Page 37 of Overtime

3 Still Into You

Eva

“A little to the left.”

A sigh of both pain and relief escapes my lips as Rob follows orders, kneading his talented fingers into the ball of tension just under my shoulder blade.

I don’t know how he does it for weeks on end to be honest. None of us girls were in full gear today, and the tackles were half-hearted compared with an actual football game, but damn. I’m so sore and covered in bruises, I want to cry.

Papou chuckles from his recliner. “You did fine work today, Evie. If you are still in this much pain tomorrow, we will take you to a professional.”

I have no intention of admitting to my grandfather that Rob is the only professional I need. It’s already weird enough having him watch Rob’s every move.

YiaYia’s soft snores from the other end of the couch only add to my discomfort. When the grandparental units are home, they don’t like Rob and me to be alone in my bedroom. The old-school Greek in them feels the need to supervise us at all times.

For his part, Rob never complains. He usually seems perfectly content to hang out with a couple of eighty-year-olds for the evening. Like me, he’d rather play a game of Scrabble at the kitchen table than go to the cliché high school weekend parties, rife with hook ups, alcohol consumption, and sometimes illicit drugs.

I suspect part of his willingness is the fact that he misses his own grandparents so much. He’s sort of adopted mine as a fill in.

And they’ve adopted him right back.

“Robert, are you all right?”

Rob’s hands still on my back. “Huh?”

Papou cocks his head, thoughtful crinkles forming around his narrowed eyes. “I know you are worried about Eva’s condition, but you have been silent most of the evening. What is on your mind?”

Rob’s quieter-than-usual demeanor hasn’t gone unnoticed by me either, but he still showed up at my house two hours after I left the Ironville football field. I figured his weird attitude from after the Powder Puff game had subsided.

“Oh, uh…nothing, Papou. I’m fine. Just tired, I guess.”

Is it wrong that my chest feels all warm and fuzzy when he calls my grandfather by the same name I do? I mean, he could call him Mr. Christodoulopoulos.

Although…it’s longer than my last name, and that’s saying something. Rob would probably botch that as horribly as he botched my name freshman year.

Still. With his hands working their magic on my sore muscles, sitting in my dingy, small living room on a Saturday night, I can’t help but appreciate how much Rob just fits effortlessly into my life.

The girly part of me has been watching Promposals with thinly cloaked hope and starry eyes for years. The rational part of me thinks it’s ridiculous. The whole idea of everyone in school staring at some poor guy who might potentially be refused after all his hard work rubs me the wrong way. Mama says HoCo asks and Promposals weren’t a thing in her day. Even though she’s a teacher, she’s not quite sure when the phenomenon became so commonplace.

And…doesn’t it, I dunno, take something away from actual marriage proposals?

It’s weird. Though a part of me wants what everyone else gets, I also have some serious issues with the overly elaborate propositions.

I lean my head on Rob’s knee to gaze up at him. He’s watching SportsCenter on the television with a faraway look in his teal eyes—seeing, but not really absorbing.

“Hey, Rob?”

He looks down at me, still somewhat unfocused. “Yeah?”

“What you did for Ashley was really nice.”

An expression of confusion passes over his face. “Don’t you mean for Alex?”

“No.” I shake my head for emphasis. “Promposals don’t really mean anything to the guys. Alex probably didn’t have anything special planned because he knows no one will refuse him. But it means something to the girls. It was obvious by her reaction that it meant a lot to her.”

He glances at the TV again, grumbling below his breath, just quietly enough for me not to make sense of his words.

I can’t exactly blame him for being so invested in Alex’s Promposal. Rob has a big heart. He probably stepped in to intercede when Alex told him he was just going to ask her without any fanfare.

---