Love in a Touchdown

Part 6

Collin's (BROWN EYES) Point of View: I was in Oshkosh, which was about a half-hour drive from my house. Our city wasn't big enough to have a Dick's Sporting Goods store, so when I needed something for football I made the drive down here. I tried to avoid it as much as possible because even the varsity jacket I was always repping, would get me dirty looks from the town's people. Just because our colors aren't royal blue and white, we were automatically deemed "bad guys." Granted, our mascot is kind of lame, I mean who in their right mind would want to be the paper makers? They were our top rivals, and my hunch was that the feud went deeper than me and my team. Going back to the loss of our 10 year streak, we didn't like them either, to say the least.

After stopping by Dick's to get my new gloves, because mine were pierced with holes from extensive amounts of wear, I decided to take a walk. It has been a long time since I wandered around to window shop in this town. I put my newly purchased gloves in my ford mustang and pull my varsity jacket close to my neck to protect it from the nippy breeze.

I was in the process of turning down a branch off of the main street when a noise stopped me in my tracks. It was crying. I sighed, any other guy would turn and head for the hills. They were smart. I was probably going to get myself killed for interfering with a chick crying.

I turn to look up ahead of me. Dang. It was that female QB that knocked Josh right in the nose. Remind me to thank her later. He is normally pretty chill around the guys but if you put an attractive girl around him he loses all sense. Especially someone who is, not only jaw-dropping, but has some serious skill on the field. Ignore me while I slightly drool at how amazing this girl is and I don't even know her.

I sighed. Now, I was even more terrified to approach her. I felt guilty that I was associated with a guy who had been a total douche-bag to her. I couldn't just stand there, though. Even if I did get my nose broken. I'm not one of those guys going up to girls who are vulnerable just to get them to sleep around. Heck, I wouldn't even consider myself a player like most of our team but I know that no matter the situation, no girl should cry alone. Not at home, not in her room, and definitely on a park bench in the middle of an abandoned town street.

My thoughts contradicted themselves. On one hand, she was a RIVAL, but on the other: she was a human being too.

Even crying she looked beautiful, in that not-trying way. She wasn't like all the girls at my school. The cheerleaders who cling to us just to win attention, with the makeup that has more substance then their brains. I rolled my eyes. The guys all think I'm crazy when I say I don't want that. I want to be looked at in a way that is genuine, not the look of girls just trying to maintain their popular status.

Apparently, the guys actually enjoy me gently pushing all of them away. Because, and I quote, "We don't mind being the second choice, especially when those girls are heartbroken when The Collin Wilcox rejects them." I'd roll my eyes again, but the amount of times I do that on a daily basis talking about my team would get them stuck in my head. Man, I would give my life for them, but some of the things they say and do makes me want to slap them upside the head with a textbook.

I take a deep breath in, reminding myself that she may not be as mean to me as she was to Josh. I think back to what he said to her to make her mad. Well there were a lot of things he said that deserved to be punched for. I couldn't decide what all of that conversation should be off limits. Well, it is not like we'd be having a normal conversation anyways; she may not even want to speak to me at all, let alone small talk.

I approached her with caution, scared to make a sudden move with her vulnerable state. My heart was breaking FOR her. I wanted to hug her, to tell her everything will be all right. I knew whatever happened had to be bad, I mean how could it not? In the one brief encounter I had with her, she played a kick-ass first half of the game, punched a guy giving her grief, AND managed to survive her teammates. Which, if they were anything like mine, was no small feat.

I cleared my throat when I got within earshot of her, hoping she would notice and look up. She did, to my relief, or so I thought. My face instantly fell when I saw how bad she looked. Don't get me wrong, she was still gorgeous, but it wasn't her. Her eyes were puffy from crying, and her hair stood up in weird places. She was wearing football sweatpants and a sweatshirt, but I never met someone who made wearing comfy clothes look so good.

I probably seemed like an idiot and a creep just gawking at her unashamedly. I immediately scolded myself as I hurriedly glanced away. What the heck was this chick doing to me? I cleared my throat, trying to find my words. Please, please don't screw this up for me, I mentally tell my voice.

"Are you alright? I- I mean, I know you aren't alright. For Pete's sake you don't look okay! I mean it's not like, you don't look okay. I mean you look fantastic. Not in the everything is sunshine and rainbows sense, but you look good. I mean not good like in a creepy way but just the attractive way. Wait that doesn't make more sense, you know what I'm just going to stop talking because it is not helping either of us..." I huff as I awkwardly sit on the bench beside her.

Why couldn't I just put my foot in my mouth. I just bubbled out everything that came to my mind at the time. Well, not everything. Thank goodness, because that would have made things even worse for me. I swear I'm not normally bad at talking to girls. Or anyone. If the guys saw me now they'd have a hay day. The day I stutter is the day that the world turned upside down. Little did I know, it actually would with this new face in my life.

She sighed, and I finally risked taking a glance at her. The tears had slowly come to an end, and she actually seemed a little more at ease after me blubbering to her, and being embarrassing. Her eyes still screamed, "Help me," I need someone. But I could also see fire, as if she was being challenged and had come to say, "Game on!" She chuckled a little, and man was that cute. Even with the sad tint to it, she made it sound like beautiful birds singing. WTF? Me talking about birds singing??? I've met her once; I've only met her once and I'm already in a trance. I wonder if this is how everyone feels around her. She's so alluring.

I snapped out of it as soon as she spoke with a raised eyebrow, "What are you doing in our town?"