by L A Cotton
I chuckled at that. I’d gotten to know Mrs. Hasson quite well over the years and it wasn’t any secret she kept Coach in line.
“This Miss Giles. You think it could be serious?”
“I think so, Sir.”
“Good, you hold onto her and don’t let go, you hear me? When you have the world at your feet like you do, girls are a dime a dozen. They’ll all want a piece of the action, the glory, but it’s a rare thing to find a girl who will see beyond all that. A girl who will stick around long enough to realize there’s more to you than football.”
“Got it,” I said, trying to disguise how deeply his words affected me.
“There’s just one last thing before you leave. I thought you might like to know the school board are issuing a full investigation into Mr. Thatcher and Miss Jarvis. They won’t get away with this, Jason. But I’m begging you. Let the authorities handle it from here on out.”
“I think I can do that, Coach.”
“Glad to hear it. Okay, get out of here. We have a game to prepare for. Just because you’re out for the first game doesn’t mean I don’t expect one-hundred-and-ten percent at practice, okay?”
Nodding, I moved to the door, pausing. “Hey, Coach, you ever get into trouble back in the day?”
“Does a bear shit in the woods?” A rare smirk lifted the corner of his mouth. “Now go, before I change my mind.”
The locker room had cleared out by the time I was done. Only Asher remained, sitting on the bench near his locker cage. “Hey,” I said, dropping down beside him.
“Hey,” he mumbled, kicking his sneakers against the floor.
“Why, Ash?” I’d already asked him the question but that was before the sentence had been handed down.
“Because this was always how it was supposed to be; you get the girl and the glory.”
“Ash, come on…” I nudged his shoulder with mine.
“It’s all good.” Raking a hand through his hair, he finally lifted his eyes to me, but his smile was distant. “It’s your dream, man, so make it count.”
With a small nod, he got up and walked out of the locker room. Leaving me sitting there with nothing but my regrets.
They said heavy was the head that wore the crown. Well my crown was coiled in guilt and shame, and it weighed a fucking ton.
Felicity
My eyes flicked to the wall clock for the tenth time in less than ten minutes.
“Felicity, sweetheart, is something wrong with your food?”
“No, Mom, it’s great.” I forced a smile, pushing the noodles around my plate. “I… umm… it’s just, well, there’s something I want to talk to you about. Two things actually.” I’d hoped to sit down with her and Dad, but he got held up at the office again, and I figured it might be a blessing in disguise. If I broke the news to her first, then she could help break the news to my dad.
“I’m listening.” She placed her silverware down and leaned in attentively. “Whatever it is, baby, I’m sure it doesn’t warrant all this worry.” Her eyes softened.
“So funny story, I—” The doorbell startled me, making me choke on the words yet to come.
“Are you expecting someone?”
I was… but he was fifteen minutes early.
Damn him.
“I’ll get that, Mom.” I was up and out of my chair before she could stop me, all but running down the hall. Yanking the front door open, I hissed, “You’re early.”
“Hailee said you might need some moral support.” Jase’s brow went up. “And I brought back up.”
“Back up?”
He pulled his arm from behind his back, revealing a bouquet of hand tied roses. “They’re beautiful.” I went to take them from him, but Jason snatched them out of reach.
“Actually, they’re for your mom. Hailee said they were her favorite.”
“Are you sure you haven’t done this before?” Stepping to the side, I let him enter. But Jason paused, turning to meet my dreamy gaze.
“Only for you. Only ever for you. You owe me, Giles.” He grinned, leaning in to steal a kiss.
“Felicity, sweetheart,” Mom’s voice filtered down the hall, “is everything okay?”
“Fine, Mom. I’m coming.”
“Already?” Jason whispered, tracing his mouth down my neck. “I haven’t even touched you yet.”
“Behave.” My hands pressed into his chest. “This has to go well.” Because if it didn’t… well, it didn’t bear thinking about. I went to go, but he grabbed my wrist, pulling me back to him.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay, Felicity. Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it, okay? Together.”
Any apprehension I felt melted away. Jason might have been new to the whole relationship thing, but so far, he was doing a pretty amazing job.
“Ready?” I asked him, feeling myself fall into his dark intense eyes. Our mouths fused together again, like magnets unable to fight the attraction.
“Felicity?” Mom’s voice was closer now.
Crap.
Lips still attached to Jason’s, I slid my eyes to the hall to find her standing there, watching us with a mix of mild curiosity and panic. “Hmm, hey, Mom.” I finally detached myself from my boyfriend’s mouth. “Surprise.”
“Surprise? I’m not sure I follow…” her eyes narrowed, moving from me to Jason and back again. “Is that who I think it is?”
“Hi, Mrs. Giles. I’m Jason. Jason Ford.” He stepped forward, thrusting the bouquet of flowers at her. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“These are for me?” She was giving him a serious case of the mom-stares.
“They are. A little birdy told me they were your favorite.”
“They’re very beautiful. Thank you, Jason.” Mom graciously accepted the flowers despite the scowl on her face. “Now would you care to explain why you’re in my house, kissing my daughter?”
“About that, Mom. I can explain. Jason is…” The words were right there, on the tip of my tongue, but I froze.
I totally and utterly froze.
Fingers sliding against mine, Jason’s touch slowly thawed the panic coiled around my throat. “I’m Felicity’s boyfriend.”
“B- boyfriend. Oh my… Well, that is a shock. Boyfriend?” Her eyes went to mine and I managed a small nod. “I see, and how long has this been going on?”
“It’s fairly new,” Jason said with an easy confidence, and I was beginning to wonder if there was anything he couldn’t do. “But rest assured, I care about your daughter very much.”
“That’s… good to know.” Her hand slid to her neck as if she was having a hard time breathing. “Maybe we should all sit down.” Mom spun around and disappeared down the hall, and I slumped against Jason.
“This is not how I wanted this to go,” I let out a heavy sigh. “Did you see her face? She’s mortified.”
“Hey.” Jason’s fingers slid underneath my jaw, tilting my face to meet his steely eyes. “At least she knows now. She’ll come around.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because she loves you.”
“Okay.” Inhaling a deep breath, I said, “Let’s go finish this.” Because her world was about to spin one more time before the evening was over.
I only hoped we all survived.
We found Mom in the living room, sipping what looked like a glass of liquor. Dear God, I’d driven my mother to drink. There’s one for your list.
“I’m so sorry, Mom. This wasn’t how I wanted you to find out. I was trying to tell you over dinner, but the words just wouldn’t come out.”
“I won’t deny it’s a lot to process. I had no idea you were even dating; you never said anything.” Hurt flashed in her eyes, making guilt snake around my heart.
“I’m not dating, I mean, I wasn’t… Me and Jason just sort of happened.” My eyes lifted to his. “I didn’t plan for any of this.”
“Well, if there’s one thing I know, it’s that you can’t help who you fall for. I mean, take m
e and your father for example.” She smiled wistfully. “I just thought you had more sense, sweetheart.”
“Mom!” I scolded.
“Forgive me, Jason, I didn’t mean to sound so insensitive. I’m sure you can understand I’m not bowled over at the idea of my daughter dating a football player, let alone Rixon’s star quarterback.”
He stiffened beside me, squeezing my hand a little tighter. “We’re not dating, Mom,” I said. “I love him. I’m in love with him.”
If she’d been surprised in the hall watching me kiss Jason, it was nothing compared to the expression she wore now. “Felicity Charlotte Giles, in love, really?”
“Really.”
“And you,” she glared at Jason. “What are your intentions for my daughter?”
He cleared his throat and I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole. Jason might have signed on for my brand of crazy, but he was about to learn I had nothing on my mother.
“I’ll be honest, it’s not a question I imagined answering so soon.” Strangled laughter rumbled in his chest. “But I love her, ma’am. She makes me want to be a better man. Makes me want things I wasn’t sure I ever wanted. I understand you have concerns, I would too. But please know I would never do anything to hurt her.”
Mom’s expression barely softened. “You’ve certainly got a charm about you, don’t you?”
Oh dear God, despite her stone mask, my mother was flirting with my boyfriend.
I was never going to live this down.
“I try,” Jason quipped back, and I stamped on his foot. He smothered a grunt.
“Your father isn’t going to like this, sweetheart.”
“I was kind of hoping you might help soften the blow.” I flashed her my best puppy-dog eyes. “But before you make any decisions, there’s probably something else you should know.”
“Oh God, you’re not pregnant, are you?”
Jason started choking beside me while Mom stared at me expectantly. And I sat there, shrinking into the chair, wondering when life got so complicated. Knowing the answer was simple.
Jason freaking Ford.
After I broke the news to Mom that I planned on switching my business degree to animal science, and she’d had a semi-meltdown, I let Jason drag me away to give us both some space. I’d broken her heart but as he kept reassuring me, it would heal. Because that’s what hearts did. Sure, maybe they never quite got pieced back together the same way, but they would carry on beating.
“How are you feeling?” he asked me as he drove to wherever it was he was taking me.
“Sad, but mostly relieved. I’m their only child, their baby. I didn’t want to hurt them.”
“She’ll come around, I promise.” His hand splayed over my knee, rubbing gently. I covered it with my own, grateful for his reassurance.
“And my dad?”
“Him too. It might not happen overnight, it might not even happen over a few months, but it will happen.” I murmured some incoherent reply, too depressed to answer. “You deserve all your dreams, Felicity, and they will realize that one day.”
“Where are we going anyway?” I changed the subject. I wasn’t feeling in the mood, but Jason had insisted he had something to show me. I never could resist him, and I wasn’t about to start now.
When we turned off the main road out of town and took the familiar dirt path down to the lake, I groaned. “Seriously? You brought me here, now? The last thing I want to do right now is bounce on your—”
“Giles?” He cut the engine.
“Yeah?”
“Shut the fuck up and get out of the car.”
Well, okay then. Rolling my eyes, I shouldered the door and climbed out. The lake shimmered under a blanket of twinkling stars. “God, it’s so beautiful out here.”
Jason came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. “A little birdy told me you almost completed your list.”
“Almost.”
There were only three things remaining: fall asleep under the stars, get a tattoo, and go to Winter Formal with a date. Although I still wasn’t sure about getting a tattoo. It seemed so permanent.
“What if I told you, you can tick two of those things off tonight?”
“We’re going to sleep out here?” Because I was pretty sure my boyfriend didn’t have his tattoo license, and Winter Formal wasn’t for another couple of weeks.
I craned my face around to his, unable to hide my grin. “Only if you want to,” he said.
“But it’s freezing.”
“So technically, I thought we could sleep in the car, but the view is the same.”
“It’s perfect.” I brushed my lips over his. “Thank you. But that’s only one—”
Jason shoved something into my hand. I plucked open the note.
Roses are red, violets are blue
I’d really like to go to Winter Formal with you?
Stifling a giggle, I said, “Fess up. Asher wrote this, didn’t he?”
“He may have helped a little.”
Turning in Jason’s arms, I leaned up, touching my forehead to his. “I’m glad the two of you are okay.”
“You really think I want to talk about Ash right now?”
“What else did you have in mind?” I asked, coyly.
“First.” he dipped his head, kissing my collarbone, sucking the sensitive skin between his teeth. A shiver rolled through me, my eyes fluttering closed. “I want your answer.”
“Yes,” I breathed, desire humming through me.
“Good.” Jason spun me so that my ass hit the edge of his car. “Now I’m going to make love to you on the hood of my car and then we can cuddle talk about the final thing on your list before we fall to sleep under the stars, sound good?”
Looping my arms around his neck, I smiled. “It sounds perfect.”
Four weeks later
Felicity
“My god, I can’t watch,” I buried my face into Hailee’s arm as we watched from our preferential seats. Mya was with us, as well as Jason’s dad and Hailee’s mom, and Cameron’s parents. Asher was on the outs with his parents since the suspension, so they hadn’t made the trip.
A collective ‘oooh’ roared through the crowd as the Bulldog’s defensive end took down Cam for the third time.
“Is it always this tense?” Mya asked, to which me and Hailee both answered, “No.”
“Sorry I asked.” She held up her hands, grabbing another hand of popcorn.
“Seriously?” I gawked at her.
“What,” she shrugged, “I’m hungry.”
I couldn’t eat. I was too nervous. My heart had been in my mouth for most of the game. I knew how much this meant to Jason. He’d played it down a lot around Asher; trying to smooth the cracks that had appeared between them ever since Asher took the fall about the Thatcher ordeal. But when it was just the two of us, when I was lying in his arms, nothing between us, I felt his fear. Fear of failure, of letting his team down, his coach, the entire town.
But most of all, of letting himself down.
He’d worked so hard for this, they all had, but no one wanted it more than Jason. It wasn’t just some high school accolade; it was his legacy. His way of proving himself. So watching him and the rest of the team get their asses handed to them, was almost too much to bear.
“Run,” Hailee yelled, “Run.”
We both held our breath, waiting for the moment our offense reached the end zone, but a Bulldog defensive player came out of nowhere and slammed into Grady, knocking him clean off his feet.
“Dammit.”
“At least he almost got there that time,” Mya remarked.
I levelled her with an incredulous look. “Just because your guy isn’t out there on the field doesn’t mean you can’t at least pretend to be interested.”
“I’m interested.” She sat a little straighter. “And what do you mean, my guy?”
“You know exactly what I mean.” She and Asher had gotten closer since I got with Jason but
they were both still pleading the fifth on whether it was more than friendship.
“We’re just friends.”
Case in point.
Rolling my eyes, I settled my gaze back on the field, searching out Jason. Pride radiated from every bone in my body. Not because he’d led his team to this point; the whole town knew he’d do it, but for the fact he was mine.
For how far we’d come.
Rixon’s complicated, brooding, cruel, star quarterback was changing right before my eyes. He was warmer and more open, no longer afraid to tell me how he felt. Even less afraid to show me. He’d even made an effort to get to know my parents, although that was a work in progress. My dad was taking some warming up to the idea I had a boyfriend, let alone a boyfriend by the name of Jason Ford who I planned to go off to college with next year.
Of course, Jason still liked to talk dirty and make me blush at every opportunity, but I didn’t mind. In fact, I’d grown to love it. He pushed my boundaries and I pushed his right back.
And I couldn’t wait for the next summer when we left for UPenn to start the rest of our lives.
Together.
Jason
“Raiders, gather in,” I yelled like a general commanding his army. My teammates huddled together, waiting for my words of encouragement. For the profound speech to carry them into the fourth quarter.
“Listen up,” it came out breathless. I was running on empty; we all were. “No team ever wants to be in this position; going into the fourth trailing by eight points. But we can do this. I know we can. Forget all the other games, forget what happened last game.” When we’d almost fumbled our comfortable win by giving the opposing team room to score a touchdown with two minutes on the clock. Luckily, we were able to get the conversion before the final whistle, but it had been the most stressful two minutes of my life.
