The Game Plan

13

That Thursday night, Nick came over for dinner with my parents. Once they were done interrogating him, I asked him if he wanted to play catch in the backyard.

"Wait." Nick said, grabbing the ball in the air.

"What?" I asked.

"You look so intense. This isn't a football game. Just have fun with it." He said, throwing it back.

I wiggled my shoulders trying to loosen up, then focused in and threw the ball.

Nick laughed and shook his head.

He tossed the ball and I caught it easily, but before I registered what was happening, he ran toward me and threw me over his shoulder.

"Put me down!" I cried, laughing.

"Nope." He said, twirling around with me over his shoulder.

He finally put me down and I threw the ball back, still laughing at him.

"That's better." He said.

We continued to throw the ball back and forth, talking about school and college and our favorite movies.

"Okay, if you sit through all of The Avengers I will sit through all of When In Rome." He said, holding the ball tightly.

"Deal." I promised, and caught the ball in the air after he threw it.

We had a rhythm going and I felt myself starting to relax and not stress so much.

"See, I can already see you relaxing." He commented, and I briefly wondered if he read minds.

"Yeah, sometimes I need to be forced to relax." I joked, shaking my head.

"You take yourself seriously, that's not necessarily a bad thing." He pointed out.

"I know, but I don't always let people in." I added.

"You're letting me in now." He said.

"You're different." I pointed out.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment." He said, smiling.

Beep! Beep!

"Crap. That's the timer on my phone. I gotta go." He said, tossing me the football.

We went inside and he thanked my parents for the dinner.

I walked him to the front door and hugged him goodbye.

He chuckled as he walked to the truck, probably since I didn't kiss him.

"Running out of patience, Manning!" He called over his shoulder making me laugh out loud.

I brushed my teeth and changed for bed. Brady climbed in next to me and I played with his ears.

"I want to kiss him." I confessed to him.

"But he's from Fort Worth and that still throws me off. I kiss him and all bets are off." I said, putting my hands over my face.

"You're right Brady. I should just let it happen." I said to the dog.

The next morning, I woke up and went for my run.

I got dressed in my game jersey and skinny jeans and headed downstairs.

"Game day!" My mom cheered as I walked into the kitchen.

"Bye Mom. See you tonight." I said, kissing her cheek.

The whole school was decked out, since this was the last game before the championship.

I walked into the blue and gold cafeteria and had a few people come over to wish me luck.