Page 67 of Fever Dream
The fact Casey is playing with two opponents on him should mean there is a free Fever player somewhere out there on the field, but the team never seem to find him.
The Fever lose and it becomes abundantly clear how important Casey Calloway is to this team’s success. He is quiet in the rooms afterwards, eyes downcast and a heaviness to his shoulders. His teammates do their best to lift him up—everyone has quiet games after all—but I can see my boy is in pain. And not of the usual musculoskeletal variety either.
Coach sends him to the ice bath before he comes to me for treatment, but he follows Casey into the treatment room until we are away from listening ears. Other than mine but I don’t seem to count.
“Head up, kid,” Mick says kindly, hand heavy on Casey’s shoulder. “It takes a lot of practice to shake a tag like that and the way you’re playing means you’ll be attracting that sort of attention. We’ll work on it this week.”
“Yeah, sounds good,” Casey nods as he climbs onto the treatment table, vulnerable in a way he never usually shows outside of when it’s just us.
I start working on him, not missing his wince when I touch him in that troublesome spot.
“Pain level?” I ask, trying to keep this to our normal post-game rub down.
“Three,” he huffs, arm draped across his eyes the way he does when he’s trying to shut people out.
“That’s good, Case,” I encourage, finding that problem muscle and digging in while he lets out a long breath.
“Hardly touched the ball anyway so what does it matter?” Yes, I could call him out for being petulant, but I know that’s not what he needs from me right now.
“It matters because you got through an entire game of football with your lowest post-match pain levels yet,” I reasonably point out. “And that’s worth noting.”
He shrugs, eyes still hidden from view. “Hardly matters anyway. Not now the entire league has a blueprint on how to beat Casey Calloway at his game.”
“How? By double teaming you and leaving a loose player out on the field? Case, you’re only in your third season. You’ll work on that part of your game just like Coach said. And the rest of your team will catch on to the fact there’s a loose player out there and punish the opposition for it. It’s one quiet game, Case. It doesn’t define you as a player.”
He says nothing but his sigh is long and shaky, and I know he heard me. He just needs a little reassurance right now and that needs to be from me, not his physiotherapist.Me. I wish I could hug him, but I can’t do that here and I wouldn’t even if we had a private space.
I tap his knee, and he pulls himself off the table. He steps to the door to leave, stalling as his fingers drum against the doorframe.
“Thanks, Harry,” he says so quietly I hardly hear it, but he leaves me with a smile.
By the time the team is ready to catch the bus back to the hotel, Casey is wearing headphones over his ears and avoiding eye contact with anyone. Sonny bumps up beside me, eyes on the retreating form of his friend as he climbs the steps onto the bus.
“Don’t let him push you away,” he says quietly, eyes still on his friend. “He gets in his head sometimes. It’s best if he’s not left alone with his thoughts when he’s like that.” Sonny eyeballs me then, waiting to see if I’m going to play along. But Casey is too important to be playing games or pretending like he doesn’t matter to me.
So I nod at Sonny. “I’ve got him,” I say. Sonny squeezes my arm before he boards the bus, leaving me to follow behind.
I don’t have a chance to catch Casey at the hotel, and he’s gone by the time I make my way into the lobby. Ben and Tim want a quick injury debrief which I impatiently wait out before I head straight for the elevators, hitting the floor to Casey’s room.
Izak answers when I knock and he seems relieved when he finds me standing in the hallway.
“Hey,” he says, knocking the door back far enough so I can spy my sad footballer leaning against the headboard, headphones still covering his ears, eyes softly closed.
“Think I can borrow your roomie for a bit?” I say, sparing a glance at Izak.
“Be my guest,” he answers. I step into the room just as Casey opens his eyes. They widen when he sees me but his lips tug up just a fraction.
“Come for a walk?” I ask, tapping his foot.
Casey’s eyes slide to Izak but there’s no suspicions coming from his roommate, just an easy acceptance that I am the best person to deal with Casey Calloway right now.
“Yeah. Okay,” Casey agrees, rushing to pull his shoes on. He grabs his room card as he follows behind me. “Don’t wait up,” he calls over his shoulder.
Casey falls into step beside me, a silent presence at my side as we walk to the elevator bank and hit the button.
“Where are we going?” Casey asks.
“My room,” I tell him.
