It's the Way You Loo at Me

Monday started out longer than I thought it would be. Not because I was single and people were talking. I was hung over from Saturday night and Sunday. Jordan jump started the car for me then we drove it to old man Williams' house. Shane was there and pretty good at turning a wrench so we started working and drinking.

We ran to the parts store and got the alternator and a new battery. I felt the brakes weren't what they should be so we picked up those too and started fixing it once we got back to the garage. Between beers and bullshitting we did work. We must have been up until past two working on her car until it was finished.

I didn't have anything planned for Sunday now so I went back to the house and hung out with Jordan and Shane again. We started screwing around with Shane's truck and ended up pulling half the engine apart to get to the one belt he wanted to change. It was more beers and more bullshit in between until we got it fixed.

I sat at the lunch table and picked at my food. Jordan was right next to me in almost the same catatonic state I was. Too much beer and not enough sleep were catching up to us. I pushed my meat product around and got a piece to break off so I slowly brought it to my mouth and chewed. I saw Jamie come around the table now with her lunch tray. She took the empty seat right next to me and sat down. I glanced up at her and gave her a soft smile before I looked down at my food again.

"Your lunch isn't going to eat itself you know," Jamie teased.

"Oh, yeah," I sighed. "I'm afraid it might eat me if I'm not careful."

"Ain't that the truth," Jordan chuckled.

"Are you ok?" she asked me softly.

"I'm hung over," I sighed. "And tired as hell. It's been a long weekend."

"Thank you for fixing my car," she offered. "It runs great. How much do I owe you?"

"I'm not sure. We just went down and got the parts from Merle (Shane's dad) and said we would square him up later. It shouldn't be too much though since he knew it was for you."

"Thank you," she smiled.

"Thank Shane too when you see him. He did most of the work."

"I'll be sure to do that," she smiled.

"Hey?" Jordan called. "What about me?"

"Yes," Jamie smiled. "Thank you too. Thank you for drinking some of the beers so Owen didn't have way more than he should have."

I had to laugh at him now as he smiled his shit eating grin. "I did my best."

She looked at me now and leaned closer. "I meant whether you were ok with the Courtney thing."

"It is what it is," I sighed. "There's nothing I can do about it. She thought this would be best. In some ways it is."

"You didn't break up with her?" Jamie asked.

"No," I replied. "Is that what everyone thinks?"

"We just know you two broke up. We don't have any details on who did it to who."

"She decided we should just be friends and I agreed. I doubt we will be hanging out every weekend but I don't hate her."

"I'm sorry anyway Owen," she smiled. "I know you liked her."

"It's all good," I smiled back. "I was going to do it but she beat me to it."

"The girls are already lining up," she teased. "You get your pick."

"Wasting their time," I sighed. "I'm not interested right now. I'm going to focus on football and other things for the moment."

"So I'm just a thing now?" she teased.

"No," I smiled. "You are the focus. Football is the thing."

"You didn't say it that way," she teased.

"It came out wrong," I offered.

"I'm still hurt," she sassed.

"I'll make it up to you. What are you doing tonight?"

"I don't have any time until Friday. I've got a busy week."

"Well, so do I. Friday night it is then."

"Who says I'm going to want to hang out with you anyway?" she sassed again.

The bell buzzed overhead telling us it was time to clean up and head off to the next class.

"See you around Owen," she smiled.

The week passed by pretty quickly. Practice was intense since we knew the game on Friday would be tough. I didn't think about anything but football for the week. In some ways it was a blessing to be free. I didn't have to play peacemaker between Jordan and Courtney. I didn't even see her but a couple of times during the week.

*

Jordan and I stood in the tunnel at the back of the line again. We listened to Shane hype them up again before they went tearing out of the tunnel and onto the field. Jordan and I trotted out there faster than we had ever done in the past.

We hit the field as the home crowd cheered for us again. I gave them a soft wave as I headed straight out to the field and started throwing with Jordan and Wade both tonight. I hit them on several simple routes before they came my way and stood around me.

"What do you have on them?" Jordan asked.

"They have a safety that is getting some looks from colleges so he will be all over the place tonight. They play pretty well against the run too so it might be a long night for you two catching balls."

"Sounds like it's going to be a good night for us then," Jordan smiled.

"Let's hope so," I sighed.

"Are you ok?" he asked. "You're not still stuck on Courtney are you?"

"No way," I smiled. "I got over that Saturday night. I just know this game is going to be a hard one. This will be the hardest defense we have played against all season. They don't particularly score a lot. The defense carries them."

"We got you," he said slapping my pads.

"I know you do," I smiled.

The first half went just like I thought it would. That safety was all over the place. He would come from the edge on blitzes and force me to move or throw before I was ready. Then when he wasn't blitzing he played the field and could cover ground quickly. I hadn't been picked off but he almost got me on a few passes. I had to make sure I was on the mark every time.

I sent a few balls off the mark where nobody could get them. I was so worried about the pressure I wasn't focusing on what I was doing. I had pressure every time and felt uncomfortable standing there in the pocket trying to find a guy to pass it to. I tried to get the line to block better by pointing out to them where I thought they would be coming from. They hid what they were doing pretty well and the line couldn't pick it up.

We had moved the ball on a couple of drives but never came away with anything. My bad passes and a few penalties always put us in a bad spot and made getting first downs that much harder. We got inside the twenty twice and came away with nothing. I got sacked and fumbled it on one of them. Mack caught the ball on a swing pass and got thumped and lost the ball on the other one. We went into the locker room trailing nine to nothing.

We retreated to the locker room and knew we were going to get chewed out. I hid towards the back and found my can and put a big pinch in my mouth. I had never dipped in the locker room but I needed something to calm myself down. I hadn't played this bad since I was a freshman.

I sat back there as coach tried to make things simpler for the offensive line. Put a hat on a hat and block so I could throw a pass and not get thrown to the ground in the process. I hoped they could figure that out. I was already starting to feel the soreness in my body from how many times I had been tossed to the turf. They weren't bumps either. They had been penalized twice for roughing the passer when they hit me. It was them trying to send me a message.

We stayed in the locker room until the last three minutes of halftime. We normally never stayed in there that long. He finally told us to hit the field and focus on the task at hand. The game wasn't out of reach so we were still in this thing. We lined up and started to trot out.

"Sorry I'm playing like shit Shane," I offered as we got ready to head back onto the field. "I know you guys are busting your asses off out there keeping us in this thing on defense."

"It's all good Owen," he said. "We've kept us in the game. You can't make throws if you don't have time to stand in the pocket and find a guy. You've gotten us down to the twenty a couple of times already. Those guys will get it together for you."

"I hope so," I sighed. "I'm fucking beat to shit already. I don't know how much more abuse I can take from them."

"Have faith in them Owen. They will come through for you."

We got the ball to start the third and moved it pretty well. The line was blocking well but they hadn't sent in a blitz yet. I knew that was going to change once we crossed midfield after I hit Jordan on an up and out. He broke a tackle and got down to the thirty five.

I walked to the line and saw them stacking it. I knew they were going to blitz but I didn't know which one them was going to be coming. It could be all of them if I didn't know any better. I rubbed my hip silently telling Jordan that he needed to figure out which way his guy was going to turn him, then settle down so I could get the ball out of my hands quickly.

I took the snap and saw they sent the safety and dropped the rest of them back into a zone. I knew Mack should be there to pick up the safety but I had that sixth sense kick in so I slid to my right towards Jordan. I could hear Mack's voice as he yelled bust. That meant he was beat and I was the next target.

I continued to roll and wait for Jordan to find a spot. I pushed it as far as I could before he got open and waited for me. I sent the pass his way as my legs were wrapped up and I was taken down again. I braced myself for the landing but still got a facemask full of grass for my troubles.

I rolled over and watched as Jordan stuck his arm out and held off a defender until he slipped away. He had some field to work with as he pushed hard to gain as much as he could. He went across the field and broke another tackle, got a great block from Wade, and turned on the jets to score. We were right back in this thing now.

They were slow and steady now. They used the run in a wing back setting to keep the clock running and moved the ball slowly down the field. They burned the rest of the quarter moving the ball. They got inside the ten but were stopped and held to just a field goal. It was twelve to seven now.

We repeated what we did on the last drive. We moved the ball quickly on short passes and handoffs to gain ground. A holding penalty slowed us down once we got inside the twenty again. It brought us to a fourth and two as I looked to the sideline for the call.

"We are going for it."

I gave a thumbs up and waited.

"Omaha, 81 slant, Z rig, HB option," he called. "Get the ball out quickly."

I knew that part.

I made the call and headed to the line. They were stacking it again with the safety standing right over Bobby. I knew that was their plan so I pulled away and crossed my arms to tell Jordan just to do a simple hitch and be ready to jump for it. I turned to Wade and gave him the same signal. Then I turned to Mack to give him orders.

"He's going come right up the middle. I'm going to drop right, you have to block."

"Got it," he called.

I leaned into Bobby and pointed. "31 Bobby. Watch the middle. Snap count."

I went to a quick snap count and took the ball on one. I took a step back and saw the safety leap over Bobby in a single step. He was right in my face before I could do a damn thing about it. I tried to fight him off and protect the ball at the same time. It wasn't a battle I was going to win. Mack slammed into him, trying to get him off of me but it was no use. The three of us went to the turf hard.

Mack climbed off of the pile first then the safety. He stood over me to taunt me a little before Mack gave him a shove to get him away from me. I rolled and tossed the ball to the ref before pulling Mack to the sideline with me. The safety leapt away in celebration as we walked to the sideline.

"Fuck Owen," Bobby huffed. "I'm sorry. He got off so fast."

"I know," I sighed. "Not your fault Bobby. There's nothing we can do except put me in shotgun and give me a little more space."

I stood next to coach as he chewed Bobby and Mack out for letting me get hit again. Then he turned my way.

"Sorry coach," I sighed.

"Take a breather Owen," he said. "You can't throw it if you can't stand up in the pocket for more than two seconds."

I went and sat on the bench all by myself. I had been playing like shit all night long. It wasn't just Bobby. I couldn't be mad at him anyway. He was really trying out there but the safety was just too damn quick for him. I looked over my grass stained uniform as I thought about what I needed to do if we got the ball back. There wasn't a lot of time left on the clock so the defense needed to hold them.

The visitors' side roared loudly as they just made a big play and brought the ball way down the field. I knew it didn't look good now.

"Cheer up," Jamie said as she broke my thoughts.

I looked over the bench at her and noticed her cheer uniform was slightly open and showed me her cleavage as she leaned over to talk to me.

"There isn't much to cheer about," I sighed.

"Sure there is," she smiled. "You guys are still in this thing. You only need a touchdown."

"Yeah, we need the ball first."

"True," she smiled. She had this calm about her and that smile was so perfect in that moment. The crowd faded away as she just leaned on the bench looking at me.

"But once you get the ball you can win it. I know you can. I've seen you do it a million times before."

"Not a million times," I smiled at her exaggeration.

"Ok smart ass," she laughed. "What about earlier this year when we were down by two and you single handedly won us the game with less than a minute left in the game?"

"Yeah, that was pretty cool wasn't it?"

"Except for all the pushups we had to do after you scored. That part sucked."

I laughed at her a little as she still smiled and started to make me feel better. Every time we scored they did pushups as a fun thing to keep us wanting to score. Last game must have sucked for them.

"You are going to do the same thing tonight," she said confidently.

"I hope so," I sighed. "I don't want it to end like this."

Our side roared now. I didn't see the play so I wasn't sure what had just happened.

"Owen," Jordan's voice called. "Come on man. We have the ball back. Shane just sacked him and picked up the fumble."

I smiled at Jamie as I stood.

"Now you just need that touchdown," she smiled. "You got this."

I pulled my helmet on as Jamie's hand slapped my ass. I smiled at her one last time before I found coach.

"We have a lot of ground to cover and not a lot of time to do it Owen." he called. "Keep it simple and move the ball and keep away from the damn safety."

"I've been trying that all night long," I croaked.

"Try harder," he begged.

I took a deep breath as I headed onto the field. Something inside my head clicked as I got to the huddle.

I took the snap and stuck the ball out to hand it off. At the last possible second I pulled it away and turned to the left. The linebacker was right there but somehow I side stepped him and spun away. Now I had plenty of open field in front of me so I sprinted as hard as I could and got as much as I could before I smartly slid feet first and killed the play.

They spotted the ball as I looked at coach. He signaled the call in. I hurried to the huddle and quickly barked out orders. They lined up as I scanned the defense and called my coverage. Then I took the snap, gave a hard fake to Jordan then turned and hit Mack slipping out in the flat. He dodged one guy and lowered his shoulder into another. He drove him for another five yards before more of them piled on and took him down.

I checked the clock and watched it tick under the two minute mark. I knew we didn't have a lot of time but we had some time. I didn't panic, I held my fingers up saying I wanted two plays so we could hurry things up and move faster. Coach called in two for me quickly but told me I could change them if I needed to.

We went to the line and got ready. I checked it since I saw Jordan's corner was angling him to the inside to keep him inbounds and the clock moving if he caught it. I stood back in pistol, a three yard shotgun type thing so I would have just a little more space so I wouldn't get swallowed up if they blitzed. I took the snap and quickly found Jordan on the hard slant. He got it and continued on to gain seven before he went down.

I hustled them to the line and called the play as we lined up. This confused them and they didn't get set quick enough before I got the snap. Jordan was open, running to the side, so I fired it in there. He caught it and broke back to the inside to try and gain more yards. He only got a few before he got tackled.

He bounced to his feet and tossed the ball to the refs. They quickly spotted it as I waved the guys to the line without a huddle. I turned to coach and got another play signaled in before I walked around and barked orders. I went under center this time and took the snap on a quick count.

I retreated quickly as they came on an all-out blitz. It actually hurt them this time since they tried to squeeze two guys through one gap and they got tangled. I got it out quickly regardless since I didn't want to take the hit now. Mack caught it in the flats and made five before tossing the ball to the ref and waiting for my orders.

I knew they were coming again on this play. I took one step back and threw it high and hard over Jordan's head and out of bounds to stop the clock and not take the loss. It was smarter than trying to force something and being thrown for a loss or worse. I looked to coach and held my fingers up saying I wanted two more.

They stacked the line again then started to jump back as I went through my count and pointed. Instinct told me they were not blitzing this time so I stuck with the play. They dropped to the edges to keep the play inbounds and the clock moving. This left the middle of the field open right where Jordan cut across. I sent a nice touch pass over the backer and into his arms. He juggled it a little before controlling it and tucking it away. He slipped under the hit and went to the ground to kill the play.

Wade was my target on the next one. He cut under the coverage on a slant and caught it. He was smart like Jordan and went down to kill the play so we could get back and run another. I called a simple handoff to get the yards we needed to get a first down. That stopped the clock until they spotted it. Coach called a time out now to talk things over.

"You are doing great Owen," he said calmly. "Great calls and great checks. Let's keep this thing going. Here's two more plays. If it isn't there, just throw it away like you did before."

"Yes sir," I called.

"Keep the clock in mind now. It's down under a minute. You have a ton of time but still keep it in mind since we have to score a touchdown."

"Yes sir," I called again. "I know."

I went to the huddle and gave my play. I reminded them that we had to get back to the line quickly and either kill the clock or run a play. We broke the huddle and headed to the line. I adjusted where I thought they were coming and took the snap. I rolled to my right since they were coming from my left side and found Mikey open as he settled down in the zone. I threw it softly his way since he wasn't sure handed like Jordan or Wade. He made the catch, turned, then tripped over his own feet and went down for a gain of nine.

"Hustle," I called. "Hustle. Omaha, Z max."

They knew it was a run to get the first down. It took a little longer than I wanted to get them to the line and get the ball snapped. Mack cut through the line and got the first down before they piled on top of him to stall.

"Get up," I called. "To the line. Let's go, let's go."

I was standing there with most of the line ready to get the snap so I could kill the clock. The whistle blew now as play stopped. Coach had called the last timeout since it was taking too long to get them unpiled and ready for play.