Текст книги "That Wedding"
Автор книги: Jillian Dodd
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Cover
Title
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
September 9th: My favorite part of the whole night.
September 10th: Sparkly, gooey, and magical.
September 11th: In a blaze of glory.
September 13th: Planning a wedding sounds like no fun.
September 14th: All that's on that boy's mind lately.
September 15th: A little freak out in my mind.
September 16th: Just for dramatic effect.
September 18th: You'll love me more after tonight.
September 20th: Losing my virginity. Again.
September 21st: Slightly bigger than I expected.
September 22nd: So it's my fault you're lying?
September 23rd: Let's sit down.
September 24th: I expected you to throw a fit.
September 25th: We may need cocktails for that.
September 26th: Wedding cake and an open bar.
September 27th: Captain's Log: Day three of wedding planning.
September 28th: Get married by a fake Elvis.
October 1st: It's time to drop the bomb.
October 3rd: Wedding guests and ice sculptures.
October 4th: A hostage situation.
October 6th: I can barely breathe.
October 9th: You do not play fair.
October 10th: Sex is what keeps a marriage good.
October 12th: The cheerleader incident.
October 20th: I love checklists.
October 21st: Don't go telling people about it.
October 23rd: You are so easily distracted.
October 24th: Are you listening to this shit?
October 26th: One continuous buck ass wild party.
October 28th: He was a freebie.
November 3rd: Living on Love.
November 6th: The perfect combination of sweet and sass.
November 7th: Focus on our future.
November 8th: The sex is all he remembers.
November 11th: I want to look timeless.
November 13th: Dreams of their own.
November 14th: The coolest wedding thing I have ever seen.
November 16th: It's bad luck!
November 18th: A miracle sent down by God himself.
November 23rd: What is it about boys and boobs?
November 27th: Phillip is picking up bad habits!
November 28th: He needs to learn to compromise.
December 1st: Is nothing sacred with these women?
December 2nd: Define pretty wild.
December 4th: Plant a seed and hope it grows.
December 7th: I act surprised.
December 10th: When I decide if I'm going to keep him.
December 12th: Press my body firmly against his.
December 16th: You've planted the seeds, now let them grow.
December 18th: A cosmic shift has occurred.
December 20th: I'm going to have shiny, gorgeous hair when I kill you.
December 21st: You're making me cry.
December 23rd: Can't sleep.
December 28th: Is my mind messing with me?
December 30th: Are you scared about getting married?
January 2nd: I'm at my most openminded after a few shots.
January 3rd: The smoothest stuff I've ever tasted.
January 4th: Things are not good.
January 5th: Let's bring out the highlight film.
January 7th: A little case of cold feet.
January 8th: Perfectly adorable and well matched.
January 9th: Slow, tender, amazing.
January 9th: We might even be a little messed up.
January 11th: You were crashing.
January 12th: Your last night as Jadyn Reynolds.
January 13th: I'm seriously blessed.
January 13th: Something borrowed, something blue.
January 13th: The only moment I really care about.
January 13th: Mind if we have some privacy?
January 13th: Every detail, every thought.
January 13th: I'm pretty sure I win.
January 13th: Some duct tape and a bungie cord.
January 13th: Jadalicious.
January 13th: Our love is worth celebrating.
January 13th: The. Coolest. Wife. Ever.
January 14th: You know your wedding is a success when....
January 14th: Our XXX honeymoon.
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Copyright © 2012 by Jillian Dodd
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover design and book illustrations by Jillian Dodd
ISBN: 978-0-9850086-0-4
For my husband
Thank you for making me believe true love, the fairytale kind, actually exists.
Phillip's holding my hand, leading me toward the hotel elevator. We just left our engagement party. I still can't believe I'm engaged to Phillip Mackenzie, the boy I've known forever.
As we step into an empty elevator, Phillip inserts a key and presses the number for the top floor. I'm about to say something, but before I can, he has me pinned into the corner. He sings, "Love in the Elevator..." I start to laugh, but my laugh is smothered when he kisses me deeply.
I forget what I was about to say. It's hard to concentrate when his hands are running up my dress. The elevator dings, the doors open, but Phillip doesn't stop kissing me.
"Um, Phillip. Where are we going?"
"Maybe I have a few more surprises," he says slyly.
"I think I've had enough surprises for one day," I tease.
He scoops me up and carries me out of the elevator.
"Phillip, put me down. You're not supposed to carry me over the threshold until our wedding night. You'll jinx us!"
He doesn't put me down, but he stops and looks at me seriously. "Are you really gonna marry me?"
"Yeah, I think so. I said yes. Twice." I wrap my arms around his neck. I really don't want him to put me down.
He wrinkles his nose at me. "You also said no at least four times."
I stick out my tongue at him. "What did you expect? You asked me to marry you on our first date. I'm sorry, but that was a bit of a shock. Are you gonna put me down?"
"Nope."
"Phillip..."
He leans his face in close to mine. "I'm carrying you into the bedroom, not over the threshold."
The simple mention of Phillip and I in a bedroom sends flames blazing through my body.
"The bedroom is good," I whisper.
He slides in the keycard, opens the door to the suite, kicks the door shut with his foot, carries me past the gorgeous living room, and straight into the bedroom.
I eye the king-size bed. The fluffy comforter is turned down. There are chocolates on the pillows. I can't wait to dive in.
Phillip carries me past the bed. "Hey, you skipped the bed."
"I told you, I might have another surprise."
"And I told you, I can't take anymore surprises. If there's a pastor and a wedding party in there, I swear, I'm running the other direction. I'm not marrying you tonight."
He chuckles. "I should've thought of that. We could be on our honeymoon right now."
"No way I would've agreed to that. It's bad enough we got engaged on our first date."
He sets me down in front of another set of double doors and tilts his head at me. "It's bad?"
"You know what I mean, not bad, just really weird."
He loops his arm around my shoulder. "Open the doors. Trust me."
Of course, I trust Phillip. He's been my best friend my whole entire life. Plus, based on the room's placement, this has got to be the door to the bathroom. I sling open the double doors and step into a marble room ablaze with candles. Candles of varying sizes are lit and flickering. There's a huge roman tub in the corner, full of water, with rose petals floating across the surface.
I turn around and grin at him. "This might be my favorite part of the whole night."
"I thought it might be. I figured if you said yes, we'd need a little time to relax after the party."
"And if I would've said no?"
"I could've just come up here and drown myself," he says with a laugh.
He grabs me and has me dangling above the tub before I can scream, "Don't you dare!"
Phillip's been picking me up and throwing me into pools and lakes ever since he got strong enough to do it.
"Wouldn't be the first time," he says as he pretends to drop me.
I'm pretending to be horrified, but really, all I keep thinking about is how strong Phillip is. How I love the way he makes me feel.
But I have to tease him. "We know what would happen if you dropped me in. I'd get out and take you down. Show you that you're not as tough as you think you are."
"Why do you think I always threw you in? You'd get out of the pool, chase me down, and jump on top of me. It was kinda hot."
I laugh at him. "You're being bad, Phillip, but I kinda like it." Phillip is so damn cute. He was always an adorable boy, but the older he got, the sexier he got. His short brown hair, that adorable smile, the deep brown eyes with their golden flecks, and that sexy voice. I don't think there's anything I don't love about Phillip.
I wrap my arm around his neck and pull him into a long delicious kiss. "Plus, you'd ruin the dress."
"That'd be a shame. You look amazing in this dress, but I bet it'd look even better off."
He sets me down and slowly unzips the back of my dress. "I really thought you were gonna say no at the party even though you said yes earlier."
"I was gonna say no."
Phillip's hands glide up my back. He slides the dress off my shoulders, which makes it hard for me to remember why I said no. I'm pretty sure whatever the question would be right now, the answer would be yes.
"I'm really glad you said yes," he says as his lips graze my shoulder.
God, he's adorable. "I'm glad I said yes too. Can you believe we're gonna get married? Can you believe Pastor John told me we need couple's counseling?"
He turns me around to face him, kisses my neck, and unhooks my strapless bra. It drops to the floor. He cups my face in his hands. "He's probably right. You do need counseling, and the first thing we're going to counsel you on is how you should always say yes to me. Do you have any idea how crushed I was when you slammed the ring into my hand and marched away?"
I instantly feel bad. Bad I could make Phillip even one teeny bit sad. "You know, even if I would've said no, it wouldn't have been because I didn't wanna marry you. I just thought maybe it was too soon to get engaged." I grab both of his hands, hold them tight, and look into his eyes. "Phillip, I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For Cancun, for tonight. I love you. I'd never do anything to hurt you on purpose. I just....."
"It's okay. I got so excited and caught up in planning it, I didn't stop to think about how crazy it sounded."
"Are you changing your mind? Do you wish you wouldn't have?"
"No, this is exactly where I wanna be."
"In a bathroom with me practically naked?" I ask with a laugh. He leans down and strips off my thong. "Make that completely naked."
He wraps his strong arms around me. "With you. Naked is just a bonus. Get in." He holds my hand to help me into the warm fragrant water.
I lean my back against the tub to relax, but then I notice Phillip's taking off his shirt. I watch raptly. I've seen Phillip's chest a million times. He and Danny were always running around with no shirt on, but it still takes my breath away. Especially now that I know exactly what it feels like. Now that I've run my hands across his abs, felt his weight on top of me, and massaged every square inch of it. I used to rub his back when we were just friends. Even then, I loved feeling every muscle, every curve, but now all I can think is how hot he looks and how lucky I am. All of a sudden, the bath feels ten times warmer, my face feels flushed, and other parts of me seem to heat up as well.
"I thought you were gonna say no. What changed your mind?"
"I was gonna say no. I was really mad at you. I couldn't believe you sprung that on me. We'd just agreed to kinda keep it a secret. Then, BOOM! You tell me we're at our surprise engagement party, and everyone knows!"
He chuckles. "You were really pissed. You even cut my hand with the ring."
My eyes get big. "I did?"
He walks over and holds his hand up. Shows me a teeny little scratch. "My war wound," he says in a very fake pathetic voice.
I grab his hand and kiss the scratch.
"So what made you change your mind?" he asks.
I was going to answer, but then he unbuckled his belt. I watch his slacks fall to the ground and then his boxers. All I can do is stare at his beautiful body.
"You're totally checking me out, aren't you?" he says, busting me.
"Maybe."
He does a few silly bodybuilder poses. His muscles ripple across his broad chest. He's being goofy, but he's naked. Which makes me feel very serious.
He slides into the tub with me. I lean back against him as he absentmindedly cups water in his hand and pours it down my chest.
I sigh. Close my eyes. Think this must be what heaven feels like.
"You're avoiding the question."
"What question?" Did he ask me a question?
"I asked what made you change your mind. You haven't told me yet."
"You distracted me with nakedness."
"I'll have to remember that. Seriously, tell me."
"When I was looking out into the crowd, telling them I said no, I saw you standing there. You looked sad. You weren't even looking at me. You were staring down at my ring."
"Go on," he says. He runs his hands down both my arms. I close my eyes again.
"Then I wondered what you would do if I said no. Like would you still date me? Would you give up on us forever? And just as I was about to say no again, I spotted Danny and Lori. My mind flashed back to when we were walking home after their big engagement. Do you remember how you asked me if I'd ever wanna be surprised like that in front of a bunch of people?"
"I do remember. Why do you think I did it? You said you thought it would be amazing to know a guy planned all of that just for you."
"I realized that. That's when I knew I had to say yes. I realized you did it all for me. The three dozen roses, sending me to the spa with your sister, the gorgeous dress, all the charms, the limo, the scavenger hunt, the ring, the party, all of it. I still can't believe you did all that. Planned it all out."
"I was trying to impress you. Did it work? Do you like the ring?"
I pull my hand out of the warm water and hold it in front of us. The diamond sparkles. It looks the way I feel. Sparkly, glittery, full of promise. "The ring was a slam dunk."
"You seemed shocked that I kept the drawing of your dream ring."
"I was shocked. What made you keep it?"
"When you looked at the other jewelry, Danny ripped the drawing off the pad, threw it at me, and said, You better save this, you'll need it someday."
"Did you laugh at him?"
"Not really. I kinda hoped he was right. We had a conversation about you a couple months before that. You asked me to your winter formal."
"I remember wishing you were my real date, not just my friend."
"I felt the same way. Then you came to my spring formal with me, remember?"
"Yeah, but we went as friends. Again."
"Danny chewed me out about that. Said I was a chicken shit for not asking you for real. Got me to admit I was in love with you."
"So you kept the drawing and had the ring made. It is my dream ring, but it was just that, Phillip. A dream. You spent way too much on this. On the ring, the party, all of it."
He lowers his voice and whispers into my neck as he's kissing it. "I'd spend everything I had on you." Then he laughs and runs his hand across his eyebrow. "Actually, I pretty much did. I may have to live with you now."
"You have been living with me."
"I've been spending the night with you."
"Are you trying to guilt me into letting you live with me? I know you live at your parents' for free."
"Yeah, but it's not as much fun there as it is at your place. Speaking of that, I think we should go see if that bed's as comfortable as it looks."
We get out of the tub and dry off quickly. When he picks me up and carries me into the bedroom, I'm pretty sure I know exactly what kind of fun he's referring to.
We eventually have to leave the cozy cocoon of our hotel suite and get back to reality. Reality starts with our usual Sunday night dinner at the Mackenzie house. I've been to many Sunday night dinners there. I grew up next door to them, and Mr. Mac and my dad were fraternity brothers and best friends. I've always been close to them, but when my parents were killed in a car accident my senior year of high school, they pretty much made me one of their own. I don't know what I would've done without them or the Diamonds.
Still, I'm nervous for dinner.
I'm officially going to marry their son, and I know it sounds odd, but I feel like I need to make a good impression. So I put on a pair of dark jeans, a new flouncy pale peach top with rosettes at the neck, and a pair of silver heels.
I look romantic and happy.
I see now why as soon as Lori got engaged to Danny, she started trying to set me up with Phillip. She felt all sparkly, gooey, and magical, and she wanted her friends to feel that way too.
I get it now.
I feel pretty sparkly, and I CANNOT stop looking at the sparkle on my finger during the drive over.
But when we get there, Mrs. Mac doesn't seem to notice my sparkle, how I'm dressed, or how Phillip keeps being quite naughty and running his hand dangerously high up my thigh under the kitchen table.
No.
Mrs. Mac is focused on one thing.
Which is good because I can't seem to focus on anything other than the fact that if Phillip doesn't stop it, I'm going to drag him up to his bedroom and show him exactly how I feel about him.
Oh, sorry, where was I?
Oh yes, I was saying, Mrs. Mac is focused on one thing.
And that thing is wedding planning.
Seriously?? We've been engaged for, what? Twenty-two hours?! And she's ready to start planning?
I mean, I'm still in shock that I'm even dating Phillip, let alone engaged to the boy.
Isn't there some kind of engagement buffer? Where you get a few days (weeks, months) to get used to the idea before people start bombarding you with questions about an event you're totally not mentally prepared to deal with????!!!!
The answer to that question is apparently not because she's already prepared a wedding spreadsheet of some kind. Not surprising, really, she probably has to make a spreadsheet before she can do laundry, so she does it in the proper order. To say this woman is organized is a supreme understatement.
She hands it to me, and I scan it.
Looks pretty typical. Once we figure out when we want to get married, then we'll be happy to use her list and start planning.
But I'm not in any hurry to get married.
We need to date for a while first.
Ashley, Phillip's sister, says, "So, JJ, I would recommend you start by picking a theme and your colors."
"A theme?" What is this, a frat party? "What kind of wedding theme?"
"Oh, wow," she says, "there are so many things you could do. You could have it black tie, casual, country, or beachy. Fairytale weddings are big right now. You could do like a fall wedding or even a Halloween wedding!"
"A Halloween wedding?! Like a black and orange wedding? How fun would that be? We could have people dress up and hand out candy!" I laugh. Ha! "Phillip, did you hear that? We could get married on Halloween! We could just have people ring the doorbell, stand outside, and we can get married in the entryway. We could be all dressed up and then go out and get candy for our reception! Our favors could be dozens of eggs, forks, Fruity Pebbles, and toilet paper!"
"PHILLIP DAVID Mackenzie!" Mrs. Mac yells. She squints her eyes and gives him the mom glare. "You told me you had nothing to do with the Robertson's house that Halloween."
"What Halloween?" he pretends.
"The year their whole sidewalk was covered in Fruity Pebbles. Then it rained, and the color stained their sidewalk. We thought it was never going to come off! You swore to me that you had nothing to do with it!"
Phillip scrunches up his nose and laughs. "What are you gonna do, Mom? Ground me? Besides, I was in charge of the forks, not the Fruity Pebbles." He gives me a pointed grin, so his mom will think it was my idea.
"Jadyn!" Mrs. Mac scolds.
"Uh, so maybe a Halloween themed wedding is a bad idea," I say, quickly switching the conversation back to something that won't get us in trouble. Besides, the Fruity Pebbles were all Danny's idea, but we won't mention that. Knowing Mrs. Mac, she'd be calling his mom.
Ashley continues. "Well, you could do winter wonderland or like a down home country style wedding. Some people even have Husker themed weddings. You both love football, maybe you should do something like that."
"I do love football, but I don't think I'd want that for my wedding."
"So what do you want?" Phillip's mom asks.
"I have no idea. I got surprise engaged on my first date, less than twenty-four hours ago. I really haven't gotten that far yet." They both stare at me like I'm nuts, so I'm like, "Phillip, what kind of wedding do you want?"
"Um..," he eloquently says, "I don't know. The kind that involves us getting married?"
Mrs. Mac and Ashley both roll their eyes at him in that, He's just a man, what could he possibly know, way.
"JJ, have you seriously never pictured your wedding? Every little girl dreams of her wedding day," Ashley admonishes.
Gee, I'm apparently a failure as a girl.
All I ever dreamed about was marrying a prince, but that was really as far as I got. To me, it was all about finding the right boy. I guess I sorta thought once you found the guy, the wedding just sort of fell into place.
I mean think of Cinderella. The whole story was about her and Prince Charming's courtship. It's only at the very end that the wedding bells ring, birds fly, and they kiss. No one asked Cinderella what kind of themed wedding she wanted. The wedding just happened.
Didn't it?
I know most of my sorority sisters have planned out their ideal weddings. I listened, thought they sounded amazing, and encouraged them. But my wedding seemed so far off, I never really thought about what I'd want. Plus, you have to remember my two best friends are Phillip and Danny.
Boys.
I can tell you with all certainty that they never once stood around the pool table planning their dream weddings. The only real discussions we ever had involving weddings was Danny praying some girl wasn't pregnant, so he wouldn't have to marry her.
"Uh," I say, "honestly, not really. We used to have weddings for Barbie and Ken, but those mostly involved a wedding in front of Phillip's LEGO castle. They'd drive off in her Barbie jeep and then have a Barbie baby. And sometimes, they went on a honeymoon to the blow up Barbie pool, where they would kiss, swim, and get their hair wet. Oh!" I giggle. "And sometimes, instead of Ken, she married G.I. Joe."
"Bigamy Barbie," Phillip quips as he sets a beer down in front of me.
"That's true, but you loved when she married Joe. You'd make him jump out of a plane or rappel down the wall, and then they'd get married. Joe always made a big entrance. It was all very exciting. Ken was really sort of boring, but he was there for her when Joe went off to, I don't know, fight in wars and shit."
Phillip laughs.
I can't help but laugh too. We had so much fun when we were kids. "She also married Robin Hood. So she was more like trigamy Barbie," I tell Phillip.
"Trigamy?" Ash questions.
"Uh, maybe trigonometry?" I stupidly say.
"Oh my gosh." Phillip chuckles. "Are you both blonde or what?"
Smart ass. "Well then, what would it be called?"
"Polygamy."
"No, that's when you have many spouses. What's it called when you have just three, like Barbie did? It would have to be trigamy. Really, that's kind of a good idea. Like she married Ken because he was pretty and would provide a good gene pool for kids. Then there's G.I. Joe. He'd like show up whenever. You'd just have wild sex with him, and then he'd be off again on some mission. And Robin Hood would take you on adventures. I think Barbie was on to something. She really did have the perfect life."
"Except when she got pregnant and didn't know if it was Ken or Joe's baby," Ash says sarcastically.
Like Barbie would've had a big dilemma on that one. "You know she would've just told Ken it was his baby. He wouldn't have known the difference. Ken looked good, but I don't think he was all that smart. But he was a good dad and would stay home and take care of the kids while she was off with Joe or Robin." That's not a bad idea. "Hey Phillip, can I have three husbands too?"
"Hmmm, I don't think so." He grins and shakes his head no.
Ashley rolls her eyes. "So are you saying you want a Barbie themed wedding?"
Uh, no. I may not know much, but I do know a hot pink Barbie wedding is not for me.
It seems the theme of tonight's dinner is for us to pick a theme. I swear, if they don't lay off, pretty soon my theme is gonna be, I don't give a shit.
Thank God, the oven buzzer goes off, meaning we finally get to eat. And here's what I want to know. Why aren't they asking Phillip these questions? He's the one that was so bound and determined to get engaged. I just want to have fun sleeping with him for a while.
Mrs. Mac falls back a little during dinner, but she apparently didn't make a full retreat. After dinner, she sits us down in front of apple pie and questions us.
I told you before, she feeds you and gets you to spill your guts. That woman is sneaky.
Phillip's as clueless as I am on the whole theme thing, so he tells his mom, "I have no freaking idea." Then he ditches me and takes his pie into the family room to watch football with his dad and Ash's husband, Cooper.
But Mrs. Mac will not be deterred. She gets up and grabs a large stack of the thickest magazines known to man.
Bridal magazines.
They practically break through the wooden table when she slams the stack down in front of me. Thankfully, I got my hands out of the way.
"I went through and marked everything I like in yellow," she tells me.
"And I marked everything I like in blue," Ashley adds.
When do these people find time to go through these monstrosities? If I tried to sit on the couch at home and flip through these, I'd make it all of about twelve pages before Phillip would be attacking me. Sex takes up a lot of our time lately.
Mrs. Mac continues in her sweet, If you do this for me, I will bake you cookies, voice. "So just flip through all the magazines and mark stuff you like. Then we'll help you figure out a theme. So what are you thinking for a date?"
"We haven't discussed dates yet, but I'm pretty sure we're going to have a very long, lengthy engagement. Like maybe a couple years. We really don't need to start planning yet."
She gives me a little sigh. I see my opportunity to get away, so I grab the magazines and go sit in the family room. She's still staring at me, so I pretend to look interested and flip through a few pages. But really, I'm looking at Phillip, who's sitting in his favorite chair finishing his second piece of pie. He looks so adorable that I almost wish I had two of him.
Which reminds me.
I grab my phone and look up the word trigamy. And I'm right!! There is a word that means married to three people.
I glance over to Phillip and say, "It's trigamous."
"Cool," he says, not really listening because he's very into the game and his pie. He practically licks the plate off then turns to me with a grin. "So you were wrong?"
"I was closer to right than you were. That's all I care about." I give him a sassy little smile.
He grabs me off the couch, pulls me onto his lap, and starts kissing me.
Why is it kinda funny that this boy, who managed to keep his hands off me for years, cannot seem to control those hands anymore? I'm a little embarrassed by this. We're in the middle of his family room, and everyone can see us!! I cut the kiss short, but he won't let me get off his lap, so I get cozy, watch the game, and forget all about wedding planning.
My cell buzzes on the side table. Phillip grabs it, says, "Danny," and hands me it.
"Hey, what's up?"
"How bout tomorrow will be my first start as a freaking NFL quarterback? Can you believe it?"
One of the first things Danny told me, when he moved next door in fifth grade, was that he was a great quarterback. I remember telling him he was a bragger. He told me that he wasn't bragging, he was just confident in his skills. Turns out he was right about that, since he went on to be a state champion in high school, got recruited to play for Nebraska, won the national championship his senior year, came in second in the Heisman race, and won every quarterback award there was. He went on to be the second pick in the NFL draft. Last week, the starting quarterback got a concussion, so Danny finished the game. With his blonde hair, dreamy blue eyes, killer body, and good old boy attitude, he's also quickly becoming the poster boy for hot quarterbacks everywhere. His Chiefs jersey, with Diamond across the back, became their hottest selling jersey before he ever stepped foot on their field. He's making his first professional start tomorrow in a Monday Night Football game.
"Yeah, I can believe it. I've always believed in you, and I'm so excited I get to be there!!!"
"Jay, you have always believed in me. I should probably thank you for that."
"Yeah, you should!"
"Remember my freshman year in college?"
I laugh. "I do. You thought it sucked."
"Well, it did! I was the big man in high school. State Champion Winner. MVP. First Team, All-State. Five-Star Recruit. Then I go to college and NOTHING. I got freaking redshirted. I guess I just figured it would stay easy, be like high school."
"Danny, you know as well as I do that it didn't come easy in high school. Yeah, you were better than most kids, so it looked easy, but those of us who know you knew how much time you devoted to working out, how many freaking passes Phillip and I caught for you, all the times you stayed after practice, the camps, all of it. You've always worked for it. Are you nervous? Are you comparing this to your freshman year?"
"I might be a little nervous. I've moved up a level. What if I can't compete?"
"You already competed on that level when you finished the game last week. You did awesome. You'll do awesome."
"You know, I still visualize us playing in the empty lot between our houses before every game, and that pic of you two is hanging in my locker."
"That's so cool."
"My priorities are different now. I have an amazing wife, and pretty soon, we'll have a baby. But when I'm out there in a game, I play because it's fun. Because I love it."
"I know, Danny."
"The guys have been giving me all kinds of shit about the picture though. They want to meet this flag bikini girl. They've also been making up funny stories about you two. Like Phillip's my gay lover. You're my mistress. You're the one that got away. You're a Vegas hooker. Some think I don't even know you. Like I found the pic of you both going up for a pass on the internet or something. One of these days, I might tell them the truth, but for now, their wild guesses are kinda fun."
