"Wow." Brody breathed in the sight of Husky Stadium and eyes roamed around from our location in Section 129, the midfield, lower level section behind the Huskies' bench. "This is... wow."
"Just a big pile of cement, metal, and brick," Harper mused, stepped down a few stairs, sat down in a front-row seat, and propped her chunky black heels onto the metal railing. Like a magnet, a few helmet-covered heads turned in her direction. Typical Harper just wiggled her fingers, then shifted her hand to a middle finger salute that she directed at every pair of eyes on her. With a satisfied huff, she took out her phone.
"And what about you?" I asked and bumped shoulders with Brody. "You're having a good season, from what Logan's told me."
Logan actually hadn't told me much about Brody, other than rattled off his football stats every Friday night. I had no idea if Scotts Valley was any good, or knew anything about any other school other than Santa Cruz missed Jake the same way I assumed that Salesian missed Logan.
"On the field," he mumbled and turned slightly away from me.
"It's gotta be tough at a new school." I nodded down the field at number ten. "Logan's brand-new here too. I know he really misses seeing you guys."
"Which is why we'll make up for lost time." Grace stuck herself between us, arms wrapped tight around my and Brody's shoulders, then belted out, "Dogs, go to your doghouse!"
"It's Dawgs in the house - " I started but the curious looks in our direction left Grace completely unphased.
"Can't take her anywhere," Brody grumbled, shook off Grace's arm, then sat down in a seat noticeably a couple seats away from any of us.
"Impressive stadium." Mr. Reynolds joined us for a look around, then side-stepped and sat down in the first row near Harper. Whatever phone conversation she'd been engrossed in ended as soon as he took the seat next to hers.
A rush of thumped feet across the field approached us and, within a blink, Logan's large frame hung halfway over the railing. He ripped off his helmet then stared, his eyes wide, his hair damp and darker with sweat, cheeks and forehead flushed red, and lips parted slightly between Grace and Brody. I nudged Grace down the last few steps, followed behind, and smiled when Brody got up and came over.
I blinked back the onset of tears that tickled the corners of my eyes when Logan wrapped Grace up into a big hug. A few slow breaths further squished the surprising emotions that welled up inside me at the sight of Logan with his family, until one of his arms released Grace, reached over, and punched Brody in the shoulder.
Some things really are the same.
"Fuck! What are you... two doing here!?" Logan choked out with a laugh and looked between them without a blink in his wide eyes.
"Surprise!" Grace planted a kiss on his cheek, then wiped her lips. "Ick, you're still just as gross and sweaty as usual."
Logan's gaze shifted towards me before he jumped down to the field, stepped over to my seat, then climbed back up until our noses practically touched. In one swooped movement, his lips fluttered a soft kiss over my cheek that tingled my skin. When he pulled back, the look in his eyes was indescribable past warm and in awe, like he truly looked at me for the first time.
"You're not at all surprised." His voice was full of breath before he gave me the most beautiful smile of flashed teeth. "You did this, didn't you?"
My lips pressed back the tightness in my chest that pushed for more tears and I nodded. "You'd better get to practice, we'll be upstairs afterwards." I pointed up to the boxed windows, where the coaching staff offices were and location of our interview.
While Logan jumped down, grabbed his helmet, and trotted back to practice, I turned to Grace. "I should go get changed for the interview, will you -"
"Completely fine." She waved her hand dismissively. "Brody and I will watch these meatheads practice then see you upstairs."
"Are they interviewing you too?" I asked.
"Heaven's no." Grace tipped her head back and laughed heartily. "No one cares what Mom thinks. Otherwise I would've strongly recommended against the crop top choice."
Grace is probably good for at least a few sound bites. Knew she'd like the billboard though.
While I slowed down on the highway for a more dramatic reveal, the entire car erupted in loud, hearty laughs at Logan's expense. Everyone except Mr. Reynolds snapped a few pictures of it, with a few 'priceless' commentary remarks from Harper.
"Fair point," Harper called over from her seat. "Someone should tell Adonis that the eighties called and he can keep the shitty fashion choice."
"I care," I assured Grace and slipped in for a side hug.
Just like I'd hoped, she squeezed me warmly, then leaned over and murmured in my ear, "So glad you're in his life again."
Before I responded, her laugh washed warmly over my ear. "He was a real sourpuss the last two years."
"Wasn't the only miserable one." Harper craned her head back, then ran her eyes from the tip of my head down to my dirty but comfortable walking shoes. "Let's go get you ready for your interview."
"What do you mean?" I glanced down at my black leggings and purple UW sweatshirt, which, as my favorite, had slightly frayed ends on the sleeve cuffs. "Oh."
"Yeah, oh." She smirked at me, then stood up and turned to her Dad. "We'll be back when Ellie looks presentable and interviewable."
Before I protested I wasn't sure if interviewable was even a real word, she grabbed my wrist and tugged gently. The nostalgia of the movement spread a smile across my lips.
Feels oddly like old times.
"And there... stop squirming Ellie." Harper dragged an eye liner pencil around my left eye, which twitched wildly with each soft stroke she applied. "There... move again and I'll jab your eye with the liner pencil."
"This feels so unnatural," I remarked from under the layers of makeup she'd given me and gently pursed my now-sticky lips.
"Funny you say that because I went for a natural look." Her sky blue eyes rolled and she clicked her tongue once. "Such gratitude."
"I'm sorry." I looked up at her and tried not to blink for fear my lashes stuck together. "Thanks for coming up here, helping me pick what to wear, and doing my makeup."
"If it meant I got that much further away from Jake, all the better," she mumbled and looked around our tiny apartment. "So... You live in this space with Gigantor? He must hit you with his dick every time he turns around."
"It's not that bad," I assured her with an eye roll. "Saving money though."
"Right. But seriously, period fainting aside, Logan's treating you well?" Her eyes met mine briefly, then she looked down and packed up her makeup supplies. "If not, I'm happy to turn over his balls to TSA confiscation before I fly home."
I'm sure she would.
Even though her eyes were averted, I nodded slowly. "Yeah... Really well, except for his period aversion defect. Be right back, going to change." I stood up and walked back to the bedroom area, where I changed into a V-neck gray sweater and black leggings.
Harper stood quietly in the bedroom doorway but by the flicker in her eyes, I knew she held back an opinion.
"Don't say it," I warned her and slipped on the dressiest shoes I owned, a pair of ankle-length black books. "If it's about Jake, I don't want to know."
"Not saying it," she replied as I brushed past her, then she headed out behind me. "But I have something in mind that you'll thank me for later. Get dressed first, we'll discuss on the walk back."
"Right..." I sighed and dressed quickly because the last time she'd gotten ideas like that, a yellow dildo with Logan's name on it showed up here.
Which for the record, is still unopened in the box.
While Harper and I walked back to Husky Stadium, there was one personal topic I'd wanted to ask her about. But I waited until after we walked past the usual crowd of reporters, who snapped a few pictures of us but generally otherwise turned away like we were uninteresting, which I preferred.
Like usual, Harper had a crazy idea that she was convinced it instilled some 'sympathy' within Logan over my periods. And also as usual, I was initially speechless at how her mind worked and came up with some of her crazy antics then, at poor Logan's expense, completely on board.
"How about Charlie?" Harper raised her blonde eyebrows at me. "Little pre-marriage conditioning?"
"Good idea," I replied and pulled out my phone. While Harper hadn't visited much, she'd met Charlie every time. A quick text to Charlie showed she shared the same reaction as me.
Charlie: OMG, whaaaaat!?!? That's crazy.
Charlie: I'm so so SO in!! ⚡🤣😭
Charlie: Gotta run for the game, but tomorrow?
"You're here tomorrow, right?" I looked up from my screen at Harper, who nodded, so I sent a quick response to Charlie.
me: 👍😈
Once Harper and I turned a street corner and Husky Stadium came into view a few blocks over, I asked the question that had burned in the back of my mind since she'd arrived here, "Did you figure out your major?"
"Nope," she practically groaned out her response. "I completed my general education credits, barely. So looks like I'm taking a slight break after this semester and interning wherever Dad wants until a life passion's epiphany hits... or I get fired, whatever happens first."
I hurried my feet so they kept up with her longer steps, one concrete sidewalk spacer crack at a time. "You don't really think your own Dad would fire you if you worked for him, would he?"
"He's a different guy in the office," was her only muttered response, then her eyes widened and she tipped her head back at the size of Husky stadium. "But he might put me in the public defender's office, who knows."
"Cool, huh?" I followed her gaze up to the historic brick and arched ceilings that towered over us.
"My opinion hasn't changed other than someone's definitely compensating." Her blonde hair swished behind her as she shook her head, which caught my attention.
"You didn't color it," I pointed to the end strands of her naturally sun-kissed blonde hair, which normally always had a color tint.
"I haven't all semester." Her mouth twisted slightly sideways, like she'd tasted a sour lemon. "Guess you're not the only one going for a natural look."
Once we stepped into the stadium's metal-door elevators and rode up to the coaches and administrators' offices level, my phone buzzed with text messages.
Logan: Still can't believe you surprised me with Mom and Brody. ❤️
Logan: Come over to the Husky Office when you're ready.
Logan: Surprise for you here.
"Surprise?" I asked my phone screen right when the elevator stopped and chimed softly. "I'm supposed to surprise you this weekend, Logan."
"Better not be muff diving," Harper grumbled over my shoulder when her gasp swallowed her own words. "I don't even have to ask if the sex is good, you're glowing like you're fucking radioactive at the sight of Adonis. But, as much as I love you, that mental image is a hard pass for me."
"Harper..." I started to say when my feet stopped right inside the double doors at the tall, large-frame guy dressed in a maroon dress shirt under a tailored black suit. The glint of gold on his lapel showed a small SC logo. One look of his dark brown eyes over his shoulder was all I needed before my feet closed the distance between us.
The warmth and familiarity of his dark brown eyes, the only physical trait we shared and had gotten from Mom, greeted me warmly. His dark tousled waves now curled around the edges of his ears and a five-o-clock shadow of black hairs dotted the strong lines of his jaw. As I stepped closer, I swear he'd gotten even bigger but threw myself against his rock-hard body anyways.
A strong pair of arms tugged me close and a voice I wished I heard more often murmured in my ear, "Hey Ellie."
"Jake." My voice came out as a whisper-shout as I clung to him tightly.
The calm and peaceful aura that radiated from Jake couldn't have been more different from his former self. Even after all of the drama with Ryder's assault and Jake's subsequent ass beating of Ryder, Jake had mentally recovered through the help of anger management therapy.
While I wished he hadn't needed the lowest low point, when Jake risked his football and collegiate future when he went Ryder to the hospital, he'd definitely gotten the message he needed a massive amount of self-improvement. In the two years that followed, he'd addressed the years of displaced anger that rose up from his guilt over Ryder's assault through anger management counseling. Given his currently relaxed state, I couldn't have been more proud of who he'd grown into today.
Except for the mindless sleeping with girls. That he still has room for improvement.
And by room, I mean an entire freaking house.
A lazy grin pulled across his face as we pulled back. His dark brown eyes roamed over me like a visual inspection but what he looked for, I wasn't sure. I didn't care though and hugged him tightly again.
"What are you doing here!?" I squealed into his chest.
His low laugh bounced my cheek off his chest but he dropped a travel bag I hadn't noticed until it hit the ground with a thump and wrapped two rock-hard arms tightly around me.
"Here for your interview," his casual tone filtered down into my ears.
"But I thought you were going to be video conferenced in?" I leaned back and studied his reaction, but only found mild amusement twinkled in his eyes, dark brown in color that mirrored mine and Mom's. "And don't you have a game tomorrow?"
"My idea but ESPN was on board and flew me in for a surprise." He grinned down at me. "Our home game's not until seven tomorrow night but I'm taking the red-eye flight back tonight."
"Your idea?" My eyebrows couldn't have lifted any higher.
His grin dissolved before he firmly nodded. With a soft squeeze of his large hands on my shoulders, he answered, "I wanted to support you. Figured it was also easier for us to keep consistent answers if we were interviewed at the same time."
Wow, Jake's actually being considerate and thinking logically.
Did he hit his head during turbulence on the flight up? Maybe a suitcase fell out of the overhead bin?
"You did this for me..." I mumbled and stared up at him dumbfoundedly. The kindness in his actions had blown my mind completely devoid of coherent thoughts.
After I grew up under Jake's shadow and moved out of state to find my own breathing space in a sea of anonymity, I relished my fresh start. In an unexpected side effect of my far-away college choice, I had moments where I missed my family.
Which usually goes away once they speak. Or, in Jake's case, a look.
Completely predictable, Jake's eyes shifted over my shoulder. His dark brown irises deepened to the color of melted dark chocolate and his lips curled upward, so widely that his white teeth peeked through the seam. After one gentle stroke of his tongue across his lower lip, his chin lifted and deep voice dropped ten degrees cockier with his next single word.
"Reynolds."