Chapter Thirty-Six: Seattle
Starboyby The Weeknd blasted in the locker room. Piper let the second chorus hit before he put his helmet on.
The rain was already in the tunnel when they got there.
At the mouth of it, a waterfall came off the roofline in a sheet so continuous it looked like a second wall the team would have to cross through to get to the field. Piper stood at the back of the line next to Tank, with his helmet under his arm. Somebody up ahead said, “This game is going to be a fucking nightmare with this rain.”
“Let’s fucking go,” the coach said loud enough for every player to hear in the tunnel.
Piper’s stomach felt like it was occupied by gremlins.
Tank leaned in so Piper could hear him.
“You feel it?”
“I feel it.”
“Good. We got this, my guys got this. Piper, look at me,” Tank said, turning to Piper.
“We got this.”
“That’s my guy.”
The line continued to form.
They hit the sheet of water at the mouth of the tunnel, and Piper closed his eyes. On the other side, the rain was not a sheet, but the whole stadium.
The crowd, seventy thousand people, all of them standing, all of them under plastic ponchos that caught the stadium lights. The Seattle fans were not afraid of a little rain. The L.A. sideline was weak for an away game up the coast. Piper knew the L.A. fans were not built for this kind of weather, and would be watching from their air conditioned living rooms.
Piper tilted his head back.
The cold rain hit his face.
***
The coin toss was at 5:09 p.m. local time.
Piper walked to midfield in a cape the equipment staff had handed him on the sideline. Noah walked from the other side wearing his own cape. They hadn’t looked at each other in the tunnel, and they didn’t look at each other now. The captain from Seattle, a defensive end, said his call. The coin went up, caught the light, and came down. Piper deferred. The crowd responded with a roar through the rain as Piper walked back to his sideline without having made eye contact with Noah at any point.
Tank was waiting for him.
“This is going to be a fucking fight and a wet t-shirt contest at the same time.”
“I know, don’t get fined bro,” Piper said.
Tank looked past him, at Noah across the field, and then back at Piper. He kept what he saw to himself. He had a towel around his neck, and he was already chewing the corner like a nervous tic.
***
The kickoff team took the field. The rain picked up.
Seattle’s first drive died at midfield.
Noah couldn’t get anything going. The ball slipped through two of his targets’ hands due to the slick conditions.
The punt was short. Piper watched from the sideline, understanding that the rain was going to take plays away from both of them, and that the question of the game was going to be who found a way to work with it first.
He put his helmet on.
