I follow Coach into his office and he slams his door. Again, not telling of what is about to happen. Coach always slams the door because it’s old and doesn’t close otherwise.
“Have a seat, Carter.”
I sit down across from Coach’s desk. He’s got a few pictures of his young daughter littered around, and a finger painting she did hangs behind his desk, next to his diplomas.
“Is everything okay, Coach?”
“Everything is great, Carter. I just got off the phone with a couple NFL recruiters who are coming to the game today.”
My jaw drops. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack, kid. This is your chance. They’ve got their eyes on you and a few other seniors.”
I blink a few times, expecting to wake up from whatever dream I’m in. Sure, I’ve been hopeful since the start of junior year that I’d end up drafted, but I don’t think I believed it would happen. Even after all the time and hard work I’ve put in, the NFL has felt like a pipe dream.
Except now, it seems that dream might become a reality.
“You okay there, kid?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Just processing.”
“Well, process quick. You’ve got Florida, California, Texas, and a couple Midwest teams looking your direction. There’s a good chance you’ll be an early round pick.”
“Holy shit.”
Coach grins. “You’ve earned this, Carter. I’ve never had a better quarterback. It’s not just what you do out on the field, either. You’re a leader in the locker room and out in the world. Any of those teams will be lucky to have you.”
Coach gets up and claps my back. I’m still trying to wrap my head around what he told me. Recruiters have come to games before, but they’ve never told Coach who they’re watching. At least, not that I know of. This really is my chance.
No pressure. We’ve been losing for a couple games now.
“What if we lose again?” I ask.
“I’d prefer that not happen,” Coach says. “But, if it does, it’s not the end of the world. They’re watching how you play. The score isn’t important.”
I blow out a breath. At least my entire future isn’t relying on the outcome of this game. My entire team is, though. Our chances at going to a bowl game will be in the toilet if we don’t turn things around.
I jump up. “We’re not going to lose.”
Coach grins. “Here’s to hoping. Now, you take a minute to compose yourself. I’m going to start warming up the team.”
He leaves me alone in his office, slamming the door for good measure. I sit back in the chair and drop my head to my hands. My dreams could be actually coming true.
My first instinct is to call Trina. I pull up her contact, but hesitate. Last night, she got weird when Jamie started talking about the future. I know Trina is sad her best friend will be all the way down the coast, but that doesn’t mean the world is ending. Things will be different, but they can still be friends. She and I can still be together.
I worry that Trina wouldn’t be happy for me if I called her. Sure, she’d pretend. I know she’d cheer and act excited. Would it be for real? Would it scare her away?
I put my phone on the desk. I’m not ready to lose Trina. If telling her about my football prospects could possibly send her running before we’ve had a chance, I’d rather keep it to myself.
Instead, I call my parents.
“Carter? Are you okay? Don’t you have a game soon?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine, Mom,” I say. “I just wanted to tell you that Coach just told me there are recruiters from a few different NFL teams here today. They’re watching me play.”
“Carter! That’s amazing, baby. Ed, get in here!”
“Mom, that’s my ear.”
“Sorry, but your dad needs to hear this!”
Mom makes me repeat myself to Dad when he gets in the room. I’m on speaker now so the three of us can talk.
“I wish we could be there, son,” my dad says. “This is a big game.”
“You’re here in spirit. Besides, I’m already nervous enough as it is.”
“You’re meeting Trina’s family today, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, Carter, you’ll do great. They’ll love you.”
“I hope so,” I say. “You’ll meet her next weekend, too.”
Mom laughs. “I think all of us meeting today would’ve been a lot. In that sense, I’m glad we won’t be there. You haven’t been together long.”
“I know. You don’t think it’s too fast, do you?”
“Not at all,” Dad chimes in. “Especially if her parents live close by and they’re as close as you say. It makes sense you’d meet them sooner rather than later.”
My parents’ words reassure me. I’ve been crazy nervous about dinner with Trina’s family tonight. She keeps saying I shouldn’t worry, but I want to make a good impression on them. Their daughter means a lot to me, and their opinion means a lot to her. They have to like me, or our relationship will be over before it has had a chance to start.
“Alright, well, I should probably go. Gotta get ready for the game.”
“Good luck, son. We’re watching on TV!”
“Great. Love you!”
“Love you.”
I hang up and steel myself to exit the office. I’d forgotten today’s game is on the ESPN college channel. That’s yet another thing to stress about.
I shake my head. I don’t need to stress. Our team has got this. We’ve had a rough few games, but we’re about to get back on track. I believe in these guys.
The locker room is empty when I emerge. Everyone is out on the field, getting ready. I grab my helmet and follow the tunnel to our football stadium. It’s not on campus, and it’s really nice.
As soon as I walk out onto the field, the stadium erupts in cheers. I wave my helmet before running out to meet my team doing their stretches. Briefly, I scan the crowd where I know Trina will be sitting. She’s there, smiling wide, surrounded by what I assume to be her family. I wave quickly, and she waves back, also blowing me a kiss.
I want to share my news with her so badly. If I knew I could do so without sending her running, I would. It’s not like I’m asking Trina to move to another state with me. I respect her desire to stay in the northeast with her family. But we could make it work long distance. I’d only be with my team for half the year. The other half, I could be with Trina.
I shake my head. Dennis was right. I can’t be thinking about my girlfriend right now. We have an important game ahead of us, and I need to focus on that.
“You good, man?” Dennis asks me when I get to my spot on the field for warmups.
“Yeah, I’m great.”
“Coach told us about the scouts. That’s amazing. This could be great for us.”
“It will be great for us. You and me, we’re going to the bigs.”
Dennis laughs. “Different teams, though. I wouldn’t mind competing against you, for once.”
“That would be interesting, wouldn’t it? I know your tricks, though.”
“I’ll learn new ones.”
“So will I.”
Sadness settles in my stomach. I like being on a team with Dennis and the rest of these guys. Every year when the upperclassmen would graduate, it was like there was a hole on the team. I grow attached to the players and they leave. Come spring, I’m the one leaving. I didn’t expect it to suck this much when it came time.
“No frowning,” Dennis says. “It’s going to be fine. No future worries right now. The only thing we can control is this game. We have to win.”
“You’re right.” We finish our stretches and run a couple practice passes just to get warmed up. Soon enough, it’s game time. We do the anthem and all the other pre-game stuff. I win the coin toss and choose to kick off first. We’ll get the advantage at half-time, which is important.
The game goes by too fast. It’s the last minute of the last quarter and we’re down by seven.
I throw a pass to Dennis, who runs it in for a touchdown. We opt to do a two-point conversion in order to win the game. It’s risky, because if we don’t make it, we lose.
Dennis and I are in sync. I throw him the ball and he runs easily into the end zone.
We win.
I look up in the stands and see Trina celebrating with her family. She spots me and grins.
Yeah, our team won the game, but I won something else.
I get to go home with Trina.
Chapter 19
Trina
I tangle my fingers with Carter’s. Our favorite thing to do lately has been to lay out on the quad together, just talking.
Things are going great between us. It’s been a little over a month since our first date. Carter and I have fallen into a comfortable routine with each other. I help him with his math work, we make out a lot, we sleep together at least once a week, and I’ve even gone to a few of his football games. It’s the perfect situation. I don’t want anything to change.
My phone dings with a text. I have to extract my hand from Carter’s in order to check the message. I giggle at the baby photo of Carter.
“You were so cute! What happened?”
I show him the picture and he cringes.
“You know, I could ask your brothers to send me baby photos of you.”
“Go ahead, I was adorable then and I’m still adorable now.”
“I’m sure that’s true. How is my mom doing? I feel like you talk to her more than I do.”
I laugh. “That’s not true. She’s good, though. I’m sending her my chocolate chip cookie recipe in exchange for baby photos.”
“You’re giving it to her and not me? Unfair.”
“Maybe if you’re lucky, she’ll share it with you.”
I’ve perfected the chocolate chip cookie recipe. They’re perfectly crunchy, just the right amount of chocolate chips, and they are the exact right size to dip into a glass of milk. I don’t want to toot my own horn, but these cookies are incredible. I made them when I met Carter’s parents for the first-time last weekend, and his mom became obsessed.
She and I do text a lot since we met. I love her. She reminds me a lot of my own mother. I can’t wait for our parents to meet each other. I think they’d be really good friends.
Carter talks to my brothers as much as, if not more than, I talk to his mom. I think he might know them better than I do at this point. I’m not jealous, though. It makes me happy that my boyfriend gets along well with my family. We’re really lucky in that aspect.
I’m falling for Carter harder than I expected. With every passing day, I wonder if I can like him more, and my heart finds a way. As much as I try to keep my distance, I just can’t. I think I’m falling in love with him.
I lean forward and kiss Carter. He’s smiling when I pull away.
“What was that for?”
I shrug. “I just felt like it.”
Carter kisses me back, gently. “I always feel like it. If only we weren’t in the middle of the busiest area of campus.”
I laugh. “You’re insatiable!”
“Only for you.”
I kiss him once more before pushing him back to laying down in the grass. I lay my head on his stomach and twist our hands together again.
“This is really nice,” I say. “It sucks that it’s getting colder. What are we going to do when it starts snowing and we can’t lay out here anymore?”
Today is a relatively warm day considering it’s the end of November. December is less than a week away, but it’s nice enough to be outside in just our light coats.
“I guess we’ll have to hang out in one of our apartments.”
“We both know that’s a bad idea. If we start doing that, we’ll never leave. We need somewhere public to hang out.”
“I guess we can just cuddle on a couch in the student union lounge.”
“True. I prefer this, though.”
“So do I.”
I’ve gotten used to being around Carter. I’m happiest when he’s with me. It’s terrifying and exciting at the same time.
The longest we’ve been apart since we started dating about a month ago was last week. It was Thanksgiving break, so Carter and I both went home from Wednesday until Sunday. We were both on campus yesterday, but we didn’t have a chance to get together. This beautiful Tuesday afternoon is our first chance to catch up. It may have only been six days, but it was six days too many. I never want to be apart from Carter for that long again.
“Carter Jenkins?”
A guy from our school stands above us.
“It is you! Damn, man, you killed it in the game on Saturday.”
Carter sits up and shakes the guy’s hand. “Thanks. It was a team effort.”
I smile at Carter’s humility. He’s a huge part in the team’s winning streak. They lost a few games in a row but the first game I went to, they won. They’ve won the three games since then, too. I’m proud of Carter. Apparently, there’s some big bowl game they’re competing for. I guess it has something to do with the semifinals, and if they win, they go to championships. I try to understand when Carter is talking about football, but it’s not easy to follow for me. I’m getting better, but I don’t think I’ll be forming a fantasy team any time soon.
“How are you doing? Enjoying this random nice day?”
“Yeah, I’m just hanging out with my girlfriend. This is Trina.”
“Hi, Trina. I’m Travis. It’s nice to meet you.”
“You, too,” I say, shaking his hand. Carter shoots me a look. Travis isn’t taking the hint and leaving. I guess we’re going to deal with him for a little while longer.
Travis turns his attention back to Carter and starts going on about the great plays Carter made on Saturday. This guy must be really into football. Carter has fanboys like this all over campus, and the world honestly. College football is big. It’s not as big here as in places like Texas, but our state still waves our school’s flag and they come out to support the team. Almost every game is sold out.
I mostly tune the two of them out. I check my phone and send a few messages in response to texts I’ve gotten. I have a few emails I can answer. My tutoring shift starts in about an hour, so I wish this guy would leave. I want to spend as much time with Carter as I can. I already switched this around so we’d have the early afternoon. Normally, I’d be in the office by now.
“I heard about the scouts,” Travis says. This perks up my ears. I read a little about how players end up in the NFL. They send scouts and recruiters to check out players in person and talk to their coaches.
“Oh, yeah,” Carter says. He glances in my direction but doesn’t say anything.
“Don’t be modest! Florida will be lucky to have you. I’ve seen the numbers. They’re looking at you for the fourth round if you don’t get taken by someone else first.”
My heart sinks. What is Travis talking about? Carter is clearly uncomfortable. He keeps shifting around on the grass as Travis goes on and on about Florida and the football draft. Travis seems like could go on for a few hours, but Carter cuts him off.
“I have to get to class in a bit and Trina and I wanted to be alone for a bit,” Carter says as politely as possible.
Travis slaps his forehead. “I’m so dense! I’m sorry, I just got excited when I saw you. Good luck with the season, and with Florida!”
He waves to both of us as he walks away. I’m glad to see him leave.
“What did Travis mean when he was saying Florida will be lucky to have you?”
Carter sighs. “I was hoping you hadn’t heard that.”
I scooch to face him. “Carter, what’s going on?”
“It’s nothing, really.”
“It doesn’t sound like nothing.”
Carter sighs again. “Do you remember that game you came to? The first one?”
“Yeah, of course. You broke your losing streak.”
“Exactly. Well, there were a bunch of NFL recruiters at that
game. The guys from the northern Florida team liked what they say. They can’t officially recruit me until the draft, but like Travis said, it’s looking like I’ll be picked pretty early on.”
I blink a few times, trying to understand what these words mean.
“So, you’re moving to Florida?”
“It’s not a done deal. But, yeah, it looks like after graduation I’ll be reporting to Florida for training camp.”
Tears pool in my eyes. Why did it have to be Florida? That’s where Jamie is going, too. It seems like that state is determined to steal everyone I love. That, and California. They both feel impossibly far away.
I stand up. “I can’t do this, Carter.”
He stands and reaches for me. “Trina, please, don’t. We can figure it out…”
I back away. “No, we can’t. You’re going to be a thousand miles away.”
“Yeah, but we still have…”
“We can’t, Carter. I don’t want to get more attached. It’ll only make it harder when you leave me behind.”
“Trina.”
“I’m sorry, Carter. It’s over.”
Before Carter can say anything more, I run towards the academic resources center. My shift isn’t for an hour, but Ben will let me sit in my office undisturbed until then. Luckily, he’s not even at the desk when I arrive. I don’t have to deal with him asking me why I’m crying.
I glance at the door before closing myself in my office. I expect to see Carter there, but he’s not. He didn’t follow me.
I remind myself that’s what I wanted. I’m done with him. We can’t last much longer, anyway. It’s better to break it off before we get in too deep.
My phone is warm in my hand. I call my mom, desperate to hear a friendly voice.
“Mom, I broke up with Carter,” I say, my voice cracking.
“Trina? Why’d you do that? What did he do?”
“Nothing. Well, he’s being drafted into the NFL. He’s moving to Florida or wherever else he ends up. You know I want to stay here.”
Mom blows out a breath. “Trina, we’ve talked about this. There’s so much to see beyond New England. It wouldn’t hurt for you to branch out, too. Like your brothers are.”
Jock Blocked: An Enemies to Lovers Sports Romance Page 12