Chapter Thirty-Four
Channing
I was laying on a bench in the locker room with scratches all up and down my arms, and calves burning so hot I could barely walk. I didn’t even care that everyone was looking at me, or that the coach was pacing around the room.
“You really screwed up. You couldn’t leave well enough alone. You had to run straight to the tutoring center and make yourself look like a complete idiot.” Mike was sitting across from me leaning in, rubbing salt and lemon all over my wounds while the rest of the guys got ready to roast me.
“You think you could’ve at least waited a couple days? I told you so. I told you so. I told you so!”
I sat up and stared at him, too exhausted to throw a punch, but that was exactly what he deserved. “I’m not sorry.” I laid back down.
“Coach, you’re gonna have to bench him.” Jason had been on it all night.
“You can’t throw,” he barked. “And you,” he pointed at me, “need to get your act together. I don’t care who you’re screwing or what she did to you. Man up and get that ball while there’s still time.”
“You’re gonna be remembered as an epic failure.” Jason leaned in so I could see his face. “You’ll die alone and heartbroken, telling everyone about how great you used to be.”
I flew up and threw him to the ground. Then I grabbed him the collar and raised my fist. “Just a few good hits and you’re done. I can do it. You know I can.”
“You’re just mad because she’s all up on this…” He reached down to grab his crotch, and I slammed him in the face, once, then twice, again, and again. I couldn’t stop. It felt too good, knowing that in just a few seconds, he’d be done, and nobody would ever have to deal with him again.
Something caught me around the waist, and I flew back. Three sets of legs were holding me down, Mike among them, and Jason was behind them, cowering in the corner.
“You’ve lost it.” Mike stepped away. “You have everything. You don’t even need to get signed. You’ll have millions no matter what you do. Doesn’t matter how badly we want this. It’s all about you, isn’t it?”
“It’s not easy!” I sat up and threw the guys off me.
“Channing, you need to accept it. She’s not coming back.” Some of the other guys nodded in agreement. “But that doesn’t mean that your life has to stop. This used to be the only thing that you cared about, and it got you here. Now you lost your way. Maybe this is the best thing.”
“Screw this.” I stood up and started to walk out. The men came after me and tried to call out to me, but I wasn’t having it. If I was just going to make a fool out of myself, then there was no reason to keep playing. I was going to take my seat on the bench where I belonged.
I sat down, facing the field, with the lights shining down on me. Everyone could see me. They all knew what’d happened, and it was humiliating. I let my head drop into my hands, and felt the residue from the mace still stuck to my skin.
I was out of the game, maybe even out of school. I was going to lose everything because I went against my principles. I deserved this; I really did. “God,” I whispered, “if there was just some way to take it back.”
A hand rested on my shoulder and worked into the soft places, where I needed the most care. Then I felt lips graze my ear. “I love you.”
My whole body was shaking. This wasn’t real. I jerked away and went back to sobbing. She was too good for me, too beautiful. I was just a dumb jock that threw away girls like they were cum rags. Nothing would change that. I couldn’t be more than the sum of my parts.
Something grazed my shoulder, and I felt a swish of fabric pass over my skin. Then, she was kneeling in front of me, a tear flowing down one cheek. “Channing, I am so sorry for doubting you. I love you.”
“I love you too.” I grabbed her by the neck and kissed her like I’d never kissed anyone before. She was there, beside me, and she loved me. “I love you so much,” I said again. “I need you in my life. Don’t ever leave like that again.”
“I won’t.”
“You promise me,” I said. “I can’t take that.”
“I promise. They told me what happened at the frat house before I got there. I didn’t know. I thou—Channing, I-I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I helped her up, and we kissed again, once softly, another time with passion. Then with fury. The crowd was screaming all around us, and we both knew that our faces were up on the screen in the middle of the stadium.
At some point, somebody’s hand rested on my shoulder. I pulled away and turned around to see a drunken coach standing side by side with Sam.
“Nicole called Sam during halftime and told him I was here,” Ava said. “You’re not to see her again,” she told Sam.
“I know.”
“Good,” she added.
“Enough. Are you ready to get back in the game?” the coach asked.
“Yeah, I think I am.”
“Good, hustle, and don’t you dare miss a single pass: you got that?”
“Yes, Coach.” I ran back into the locker room.