Page 7 of Falling for my Best Friend

“No shit.”

I smiled.

“You miss it?” Tommy asked, shifting the pack of ice.

“Most of it,” I said. “Not the beating your body takes, but I’ve found it’s hard to replace the thrill of competition- of going to war with the team- once you leave the game.”

“Coach says you were the best player that ever played here.”

“I don’t know about that,” I said, bending down to get some painkillers out of my bag.

“He said you could’ve played for the Eagles if you hadn’t left the game.”

I put a bottle of water down next to him. “Yeah, well, Coach says a lot of things.”

“Is that what you wanted?” he asked. “To play for the country?”

I tilted my head at him. “Isn’t that what you want?”

“I guess so, but I’m afraid to admit it in case it doesn’t happen.”

“You’ve got it all wrong,” I said, handing him some painkillers.

He tossed them in his mouth and squirted some water in to wash them down. “What do you mean?”

“You shouldn’t be afraid to admit what you want,” I said. “You should be afraid of anything that might keep you from getting it.”

He swallowed.

“Take it from me. Your dreams can be taken away from you in an instant. As long as you’re in with a fighting chance, do whatever it takes to go after them and don’t apologize for it.”

His eyes were focused on me like he was rethinking his whole approach.

Suddenly, a loud whistle pierced the air. I looked over my shoulder and saw the team running to the middle of the field for a huddle.

Tommy hopped off the table, taking the ice pack with him. “Thanks, Aiden. For the shoulder… and the tips.”

“Come see me when you’re done out there, and I’ll give you a splint.”

“Don’t worry about it. I still have the one from last time. I’ll have one of the guys help me out in the locker room.”

“Sounds good. Call me if you need anything.”

“Will do,” he said. “Enjoy your weekend.”

I folded up the table and gathered my things, wondering how long it would hurt that the whistle to huddle up didn’t apply to me anymore.

But at least I was still close to the game. And even though there was less glory on the sidelines, I knew that the work I was doing made a huge difference to the players, and there was satisfaction in that.

I gave the assistant coach a wave and he nodded that I was free to go so I slipped my phone out of my pocket to check the time.

I had two missed calls.

I called Lucy back first.

She picked up on the second ring. “Hey you.”

“Sorry I missed your call,” I said. “What’s up?”

---