Love At Last (An Edelmandola Fanfiction)

Chapter Nine

A/N:
1)Italicized with quotation marks=depression
2) Italicized without quotation marks=Julian's thinking
3) Not italicized with quotation marks= speaking out loud
(This will all make sense about 2/3 the way down.)

Also a special thanks to LukeKuechlyisbae for helping me move along faster and inspire me to have a great idea. (They come far and few between, okay?) Not exactly how you might have thought it would go, but that's all in the surprise, eh?

Julian's PoV

The two weeks leading up until the Super Bowl were grueling, almost debilitating. Coach pushed us harder than ever, having us train, watch film, and study our opponent down to their shoes. We had won the AFC title game, but the Seahawks had won their own title game in the NFC. We had our opponent, and we had prepared.
Super Bowl day finally came at last. We had arrived at the stadium around ten a.m. All the newer guys were looking around, oohing and ahhing over everything. I glanced over and saw Tom and Stephen looking at each other, both knowing what the other was thinking. We've been here before, and it wasn't pretty. Neither of them would say it, but the memories of Super Bowl XLII loomed large as the vets walked through the stadium's doors. We warmed up during the endless hours that were leading up to the prized matchup. I eventually found my way back over to the bench, sitting down by Tom, Rob, and Stephen.
"Is someone gonna say it?" I asked.
"Say what?" Rob questioned.
"No. It doesn't do well to dwell on the past, Julian." Tom didn't look at me. He was staring straight, looking at the middle of the field."
"It would do you well to listen to yourself once in a while, you know," Stephen commented.
"Yeah, I know." He shook his head and rubbed his face."
"It wasn't your fault, you know." I patted him on the shoulder.
"Well yeah it kind of was. If I would've thrown the ball better-,"
"The whole defense was down there for that play! There was no way you were going to be able to throw it any better. Welker was the one who didn't catch the ball," I said heatedly.
"Don't, just don't." He got up and walked away, heading for the Gatorade table.
"Fuck. Good job," Stephen said. Him and Rob both got up and followed him.
"Son of a bitch," I mumbled. "That's just what I needed to do, get him all frustrated before this game. God damn it." I sat there on the bench for a while, thinking about what I had just done.
"Hey Jules," Danny came over to me, sitting down at my side."
"I fucked up, like real bad." I said, staring out at the center of the field, like Tom moments before.
        "I'm sure you didn't. What happened?" He scooted closer towards me, leaning down , and looking into my eyes.
        "I brought up a touchy subject to Stephen and Tom."
        "Is there something I don't know?"
        "No no, nothing like that."
        "Then what is it?"
        "I brought up Super Bowl XLII."
        "You didn't."
        "I did." He sat back up straight, leaning back on the bench. "I didn't think things like that got to him." He gave me a look that said, "Really."
        "Julian! Come on! You know that wasn't good! Everyone knows that wasn't good!"
        "You're right. I just don't know if I can fix it now. He was really angry with me and the whole situation."
        "Are you kidding me? You're his favorite guy. Julian, he's not going to stay mad at you forever. It's a touchy subject, and I know you meant well."
        "Yeah, you're right." I got up and ran off to find him. I needed to talk to him before the game, otherwise it might not be to good.
        "Hey, Tom!" I yelled. He was walking back towards the locker rooms, now with Slater and Revis.
        "What?" He asked resentfully.
        "Can I talk to you?" He dismissed Matt and Darrelle. They kept walking reluctantly, looking back a couple times at us as they walked. I waited until they left before I said anything.
        "Tom, I'm sorry. I know it's a touchy subject and I didn't mean anything by it."
        "Don't worry, It's not getting to me," he said coldly.
        "But it is. We're not having a conversation. I'm apologizing and you're being distant!"
        "Alright, maybe you're right. Maybe I am being distant because it does bother me. You weren't there, Julian. You weren't here when we were humiliated. Right here, in this stadium. We could've made history, but no. You're right. It was just one game with no meaning whatsoever behind it. It's not like it wasn't singlehandedly the biggest game of my entire career, Julian." He went to go turn around and leave.
        "No," I grabbed his arm, making him turn around and look back at me. "I have no idea what that was like. I wasn't here yet, but I remember. I remember sitting at home, watching that Super Bowl on my TV and thinking, 'Man, that's Tom Brady. He is singlehandedly the greatest of all time, and he's playing in yet another Super Bowl. I wanna be exactly like him. I want to play on the New England Patriots with him.' You wanna know why, Tom? It's because I genuinely believed it. Even after that Super Bowl ended, and the perfect season gone, I still had that same opinion about you and the entire team." I let go of his arm. "Wins, rings, records...they're all great, Tom. They'll cement your legacy one day, but none of it matters, really. Your heart, fire, passion, drive; that's what people are going to remember about you, not that you lost a perfect season on a helmet catch to the Giants in Super Bowl forty-two in Arizona. While the perfect regular season record is great, the records you broke were great, none of it matters right now. There's a game out there that we're going to have to play. That's what people are going to be talking about." I paused for a moment before speaking again. "Again, I'm sorry for bringing it up, but we have a bigger problem in front of us than memories."
        "You're right." He stood up straight, taking in a deep breath and exhaling. "What's done is done. We gotta worry about Seattle now, and try our hardest not to repeat past mistakes."
        "We're on to Seattle," I smiled.
        "Yeah, we're on to Seattle." We set off back towards the locker room for Coach's speech.