Page 141 of Steeling Her
He makes a good take, running with the ball down the sideline and getting closer to the end zone. Scraping by players and making his way over the line, TJ makes a touchdown. The crowd erupts for him, but I could hear Nick’s dad curse his son. Despite the lead we have, he’s not impressed.
“Honey, it’s okay, we still got a touchdown.” Mrs. Jackson pets his arm to bring him back down to his seat calmly.
“I don’t care. Nick needs to pass the damn ball to anyone other than TJ right now. The kid is wide open, and he knows he it!” he complains to his wife but later apologizes for it. He just wants what’s best for his son right now. My dad would be doing the same if it was one of my brothers.
“That’s Ryan Averman, Dad. He and Nick fought over Carter and they haven’t liked each other since then. I don’t think they’ll be passing to each other anytime soon,” Haley recalls and laughs, but her dad looks furious. Making eye contact with me, I feel that anger almost radiate towards me. It catches me by surprise. Thinking back on it now, maybe he purposely didn’t greet me. Maybe he doesn’t want me here right now. Maybe he thinks I’ve caused his son to make errors on his play.
Would he be wrong?
I didn’t ask Nick to. I would never have asked him to fight over me. Fighting over any girl isn’t worth it, not in my opinion.
But I keep my eyes on the field for the next interval and cheer as much as I can without getting Mr. Jackson’s attention, but it seems to not be the case. I catch him in my peripheral vision glancing at me every so often, and it legitimately puts me on edge. I’m just not sure why he’s being like this. I thought it was due to the Ryan and Nick situation, but my gut tells me that he’s having differents thoughts from me before the game had even started and before he had known about it.
It’s a tight game, but the team pulls through with a nail-biting victory despite not playing their best. They appear a little lost on the field, which has me wondering how much they have worked as a team? They might have worked individually in the gym and practice, but my dad always says the team is only as good as its weakest player.
Haley blows TJ a kiss as they catch each other’s eyes, and Nick commiserates the other team on their loss by shaking their hands one by one. I flick my eyes away in case he looks up. I don’t want his dad to see that. I don’t want to give him another reason to not like me. As we wait for the stadium to empty, I sit with Danielle who is texting someone, as per usual. But she is so secretive lately, it makes me and Haley want to know more.
“What an exciting game! Don’t you think so, girls?” Mrs. Jackson sits herself back down after clapping for the home team and her son; mainly her son.
We all nod back at her as she takes her seat.
“I was just going to say that, Mom! But they didn’t play amazingly well . . .” Haley points out.
We could all hear her dad grumble beside his wife. “I wonder why?” he mumbles but everyone catches it. It causes us to go silent. Now it’s very awkward.
“Well, we still got the win! So that’s always good!” Haley’s mom beams to bring the excitement and chatter back, but her husband kills it once more.
“Just barely,” he spits out through gritted teeth, watching the field below us. The movement has died down, and now it’s just our football team huddled together reviewing the game. The coaching staff is very animated and red-faced. They don’t look happy.
“What’s the matter, George? I thought you’d be happy?” Haley’s mom comments and points down at their son. Haley just stares at them while I stare at my hands, feeling uncomfortable. Danielle is too wrapped up in her conversation with this mysterious person that she won’t tell us about.
“He didn’t play like the way he used to, Lynn! It wasn’t good enough, that’s what’s wrong. His arm was weak, he won’t get signed with that play. It was terrible!” he runs his mouth back at her and criticizes Nick’s play. Yeah, it wasn’t the best, but nobody’s play on that field was excellent. They all need work, and I understand why he’s panicking. It’s getting close to the end of the season, and that’s when contracts are sent out and people are selected for NFL teams. It’s a hard-hitting time for everyone; the players in particular.
“Honey, we know. It was a bad night for him. He’ll be better in the next game, they all will. They were just a little off tonight,” Lynn says to placate him, ensuring him that it’s just a one-off blunder. I don’t even have to look at him to know he’s not convinced.
“He was distracted, Lynn. He can’t take his eye off the ball or his career. He’s putting everything on the line and he’s fucking it up for himself.” That’s when I can hear Lynn smack him for using that language.
“Watch that mouth, George, you know I don’t like that,” Lynn warns him quietly. I suddenly being to wonder, is he talking about me? Am I the distraction? Am I throwing Nick off his game? Is that what he’s implying?
“I need to have a word with the coach or Bulldog about this. I’m not sitting here watching our son play like that. Ellie could play better than he did tonight. He needs to be fully focused from now on. No more distractions.” I flick my eyes up and meet his cold firm stare.
I feel like that comment was meant for me and me only. I can feel my heart drop into my stomach when he ends that sentence. My entire body freezes as I watch him make his way down to the field occupied by the team and staff.
Nothing more is said between us. It’s all silent and very much awkward. I feel like crap right now. All I want is to just leave. I just want to go back to my dorm and eat my weight in chocolate ice cream. Alone.
So, I sit there and fidget uncomfortably with my fingers. The worst thing of all, there’s a party after the game at one of the guy’s house so everyone is invited to celebrate the team’s victory. Right now, I couldn’t think of anything worse than going to it. I don’t need to be told I’m a distraction to anyone, directly or indirectly. I don’t want to be the cause of someone missing their chances at a good career, especially as an athlete.
When I hear a roar down at the center of the field, I flick my eyes up to see Nick, the coaches, and his father in a heated discussion; one that’s making each one of them very energetic. I have no doubt in my mind that they’re talking about the game. They all seem to be very passionate right now.
“I’m just going to cool everything down right now, girls. You can stay here. It’s nothing I can’t solve.” She winks and smiles at all of us but it doesn’t reach her eyes, which only adds to the anxiety inside of me. If she’s not sure how this will play out, I don’t know who can solve this problem.
We watch her strut down the steps towards the guys. She quickens her pace when she sees her husband right in Nick’s face, almost like he’s warning him of the repercussions if he doesn’t get it together. I think he may be overreacting just a bit. Nick was just off his game. It’s normal for players to be off their games at times, but this one seems to have crept under his dad’s skin.
When I see Nick’s eyes flick to his mom, he relaxes just as his dad grabs him by his collar. That’s when Lynn starts running across the grass in heels that I have no doubt are getting destroyed. Once she reaches them, she pushes the coach back away and points at him, almost like she’s telling him to stay there. He backs off, and she places her hand on George’s fist wrapped generously around Nick’s jersey then taps her husband’s cheek to tell him something.
“Shit’s about to go south real quick,” Haley mumbles as she watches all of this play out.
Just like she said, Lynn has to physically place herself between her husband and son. They were inches away from one another’s face. It has my veins pumping, thinking something was going to happen.
