Team Hate

by Hart, Rebel

  I laughed. “You could do a lot worse.”

  She nodded in approval. “That’s true.”

  I snickered. Everything felt so natural all of a sudden. She knew what she was talking about when it came to football, and she wasn’t afraid to put me in my place. I was like a dog waiting up on my hind legs, and she had a big juicy turkey leg. I’d gone from being completely reticent of her presence to be completely at her disposal.

  I was definitely in trouble.

  When the day was starting to come to a close, I found myself not wanting it to be over. I wanted to spend more time with the beautiful football coach who was dedicating her time solely to me. It was like something out of a dream. Why had I given her so much trouble before? Why was I such a jerk? Was I really just being so closed-minded that I could identify that Jane was so much more of a blessing than a curse?

  What had this girl done to me?

  Jane checked her smartwatch. “Wow. We worked straight through lunch, that was not my plan. It’s nearly 4 o’clock.” She looked up at me. “Wanna call it? I know it’s been a long day.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was thinking about doing. I was running the words over and over in my head. ‘Wanna go grab a drink?’ ‘Should we celebrate with a bite to eat?’ ‘Let’s go a little bit longer then go for dinner.’

  I took a deep breath. “Um. Would you—”

  “Hey!” Jane and I looked over and my heart dropped into my stomach. Vick was making her way onto the field. She had a basket in her hand with a folded blanket on top. “Sorry, I know I’m a little early.”

  I couldn’t think straight. What was I supposed to do? Why was she here? “Vick?”

  She giggled. “Don’t look so surprised, I told you I was coming.” She held up her basket. “A picnic, as promised.”

  It came slamming back to me like a rib-shattering sack. At the end of our date, I told her about my training session. She did say she’d bring a picnic. I completely forgot. I looked over at Jane, but she was already pulling her sweater back on and gathering her things.

  Vick looked over at her as well. “I’m sorry, did I mess up your training.”

  Jane stood up, she had a smile on, but the same fake one she used when we first met her. “No, you’re fine! We were just finishing up.” She passed us by without even looking in my direction. “Good work today, Sceptre. Enjoy your date.”

  It was like being whacked in the face with a tennis racket. This wasn’t what I wanted. Part of me wanted to call out after Jane, but she was already clear across the field and headed out and Vick was laying out the blanket.

  Confirmed, I was definitely in trouble.

  17

  Jane

  After a somewhat restless night, it was time for another big game. Today’s game was for ‘all the marbles’ in that, if we won, we’d be off to the NFC championship game; the last stop before the Super Bowl. Thanks to my absurdly delightful Saturday with John, my emotions were throwing themselves a little pool party and my brain was not invited. We were getting on so well, and I actually thought he was going to ask me out, but then the same woman I’d heard about a few different times, Vick, showed up. They’d clearly made plans to see one another. It was dumb for me to think that he had gone from hating me to being interested. He was probably still pitying me from what happened with Dax; I hated the feeling more than anything.

  “You’ve been quiet all morning.” Jim and I, along with the starters, were already at the field preparing to start the game. “Was yesterday that bad.”

  “Yesterday wasn’t bad. At all actually.” I looked over at John who was already padded up and palling around with the rest of the team. “He’s not so bad.”

  Jim walked directly into my line of sight and crouched down so he was staring directly into my eyes. “Are you shitting me right now?”

  I recoiled a bit. “What?”

  “I know that voice. That’s your Disney voice.”

  I scrunched up my nose. “My what?”

  “Your Disney voice. The way your voice gets all flowery and weird when you have a crush.”

  “I do not…” I cleared my throat and tried to funnel a little extra bass into my voice. “I do not do that. Are you suggesting I have a crush on John?”

  Jim slapped a hand over his mouth. “Oh my god, you do. You have a crush on him!”

  A few of the teammates looked over at us and I smacked Jim across the back of his head. “Will you shut up? I do not.”

  “Wow. After all this, this is where you end up. I’m shocked.”

  I grabbed Jim’s arm, stood up from where I was sitting and dragged him into a corner out of sight. “Okay. Maybe, I have developed a small, small crush. It doesn’t mean anything.”

  Jim rubbed my head, messing up my hair. “He’s not the one I imagined you’d pick. I thought Jack. I am surprised. I mean I know the whole ‘you-know-who’ thing brought you all a little closer together, but I didn’t think this would happen.” He patted himself on the back. “Good on me for making you two spend the day together yesterday.”

  “Yeah, until his girlfriend showed up with a picnic lunch.” I hated how bitter I sounded when I said it. “It’s fine. I just hate that I was on one end of the spectrum with him and now I’m on the other.”

  “Yeah, well, romance is rarely, if ever, simple and clean, so there you go.”

  Jack’s head poked around the corner to where we were standing. “They’re looking for us.”

  Jim patted my back. “Alright then, coach. Let’s do it!”

  As we started to make our way out to the field, John hung back from the group until he was at my side. It shocked me that he would even do such a thing, but I couldn’t bring myself to be upset that he had. Jim took notice and pressed on until he was further ahead in the group.

  “Alright, here’s a question,” John started. “If sometimes I’m fast, and other times I’m slow, does that mean I’m bi-pacer?”

  I snorted. “What?”

  “That was a joke I thought up last night, and now that I’ve said it out loud, I hate myself.” John started laughing.

  Was he flirting with me? No. “More like luke-form.”

  “Wooooow. That was so much better than mine. Was that just off the cuff?”

  I shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a Stagecoach.”

  John looked at me and his jaw dropped. “Okay, how are you doing that?”

  We giggled and laughed our entire way to the field until our team was looking at us like we’d lost our collective minds. The team lined up to go running out at their announcement. Right before John left my side, he held out a fist. I bumped it and he nodded at me.

  “Good luck, QB.”

  John looked right into my eyes and I could feel the electricity sparking between us. “Thanks, coach.”

  Maybe I wasn’t crazy.

  The first half of the game was a bit stressful. It wasn’t as if we were doing horribly, but we weren’t doing fantastic either. John was putting his training from yesterday to good use, and I could tell he was feeling the effects of it, but the team hadn’t quite adjusted yet to his being more on top of his tosses. I took furious notes because the only way we were going to win the game was if the team rose to the occasion of what John was putting out.

  We filed into the locker room and everyone sat down. I caught John looking at me and when we locked eyes, he smiled. I felt like I was in high school again. The way his gaze lit me on fire was borderline unacceptable. I was close to passing him a paper that said ‘Do you like me? Check yes or no.’ Maybe part of me had always been excited about him, I just didn’t react well to being so challenged by someone.

  “John.” Jim pointed at him. “You are really in top form today. I can’t say anything else about it. You’re killing it.”

  The team murmured out responses in agreement. John waved his hand. “That’s mostly due to Jane. I don’t know why you guys wouldn’t listen to her and kept giving her such a hard time. She clearly knows
what she’s talking about.”

  Caleb looked over at him. “I’m gonna bop you.”

  I laughed. “I can’t take more credit than being able to notice it. The skill was all you.”

  Jack exchanged curious glances between the two of us. “Uh, should we give you two some privacy?”

  Dax stomped his foot on the cement ground and I jumped. I was still keeping my distance from him, but that only seemed to piss him off more. “There’s more people on the team than just him.”

  “I can’t tell,” Jim spat back. He was still in big brother mode and was very curt in his dealings with Dax.

  I held up a hand. “You guys aren’t playing terribly, but John is anticipating movement a little better, and you guys have to meet him where he is now. It’s an easy fix.” I flipped over my notes. “Receivers. You have to turn a little sooner. On average, the ball is out of John’s hands within six seconds.”

  Benton nodded. “That’s helpful, thank you.” He looked at Jack and they nodded in approval. A silent plan that they knew how to fix their mistakes.

  “Guards, you all have adjusted to John’s gameplay up to now, which is great, but it’s a little different now. You have to collapse in quicker, and make a stronger wall. If you can hang in there, John’s getting the ball out sooner, so you don’t have to block for so long.”

  Shawn and Cinder nodded. “Got it.”

  I shivered a little bit. “Dax. There are more opportunities for you to run the ball, if you can run a T formation. Get to John and he can get you the ball when Jack and Benton get tangled up.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He leered at me and I could feel him undressing me in his mind.

  John stood up from where he was sitting. “Okay, boys, you heard the coach. Let’s get out there and take this one home.”

  The team cheered and then Jim stuck out his arm. Everyone corralled around, reaching in towards him. I set my hand on top of Jim’s and John set his hand on top of mine. I glanced over at him and he met my look with a sweet smile. Jim started to hoot and then we did our team call. We erupted into roars and went running back out onto the field for the second half of the game.

  And it was like we were an entirely different team.

  We played as if the first half of the game had never been an issue. John had his pick of the litter. If he wanted Dax to run it, Dax was there to run it, if he wanted it downfield, his receivers were ready and waiting. We were fast, dexterous, and untouchable. When the ref called the two-minute warning, there was no coming back for the other team. We were up by more than three touchdowns, and our tackles’ quick reflexes had gained us two possessions due to fumbles.

  We won the game without issue. When the clock hit zero the team ran over to me, and crowded around me, cheering and high-fiving me. We piled back into the locker room, where the celebration continued.

  Isaac stood up on one of the benches. “We’re headed to the NFC Championships!” The team started hollering back at him. “We gotta go celebrate.”

  “I’m in,” Jack said.

  The team started discussing different places to go and I packed up my things. I was happy they were happy. For the first time, probably since long before I started, the team was all on the same page and had a hard-fought-for win to go out and celebrate.

  I started to make my way out of the locker room. “Don’t get too crazy. I need you all in top form on Tuesday. We have a bye next week, so you’re working extra hard to make up for it.” I waved a hand. “Bye guys.”

  John stepped out of the crowd. He’d already started changing, but hadn’t gotten his shirt on yet. His pecs, abs, arm muscles sang to me, luring me towards them like a deep sea siren, “Hey, where are you going?”

  “Uh, home probably.”

  Caleb peeked around out of the crowd. “You’re not coming out?”

  I looked at John’s anticipating glance and scanned the team who were all watching me curiously. “Um. Do you want me to?”

  “Why wouldn’t we?” John smiled at me. “You won too.”

  My heart swelled to the point that it felt like it was going to pop and deflate. I was really part of the team now. I was nearly in tears.

  I looked at John. “Should I really go?”

  John nodded earnestly. “I’d really love it if you did.”

  A happy chill ran down my spine. “Okay. I’ll be there.”

  18

  John

  I felt like I was gonna blow a stack. “Bethany, how do you even know where we’re going?”

  I was really looking forward to seeing Jane let her hair down a little bit and maybe even make a move, but then my sisters called me to say that they and Vick were going to head to the same club as us to join in on the celebration.

  “Bailey knew,” Bethany replied. “She heard from someone, but I’m not sure who. I don’t understand though, what’s the big deal? Don’t you want to see Vick?”

  I sighed. I mostly just got through my picnic with Vick. I didn’t know how to break it to her that I wasn’t interested in pursuing anything more serious. I also hadn’t found the time to break it to my sisters.

  “Look, I haven’t quite decided how I want to move forward with Vick. Please just don’t bring her.” I wanted to spend time with Jane, so the last thing I needed was Vick hanging around.

  “What do you mean? You like her, right?”

  “Uh… She’s great, it’s just, you know, we don’t have a whole lot in common.”

  “Opposites attract.”

  “Beth, come on. I get it, you guys really want that to work out, and maybe if I was in a different place, it would, but I just don’t think that relationship is for me.”

  “You haven’t even been out on a third date yet. It’ll be okay. I’ll bring her tonight and then after that, you can decide how you feel.”

  “Bethany, don’t br—”

  “I’ll see you later, bye!” The line clicked dead before I could say another word.

  I tossed my phone across the room, onto my bed. I loved my sisters to death, but they were always making things more complicated for me than they needed to be. They were going to pay for their mistake this time, though. I owed it to Vick to give her an honest explanation of the way I was feeling, and though I was hoping it would be in a more controlled environment, if it came down to mixing Vick with Jane, I was going to have to tell Vick to go. My drastic change and influx of feelings wasn’t her fault, and I wanted to let her down in as nice a way as possible, but I had a dream in my sights now. I didn’t want to risk one for the other.

  I picked out an outfit that I was hoping would impress. I had confirmed that Jane appreciated the sight of me without a shirt on, but I somehow doubted they were going to let me into the club like that.

  I picked out a pair of my navy blue suit slacks, and a pair of black leather boots. I donned a white, button-up shirt, and attached a pair of navy, dark denim texture, navy blue suspenders. I slicked my hair back over my head, rolled my sleeves up to three-quarter length, spritzed on some of my favorite cologne, and checked the finished product in the mirror.

  “I’d date me.” I took the obligatory Instagram selfie, posted it, grabbed my wallet and keys and left for the club.

  When I got there, the bouncer was already expecting me, having seen several of my teammates arrive already. He let me in and I could already see my team partying it up in the elevated VIP section. I walked over, greeted the team security standing guard at the VIP section entrance, and then climbed the stairs to join the fray.

  The music was booming, and there were already several waitresses walking around with expensive looking bottles of liquor on trays. I scanned the group and then my heart came to a stop. Sitting on a lounge with Alvin on one side and Isaac on the other, was Jane. She had her curly brown hair slicked back halfway, and then it pooped out into a fireworks bun. She had on a burgundy dress that had a front zipper and clung to her shapely form. It had sleeves that went down to just above her wrist and the zipper tapered out i
nto a small slit up the middle of the dress at her knees. The collar of it swooped low, giving a teasingly small glimpse at her cleavage, and the sleeves started halfway down her shoulders. She finished the ensemble off with a pair of black, stiletto ankle boots, and some hanging, silver chains to add some bling.

  It was to die for.

  Alvin saw me first and stuck his bottle in the air. “Hey! Let’s hear it for the star of our team!”

  Everyone turned towards me and started cheering. When Jane saw me, her lips parted ever so slightly and her eyes got a little wider. Dressed to impress: check. They all stuck their drinks in the air, whatever form or fashion those drinks were, and started cheering my name. I put my hand in the air and waved them off and then motioned to Jane.

  “To the real MVP!”

  Everyone started to chant Jane’s name instead, and Alvin and Isaac tapped her on the back. Alvin looked over at me, and with Jane temporarily distracted, I motioned for him to move over. He caught the code and stood up, allowing me to walk over and sit down where he’d been moments before.

  “Hi.” Jane was giving me that same, beautiful smile I was learning to anticipate, and sitting right next to her, I could smell her flowery perfume; something that tied my stomach up in knots and sent signals to my lower region that I was definitely excited.

  “Hey.”

  “Thanks for the plug.” Jane giggled. “I wouldn’t call myself the MVP.”

  “I would. You’ve seen, in just a few weeks, stuff about our team no one has caught for years.”

  “I’m really observant at best. You guys are the ones out there working your asses off.” She leaned in a little closer. “By the way, you really were awesome today.”

  My body turned on immediately. Jane was so close and with her throwing compliments my way, it’d be difficult to keep my hands off her tonight. Even if she’d let me, I wouldn’t try.

  “You had great advice.” I wrapped my hand behind her on the couch we were on, and smiled even wider when she scooched a little bit closer to me.