Second Chance At Love

Hell.

Cgc

"Find us in the crowd if you will, sweetie. Wave if you find us. We're sitting near the bottom," my mom says through the other line. I hold my phone between my cheek and shoulder as I'm in a rush to leave. The boys are waiting for me in the car already. "What?" I ask her, genuine shock evident in my voice. My parents never come to my games, not even the important ones. They do live in New Orleans after all. "Your father has an important client he's showing potential homes to tomorrow in San Jose, so we flew in last minute. We thought we might as well stop by to see you play since we'll be close to Berkeley," my mom says. I groan internally.

Cal's tougher than they were last year meaning I'm already fucking stressed about winning tonight. It would be embarrassing to lose the first game my parents decide to attend. "We invited Mitch and Karen, so try to win, yes?" she adds before I can get a word in. I roll my eyes at her request. Mitch and Karen are some of my parent's shitty, rich friends. Rich people are the only people they associate themselves with and now I have to win a game so I won't embarrass them. Great. Even more pressure.

"Okay, I have to go, the bus is leaving soon," I say and hang up. It's not like she's going to tell me be safe, i love you, or good luck even. My phone dings with a new message before I shove it in my pocket. I glance at the incoming text from Brynn.

Brynn: have a safe trip and just in case, good luck tonight! :)

A smile tugs onto my lips but I don't reply yet since I'm in a damn rush. I glance around my house to see if I'm forgetting anything. "Nope," I whisper to myself and rush out of my house towards the running car where three impatient football players wait for me.

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"Don't focus on the linebacker so much, I already told Valdez and DJ to take care of it," Coach tells me as we walk back towards the field. There are still ten minutes before halftime ends but I want to practice throwing the ball with Xander. He's already waiting for me on the sidelines. Coach returns to the locker room with the other guys as I walk towards the field. I spot Brynn close by as I'm walking and a smile instantly tugs at my lips. She sits on the floor with the rest of the team as they're catching their breaths from their performance. I caught a twenty-second glance at it as Coach and I talked outside for a bit.

I walk over to her quickly and she stands up when she sees me. "Not doing terrible, C," she says. "Thank you, Brynnie." We do our quick handshake that we came up with not long ago. "Cgc, honey!" Shit. The sound of my mom's voice catches the attention of both Brynn and I. She sits right above where the cheerleaders cheer. She waves me over, looking like the most supportive mom in the world. It almost makes me smile, until I remember. She's not like this.

"Is that your mom?" Brynn asks next to me. I look down at her and she's smiling up at me. If only she knew. "Yeah, I'll see you later?" I ask her. When she nods and shoos me off, I walk in my mom's direction. My dad is sitting down, talking to Mitch, not paying any mind to me. "I can't be long, I have to go throw the ball with, Xander. Hey, Karen," I greet quickly. She gives me a small smile. "Oh, that's fine. Just one picture," mom says, handing her phone to Karen. I stand dazed and confused. "C'mon, honey," she motions me to come towards her.

A warm feeling runs through my body. She's never asked to take a picture with me before. I glance at the scoreboard which reads 14-21. We're losing right now so I'm surprised she even wants to acknowledge me. I inch toward the stands and she leans down as much as she can. Her blonde hair falls to her side and she smiles. You'd never believe my mom has a 21 year old son considering she's only 37. She doesn't look a day over 25 though. I smile at her before looking back towards the camera. "Okay, one, two, and three! Perfect, Kayleen!" Karen says, handing my mom her phone back. My mom smiles at her phone and then at me.