Page 111 of A Game as Old as Time

Moments, Gunner, life is about moments.

“You know,” he said, moving his eyes up to meet theirs, “playing with you guys all these years, all the moments we’ve had on the field together…” He laughed quietly and rubbed his neck. “I think I’m going to miss this the most.”

Gunner began to scan the bus, sensing the calm but quiet anticipation of what was ahead of them.

“Just hanging out, being with you guys. I know, I know. That probably sounds super sappy for this moment but---”

“I’ll miss your mom’s pregame meals.” Ty interrupted. “The pancakes and the spaghetti dinners.”

He was grinning now, his teeth flashing in the afternoon sun.

“I’ll miss you guys wrecking my house every weekend,” Emilio chuckled as he grabbed the back of his seat again. “But I guess I’ll really miss just having you guys over.”

Agreed.

“The feeling after a win but also just hanging out after a loss. Either way…”

Gunner squeezed his friend’s shoulder, barely making a dent in his letterman jacket.

“Your house was always chill, Emilio.” The whole group leaned in together. “I know we all---"

“I’m dating your sister, Emilio!”

Shit.

Andy’s shout caused Emilio to tense under Gunner’s grasp.

“You what?” The burly linebacker tried to hop through JT, who pulled Andy away.

“Hold it, big boy!” Gunner needed some assistance from Ty, who jumped in.

“Not a good time, AG! We talked about this shit, and we said we would do it at the right time!” Ty yelled as he struggled to keep hold.

“Wait!” Emilio stopped and shot a piercing glare at them all. “You all knew about this?”

He had a perplexed and shocked expression on his face.

“Well,” Gunner said, smirking, “it was pretty obvious, man.”

Emilio now twisted to Andy, who had scrambled back into his seat.

“I just thought…” Andy hesitated. “I thought we were telling each other everything. I thought we were having, like, a moment.”

Gunner could not help but laugh, even though Emilio’s glare remained.

“I’ll miss that one moment…” JT said, now staring up at the roof of the bus. “That moment before you step on the field. When you take one last deep breath, block all the noise out.” Emilio had relaxed back into his seat. “You go over everything in your head---the first play, the last play---and you just…exhale.”

JT returned his eyes to his friends. Some of the players further up the bus had turned to listen.

“At that moment, when you let out that exhale, you just feel so free.”

Gunner tilted his head, the image clear in his mind.

“You do it with all your teammates next to you, and you can feel them all do the same thing.” JT took another deep breath before peering around the bus. “That’s what I’ll miss the most, I think.”

Yeah.

A quiet nod, shared between all the boys, led to a moment of reflection.

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