The Cheerleader // Rob Gronkowski

f o u r t e e n

"Again!" I yelled out as the last girl crossed the goal line. We had been running suicides for the past 10 minutes - in groups, so no one would collapse - and I'm pretty sure my team wanted to kill me. "Ladies, we will continue to run these until every single girl crosses the line in under 30 seconds. Group 1, line up!"

I set the stopwatch on my Apple Watch and prepared to run.  "Ready...set...run!" I called, and took off for the 10 yard line. A little while into the set, I began to feel tired, but pushed myself, pumping my arms and legs, and crossed the line at 18 seconds, the fastest of the group. Then, I stepped off to the side, catching my breath and checking my stopwatch. The last girl came in at 29 seconds.  "That was close, Bethany," I warned her, before calling the next group up.

Finally, the goal time was reached, and I called the team into a huddle, "Thanks for working hard today, ladies. I know it sucks, but it's good for you and more importantly benefits the team.  Break on 3."

I turned around, ready to collapse in a puddle of sweat and lactic acid, when I saw Rob on the sideline, talking to one of the team trainers. I raised a tired hand in an attempt to wave, and slowly made my way over to them.

"Tired?" Rob asked.

I gave him a wow, how'd you guess? look.

He gently nudged my shoulder, "C'mon, that was only, what, 5 suicides?"

I glared at him, "Actually, I ran double, because I'm captain. And I could still kick your ass in sprints, for your information."

Suddenly, I felt myself being lifted off the ground, bridal style. "I'm ready for this sprint off," Gronk looked down at me.

As tired as I was, I was never one to turn down competition, "Oh, you are so on."

He set me down on the goal line, "First one to the other goal line wins?"

I nodded wearily, "Let's do this."

He counted off, and when he reached 2, I took off sprinting. I could hear his cries of protest behind me, and laughed as I ran.  I was about to cross into the end zone when hands grabbed my waist and took me to the ground. He was careful to make sure I landed on top of him so I wouldn't get hurt.

"No cheating," he told me in a stern voice.

I laughed, still laying on top of him, "Hey, considering I've been sprinting for the past 15 minutes, I deserved a head start."

"You're gorgeous," Rob said, causing me to blush.

"I love you."