Always You || Patrick Cripps

43.

Patrick's POV

The end of the season had quickly approached. Suddenly, footy was gone for the weekends. At least for me it was.

No finals for us meant it was finally the off-season. A long awaited break which I had been holding on for.

Before fully letting myself go, I still had the Best and Fairest night to attend. The night of all nights at a footy club. A different way of seeing the players, coaches and all their partners. All dressed up, the glitz and glam, celebrating the Best and Fairest player for the club.

In a career full of highs and lows, the night of the John Nicholls Medal was one I had always looked forward to.

I believed the boys all got a good time out of it. It was our last hoorah before we all set off in our travels. Escaping the city or even country to get away and enjoy time off from footy.

Even if the boys didn't say so, they all enjoyed being able to get together as a group and have some light-hearted fun. Laughing about with no worries in the world. Unable to escape each others company, the boys and I always made sure to have a good time.

The Blues weren't anywhere near a granny, that was for certain. So this night was the only event we had to look forward to.

While some teams were preparing to play finals, or play off in a granny. We were settling into the life of a team finishing 11th on the ladder.

Our time would come. I knew it would. I wasn't growing impatient at the slightest. But I did want to succeed, and I wanted to do it with this group.

The boys I had grown so close with. At the club I had grown up at. Seeing people come and go over the years, and now leading them out onto the ground.

I had come a long way.

The last few years, I had been taking Lily as my plus one. If I could take that back, I would. But there were no do-overs in this life. All I could do was look forward to the future and not dwell in the past.

Each function I had attended with Lily, not once had I felt like I properly enjoyed myself.

I always had Lily hanging off me, not letting me out of her grasp. This year was going to be different. I was counting on the night to lift me out of my funk and reigniting my excitement for next season.

Before I could get through the night, I had to think about who I would take. Of course it didn't take me long. In a matter of seconds after, I knew I was going to ask Georgia. The only person I would want to take with me.

If she said yes, I really wanted to take her with me. I had yet asked her, but I could almost guarantee her agreement. She had spoken very highly of the nights she has spent with the friends she has at the Blues.

It wasn't her first Best and Fairest, that was for sure. She had attended the Bombers event a few times with Darcy and the GWS one once or so with Josh. Not nearly as enjoyable as it would be when I eventually had the chance to take her.

The two of us would hopefully go together. She would look undeniably beautiful, I would scrub up alright and we would have a night out together at the Crown.

Something we hadn't done in quite a while.

I received a fair amount of external noise from my family and Marcus about my decision to take George. Each of them hinting at a possible revelation of feelings, but I quickly shut that down.

After the other night, when Marcus told me everything that had happened behind my back, I was nowhere near ready to act upon it.

I had all the information, I knew how I felt about her. But I wasn't going to do anything about it. I wasn't ready, still not adjusting to the thought that she might actually love me back.