Heartbreak Roommate

Chapter Twenty-Six

My face was ground into the turf as I inhaled minuscule tire pellets and synthetic grass. To say that I'd been sacked was an understatement.

The other recruits for the Patriots did not fuck around, and I was just now finding that out.

"Scott! That's three. Take a seat."

I grunted in annoyance as their head coach told me to take a break, limping over on my recently re-injured leg.

"You gonna have our trainer take a look at that hamstring pull?"

"Yes coach. I'm sure it'll be good as new by tomorrow."

He grunted in acceptance and fixated his slightly age weathered eyes on the rest of his prospective new team, yelling play after play to his satisfaction.

I hobbled over to the medic table and allowed the personal trainer to poke and prod at my thigh until I winced out in pain.

I was slightly distracted and didn't notice when Drayton Merrick came strolling through the double doors to the field.

"Uh oh..." the trainer mumbled.

All the plays stopped immediately and the coach stomped over to the newcomer.

"And who are you?"

I could barely hear their words over the loud music pumping through the speakers.

"Excuse me?"

The coach grabbed Drayton roughly on the arm and paraded him into the middle of the field.

"This is what my team will look like this fall. You are not on that list. Where did you even find the address of this place?"

I gulped. I was more than ready for him to rat me out but he kept his mouth shut, simply shrugging at the coach in confusion.

"Well now that you've crashed my practice, why don't you get warmed up and try out the QB position since mine is down for the count for now."

What?!

Drayton's cocky smirk fell upon his face, a face that I wanted to punch very hard. I hadn't embarrassed him, I'd given him a prime opportunity to show off his skills in front of the Patriots head coach.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Maybe you can let your new girl kiss your hamstring and make it all better," he remarked to me, eyebrows raised as if he were mocking me.

"New girl? What are you talking about?"

"Oh I get it, you were trying to keep her a secret. Well, it's out now man hate to break it to you. It's all over the news."

I pulled my phone out from my bag nearby and checked the internet results on my name and sure enough, Lydia's picture was plastered on almost every single article.

"Shit."

"Mr. Scott, you need to rest this muscle every second that you're not practicing. Alternate heat and ice and elevate as much as you can, numbing cream should help with the pain, but otherwise you're cleared to continue practice."

"Good Merrick. Now let's see how you do against Scott."

I put my helmet back on and joined the throng of mammoth sized men all wanting to tackle me to the ground, my chosen profession. I must've been a madman.

All thoughts of Lydia were shut out from my mind for that moment as I concentrated on the task at hand: impressing the head coach. There wouldn't be anymore news stories done on me if I didn't show him that I was better than Drayton, which is exactly what I did:  Drayton Merrick was not asked to come back to practice after that day.