The field before me is clear and I fire a rocket of a pass to Julius who catches it flawlessly in the end zone. My arms go up as I run toward him to celebrate, which is cut short because now we have to go back on defense.
“Westbury,” Bud yells my name as I reach the sideline.
“Yeah, Coach?”
“Next time run more time off the clock.”
I nod and walk toward the bench and sit down. He’s right. I should’ve run some small routes instead of opening it up for the deep pass. Now we have to hold them on defense. I have faith in our cornerback, Cameron Simmons, but he can’t cover everyone.
Behind me, I can hear my grandmother Bianca yelling. Usually my it’s my dad and mom, along with my little sister, but my mom, along with her friends are in the Bahamas for the week, taking a much-needed vacation. It’s a toss-up between my grandma and my mom being the team’s biggest fans. Both of them insist that they sit behind the bench while my dad prefers to sit in the luxury suite. I get where he’s coming from. He gets tired of the security always around him. He wants to enjoy the game and not be hounded by fans all the time.
But my mom wants to be where the action is, and since they’re ridiculously in love, my father does whatever she wants. In turn, he tries to please my grandmother as well. They had a rocky relationship right up until my sister was born, but now they’re close and she’s making up for lost time.
My sister, Betty Paige, sits in between my dad and grandma with her nose tucked into a book. She has no desire to be a football fan, but my parents are adamant that she comes each weekend to support me.
Sometimes Nick and Aubrey, along with their two kids Mack and Amelie make the trip to Portland. It’s usually when the high school football team has a bye weekend. He’s still coaching and often asks my dad to help, especially with Mack playing now too. Nick and my dad are friendly, but will never be best friends. He saves that title for Harrison James and Jimmy Davis, his two band mates, both of whom are living in Los Angeles, far away from Beaumont.
Jimmy and Jenna, along with their daughter Eden chose to move to California after Harrison’s sister got married there one winter. Jenna fell in love with the beach and didn’t hesitate to pack up and move. Eden is some junior surfing champion or something like that and from what Quinn tells me, it drives Jimmy crazy.
With Quinn going to college in California and Elle following him, Katelyn wanted to be there even though Peyton decided that Northwestern in Chicago was more her speed. She’s making a name for herself while in school being a sports reporter and apparently has job offers pending from every sports channel out there.
Once I left for college, I came home as much as my schedule would allow. Most of the time my parents came to Indiana for the holidays and sometimes Peyton would come with them. I think, deep down, my parents knew that I needed to see Peyton more than Elle or Quinn. She’s my best friend, my confidant and there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her. When I was able to go home, it was rare that I would run into Quinn. After he graduated high school, he took off to Los Angeles and immersed himself in the music scene. I do, however, have every single song of his and am probably his biggest fan, minus the large contingent of women that he has following him around. It’s been a few years since we were all together and truthfully, I miss the group. I miss having everyone around. When we’re together, we’re inseparable, a tight-knit group and right now we’re spread all over the place.
I suppose the next big gatherings will be someone’s wedding and if my girlfriend, Dessie, has her way about it, it’ll be ours. I’m not there yet, but she is. She’s all about what everyone thinks and her fellow Victoria Secret models are telling her that she should have a ring already. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with waiting, with making sure that marriage is the right step.
I stand on the sideline with my hands gripping the neck of my jersey while I watch our defense give up yard after yard. The closer the opponent gets to the end zone the more my ass is puckering. If they score, the game is over. Their quarterback is seasoned and knows how to bleed the clock making sure that we’ll have no time left.
We hold them on the forty and I groan when they send their kicker out. He’s one of the best in the business and hasn’t missed this year. Still, I stand there next to Bud and watch as he lines up and prepares to kick.