Page 63 of Catch
“Shit. They’re early. They offered to come up for Thanksgiving. I didn’t know Parker changed the date.”
“She didn’t. She was very surprised they were there. You might want to head home.”
He sighed. “Thanks for the heads up.”
“Only a little bit longer.” I disconnected the call and wondered if I was going to be in trouble from the league or the team for orchestrating this arrangement. My contract was for two years so even if they fired me, they had to pay me. But if they fired me, no other team would touch me.
Ten minutes later, I pulled into my driveway. The weariness of the day finally hit. Crowbar slid off the couch to greet me. I let him out one last time and crawled into bed. My limbs felt heavy. I crawled into bed with Parker on my mind, but sleep overtook me before I could play out any scenario that could have happened before her parents showed up.
Chapter Twenty-five—First Meeting
Past
“Do you get a cheerleader assigned to you or was that a lie from the movie?”
I laughed at Hayley’s reference to the movie we’d watched last week. I was torturing her with every sports-themed film in existence. “Maybe that happens in Texas, but not here. We’re not that important. Football isn’t life in Oak Grove.” It was my life, but not the blood of a town like so many movies portrayed. Hayley and I were hanging out in the bleachers watching the new squad figure out basic cheers. Varsity and junior varsity cheer teams were on the field. There were ten cheerleaders on varsity and about fifteen on JV. “They look so young,” I said.
Hayley grabbed my cheeks. “You look younger than they do.”
I pulled away. She loved doing that to me. “I look like I’m supposed to. They look twelve. Look at the JV team.”
“Some of them are freshmen. That makes them about fourteen. Maybe they’re like the Olympic gymnasts and never hit puberty,” Hayley said.
“That’s rude.” I scowled at her. I hit puberty at ten. It was a nightmare. Hayley didn’t start her period until she was fourteen. Also, a nightmare. She was the last of her friends to start. The stress of worrying there was something wrong didn’t help.
“You know what I mean.”
“How come you never tried out for cheerleading? You’ve got the energy for it.”
She snarled at me. “That’s offensive. I’m not going to be any football player’s doormat except for yours.”
“Damn straight.” I loved her. I would always love her. Even if time made us drift apart later in life, I knew we would always be able to pick up where we left off. True friends and siblings could do that. Hayley was the closest thing to a sister I had. I couldn’t imagine my life without her in it. “Promise me we’ll always be friends. Even if you run off and get married. Promise me we’ll always be close.” She linked her arm around mine.
“I will love you more than my husband and six kids.”
“Six? Wow. That’s a lot.”
“I’ll have my own basketball team and one substitution.” She nodded and I believed her.
“Except you’re really short and unless you date the Incredible Hulk or Thor, your children will be genetically disposed to be soccer players or horse jockeys.”
“Maybe they’ll be famous actors. They obviously don’t need to be tall,” Hayley said.
“Good point.” We watched the cheer team divide into groups.
“I love that Missy’s about to lose her shit with them.” Hayley pointed to the head cheerleader who stood with her hands on her hips barking at the scared squad in front of her. “How important are cheerleaders? Do you even hear them out on the field?”
“Their job is to get the crowd into the game, not us. We’re already there. You know how rude teenagers can be. Also, no, I can’t hear them. I have Coach yelling at me and the opposing team yelling at me. I hope to God when I’m older, people stop yelling at me.”
Hayley patted my leg. “You’ll be yelling at them. I promise you that.” She wiped off the dirt on my knee. “You probably should’ve changed. And let your hair down. Some of the cheerleaders don’t know who you are.” She turned to me and squeezed my arm. Her body language screamed excitement and I groaned before she even said anything. “You should go down there like ‘Oh, hey, I’m the quarterback. Anyone interested in dating the quarterback?”
“Yeah, that sounds like it’ll work.” I rolled my eyes and was rewarded with a gentle shove.
“Would you date any of them? I know you like sporty girls, but some of the cheerleaders are super cute,” Hayley said.
“Excuse me. Are you watching them? They are sporty, too. They tumble, do backflips, forward rolls, get tossed in the air, and land on their feet like cats,” I said.
“We should go down there and parade you in front of them.”
