Alyssa said to meet her in the clinic," she mentioned as they walked down the long hallway.

With each step, she passed either a locker room or an office room with important looking people typing away fervently on their laptops. Charlotte couldn't ignore the sense of urgency and passion radiating through the building. She subtly glanced to her right to see Danny clearly feeling the same intimidation.

By the time the pair had approached the door of the clinic that was pushed open by a door-stopper, Alyssa had already turned in her desk chair to face them. "Hi, guys!" She exclaimed excitedly. She tucked her bright ginger hair behind her ear as she stood up to greet her newest students. 

 Danny and Charlotte returned the greeting with a smile. The bright fluorescent lighting reflected off the mirrors against the back wall which made Charlotte notice the number of beds in the room. Her eyes landed on a shirtless man who sat on the middlemost bed, hooked up to a therapy machine with a black sleeve draped over his right shoulder and half his chest. His flowing blonde hair fell across his face as he stared down at the phone in his hand. Charlotte recognized the player's face from preseason training. It was the quarterback, Jared. The new noise in the clinic didn't distract him enough to look up.

"The guys are just in meetings right now, but the scheduled taping time will start soon." Alyssa noticed Charlotte's gaze drift back to her from Jared, "except for him. He came later than he should've." The last sentence came out louder than the rest, very clearly directed at Jared.

"I already apologised, Alyssa! I told you when I came in that you could've told me no, and I would've just gone to meetings," Jared said with an apologetic smile, lifting his non-wrapped arm into the air defensively. 

"Your shoulder is fucked, I'm not going to say no to you getting some ice on it." Alyssa said back, clearly teasing Jared.

"Exactly. I'm just taking care of my shoulder, just like you told me to," Jared says with a smile as if he just won the conversation. Danny let out a low chuckle.

Alyssa shook her head with a defeated smile and turned her attention back to Danny and Charlotte. "You guys can drop off your stuff and get all set up in the trainer's room. I'll come meet you when Jared's all done." The two turned and started to leave when Alyssa said, "your new kits are in the prep closet, don't forget to stock them before practice." 

Charlotte muttered a thank you, and the two left for the trainer's room, a smaller room that was just beside the entrance to the field. It didn't take long for Danny and Charlotte to fill their medical packs with various bandaids, gauze, gloves, different kinds of tape, and scissors that laid in their own special holster. Charlotte tried to suppress a gleeful smile at the sight of a holster for her scissors. It was a sight that made Danny show a small smile. 

It didn't take long for guys to start rolling into the trainer's room asking to be taped. Danny and Charlotte got to work, Alyssa joining them not long after. Most of the guys were quiet, they said their 'please' and 'thank you', but there was one player, a shorter man with curly light brown hair that was tied into a poofy-looking bun on the top of his head, who had asked for this thumb to be taped. By Charlotte's best estimation, he was a running back. "I don't know if I ever caught your name," he said in a gentle and friendly voice. 

Just as she went to respond, "I'm Charlotte", the shockingly loud sound of a box of tape being dropped echoed around the room, effectively silencing all conversations for a few seconds. 

 "Charlie?" He asked back at her once Danny picked up the box.

"Charlotte, but, yeah," Charlotte responded with a soft smile. She had never been called Charlie by anyone in her life, but she liked the thought of having a new nickname.

"I'm Alex."

"Nice to meet you, Alex."

"You too."

Charlotte ripped the last piece of tape and said, "there you go!" Alex moved his thumb around to test the security. 

"Thank you, Charlie!" Alex said with a cheeky smile as he started to leave the room. When he saw Charlotte chuckle in response, well mostly surprise, he winked at her and laughed his way out into the hallway, and out onto the field. 

The three trainers made their way through the last of the lined-up players before getting ready to heading out onto the field with their equipment case, emergency bag, and a cooler of ice.

Practice was a series of organized chaos to say the least. Charlotte had an understanding of the workings of football since she grew up watching the sport with her dad, so it was easy for her to pick out the group of wide receivers, the linebackers, the offensive linemen, and so on. As fun as it was to watch, her duties were very limited. She offered out water bottles to the players as they rested between plays on the sidelines and did the occasional bandaid or finger tape. 

The players had broken out of their position groups and came together to run plays and scrimmages. She stood between the players on the cement just behind the turf of the sidelines, as that was the only way she could see the action on the field while being surrounded by such tall players. 

Charlotte could see in her periphery a player walking in front of all the players, who was a few short steps from passing in front of her. He slowed down as he approached her until he was face to face with her. 

"You're Charlotte, right?"