3rd & Long

Chapter 2: Pass Interference

That didn't surprise Nat. She had gotten the chance to speak with a few more of the players, but the only one who had shown an ounce of interest in her was Deon Hudson. Hearing about his "parade" certainly made the compliments lose some of their value.

"And Jeffy G, his fine ass, he actually has a girlfriend right now. But what most people don't know is that she was actually an intern with the social media department."

What? Now this piqued Nat's attention.

"Yeah! They haven't been dating too long, started a little after the preseason began. She had apparently done an interview with him and next thing you know, they were caught holding hands one day coming into the stadium together. Whew, the head coach was maaaaad about that lemme tell you. He doesn't like it when the players bring their girlfriends round here. Says it 'distracts from what's important' but really I just think he's jealous none of the girls are lining up to get his autograph if you catch my drift. Anyway, it got so bad they ended up letting the poor thing go. But I guess it's not all bad, she is dating the most handsome quarterback in the entire league" Ellie finished wistfully. "Sorry you had to find out like this"

Nat ignored that last part as she thought about what Ellie told her. She figured it was necessary to hear that. This was a job at the end of the day, not The Bachelorette. Knowing that getting involved with the players could end in her termination sent a shiver down her spine. Beyond that, she knew the stakes were even higher as love was not just a game to her. Especially with what she's been through.

To date, Nat had dated 3 guys. Her first boyfriend from high school was a good enough partner. He had done the typical things: took her to football games, brought her to prom, even given her an impressive assortment of balloons on Valentine's Day senior year. Besides his penchant for smoking with his boys, there wasn't much wrong with him. But he lacked a clear direction for his life and Nat was ready to move on to bigger and better things after high school.

Her second boyfriend in college was... not the greatest. Things started off well between them, but as time went on he became more and more possessive of her. When Nat started interning for the Los Angeles Lightning, he was an insecure mess. Every day he had convinced himself Nat was secretly hooking up with somebody on the team. One day, Nat caught him snooping at the stadium, asking around if there was anybody she spent too much time with, and that was the day Nat knew she had to drop him.

Ellie had noticed Nat's silence and she decided to speak up "Sweetie, don't get too heartbroken over this! We can still talk about how cute he looks when he gets all sweaty after practices. Believe me you'll get over it in no time."

Nat was starting to get annoyed with the assumptions that she had the hots for Jeff Giordano. She thought about saying something, but then realized it might be to her advantage if people thought she were eyeing the quarterback and not the defense. While she was too shy to bring up Nick Bosa to one of his teammates, she figured Ellie was a different story.

"Any tea on Nick Bosa?" Nat asked, trying to sound casual about the question.

"Bosa?" Ellie answered, puzzled. "I think he was seeing some girl not too long ago. I remember seeing her stop by a few games last season. But honestly I haven't seen her or really any other girl around him for the past few months. And from what I see on social media, I don't actually think they're still together. Bosa's hard to read to be honest. He mostly keeps to himself and any conversations we have had usually just do with football. Good luck getting that bear out of hibernation!" Ellie laughed, seemingly pleased with her own joke.

Nat was simultaneously relieved and worried. On the one hand, she couldn't deny feeling a little happy Bosa wasn't with anyone. But on the other hand, she wasn't sure she could keep her composure around him long enough to try and get more than a few words out. And you could get fired for trying anything Nat reminded herself. Or worse, you could make a fool of yourself Nataly.