The Running Back

Chapter 27

"Noah? Noah? Are you okay?" Noah in question was lying down, face first, on the lowest part of the bleachers. He had previously seemed fine, but as he headed towards the locker room her just... collapsed. No, collapsed was the wrong word. It wasn't as though he suddenly fell but more that he was too tired to keep going and had decided that the bleachers was a comfortable enough place to take a nap. It shouldn't need to be said but bleachers aren't very comfortable. Rachel carefully strode over to him and poked him on the shoulder. "Noah? Noah?" He moved slightly and grumbled out some words. "I'm sorry, what was that Noah?"

Noah groaned and then turned his face to the side so he could look at her. "I said that I can't move." He then turned his head around so he was no longer facing Rachel.

"But you did just move," Rachel pointed out, fully relived to know that Noah was just being overly dramatic. Typically that was her role, or at least that's what Noah would say. It was odd to be on the other end of things. After receiving no response she poked him again. "Noah?" Rachel grabbed his arm and tried, and failed, to pull him up to his feet. "Get up Noah. Stop being such a drama queen." Rachel grew frustrated as her insult had no effect on him. "Get up!" she tried again to which Noah only groaned.

"Leave me alone woman," he whined. "You already tried to kill me out there."

"I did not!" Rachel was affronted that he would even say such a thing and if he wasn't in such a sorry looking state she probably would have hit him for accusing her of such. "I was only doing my job as coach," she pointed out as calmly as she could.

"But you're not the coach," Noah reminded her. "You're just an assistant coach." "I am still your coach."

"Then why are you acting like my mother?"

Rachel growled and ceased tugging at his arm. "Fine then, just lie there if you feel like it. See what I care." She marched off a bit, feeling content about leaving him like that... but then she went back to check on him. "I'm leaving now!" she decided to clarify just in case he couldn't hear her walking away. Noah grunted his acknowledgment and so Rachel once again went on her way, albeit a bit slowly. "I mean it Noah, I'm going." With no response Rachel continued on. She slowly treaded past the locker rooms, periodically checking to see if Noah would follow but he didn't seem to have any intentions of moving. Rachel was almost back inside the main building. She could have just left, but she couldn't. She raced back to find Noah in the exact same spot she had left him in. "Noah! Get up!" She shook him roughly in frustration.

"Fine," he groaned. "Fine, I'll get up just stop doing that." Noah pushed himself up to his feet slowly, grunting in pain every so often. Unlike Rachel, Noah wasn't a seasoned actor and so Rachel was concerned that he was genuinely in pain. She considered assisting him in getting into an upright position but at the same time was worried that she might hurt him further.

"Are you okay?" she asked him worriedly.

Noah suddenly sprung up to his feet and stretched a bit. "Yeah, actually I'm fine. I was just messing with you." He laughed a bit and was promptly hit on the arm. "Hey, come on. You didn't actually believe that act, did you?" Her brief silence spoke volumes. Noah feigned a scoff. "I'm hurt. I'm really hurt." He pretended like he was crying and then proceeded to limp away. She now knew that he was only faking but Rachel had to admit that he was giving quite a convincing performance. Perhaps he had learned a thing or two from her. She took a moment to take pride in that idea before chasing after him.

"I'm sorry!" she called out as she ran towards him. "I didn't mean to imply that or anything."

Noah simply waved her off. "Don't worry about it Jew Babe. I know you didn't, but..." He paused and grunted before cracking his neck. "Can you try to be less of a dictator? You're gonna make me regret talking to Coach about letting you be her assistant. I get the feeling that you're worse than Sue."