“No doubt, but if he goes down… Our line normally dominates. That we’re getting manhandled… It’s not good,” the guy says.
They argue a bit, but I just find myself doing something I don’t normally do.
I’m praying.
Not for Ace to win but for him to be all right.
And I pray about my mom and Kyle too. I want them to be safe too.
I don’t pray for myself. I’m fine. So long as my people are, I can handle anything.
The second half is somehow even more exciting than the opening half, and we're down by four in the final seconds of the game. We're still in their territory, with no timeouts, but at least we have the ball.
A run up the middle. Stuffed, no gain.
A short pass at the sidelines, five yards.
Another short pass, incomplete.
“Shit. This is it. If we don’t make this, they can run out the clock, and it’s over,” the guy says.
“Believe in Ace. He’s got this! Let’s go!” the girl cheers.
Everyone is on their feet, cheering, so loud it's deafening. I'm not sure that being so loud is what Ace needs right now as he quickly huddles with his teammates. How can they hear him? But they're lining up, and the ball is snapped, but it's not in Ace's hands. It's on the ground. The snapper screwed up, but Ace scoops it up and throws it.
A perfect spiral.
That ends up in the hands of a defender after shoving down the wide receiver.
We're all screaming at the refs to call for interference. The defender is slow, running with the ball, but Ace is there. He plows into the guy. The guy goes down, but the ball pops out, right into Ace's hands, and he puts on a burst of speed that would make Gabe thrilled, and then he crosses the goal line, and the crowd goes nuts. Me too. In fact, some of the people in the first row are storming the field, and others are following suit, and I figure, why not? I join them.
Ace’s teammates lift him onto their shoulders, and I just stop and stand there, staring at him. He really is a star.
Eventually, he’s put down on the field, and people crowd around him. Girls fawn over him, but he ignores them, and I know it’s not my imagination. He has eyes only for me, and I grin at him, not trying to push through the crowd to reach him.
But I mouth, “Not too bad,” and he laughs. I swear I can hear it despite the multitude of people around us.
I wink, and he winks back.
Eventually, he and the other players disappear off the field, probably heading to the locker room. The crowd on the field thins, but there are still a ton of people here. It’s a bit easier to maneuver, though, and I head in the direction the team left.
A group of girls is arguing with a guy, trying to get past him and through an open door that he's guarding, and I slip on by while they're distracted. One of the girls squawks about me, and I throw open another door and slam it shut.
And find myself in the locker room.
Where a couple of the guys are naked.
Naked naked.
Only some of them have towels around themselves.
They glance over and make a few comments, but one calls out, “Ace! For you.”
Ace approaches. “Katie,” he says warmly, and he picks me up and spins me around.
“Am I your good luck charm or what?”
“I don’t know. Maybe, but that had been one of the worst games of my life.”