Chapter 11
I remained in the bleachers watching the mayhem down on the field. I was so proud of Jason and the team for the courage they showed to pull off a victory. I was alone, Cathy had raced down to the field as soon as the game ended. I glanced to my left to the oddest sight. Usually, at the end of a game, people were headed for the parking lot, but tonight, those that had lost heart—parent and student alike—were streaming back into the stadium.
"Izzy! Izzy!" Someone called.
I looked down and saw Jason's mom waving at me from the fence. When we made eye contact, she motioned for me to come down to the field. I shook my head in the negative, but she motioned more intensely, so I got up and started down the bleachers.
Officer Burns was standing by the gate and noticed me as I approached.
"Nice toss," he said, "maybe the best one of the game." He made a motion like he was biting an apple.
"What? I didn't—"
"Don't worry your pretty little head over it, it'll be our little secret. You two make quite a team—quite a team indeed. Never seen anything like it."
"Thanks, I think so too."
He held some other students back so I could go through the gate.
As soon as I was on the field, Jason's mom walked up to me. "What an amazing game." she said.
"I know, right. Jason was incredible."
"Go. Go celebrate with him."
"I will, after it quiets down."
Jason's mom put her hand on my shoulder. "We're past all that—I'm past all that. Go on, you know he wants you there."
"You sure?"
"Go."
I didn't think it through as I raced toward the lights—the camera lights—and leapt toward Jason from a good ten feet away. What I had intended to be a jump into his arms moment, turned out to be more of a train wreck.
"Whoa!" Jason grunted as I crashed into him. He staggered back with me draped around his neck and fell backwards.
I was lying half on, and half off of him, arms still wrapped around his neck. I pulled up and locked my lips on his. It was only then, I realized the flurry of flashes behind me. I lifted my head—Jason was all smiles—and rolled off to his side. "Oops." There was another flurry of flashes. I hope Jason's mom was serious when she said she was past this.
Jason climbed up to his knees, scooped me up into his arms and stood. Suddenly there were three microphones in his face. I recognized the one reporter from last year—Peter something or other.
"So, Jason, it looks like you can be tackled?" he joked. "So who do we have here?" He moved his microphone to me and the other's followed.
"I'm Izzy Faulkner." I said.
Jason set me down next to him.
"So is Jason your boyfriend?"
"He's my everything." I replied, looking up at him.
Jason blushed.
"So are you responsible for the apple?" the reporter asked me.
I pointed toward the top of he bleachers. "I sit all the way up there. Do you think I could throw an apple that far?"
The camera's panned toward the bleachers and then back to Jason and I.
Coach stepped in between us and draped his arms around our shoulders. "Two great kids here, Peter. Izzy's meant a lot to our team this year and well, Jason's performance speaks for itself."
Peter looked over at Coach's right hand—he was holding the apple. "Mind giving that to Jason?" he said to Coach. He more or less took it out of Coach's hand and gave it to Jason. He started to reach for my hand, but when I pulled back, he said, "Would you mind holding the apple with Jason?"
"Sure," Jason said. We put our hands together with the apple across our palms.
Peter turned the apple so the bite mark was showing. There was a flurry of flashes and the cameraman zoomed in on our hands and began to zoom back out as Peter spoke, "Well, there you have it folks, apples from heaven raining down on Warrior star, Jason Whitaker. I'm Peter Chase live from Warrior's Stadium." He turned to the crew for a moment, and then back to us, but addressed Coach. "So you know what Jason's final numbers were?"
"Book's over on the bench," Coach said as he dropped his arms and stepped around us. "Right this way." He took a few steps, but then turned back to Jason and I. "You're going to have to tell me about that one day." He pointed to the apple and then turned and headed toward he bench with Peter and the television crew.
Things had finally quieted down somewhat so Jason and I started toward the school, but ran across his mom just a few feet away. She had tears in her eyes.
"That, you two, was beautiful." She stepped forward and hugged both of us. "Well, I just wanted to say how proud I am of you—great game, Jason."
"Thanks, Mom."
"Will you be coming back to the house with Jason?"
"No, I don't think so, not tonight." I said. "Why don't you come with us? We're headed over to the pizza place."
"No, I don't want to intrude on your date night."
"No," I said, "we'd love to have you."
"Yeah, Mom, we'd love for you to be there."
"I'll run ahead and get our name in for a table, then."
"Okay, Mom, thanks." Jason called after her.
I squeezed him tightly, flexing his rib pads. "Nice game."
"Any changes?"
"No, nothing." We arrived at the locker room doors. "Take a cold shower." I joked, playfully pushing him away.
"Cold is right." He leaned in and we kissed. "You know what this means, right? We have a bye next week and then homecoming is our final game of the regular season—one more game and we go undefeated—it's never happened in school history."
"Really, you want to talk football?" I grabbed him, and jerked him against me. Our kiss was powerful, passionate and beautiful.
Jason eased back. "Think I'll get that cold shower now." He winked and jogged into the locker room.
I leaned back against the wall and tried not to think about how much I wanted him. The parking lot was all but empty, but the stadium lights were still on casting a halo of light over the grounds. I looked beyond the lights and listened—a dog barking—someone taking the trash out and a couple kissing behind the visitor bleachers was all there was. This had been a spectacular night, but Jason's distraction was a clear indication that the tension of waiting, not knowing was getting to him—it was getting to me as well. I turned to a sudden motion to my left.
Tink and Hayley whisked up next to me.
"Everything okay?" I said.
"Yep, everything is fine." Tink replied with a glint in his eye.
Behind him, Hayley was running her fingers through her hair, getting knots out.
"Was that you behind the bleachers?" I slugged him in the shoulder.
"Yep, everything checks out just fine." Tink grinned.
Hayley tugged at his sleeve. "Come on, we still have to do another lap before we meet up with the others."
I didn't want to think about what 'another lap' meant—I mean Tink was like a brother.
"See ya." Tink said and then they were gone.