Love & Football

Chapter 21

:: JJ's POV ::

I sat with my brothers out by the pool as we caught up on everything we had missed in one another's life over the last several months. I was still in complete shock that Emma pulled all of this off without me knowing. She had no idea how much it meant to me, or I guess maybe she did. That would explain why she went to the lengths she did to make sure it happened. I just didn't know how she kept it a secret; she was awful when it came to keeping secrets. I blamed it on the fact that she was just too pure and genuine of a person to hide anything, even if it wasn't ill willed.

"How'd you land Emma?" Derek's eyes were on my girlfriend as he glanced at her through the glass of the patio doors, "I thought you were swearing off women until you were finished with your football career."

I nodded my head, "I was."

"Then what happened?" Derek and TJ both chuckled at the way I contradicted myself. I didn't blame them; I didn't expect them to completely understand quite yet.

"Emma and Noah happened." I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't expect you guys to understand but at the risk of sounding cheesy, once I met her I knew I couldn't let her get away. I didn't care what the hell I told myself when I was younger."

"That was definitely the cheesiest thing I've ever heard dude." TJ laughed but it quickly faded, "But I'm happy for you. She seems really good for you."

"Advice from your big brother..." I paused momentarily, "don't always take advice from your big brother."

We all laughed. Hell, I was still figuring things out half the time. I didn't have all the answers to give them. When it comes to football and training and putting all the passion you have into something, I've got them covered; but as for my advice on love and dating, I was still learning the ropes.

"I asked her to move in with me."

"Damn." My little brothers looked at me as if they were in complete shock by what I said.

"So this is pretty serious then?" TJ's question sounded more like a statement.

"Yeah." I bobbed my head in a slow nod, "I think this is it for me. That's part of the reason I asked her to move in. She's awesome, I couldn't have asked for a better match for me. I want to know we get along just as well being together twenty four seven before I take that next step."

"That's... wow." Derek's eyes widened, "Well, she's definitely hot."

"Watch it." I quickly reprimanded his choice of words.

"Sorry bro. I didn't mean anything by it." He apologized for his use of words.

"I know." I reassured him. I really did know that he didn't mean it in an offensive manner but I wasn't his college buddies that he was talking girls with.

I know my brothers look up to me, and it's something that's constantly on my mind. I want to do right by them and I don't want to disappoint anyone. I couldn't help but to feel like I lost a small ounce of credibility with them for going against my word and bringing a girl into my life before my football career was over. I just hoped they'd learn from my relationship with Emma and understand what I didn't understand before I made that statement all those years ago; there are some things in our life we have no control over. You can't decide when you find love, love finds you. You can either let yourself feel it or you can let it go and risk regretting it for the rest of your life; I wasn't ready to risk letting Emma go, there was no question about that.

"What are you guys doin out here?" Emma walked out of the patio doors, her glass of wine in her hand, "Brotherly bonding?"

"Something like that." TJ answered as we looked between one another and laughed. She didn't need to know she was the topic of our conversation.

"Am I crashing your party?" Her voice held question as she looked at all of us, I know she wanted me to spend as much time with everyone as I could, but I wanted her to spend time with my brothers too. I wanted them to know how amazing she is.

"No, not at all." We all answered in unison, and I was happy to know my brothers were more than happy for her to join us.

"What's goin on inside?" I reached for her hand pulling her into my lap; I took every chance I could to be near her.

"Well, your mom insisted on cooking and your dad got you off the hook, he's helping Noah build his Lego fire truck." She placed her wine glass on the table and looked at me with a smile on her face.

"Oh my God, he's gotta be loving that." Derek laughed, "I'm sure he feels right at home."

We all shared a laugh. Our dad was very passionate about his work, just the same as we were passionate about ours; but his line of work holds a little more risk than ours. In my eyes he was much more of a hero and an idol than people considered me to be. Firefighters were amongst the unsung heroes in this world and because of my father and the respect I have for his profession, I make it a point to give back to the fire houses of the local Texas communities. It's the least I can do.

"You guys planning to do anything fun?" Emma looked from me to the boys as she fiddled with the strings that hung from my sweatshirt.

"We'll probably go by the stadium tomorrow and check things out." I answered, "But that won't take long, we can all head out and do something later on if you want. Maybe take Noah to the zoo."

"I'm sure everyone is dying to go to the zoo." She laughed at my suggestion, "You don't have to plan anything around Noah, I want you guys to have fun and enjoy some family time. That's the important part. I can always stay back with Noah."

"Well, I like the zoo." TJ smiled.

"Me too." Derek nodded.

"See." I pointed out, "They like the zoo."

My brothers and I had this unspoken bond and they always knew how to back me up when needed. In this case, they made it a point to let Emma know they were game for a zoo trip. The last thing my family would want to do is go out and do something that would require Noah and Emma to stay behind. Hell, we probably wouldn't have been spending Christmas together if it weren't for Emma contacting my mom and orchestrating everything. I owed her so much.

"Well you guys are sweet." She smiled at them, "It's nice of you to think of Noah."

"There he is!" I announced as Noah came walking out of the house.

"Grandma Connie said its time for dinner." Emma and I looked at each other at Noah's use of grandma Connie, it was cute and I knew my mom was behind that. It had her written all over it.

"Grandma Connie huh?" Emma asked him as he nodded proudly.

"Better not keep grandma waiting." Derek teased as he and TJ got up from their seats, laughter once again taking over.

Emma stood up from her seat on my lap and I quickly pulled her back down. She looked at me, confused by my action and why I wouldn't let her follow the boys into the house. Truthfully, I just wanted a chance to talk to her, to thank her. We hadn't had a quiet second to ourselves since my family arrived and I wanted to make sure she knew how much all of her efforts meant to me, to all of us.

"J..." before she could continue on, I placed my lips over top of hers. When I pulled back she looked surprised, I smirked; I loved to catch her off guard.

"I love you. Thank you for doing this for me. It means so much to me, to them. To all of us." I got lost in her emerald eyes, "You make me happier than I even knew I could be."

"I love you. You know I would do anything for you." She caressed my cheek with the back of her hand, "I hope you know that."

"I do." I slowly nodded, "And you know I'd do anything for you."

Her lips met mine once more and there was no question in my mind, fighting for Emma was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I don't think she could ever fully understand what she means to me. I had never once met a girl that would've ever, ever made me think twice about my decision to halt my love life until my career was over or near over. She was so different then the types of girls I had been exposed to. She wasn't motivated by money and fame, she was motivated by love and I only hoped every man was lucky enough to find an Emma of their own.