14: One More Play

My heart drops. No.

"Hazel, are you okay?"

I shake my self out of my frenzy. I didn't expect her to have Oliver's shirt on.

"No, yeah, I'm great!" I try to keep my smile on my face, "And you look great!"

"Yeah?" She says, giving me a little twirl.

"Absolutely."

"Oliver Grey gave me his jersey!"

Honestly, I can't believe it. After a month of her being on the team I thought he'd forgotten about the new members of the cheer squad. Or that maybe he'd finally grown out of those habits of his to be such a player. Emma the Nerd was going to be the next big thing now that the rest of the school knew she had Oliver's jersey. Her nickname would probably change too, that's never happened before.

"I can't believe it," I tell her honestly, but smile so she thinks I'm just following along in her conversation, "When did he give it to you?"

"Not that long ago."

I nod and look out to the field where the two teams are about ready to start the game. I give Emma one last hug as Ally screams at her to get her butt in formation. I breathe in and my stomach drops as I smell vanilla and teakwood. Oliver Grey's scent.

"Good luck!" I smile to her as she runs off to the rest of the squad.

I make my way to Levi again and he looks at me, waiting for me to talk.

"It's Oliver's jersey."

"Oh," Is all he says.

"Oh," I say back and we stay in silence after that.

The game starts then and the crowd goes wild. The crowd is cheering and jumping. The cheerleaders are keeping the hype up and the band is playing our fight song. I, however, just stare at number 15 that's running to his spot on the field. His helmet hides his face, but his muscles are well defined in the uniform.

I can't stop thinking about the jersey Emma has on. I keep messing with my silver chain I always wear. If we win, there's always a wild after party that ends up being more like a giant orgy, or so I've heard. And we haven't lost since we were freshman, since Oliver Grey and Grayson Adams joined the team. Fuck, I'm nervous.

The first half went smoothly. We were basically tied, us losing by 2. There was a sense of stress radiating from the bleachers and I could tell no one wanted us to lose this game. I looked to Levi who was staring down at Emma. I hit his arm with my own to get his attention.

"Go talk to her. She doesn't do anything during the halftime show."

He looks away from Emma and back down to me. I shakes his head. I roll my eyes, not letting him hide away up in the bleachers. So, I do what any good friend does and push him out and down the stairs a little. He tries resisting but I'm not giving up.

"Go. Talk. Now," I give him a push with every word.

"Fine, fine. Hazel, I'm going."

I smile as he walks down the stairs to where Emma is sitting on her phone. The rest of the cheerleaders were elsewhere talking and laughing so she was alone. I'm such a good wingwoman.

I take a page from my own book and pull my phone out. Opening my texts a send a quick one.

'I need you to kick butt.'

Almost immediately I get a text back.

'Yours?'

I roll my eyes at his response. I'm about to text back at his stupid response, but he beats me to it.

'Stop rolling your eyes.'

I look up and search the field, trying to find him. To no avail though, number 15 is nowhere to be found. All the football players are in the locker rooms during halftime. I look back to my phone to answer.

'Just win, stalker.'

'What do I get if I win?'

A couple ideas rush through my head as I think of a response. I dunno what to say though. Glory? A bigger ego? An orgy after party?

'Ice cream.'

Yup, that seems fair enough.

'You're paying.'

Says the millionaire kid with money to wipe his ass with. I roll my eyes again and look down to find another text from Oliver.

'I said stop rolling your eyes.'

I huff at his text. How does he always know that I'm rolling my eyes? It's kinda creepy. I put my phone up as the band makes their way off the field meaning the players are about to come out for the second half. Looking to Levi, I see him and Emma laughing. She grabs his shoulder as she leans on him, bending over in laughter. I smile at the sight, but my attention is pulled away when the crowd starts cheering again.

The players are making their way out again and this time it's easy to catch sight of Oliver running onto the field. His helmet is off so his sweaty hair falls over his forehead, just above his eyes. He's scanning the crowd, looking for someone, and when he does he winks.

I just stick my tongue out at him.

Levi comes running back up to me when the game begins and the cheerleaders have to perform their routines. He has a dumb smile on his face and he looks all giddy.

"I'm gonna guess it went well."

He nods and manages to smile even wider, "It did."

"I told you."

"Yes, yes. You win."

Now let's hope our team wins too.

The game is hectic. Every time Oliver would get hit I'd flinch at the pain he must feel. He probably doesn't feel anything, remembering how he didn't flinch with the alcohol, but it hurt me having to witness every hard blow. Each player on the other team was buff and looked like they could move mountains with their pinkies. I was afraid of more bruises showing up on his body.

"Levi, did we win?"

"One more play."

I look up to the scoreboard. We needed to get a touchdown to win and the tension on the bleachers was at an all time high. Everyone was silent during this final play. No one wanted to get their hopes up, but we couldn't lose if Adams and Grey were playing. That's the legend of school at least.

There's some running and hitting, as any football game is. The crowd is staring intensely at number 15, Oliver, who has the ball. He's running towards the end zone at lightning speed. I'm in awe at how he evades every single burly player.

And then he shoots and he scores. Goal!

Just kidding, but he did get a touchdown. And that's when the crowd loses its shit. Most of the guys take off their shirts and throw them in the air. The cheerleaders throw their pompoms in the air. The cheering gets to an almost unbearable level. It's pure insanity right now.

I look to Levi and he side hugs me before making his way down the stairs towards Emma. I smile at the two and look back up to the field. The players were all gone back to the locker rooms.

I'm about to leave and make my way back home. I'm definitely not going to the after party, not wanting to see whatever the football players and cheerleaders had planned for their orgy. I also don't want Sarah to have to deal with sitting for much longer. Yet, the players come out just then, out of their gear, and I feel the need to go up and find Oliver.

He's talking to Grayson and some of the other players but he doesn't seem too invested in whatever they're talking about. His arms are crossed and his face looks bored and cold, but i guess that's his normal stance.

When his eyes catch mine he smirks only slightly and walks away from his teammates, not caring that he walked right past them.

"Nice playing."

"Nice shirt."

I look down, forgetting I had worn his shirt to the game. I grab my chain again and start messing with it. Looking back up into his eyes, I catch him staring at me already.

"I didn't have anything else."

"It looks better on you," and as he says that his hands reach out to touch the shirt.

Instead of letting his hands fall though, he keeps them in my waist where he had been feeling the fabric of the shirt. His eyes are on mine the whole time.

"It smells like you," I say quicker than I'm able to stop myself.

His eyebrows raise a little and he smirks, "And what do I smell like?"

I smile a little, "Poop."