Camryn Quinn is finally getting what she wants...sort of. Moving into a dorm and away from her not so supportive father is a good first step, but like everything with him, it comes with strings. She must attend the college of his choosing for at lea...
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"Let's fucking go!"
The locker room is an eruption as we run inside. Handshakes are flying, I'm smacking everyone's ass as I pass them. Even Coach is joining in on the fun by whipping a few of the guys with the towel in his hands.
We circle around for his post game speech before hitting the showers, but instead of the serious tone he had the last time we knelt in this position, this one is full of cracks and laughter, and a promise to not keep us too long so we can celebrate. "And I think we need to address a problem," Coach begins. "Taylor Reed, this mother fucker!"
The room erupts again, but the shutter of the cameras can still be heard over all of it. Coach walks over to where I'm on a knee and clasps a hand on my shoulder. "Our offense was good without him, but he just proved he's the missing piece to the puzzle. And it's why he's the game MVP."
He must have gotten the news from the network while doing his postgame interview. I had a feeling it would be me, but I still feel a lump in my throat as Coach hands me the gameball. Everyone around me claps, and comes to pat me on the head or touch my shoulder. I want to celebrate too, but all I can do is drop my head.
Most of the guys know what's going on, so they let me have my moment.
I don't want to ruin the buzz I have. I shower quickly and make my way out of the locker room. Fans have swarmed the other side of the gate just waiting for a chance to take pictures and congratulate the team. I however, only spot one in particular. Her smile is wide, and she's wearing the jersey I gave her last night. It's from my high school, but it's because I knew she wouldn't wear anything with the Bulldog's colors. The only thing that I wanted was her to be wearing my name.
I don't care who's watching as I take big steps towards her and sweep her into a hug, spinning us around a few times before placing her feet back on the ground.
Her lips move against my neck, but the words are muffled. I don't care what she's saying. The only thing I want is for her coconut shampoo to fill my lungs. I didn't realize how much I needed this, but now that I have her here I don't want to let go.
Camryn pushes away slightly, "Uh, I think someone's calling you."
Lifting my phone, I have an incoming facetime from my mom. I swipe over the screen, and then my entire family is on the other end. They all begin to talk over each other, but my mom quickly shushes them so she can be heard.
"Way to go Taybear!" she shouts through the speaker. Camryn stifles a laugh beside me at the use of my nickname. I poke her in the side making her squirm. My mom speaks up again, but the topic of football is gone.
"Who's with you Tay?"
I put the camera onto Camryn. "You better say hi now or this conversation will go nowhere," I say. Camryn's cheeks turn a shade of red I've never seen as she croaks a greeting.
"The girlfriend!" my grandma shouts.
Camryn's face glows even darker.
I can hear my grandpa telling my grandma not to embarrass me. My mom ignores them all and says, "It's nice to finally have a face for the name." I signal for Camryn to walk with me, and I tell my family I'll call them back. I don't need anymore comments about my motives with Camryn.
"The official Taylor Reed fan club," Camryn jokes, shouldering my side. I grunt and she adds, "It's pretty special to have them care so much." Camryn doesn't say anything else about them, or their comments and dives right into a summary of the game. I don't interrupt her. I like hearing it from her point of view. She's giving a play by play of the final quarter when I open the door for Harry's. It's packed, so we settle for a table near the window instead of our usual booth.
"I feel like I'm talking a lot," she says. "I haven't even let you say anything and you were the one doing all the work." It makes me laugh. She is being extra talkative, but I like it.
"You sound like the president of the Taylor Reed fan club."
Camryn rolls her eyes and moves into her commentary about her time with the Wives and Girlfriends Club. I had no idea it was a real thing, but Camryn offers it as a way to torture her if I ever need delicate information.
When I can't stop laughing, Camryn slides out of her seat and comes to my side of the table. Taking the seat next to mine she pulls her camera off her neck to show me proof, which confirms it looks just as awful as she described. And then she keeps flipping through her roll, showing me the images she took at the game. There are so many from different times throughout the game, but they tell the story perfectly. She pauses on one of me. I recognize the block letters from the endzone's turf."You were amazing. I mean I knew you were good, but just—you came to life out there. The way your body moved was just so..." She stumbles over her words. Her eyes are on me, but I keep mine on the pictures.
"These are amazing." I point to the screen. "Forget being there, you make the game come to life through these." She quickly looks away from me and at the screen.
"Thanks, I..." She pauses. "Which one do you think captures the game the most? I need to choose my top five to submit to the paper."
"The paper?"
"Wasn't that part of your plan? For me to join the school newspaper?"
"You didn't tell me they gave you the job!" I put out a hand for her to smack, but she just stares at it.
"I wanted to, but other things got in the way." She's now scrolling through the pictures from the bonfire, and I wait for her to bring up the kiss but she doesn't.
"Did you cut it because of her?" She turns to face me, and I can smell the chocolate milkshake on her breath. Kissing her last night became a distraction from it all. I could just kiss her again right now to keep avoiding it but I don't.
"How'd you know?"
"Facetime." She points to my phone that's resting face down on the table. "Her hair was covered by a scarf. It hasn't been in recent pictures you've shown me."
The last time I shaved my head was right before the picture Camryn had seen in my room. "She loves her hair. She's always kept it long, and curled it every single morning. But when she got sick the first time, it started to fall out really quickly. I could tell it embarrassed her, so when she shaved her head, I did too." Camryn takes the camera off her neck and sits it on the table. "She called me yesterday and had the scarf on. She didn't even tell me it was falling out."
"So you needed to cut yours too," Camryn finishes for me when I can't get the words out.
Camryn wraps an arm around my shoulders and leans into me. I'd let her climb into my lap again if we weren't in the middle of this diner. I'd kiss her again and let her take it all away. Except I can't let her be that for me. Not when the only reason we're even in this is because I needed to at least try to make sure my mom gets the chance to grow her hair out again.
