Smoke and Mirrors (Smoke #1)

[ 32 ]

Plopping myself on the warm and grassy hill of the football field, I pulled out my phone and checked my messages, sighing about the usual things I was pretty much used to getting. Several messages were from strangers - fans of the sport I guess - sent me pathetic accuses of what they believed were hate to me about my role as a sports journalist. I honestly laugh at their perspective if they think they can bring me down from doing my job.

Although, the most surprising messages I received were from a bunch of people I hadn't heard of since High School, all asking me if I was dating Marcus. These people are hilarious, after spending a long six years treating me if I was invisible, now they're all acting as if they were ever my friend. I sighed once more ignoring the messages before shoving my phone back in my pocket. Wrapping my arms around my legs, I lowered my chin and turned my attention on the boys as they were currently training for their upcoming match against North Melbourne. Whilst I know everyone in the team were absolute legends on the field, I also knew that this wasn't going to be an easy fight seeing as they too have a team just as strong as the dogs.

My thoughts became distracted when I could feel a presence beside, sitting near me as I glanced over to my side and saw a young male with ashy blonde hair and wore the Western Bulldogs uniform. Taking a closer look, it had suddenly clicked that the vibrant young footballer next to me was Caleb Daniel, one of the up and coming stars of the Western Bulldogs.

"Hey." He spoke up as he looked up and let out a smile. I couldn't help but do the same since his radiant smile was enough to lighten up anyone's day.

"Oh hey Caleb." I said cheerfully as he looked down at the ground and paused for a moment, as if he was trying to remember something.

"It's Scarlett right?"

"Yeah, it is. How's your calf doing since last week?" I asked politely as he looked at the ground and laughed.

"It's going pretty well but I'm still out of training for the rest of the week." He admitted as I frowned and shook my head. I felt bad for the guy, he was such an extraordinary player yet he wasn't getting much gameplay with his recent injury.

"Aw that's terrible Caleb, especially since a lot of people were looking forward to you playing on Friday night, including me." I added solemnly as he just let out a shy smile and shrugged his shoulders. It went silent between us for some time as I just sat calmly and soaked up the warm rays, watching the boys train their beautiful souls. I could see that Marcus was making his way to the black fence and lent over as he smiled. Within this moment, I could feel a warmth rush through my body as he waved at me and I waved back at him.

"Enjoying the show us boys are putting on for our wonderful audience?" He asked as I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, except for one thing."

"And what might that be Miss Wilde?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. I bit my lip and playfully squinted my eyes at him.

"There's too much of you I'm seeing." I added as Marcus put on a pretend shocked face before folding his arms.

"Hey, what's wrong with that?"

"Too much of you won't mean that I'll get much of a chance to see what else you can come up with." I said adding a pout as Marcus chuckled and put on a failed attempt of a seductive look before unfolding his arms.

"Don't worry, you'll get an encore little later on." He exclaimed as I could feel my face beginning to blush. I watched Marcus open his mouth before Mitch's loud shouts interrupted him.

"Yo bro, Marcus. Coach said hurry your ass up otherwise he'll make you my guinea pig." He yelled as Marcus wore a baffled expression and Caleb and myself broke out into laughter.