ANABEL

 

“Oh, shit! This is so not going how it was supposed to!” I mutter to myself, but I don’t stop running.

Most of the people I pass probably think I’m a crazy lady running through the airport like this. Maybe some of them will even call security and there will be a wild chase just like in the movies. Security chasing the bad guys all over the place, lots of shouting, crashing into people, and maybe some kind of explosion.

You must stop doing that. That’s what I’ve been telling myself for a while now, but it doesn’t help much.

My brain is working overtime on stories and crazy scenarios. It goes with the territory, I guess. Or maybe I’m just telling that to myself so I don’t have to go and get my head examined.

At least this time I really have a good reason for my crazy behavior. Twenty hours in a plane can do that to a person. Twenty hours, which I was supposed to spend sleeping because it was night when I started my trip, but I couldn’t do that since I had overdosed on coffee and energy drinks so I would be able to study. 

February sucks. Like, really sucks.

Here I am again on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean and, instead of enjoying it, I’m obsessing with all of the studying I have to do and all the things and obligations that are waiting for me in Croatia.

I’m breathless and panting hard when I come to the check-out counter, but it’s all worth it, because most of the people are still way behind me. This is not the first time I think about starting the gym, but I don’t have the time to breathe much less spend an hour in some bad smelling gym with overly enthusiastic people around me running on the treadmill with no goal in mind. I’m too busy for that.

Between classes, homework, studying, writing my graduate thesis, keeping up with my family and friends, working as a waitress whenever I can, and writing my new book, I don’t have time to think. And let’s not forget my transatlantic boyfriend.

The time difference is a bitch, but we make do the best we can. Texts, phone calls, and Skype are our best friends. During the off season, he comes to Croatia, and when I have time off, I go to the States.

I’m happy if I have a whole week off because that means we have full five days together. In the last year, I’ve changed time zones so many times I’ve lost count. Just when I get used to being in America, I return to Croatia so it’s adaption time all over again.

My body and mind are exhausted, and I can’t freaking wait for it all to be over in a few short months, because I’m scared I’ll combust otherwise.

In the last year, I’ve worked really hard. Everything has to happen at a certain time so I can graduate on time and move to the States before Will leaves for training camp in the summer. My schedule is crazy. I work twelve to fourteen hours a day, seven days a week.

It’s not even strange I’m going crazy.  

The cop sitting behind the glass looks at me strangely as I give him my passport with brand new visa inside. Yes, you heard it right. Nobody knows it but me. It’s a surprise, but a few weeks ago I got my visa, and for the next ten years I can come and go to the United States of America as I please.

I was so happy and excited when I got the news that all I wanted was to call Will and Sienna to tell them, but I decided it could wait for a bit. With coming here now and all that.

The guy checks out my passport and returns it to me with a polite greeting, but all I can think about is getting out of there. Rolling my small carry-on behind me, I get out in the waiting area.

Nibbling at my lower lip, I look around searching for familiar faces, but I can’t find any. I walk around, passing groups of people and look around the busy JFK airport, but no luck.

Did she see that my plane is late and decided to ditch me and go alone? Or maybe she forgot altogether about promising to come and pick me up. There are a bunch of options.

“Took you long enough,” a familiar, sassy voice calls behind me loud enough to get my attention.

In a hurry, I turn around on the heels of my feet and see the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known in my life. A smile spreads across my lips as we both run to cross the small distance and crash into each other. Her hands wrap around my shoulders, and I inhale the familiar exotic scent of one of my best friends.

“I’ve missed you so much!” Sienna cries out, hugging me tightly.

“I missed you too, Si,” I say, my voice muffled. “It was one hell of a journey, but I’m glad to be back.”

Tears come to my eyes, and I try to push them back. My body is tired, I’m jet-lagged, and it makes me cranky and more emotional than usual.

“It’s good to be home.”

It hasn’t been that long since I was here the last time—maybe like a month and a half or so. I couldn’t be away for the whole winter holiday, so I spent Christmas with my family, and the day after I was boarding a plane for a week with William before my classes started.

I’m not even supposed to be here now. My final year at college, exams and all that, but the Knights got to the Super Bowl and there was no way I was missing that for anything in the world. Exams and obligations be damned. I know how much it means to William, and I’m so proud of him for coming all this way despite everything that’s been in our way.

So, when I heard they were in the Super Bowl, I bought a last-minute ticket—one extremely expensive ticket—and got my ass on a plane after my exam was over to surprise and support William.

As it turns out, destiny and I don’t get along well. I had to switch planes in two different airports and the plane was late because of a storm. Now we are all really, really, really late to the most important game of my boyfriend’s life. Which makes me one extremely shitty girlfriend. I can only hope we make it there before it’s over.  

Sienna takes a step back and looks down at me. Of course, she has her high heels on, even though we are going to a football game. She’s paired them up with dark skinny jeans and J.D.’s jersey—a Mrs. J.D. Shelton jersey he specifically made for her when they married less than a year ago.

Sometimes I still can’t believe it. Two people that were so skeptical about love fell hard and fast, and now they are married.

“It’s good to have you home.”

We smile at each other knowingly. If anybody knows and understands what all this cost me, and I’m not talking in the monetary sense, it’s Sienna. The bond we formed two years ago is strong and unbreakable and something simply ours.

“I hate to interrupt this mushy reunion, but we have a game to go to and we are way too late, so move it.”

Turning around, we look at Grace, J.D.’s little sister, who is standing behind Sienna waiting for us. Her piercing green eyes, just like her brother’s, are narrowed and she’s pouting. I don’t know her well, but she seems like a sweet kid. When she isn’t a cranky teenager, that is. And I know Sienna loves her like her own kid.

Grace’s crankiness is forgotten when I see what she’s holding in her hands.

“Is this for me?” Without actually waiting for an answer, I take one cup from the holder and bring it to my lips. The strong smell of coffee and its bittersweet taste overcome all my senses. I drink almost half of it in one go before I’m ready to admit my body also needs to breathe.

“I thought you may need it.” Sienna smiles at me, putting one hand around my shoulders. “The other one’s also for you. Now let’s go. We have a game to win.”

“Finally!” Grace grumbles and starts marching in front of us.

Sienna and I share a look behind her back and laugh quietly at her perkiness but follow behind.

“What do you need a suitcase for anyway?” Sienna asks and opens the back door so I can put it in the trunk of her car. “I thought William bought you enough clothes to last you a lifetime.”

“These are books, not clothes.” I put the heavy thing in the trunk and close the door behind me.

“Why do you need the books?”

We get in the car, and Sienna pulls out of the parking space and starts driving toward the Steel Stadium. Not only did the guys get all the way to the finals, but the Super Bowl game is played in their own stadium.

“I’m here just a couple of short days, and I have to study because the day after I return back to Croatia I have an exam and then another one a few days later.”

Sienna sighs loudly. “I don’t envy you at all.”

“Hurry up, Si!” Grace leans between the seats. “We are going to miss it, and J.D. will kill us.”

Sienna looks at Grace’s reflection in the rearview mirror and rolls her eyes. “They are concentrated on the game. They won’t even know we are not there.”

But that doesn’t stop her from pushing down on the gas.

Streets are packed. The closer we move to the stadium there are more cars and more people. Bars and shops are all decorated in Knights’ colors—greys, red, and white.

Under the coat I’m wearing, I have on the hoodie William gave me that first game. Every time we are together I make him wear it just before he leaves so I have a little piece of him even when he’s gone. I have to wash it eventually, but I put it off as long as possible so I can inhale his clean, manly scent even when he’s miles away.

When we finally, finally, come to the stadium, Sienna goes straight to the players’ parking lot. She barely has enough time to stop the car, and we are all out, running toward the VIP entrance. The guy that stands at the entrance notices us running and opens the door without asking any questions.

From our conversations, I know that Sienna and Grace go to every home game to watch J.D. play, and sometimes they even travel to away games, so everybody around here knows the two of them.

The roar of the crowd is deafening when we enter the stadium. If it’s so loud back here I’m afraid of how it’ll be once we get out there.

“There are less than two minutes left on the clock, people. Both teams are even, so this last play is make or break. Knights have the ball, but is that enough to make them the next champion?”

We stand still, listening to the commentator. We look at each other in silence and start running toward the exit.

To the bleachers.

To the men we love.

The hallway that leads to the stadium feels endless, but once we are finally out in the stands we don’t sit down. As a matter of fact, nobody is sitting down. People are standing. Some are yelling. Some are holding hands and praying, waiting to see how this whole thing will play out.

But they don’t matter. The only thing that matters to me is the man down on that field. The man that’s fighting for his team. For his dream. The man I love with all of me. With all of my heart and soul. With every breath and every cell in my body.

I rush toward the railing and look down at the field.

The next few seconds are a blur.

Will tried to teach me about football, but I’m a lost cause. I watch it only when he plays, because I get to see him, and I know how much it means to him, but I don’t know shit about what’s happening out there.

My eyes find him in a heartbeat. It’s like my body knows where he is at all times. Like we are connected and there is nothing that can break the bond we share. Even in my dreams I can feel him.

I watch Will call the play. I watch it all happen in slow motion, but at the same time it seems like it’s happening at the speed of light.

Will calls play after play and the Knights move with him in perfect motion. His players follow his directions and come to the right positions just when they need to. Like they are one, they read each other perfectly.

Knights conquer territory just like the warriors they are, and the opposing team crumbles in front of my eyes.

My hands grip the railing so tightly I know it’ll leave marks, but I don’t care one way or the other.

When the clock comes to zero and the ball is safely in the end zone, I breath out a sigh in relief. The players, coaches, and other staff run all together to celebrate their victory.

The confetti are flying and fireworks color the sky. “We are the Champions” is blasting through the speakers, and people around us are hugging and jumping, some are even crying.

Both Sienna and Grace run into me, hugging me tightly.

“They won!” Grace screams over and over again.

Sienna squeezes the air out of my lungs. Happy tears silently fall down her cheeks, a huge smile on her lips.

“They are the champions,” I say, still not believing it.

Sienna brushes away the tears from my cheeks. I didn’t even know I was crying until she did.

“They are the champions.”