by Lucy Snow
The game started. And Drake made the most of it. He played better than I had seen him play in all of training camp. It reminded me of games back at Cal, the way he was styling on the other team, making them look terrible.
He was having one of the best games of his life. Watching him make catches like that from this angle, from the sidelines, was such a rush. I almost felt like I could get a tiny little piece of the feeling Drake must get when he made those catches.
Like a little piece of why he loved the game so much. Drake knew that this was the best game for him to show off his skills, and he was showing off in spades.
His routes were crisp, his timing was perfect, and Lance Parker and coaching staff could definitely see if it someone with so little experience as me could so easily.
This was good, this was very good. Drake was making a really strong case for making the team. On the other hand, Mike Sampson was not doing so hot. He had more than one drop, and his routes were off. Lance Parker definitely noticed, and instead of throwing to Sampson, normally his number 1 receiver, he was checking down to Drake more often than not by the 2nd quarter, and Drake was responding in kind, making some spectacular catches.
Just before the half, I stopped the wide receivers coach and managed to get a few seconds with him.
“How’s Drake looking?” I asked, already aware of the answer.
His eyes narrowed. “You know he’s having the game of his life out there.”
“Yeah, but I just wanted to hear you say it. Think he’s gonna make the team?”
“At this rate, and given how crappy Sampson is playing? I’d say he’s got a good shot. Did you say something to Rollins? What changed?”
I nodded. “He’s starting to believe in himself.”
The wide receivers coach laughed and shook his head. “Don’t give me that crap. As long as he keeps playing like this, I don’t give a shit what you said to him.”
He wandered away, off to talk to some of the players. I managed to flag down Coach Armstrong as he approached the tunnel.
“Coach Armstrong, how’s the game going so far?”
“We’ve done some good things, and some bad, we’re going to make some adjustments and see where those take us.”
“And Drake Rollins?” Coach Armstrong knew I and the Boston Globe had a special interest in Drake Rollins.
“He’s performing like we expected him to perform.”
“Could you be more specific?”
“No, Miss Pearson, I cannot. All I will say is, he is living up to expectations. And the Patriots have high expectations for all our players.”
With that, Coach Armstrong turned and headed into the tunnel off to the locker room to discuss the first half with his players and make half time adjustments that would give the team the edge needed to win the game.
Even though preseason games didn’t mean anything, Armstrong was known throughout the league for taking them very seriously and today was clearly no different.
I watched him head back into the tunnel and I couldn’t help but be thrilled. Drake was having an amazing game and even though it sounded like Armstrong was giving the most middle of the road and banal reaction to a player’s performance, for him that was actually extremely high praise.
Today was looking up indeed.
CHAPTER 26 - DRAKE
I was having a fucking awesome game, and I knew it.
Fuck, everyone knew it. Even Lance Parker came up to me during half time and gave me props for making all those catches. I sent it back to him, letting him know that his passes were perfect and dead on.
“Get a room you two!” someone shouted, and we both laughed before going back to our lockers.
Fuck, it felt good to be having this much fun during a game again. I had almost forgotten how great this felt. And throughout, all I wanted to do was tell Lily about it.
Back at my locker I pulled out my phone and saw that she’d sent me a flood of text messages, all telling me her observations of my catches.
It was really heartwarming to see how into it she was getting, and I scrolled through them all, reliving those moments as she expressed them in text form.
This girl was amazing! How had I enjoyed football before I met her? This was way better than normal.
Coach Armstrong came in the room and gave us a good talk, talking to the position coaches who came around and told their position groups the changes for the second half. We were behind, but the game was definitely within reach.
Before we knew it, the second half had begun and we were back on the field. The crowd, probably well liquored up by now, was really getting into it, cheering us on raucously.
This was the good stuff. This was where I was meant to be. On the field like this, with the crowd all around.
I saw Lily back on the sidelines and I waved to her. She waved back, a huge smile on her face.
The third quarter went much like the second - we made some gains but gave up just as many, leaving the score still close, but relatively unchanged.
It would come down to the 4th quarter. Coach Armstrong walked up and down the sidelines, talking to us, telling his in his own understated way just how important this was.
When he came up to me, I stood up, and he said 4 words to me, 4 words I knew I would never forget. “Rollins, make a play.”
That was all it took. That was all Coach Armstrong needed to say. I strapped on my helmet and went back out there.
Back in the huddle, Parker poked me in the ribs. “Wide Flip Six Three, got it?”
All of us grunted, but Sampson spoke up. “Give me the ball, Parker.”
Parker shook his head. “Nah, you’ve had the drops all day, Sampson. Drake’s first read on this one.”
“Fuck this shit,” was all Sampson said in reply, but he clapped his hands as the huddle broke like the rest of us.
I jogged back to the line of scrimmage, lining myself up on the left side. Sampson was on the right, looking sullen.
The center snapped the ball to Parker in the shotgun formation, and I took off, running down the seam, noticing that the pressure from the pass rush was coming on strong and Parker would have to get the ball out quick or he would take a sack.
My route on this play was deep, and I ran as hard as I could, sure that by the time I got to where I was supposed to be, Parker would have seen the pass rush and checked down to Sampson, giving him the glory, assuming he could catch the fucking ball for once.
But as I whipped my head around to see, I watched Parker shake off one, then a second pass rusher and throw me a long bomb.
Oh shit, that was coming right at me. I timed it just right and jumped as high as I could, feeling the ball fall directly into my arms less than a second later.
It was a perfect pass and a perfect catch. I looked down as I came down and the field was a different color.
I was in the end zone. It was a touchdown!
And then the world went black and I knew nothing anymore except that I was falling.
CHAPTER 27 - LILY
Drake went up for the catch after Lance Parker managed to evade that monstrous Eagles pass rush, and made a spectacular catch.
I nearly jumped out of my clothes I was so happy!
And then I saw the hit from the safety as he came back down. It was a vicious hit, and all the happiness and exultation I felt died in my throat.
Drake crumbled to the ground and didn’t move. The ball was still in his hands and ever hit the ground, which meant it was a touchdown, but immediately the referees signaled an injury time out and the Patriots medical team ran out onto the field to attend to him.
Oh shit, please let him be ok, please. Just as he was having the game of his life, and now he got injured? This just wasn’t fair!
I gripped my notebook in my hands till my knuckles turned white, not able to do anything and feeling totally inadequate because of it.
I wanted to run out there and help him, but I wasn’t a doctor. There was nothing I could do from
here but send him my thoughts and will him to wake up, stand up, and keep playing.
It felt like nothing, but it was all I had.
The cameras focused on Drake lying on the ground as the TV stations went to commercial break. A production assistant ran through the media section, looking around frantically for someone.
When he saw me, he ran up and threw himself in front of me. “You’re Lily Pearson, right?” he said, breathlessly.
“Yes, that’s right. What’s up?”
He put his hands on my shoulders. “You gotta come with me, they want to do a live interview with you right now!”
“Wait, what? Who? Why? Me?”
“Come on, I’ll explain on the way, we gotta go now!” He turned around and beckoned me back toward where he came. “Let’s go!”
I put my notebook away and hurried after him, questions swirling in my head. What was going on?
“I’m with ESPN. The game announcers are big fans of your work and they want to do a live interview with you about Drake Rollins and his quest to make the team.”
Of course, that made sense. It felt a little strange to do an interview while the subject of my work was lying on the field not 200 feet from me, but that was the nature of sports.
The assistant hustled me through interview prep and handed me a mic, and less than a minute later I was on camera. Annie Ross was nowhere to be found.
“Lily Pearson, with us from the Boston Globe, has been following Drake Rollins ever since the dustup the two had on draft day,” said the announcer both to me and the viewing audience. “We’ve all followed along with her daily dispatches from Patriots training camp. She’s here with us live right now. Lily, can you tell us a little bit more about Drake Rollins’ story?”
“Well, Tony,” I started, feeling a little odd talking directly into a camera but addressing a specific person, “Drake Rollins had a rough camp to start with, only learning he was going to be a Patriot less than three days before the start of training camp. He didn’t even get the playbook in his hands till the day he showed up.”
“And how has his progress been since?”
“It’s been really great, Tony! You and everyone has seen how he performed in tonight’s game. 11 catches for 149 yards and now a touchdown, those are some impressive numbers for an undrafted free agent.”
“They certainly are. Looks like he’s still on the ground now, medical staff are attending to him. What do you think of his chances to make the team, assuming he’s not seriously injured?”
“Of course all of us down here hope that it’s nothing serious, but I’ve been speaking to the coaches and I get the impression after tonight’s game that Drake Rollins will in fact be a New England Patriot this year.” It felt so good to say that.
“That’s certainly great news, Lily. He’s had some off the field issues, the team isn’t concerned with that?”
“Of course the team was concerned, Tony. Any team might be when character concerns come up, and Drake certainly has had his. He’s been on point all through training camp, though. I’ve gotten to know him a little bit and I really get the impression he’s matured a lot since draft day and that he’s put that part of his life behind him.”
“A little quick to suggest he’s turned his entire life around, isn’t it?”
I smiled. “Yeah, it is, but that’s something the Patriots are known for, Tony. Players with huge egos and off the field issues come here and turn into model football players. Drake Rollins seems to have bought into the entire thing, and it’s really helped him out these last couple weeks.”
“You’ve spent a lot of time around Drake Rollins lately, you’ve had the unique opportunity to observe him. We’ve all heard and read the stories about his famous partying persona, can you tell us something more about the real Drake Rollins?”
I hesitated before answering, “Well, Tony, I’d say that Drake Rollins, the real Drake Rollins, is a much more complicated man than gossip columns would report. He’s got a huge heart and really loves playing football. Yeah, he’s had some demons in his past, but everyone has those. Drake’s were just more visible because he’s so good at what he does.”
I kept looking back and forth between the camera and the field where Drake lay. It felt almost wrong that I would be talking about Drake while he was unconscious, but just at that moment, I noticed that he was starting to stir.
I knew what I had to do. “Tony, thanks for the interview, but I gotta go.”
Then I tossed the microphone to the production assistant and ran onto the field.
In front of almost 67,000 people and millions on television.
CHAPTER 28 - DRAKE
It was an amazing dream. I was in front of a huge crowd, and then I caught the winning touchdown and the place just went insane.
Grown men were crying in the stands. Pregnant women around the world were naming their unborn sons ‘Drake.’ The Patriots were signing me to a gigantic contract right there on the field, and every sports and drink company was lined up after them to make me an offer and get my signature and hand over a giant check.
Yeah, it was an amazing dream, and in it, I had it all made.
But it was missing something.
I looked around, past all the cheering crowd, past the stacks of money as they piled up, past all the cheerleaders throwing themselves at me.
Then it hit me, all at once.
My dream was missing her.
Lily Pearson.
Where was she? It couldn’t be an amazing dream without her.
No, no this wouldn’t do. All my dreams needed to have Lily in them from now on.
I would have to wake up from this one and face reality. Because reality at least had Lily in it, even if it didn’t have as much money or fame.
Wake up, Drake.
Wake up.
Right.
Now.
I opened my eyes. Blurry at first.
And then the sound. Or, rather, the lack of sound. I had never been around a full stadium that was so quiet.
My eyes started focusing and there she was, looking down at me, with those big brown hopeful eyes of hers. I could get used to that look.
“Oh, Drake, you’re back!” Lily whispered.
“Heeeeeeeeyyyyy, there Lily.” It took a couple seconds before I could speak clearly. “You’re lookiiiinng mighty fiiiiine.”
She tapped me on the chest, smiling and laughing through the tears as they came down. “You big dummy, you scared me! Are you alright?”
“Y-yeah, I’m fine.”
“Can you move your arms?” This came from someone else, clearly one of the medical guys from the team.
I moved my arms and then my legs, and a cheer went up from the crowd as they watched me, even from far away. Once the crowd knew there was no paralysis, the tough part was over.
“Can you stand?” Lily asked.
“Y-yeah, let’s do it. Help me up.” I paused for a second. “Wait.”
“What is it?” Lily’s voice was strained and concerned, fearing the worst.
“Before I get up, I gotta know. It was a touchdown, right?”
“Ugh, you are are the worst.” She punched me in the chest again, but through all the padding I barely felt it. “Help yourself get up, then, you big dummy. Yes, it was a touchdown.” But she was still smiling.
“Great. I thought so. First one with a new team feels the best.” I started to get up, struggling a bit at first, but then Lily was there to steady me, and I stood up, slowly.
The crowd went nuts, and once I was standing, still leaning on Lily’s shoulder on one side, and the medical guy’s on the other, I waved to them, turning around smiling.
The video monitors showed the hit, and it looked bad, but already I was feeling much, much better. I turned around and breathed in deep, savoring the moment, wanting to remember it as long as I could.
The medical guy stayed with us as we walked toward the sideline, but I leaned over and whispered to him and he stepped
away. I was fine.
Lily was next to me and that was all I needed. I clung to her and she kept me up.
Like she had the entire time. We may have started off in a rocky place, but she had stood by me from the start, and I was eternally grateful.
I stopped walking, 10 yards before we hit the side. The crowd watched, and I could tell they were wondering if I was going to collapse again, after effects of the hit.
Instead, I turned to Lily, who looked at me with confusion, and I put my arms around her. The crowd went silent.
And then I kissed her, long and hard, on national TV. She melted into me, and I picked her up and pulled her close.
And then it was too loud to hear anything anymore.
CHAPTER 29 - LILY
That…was unexpected.
Over the next couple weeks, video of Drake kissing me was the biggest thing on the planet. The number of stories written about us eclipsed anything I could possibly have imagined.
We both became celebrities for a hot minute. Interviews, appearances on TV, the whole nine yards. Annie Ross got fired by ESPN - the worldwide leader in sports did not appreciate their on-air talent spreading slanderous rumors about other journalists out of petty jealousy.
It was a huge whirlwind, and I couldn’t believe it was happening to me. Drake took it all in stride, he was used to being in the public spotlight, but this was my first, well, second brush with notoriety.
Drake spent the first day or so convincing the world that it wasn’t a publicity stunt, but eventually people got the point - we were actually in love and now we didn’t have to hide it anymore.
Whoosh, just saying that still felt a little weird. Gonna take some time before I could wrap my head around it.
I was Drake Rollins’ girlfriend.
Damn. Me. Lily Pearson!
I never would have guessed this would happen in a thousand years, yet here we were.
Drake was standing in the parking lot as I entered. I got out of the car after parking in the familiar spot. Preseason was over and the final roster cuts had just been announced.
“Hey there,” he said, smiling as he took me into his arms and kissed me, deep and long.
