Third and Long: A Sports Romance

by Caitlyn Maxwell

  None of that matters now. I’m sitting at a dingy bar in Baton Rogue with my man Logan, my best friend Gwen, and her boy toy Cam. I’ve got a five carat rock on my finger and the world belongs to us.

  “I still can’t believe you said ‘my mom says hello.’ That is the coolest fucking move,” Gwen says, recounting our meeting with Logan’s parents.

  “I was pretty proud of her. No lie,” Logan says, kissing me on the cheek.

  “I’d be more proud if you guys didn’t just throw away more money than God,” Cam says.

  “I’m not so sure they’ll be taking away all his money,” I say.

  “Oh really why?” Gwen asks.

  The waitress comes by and gives us another round of beers. Logan looks at me and laughs, and then we kiss like mad in front of everyone.

  “Shit are you guys already pregnant?” Gwen asks.

  “Fuck, I hope not,” I giggle.

  “There will be time for that later,” Logan says, stretching out and wrapping his arm around me.

  I notice Cam does the same, and Gwen specifically does not push him away.

  Just then my phone rings. It’s some foreign number. I have no idea who it is. Gwen suggests I take it. She’s despises missed calls. It’s so damn loud in the dingy bar that I excuse myself and step outside.

  In the cool Baton Rogue night, I click the green button on my phone and put it up to my ear. A soft pitter-patter of rain starts, so I crowd under an awning with some smokers.

  “Hello?” I ask.

  “Bonjour Tam!” I hear on the other line.

  “Carolyn?” I ask.

  “Oui oui!”

  “And Jillian!” I hear Logan’s other sister shout into the speaker.

  “Do you need Logan? He’s in the bar,” I say.

  “No girl. We want to talk to you,” Carolyn says.

  “We heard what you did,” Jillian says.

  “Oh shit are you mad?” I ask. The last thing I want to do is piss off the other two most important women in Logan’s life.

  “No girl! That shit was awesome! No one talks to our dad like that. You and Logan are fucking heroes!”

  “You’re not going to be mad about your dad selling the company or whatever?” I ask.

  “Does it look like we care about oil?” Jillian asks.

  “Well I can’t see you right now so—”

  “We’re smoking a bowl and watching lesbian French romances. We are the last two people in the world who care,” Carolyn says.

  “Alright, but if they kick your brother out of the family—”

  “Dad talks a big game, but after a couple of months, he won’t be mad anymore,” Jillian says.

  That’s reassuring.

  “Besides he’s one of those weirdos who respects people more when they stand up to him,” Carolyn adds.

  “Gotcha. Well thanks for calling. That’s very reassuring.”

  “So you really weren’t actually engaged the last time we talked?” Carolyn asks.

  I give them a quick rundown of the story.

  “That is the dumbest plan in the world,” Jillian says.

  “Seems like it worked though didn’t it?” Carolyn asks.

  “Yeah, yeah it did,” I say.

  “We can’t wait to hang in person. You take care of our baby brother will you?” Jillian asks.

  “You got it,” I say, and hang up the phone.

  Back inside Cam and Logan down their beer and consider ordering another. When they see me walk in, they stop and wait to hear what the call was about.

  “Nothing,” I say. “Don’t worry about it.” I smile at Logan. He knows exactly what the call was about.

  “Another round?” Gwen asks.

  “I think I’d like to call it a night,” I say.

  “Ooo back to the room,” Gwen says.

  I look to my man and smile. He kisses me hard.

  “Get a room!” Cam says.

  “I’m trying!” I say.

  Logan and Cam shake hands. “Better get some sleep anyway. Win tomorrow. Celebrate tomorrow night.”

  “Sounds good. Guess I better get back to my room,” Cam says.

  “Oh no, honey. You aren’t going anywhere,” Gwen says grabbing him by the arm.

  Logan and I look at each and start laughing. He’s in trouble.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Logan

  They say Louisiana State is one of the hardest college stadiums in the country to play in as a visitor. We’re finding that to be true tonight down one score in the middle of the second quarter.

  I snap the ball and hand it off to Mason Chandler, our tough-as-nails full back. He rushes right up the guts of the LSU defense, but they shove his face into the dirt. Coming up, he’s got a face mask full of turf and a set of bloody knuckles.

  We regroup in the huddle. All the guys are looking worse for wear, and they are looking right at me for leadership, to turn this thing around.

  And I’m struggling to give that to them because all I can think about is how my dad called my bluff and suspended all my accounts. Not only is my unlimited credit gone, but my checking account is frozen too. I’m flying blind on my football scholarship and whatever agents want to throw me under the table. It’s a scary fucking thing to be sure. Still I made the right choice.

  Yet I know I’m doing the right thing because I love Tamber, and I can’t imagine a day without her let alone a lifetime. Tamber and Football.

  “Hey boss, what’s the play?” Mason asks, a fist full of turf sticking in his mask. He catches me daydreaming, and Cam gives me a look telling me to get my shit together.

  “It’s third down and we have eight yards to go. Not great,” I say, checking plays on my wristband.

  “Let me go up and get it,” Cam says. “Throw the fucker down the field.”

  “I don’t want it to get picked. Their safety has been reading me like a book all day.”

  I’m still smarting from my interception that lost the game to Alabama. Cam’s disappointed in me. His eyes tell the whole story. I’m never going to win if I play cautious. Still I can’t risk it. Not now. Not with my whole future on the line. The scouts are watching me like a hawk today. They want to see that I can fail one week and win the next. My draft status can’t afford risky plays.

  I call for Cam to run deep and fake them out while I dump off a short pass to our tight end. No one likes the call. They all know it’s too safe, and they’re right.

  After breaking huddle, I look beyond the visitor bench. Tamber and Gwen are sitting right there, right behind the visitor bench. They’re both dressed in Lions red, cheering me on.

  At the line, I read the defense. The safety drops back when they see Cam set up wide. We’ve got this. I hike the ball in shotgun and wait for Cam to break out. He does, I throw to the middle. Our tight end grabs it, and they drag him down short of the line. No first down. We have to punt. Caution doesn’t lose game, but it sure as hell doesn’t win them.

  Running to the sidelines, I catch Tamber’s eye. She blows me a kiss. That’s why I’m playing cautious. I can’t have a terrible performance again. I’m playing for two now. Her future is riding on mine.

  As soon as Katerina landed back in New York, the media pounced on her. She claimed that I had been “cheating on her.” More character concerns for the talking heads to drone on about. Talk about unintended consequences. Soon they’ll be saying that I’m lucky to be drafted at all. Imagine that shit!

  Sitting on the bench, I watch our special teams field a decent punt, but we’re still losing, and all I can think about is protecting Tamber, doing right by her, and making sure she doesn’t regret saying yes to me.

  Cam nudges me in the shoulder and tells me to get my fucking head in the game. Then he looks up to Gwen with all the confidence of a super star and yells that he wants to see her after the game.

  Gwen yells something back, and all I’m thinking is damn Cam. That girl knows how you play you like a fiddle.

  B
y the time half-time rolls around, we’re still down by a score, we still can’t get anything going. I take a minute too long coming off the field because I try to get Tamber’s attention. I could use a kiss from her right now. Some encouragement so to speak.

  One of the assistant coaches yells at me to get my ass in gear, so I turn and head down the tunnel to the visiting locker room.

  Half way down the tunnel I run into the strangest security entourage.

  “Mr. Oliver! Mr. Oliver!” I hear a guy yell at me. I don’t need this.

  “What is it? I’m kind of busy,” I say.

  The security guards separate revealing who is behind them: Katerina Prescott.

  “What is this?” I ask.

  “Honey, your dad thought I should come to the game, so we could talk. You’ve been awfully confused the past couple of days,” she says.

  She’s barely wearing anything, a long red Lions shirt doubles as a dress. I’ll admit she’s hot, but she’s still not my girl.

  “Katerina. It’s over,” I say, turning to go.

  She grabs my hand.

  “Logan we need to talk. You owe me that,” she says.

  Personally, I don’t think I owe her anything. “This isn’t the time Katerina.”

  “I’ll wait for you on the sidelines honey. They gave me permission,” she says.

  “Are you fucking—”

  Before I yell, I turn and run off to the locker room. I can’t fucking believe this! I have a game to win and girl to marry and my dad is trying to sabotage both.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Tamber

  Down on the field Logan throws another incomplete pass. During half time, we hoped he’d get his head right and come out throwing laser beams. That didn’t happen apparently. This time he threw the ball over Cam because LSU’s cornerback was rushing up on the route, so he was trying to avoid an interception, or so Gwen says. My man is still unfocused. Something is going on with him.

  “Get your man under control!” Gwen yells at me over the roaring crowd.

  I thought the student section at our stadium in Rome was loud. It doesn’t even compare to the fans in Louisiana. The place is absolutely deafening.

  “If I knew how, I would!” I yell back at Gwen. I’m serious. As his wife I’m going to have to be there for him, yet up here in the stands what can I do? It’s so damn weird being this close to him and yet so far. When he makes it to the pros, this is going to be my life every Sunday in the fall and winter.

  “You better do something because he’s making my man look bad!” Gwen yells.

  “Your man?” I look at her with all the skepticism I can muster for a girl who changes her mind every day.

  Gwen smiles her sly, mischievous smile. “We’ve been talking.”

  “About what?” I ask feeling bad for Cam. That poor boy is going to be led around by his cock for the rest of his life. They must have hooked up last night given the way they were making eyes at each other in the bar.

  “About settling down girl. Goddamn. I hate to say it, but you and Logan have inspired me,” she says.

  “Bullshit.”

  “Girl, sometimes you got to take a risk.”

  Take the risk.

  The end of the third quarter rolls around and the Lions come off the field with a sour look on their face. They all look to Logan for leadership, but Logan has a million things on his mind. I know he does. I’ve been there for every choice he’s made these past few weeks.

  No one on the team or the media can possibly understand the weight on his shoulders. Gwen’s words echo in my mind.

  Take the risk.

  I leap up from my seat. Gwen tries to pull me down, but I don’t stop because I’m running mad, and when I run mad, I don’t stop until either my muscles can’t go anymore or I stop feeling mad.

  I’m mad at a lot of things: Logan’s shitty parents, Katerina’s shitty interview, the media’s shitty fascination with every single mistake that my man makes. My muscles kick into high gear as I run mad down the steps of the stadium. I see security around the fence that blocks me from the the players, and I don’t even care.

  They see me coming and they can’t stop me. I can still hear Gwen screaming in my ear like I’m a mad woman.

  And she’s right. I’m fucking mad because it is about fucking time that the world knows that Logan Oliver III and Tamber Long love each other. Every time I turn on the TV, I shouldn’t have to see another story about Logan and Katerina. I should see stories about college stud Logan getting ready to marry the workaholic from Eden with the cool app idea.

  “Hey you can’t!…” a security guard says as I vault over his face. I hearken back to my track and field days in high school, planting my foot and leaping over the three hundred pound guy.

  It hurts when I land ten feet down, but I tuck and roll and avoid too much pressure. A goddamn waterboy tries to tackle me, so I juke him like I’m a running back. All I need is for Logan to turn around, but he’s busy talking to his Coach.

  Half the stadium cheers for me while the other half boos me. The players on the field can’t see what is happening. Seconds later security catches wind and starts converging on me. It doesn’t matter because I’m running too fast, too mad to be caught.

  Cam sees me. I yell at him. He taps Logan on the shoulder. My man turns around. Only to see me get tackled to the ground.

  “Get the fuck offa me!” I scream.

  “On the ground!” the security guard yells.

  My legs are still pumping. I’m still fighting to get to my man.

  “Hey, hey, hey! Get off her,” Logan yells.

  Before I know it, I’m swept up by my man. He’s all sweaty and smelly and masculine as all hell. However there’s a thick shield of pads between us. I want to tear off his clothes right here on the field and make rough, dirty love to him.

  “What are you doing Tam? Jesus Christ!” he says with the biggest smile on his face.

  “Brightening your day,” I say, kissing his dirt covered face.

  Security is standing around giving me the eye, like I’m some nut job stalker. Okay it does look like that, I’ll admit.

  “No really this is crazy. You can’t be down here,” he says.

  “And you need to play better, so I guess we both have things we can fix,” I say.

  “Damn girl,” he says. “That’s cold.”

  The rest of his team starts to gather around us. His coach and some sideline reporters come up. Then a young blonde thing pushes through everyone with a mean look on her face. I know exactly who it is, but I can’t figure out how the hell she got here. Logan puts me down, and temporarily, I’m not sure who to be mad at.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” I ask Katerina Prescott as she pushes through the group of people gathered around Logan and me.

  “Listen bitch. I’ve had about enough of you ruining my life,” Katerina says charging toward me.

  “Your life? I’m the one engaged here,” I say, flashing my ring. “Face it bitch. You lost.”

  Echoing Gwen’s statement feels good.

  “No I didn’t lose. My engagement to Logan is the only thing keeping my father from buying Oliver Oil. You lose,” she says.

  I look to Logan. He shrugs. It’s the first we’re both hearing of this then.

  “What are you talking about?” Logan asks.

  “Oh your father didn’t tell you that little detail?” Katerina asks.

  Security is trying to move us off the field, but Logan’s teammates move in to protect us, to let us finish our conversation. They know that Logan won’t be able to concentrate with this hanging over his shoulders. They also probably want to see a cat fight to be honest.

  “None of that matters—”

  Katerina tries to cut Logan off with a curt smile, but I am not about to sit here and take shit from the YouTube fashion blogger from New York that thinks she can tell a couple of Texans how to do business.

  “No listen. We’re marrying for
love. You crawl back to whatever hole you came from in New York. Tell your father he can force some other asshole to marry his bitch of a daughter.”

  “Don’t you talk to me like that you bitch,” Katerina says. For a second, I think she’s going to attack me.

  “I won’t be disrespected,” I say taking a step toward her, getting in her face. I’m not scared. “I’ve lived my whole life worried about people like you. People that can make life miserable for people like me. Not any more. I’ve got my man, and my man has me, and there’s nothing we can’t accomplish together.”

  “Damn!” Logan says squeezing my hand so tight it nearly falls off.

  “You’ll regret this,“ Katerina says.

  “And you’ll still be single.”

  “Damn!” every player gathered around us says. A couple of Logan’s teammates hoist me up on their shoulders and indicate to security that they need to take Katerina away.

  When Coach Ainsworth gives the same order, the LSU security team complies. Katerina is led back into the tunnel kicking and screaming. I swear, I see a smile spread across Coach Ainsworth’s face. I’ll have to ask Logan about that later.

  His teammates set me down on the bench in between a couple of hulking defensive players. Logan comes over to give me a kiss.

  “Go win this game now will you?” I ask.

  “Sounds like a plan,” he says.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Logan

  Victory. I didn’t throw a single incompletion the rest of the game. I hope my dad was watching every last pass. After the game, after I shower, there’s nothing I want more than to be with Tamber. Interview first. The media. My enemy. The group of fuckheads that’s been slinging shit at me for the past month. I get my best duds on and our handlers call my number to speak.

  When I go up on stage there’s a single microphone routed to all the reporters who want to ask me their asinine questions. I take a seat and look out at the crowd of flashing bulbs. Then I see her. Tamber. She’s sitting right up front. Somehow she got in there. I suspect Coach might have had something to do with it. Tamber smiles and blows me a kiss. I feel invincible.