The Anti-Crush: An Enemies to Lovers Sports Romance

by Harper West

  I know a lot of people would ignore Kyler's behavior. It's be written off as boys will be boys or something like that. I knew that men had a terrible reputation for objectifying women and getting away with it. Athletes were some of the worst of the bunch, especially in prestigious colleges like this. They could do anything for four years without consequence, then would go on to coveted internships and high-powered careers. And, at the end of the day, daddy would protect them from everything. Well, not me. And I certainly wasn't going to let anyone else be treated that way, girlfriend or not.

  Kyler turned and faced me. His expression was hard. "What are you looking at?'' he asked and squared his shoulders.

  Immediately, I rose to the challenge. I was only a couple inches shorter than his six-foot-five frame, but I was no less ready to tackle him to the ground. It would be a little harder now that there wasn't alcohol involved. But I felt pretty damn certain that we were equally matched.

  "Whoa, what's happening over here?" Tanner asked as he strode over, helmet in hand, and stood between Kyler and me. "We got a problem?"

  "Back off, Tanner," Kyler growled. He placed a large hand on Tanner's shoulder and shoved him off.

  To Tanner's credit, he only stumbled back a foot. But it was enough of an incentive for me. I doubled over into tackle position and barreled hard into Kyler’s chest, shoving him back against the lockers as the metal clanged and echoed.

  Coach barged into the locker room, scowling. "What the hell is going on in here? ”he shouted. His ruddy face dripped with sweat. "Tanner, Nathan, Kyler. My office. Everyone else, get the fuck out." Everyone in the crowded locker room rapidly dispersed.

  Irritated, I shoved my fingers through my blond hair as the three of us shuffled into the coach's office. He shut the door and I was pretty sure we were about to get our asses handed to us.

  "Now, does anyone want to tell me what's going on?'' Coach asked as he narrowed his cold ,gray eyes.

  "They started it!" Kyler shouted.

  "No, we didn’t!" I got in Kyler's face, practically nose to nose with him.

  "All right now, knock it off!" the coach yelled as he shoved us apart and stood between us. "Tanner, what the hell's going on with these two?”

  "I think this is about the fight from a party earlier this year," Tanner said as he glanced at me. "Kyler came in here looking for a fight. And well, Nathan was happy to accommodate." Tanner shrugged. Tanner was always honest with coach. I was mad he didn't take my side, but I couldn't fault him for telling the truth.

  My fists clenched, ready for an opportunity to collide with Kyler's smug face.

  "That's a fucking lie!" Kyler shouted as he took a step toward me. His chest bumped against the coach's shoulder.

  "Back down, Evans, or I swear to God I'm going to bench you. I don't care if the NFL scouts are coming or not," he said to Kyler, who clenched his jaw. "You need to get your act together. This team is not going to fall apart over a girl and a few beers. We’ve got scouts coming this week and if you guys tear each other to pieces, we are going to look like idiots.”

  Tanner looked anxious for a minute. Of the three of us, he was the one most likely to be drafted and I knew it meant the world to him.

  Suddenly, we heard footsteps coming towards us. All four of us turned to face the office door as whoever it was let himself in like he belonged here.

  "What's going on?" Alexander Evans, Kyler's father, strolled in, wearing a pristine suit and blond hair slicked back. He was the carbon copy of Kyler, except twenty-five years older.

  "Are these boys harassing my son?" Mr. Evans asked as he strode over.

  "More like the other way around," I muttered.

  Mr. Evans's eyes flashed to mine. "What was that, boy?" he barked.

  I squared my shoulders, not caring. Who the hell did he think he was? I was nobody's boy.

  "I got a handle on this, Mr. Evans. Thank you so much for coming today to show support to the team. You know how much we appreciate your donations," Coach said and gave me a look that told me to shut my mouth before I lost funding for the football team.

  "Of course," Mr. Evans said, his voice curt, as he looked me up and down. "Anything to support my son.”

  I rolled my eyes. Football dads have been the bane of my existence since elementary school. I was just glad that my dad wasn't that way. Whatever Coach said to Mr. Evans seemed to appease him and he left the office.

  "All right, then. Let's have everyone clean up and get back in here,” Coach said as he let out a heavy sigh. I could all but hear his voice in his head. I'm getting too old for this.

  I yanked open my locker and pulled out my phone. It was a pisser of a day. God, even the most mundane text from Elizabeth would make a world of difference right now. Despite everything that had just gone down, I smiled when I saw that she’d replied.

  "6-4-3-2," I mumbled as I typed in the four-digit passcode. But, then I read the message. The I don't think we should see each other anymore one. I stared at the screen as my heart sank to my stomach. How could she?

  "What is it?" Tanner asked as he stood behind me and clapped a hand on my shoulder.

  "Elizabeth broke up with me," I said, breathless. Tanner yanked it from my hand to read it for himself

  "Holy shit, man," Tanner said as he handed it back to me.

  I stared down at the screen. How could she do that? All I did was tell her that I loved her. Tanner swallowed hard, and I could tell he was searching for the right words. The locker room grew steadily louder as the guys came back in.

  "I have to get out of here," I said and turned on my heel. I was still in my practice gear, sweaty and unshowered.

  "Where the hell do you think you're going?" the coach said as he grabbed me by my jersey and whirled me around to face him.

  "I have to go talk to Elizabeth" I said. “This can't be how it ends.”

  “Are you kidding me, Nathan. The goddamn NFL is about to be here." He reminded me of a Southern drill sergeant in some war movie my dad used to watch. “You leave now and you blow your shot at the big time."

  "Wait. What?" Kyler demanded. His eyes were still full of fury, "You seriously want to choose a girl over football?”

  "No, not just any girl. Elizabeth," I said. "Not that it's any of your fucking business." I was already riled up but didn’t want to waste any more time on him.

  "You can't go. You're the quarterback," the coach said, his voice desperate. "If you leave, we're all fucked."

  "You got Tanner," I said and gestured to my friend. "He is a second QB, isn't he?”

  Coach grumbled, but agreed. We all knew Tanner could handle it and would relish being the hero. This was a golden opportunity for him and would secure his chances to go pro.

  I didn't wait around. I jogged out of the exit and sprinted up the stairs, my shoes slapping against the concrete. As the cool fall air chilled my skin, I looked up at the gray skies. It was probably going to rain tonight.

  I looked at the clock on the bell tower as I raced to the campus square. The game was going to start in less than ten minutes. If I wasn't there for the coin toss, I wouldn't be allowed to play. There was no way I could get to Elizabeth and still get back in time. But I chose what mattered most to me in this life. And that was Elizabeth. I didn’t care about the NFL scouts anymore. I had to find Elizabeth and get her back. She was the opportunity of my lifetime.

  Dodging students who were making their way toward the football field, my heart pounded in my chest. I peered inside of the medical studies building and I saw her there, through the window, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose. Her pencil was balanced in her hands the way it always did when she was studying.

  I knew she was taking the MCATs today and she had worked so hard for this. There's no way I could run in there and interrupt her. I'd just have to wait. So, I did. I sat outside the building in my football gear waiting for the woman I loved and missing the big game to do so.

  I paced back and forth as the rain began
to fall and soaked through my jersey. Goose bumps popped up along my forearm. I shivered. But I didn't leave.

  "What are you doing out here?" I whirled around at the sound of a familiar male voice. “You're supposed to be on the field."

  "Dad?" I asked.

  My father was strolling forward in a tailored black suit and holding an umbrella, one hand in his pocket "I was just walking over to the stadium. Sorry, your mother couldn't make it. But she promised to throw you the most divine graduation party," he said, laughing at my mother's frequent use of the word divine.

  I laughed and shook my head. "I didn't know you were coming."

  "Of course I was. Did you really think I'd miss your last game?"

  "I don't know," I said with a laugh and then felt a little guilty. “I mean, I'm missing my last game."

  “I see that. But... why?" he asked as he stepped forward and let the umbrella shelter the both of us.

  "A girl," I said and nodded toward the window where Elizabeth sat and flipped through the pages of her test book.

  "She looks familiar," he said.

  "That's because she is familiar," I said. "We went to high school together. I think her mom went to a couple of your banquets. We’ve reconnected after all this time and... I don't know. I can't help but think she's the one. But, she broke up with me.”

  "And is that why you're here instead of at the game?" he asked with a raised brow.

  "It is. I love her, Dad. I can't let her get away. She means more to me than anything."

  I braced myself for my father's reaction, completely expecting him to tell me I'm being reckless with my future. That's I'm an idiot for foregoing my chances with the NFL. That he's ashamed of me or something. But, to my surprise, he says none of that. He just smiles and nods, supportively.

  “Go get her, Son," he says.

  19

  Elizabeth

  My heart was heavy.

  I clutched my books to my chest and walked out of the testing center with my head hanging low.

  No test had ever been more difficult. It was hell trying to keep my my mind of the test when my thought skeps returning to Nathan. I worked my ass off and I was filled with so much anger at the possibility of my future being thrown away because of heartache.

  As I scowled up at the dark stormy sky, it started raining. The icy droplets bounced off my face and quickly soaked my clothes.I feel like I was in some kind of soap opera. Wiping the hot tears from my eye, I sniffled. Surely, I'd failed the MCAT. And it was all because of some boy.

  What was I going to tell my mother? What would she think? How could I face her and tell her that we had no future together as a mother-daughter duo for private practice?

  Of course, it was too early for me to say such things. We wouldn't have our results back for weeks. But still, I knew in my soul that it was bad. And it felt as if my entire world was crumbling around me.

  Adding insult to injury, a large gust of wind hit me so hard that it knocked me a step back. I tripped over some idiot's bicycle, cursing the bicycle and life itself. I sat in the gutter as the rain poured down on me, soaking my jeans, my textbooks, and the brand-new calculator I’d spent sixty bucks on. I sobbed as I lifted it up and began tapping buttons frantically. It was dead. Hopeless, like my life.

  I lowered my head, sat, and watched as the notes that I had worked on so tirelessly over four months got soaked by the icy water, making them useless. My only comfort was knowing that at least it was over. I didn't have to kill myself over a test anymore.

  “Elizabeth?" The voice was familiar and comforting. Quiet. Just barely audible over the rain.

  I looked up and met Nathan’s gaze, his blond hair dripping wet, plastered to his forehead, skimming his eyebrows. My heart ached even more. My heart was breaking over the test, but I'd broken his along the way and I felt absolutely gutted over it

  "What are you doing here?” I asked. I ran my hand down my slick skin, trying to wipe the water from my face. It was useless, of course, as the downpour continued.

  "I came to talk," he said.

  My eyes widened as I finally noticed that he was in full football gear. Shoulder pads and all, his helmet resting beside him as he helped me pick up my belongings.

  "The game?" I asked, my voice hoarse as thunder cracked above us.

  "What about it?'' he asked, not meeting my eyes as he extended a hand, pulling me to my feet.

  "You have the game today, right? Isn't there a game?" I said, racking my brain, trying to remember the weekends.

  "Yeah, and the NFL scouts are there right now," he said. We stood in silence, the rain pouring all around us.

  “You're missing your shot," I said as I stared into those troubled blue eyes that fit the storm so well.

  "I know," he sighed. He swallowed, and his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat.

  “So... wait. You're missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime to stand in the rain outside a testing center?" I asked. “Why, Nathan?”

  "You know you're the second person to say that to me tonight. I'm not missing any opportunity. I'm right where I want to be?" My body stiffened. I couldn't believe what he was saying. "You're more important to me than a football game and the NFL. Dammit, Elizabeth, you're the most important thing in my entire life. I'm in love with you."

  His words hung in the air once more.

  Tears streamed down my cheeks, blending in with the rain.

  "I'm in love with you, Elizabeth. Maybe I'm a fool, but I thought that you were smart enough to realize that you were in love with me, too," he said as he shifted his weight and looked around the empty campus.

  That stung just a little, but I knew that I deserved it. He was more important than anything. I was being short-sighted. I could have Nathan and medical school. I was smart enough to handle both. And I was definitely smart enough not to let Nathan go again.

  "You still want to be with me?" I asked, "Even though I ran away and broke up with you in a text message like a coward?"

  "Of course, I want to be with you. Even if you chuck this thing at me," he laughed as he lifted my large textbook.

  No longer able to contain myself, I took a page from McKenzie’s playbook and jumped into his arms, wrapping my arms around his shoulders, threading my fingers in his hair and searing my mouth to his. I finally felt warm on this chilly night.

  Nathan held me close and kissed me, sending thrills of lust through me. No, not just lust. Love. I loved him. And I had to say it before I exploded.

  "I love you," I whispered as I broke away and brushed his damp hair away from his face. "I'm sorry it took me so long to see it. God, I'm such an idiot." I half-laughed, half sobbed.

  "You're not an idiot," he murmured, "you're the smartest person I know."

  Epilogue

  Nathan

  It had been a month since Elizabeth and I officially got together.

  But, for most of our relationship, she had been a nervous wreck, convinced that she bombed the MCATs. Which was how I found myself sitting in her living room, watching her pace back and forth, holding her iPad Pro to her chest as she waited for her scored to come in. I was pretty sure she was going to give herself a heart attack.

  "I can't do this. It's killing me. If I open it and I've failed, I'm going to die. If I don't open it, then the anticipation and the anxiety, is going to kill me, and I will also die, she agonized.

  Elizabeth had always had a flair for the dramatic, but it made her entertaining.

  "How about I look at it for you and decide whether or not I should tell you?" I offered as I held up my hand for the rose gold iPad.

  She stared for a moment as she gnawed on her lower lip, trying to decide how to proceed.

  "Lizzie, come on," I said, using my new pet name for her. "Worst-case scenario, it's a mediocre score, and you and I spend the next couple of years at a medical school in the Caribbean," I said, and she narrowed her eyes.

  It was a joke, of course. But it didn't land.

  "Co
me on, baby. Let me help," I said as I pushed myself off the sofa and took the iPad from her hand and clicked the link. The white page flashed as it loaded.

  She held her breath, pressing her fingers to her lips.

  "Lizzie, you gotta breathe; you're gonna pass out."

  She nodded and inhaled deeply.

  "I wasn't this nervous when I got my LSAT scores.” I swallowed hard and looked up to meet her eyes.

  "What is it?'' she demanded. "Tell me. I have to know."

  I looked at her score. It was near perfection. But, I had to mess with her. "Babe, I'm sorry," I said, keeping my face neutral. She yanked the tablet from my hands and stared horrified at the screen until she realized I was playing.

  "Sorry? What the hell are you sorry for? For giving me a heart attack?" she asked, shoving me. ”Oh my God, oh my God! I did it. I did it!" She jumped up and down.

  I grabbed her by the waist, yanking her into my lap. "I know, I just wanted to give you a hard time. I'm sorry." I laughed as I pulled her in for a kiss "You're gonna have your pick of medical schools, babe,”

  "Well, I want to go wherever you're going. I don't want anything to tear us apart again."

  “Agreed." I kissed her again and ran my fingers through her hair. "I love you, Elizabeth," I breathed against her lips.

  "I love you, too, Nathan.”

  And, just like that, all was right with the world.

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