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I couldn’t risk waving to him either. But I did reach behind me and put my braids into my scrunchie loosely, so they were out of my way. As soon as I did that, Charlie reached into his pocket and slipped something onto his wrist. Some sort of sweatband or something.
Who knew what these guys wore these days? The skull wraps still astounded me, even though on Charlie, it didn’t look half bad.
Dad blew his whistle, starting the drills. I followed them all up and down the field for about half an hour before they broke. Dad rearranged them into teams and started a short scrimmage to work on their playoff plays.
A few minutes into that, I realized I hadn’t moved the camera once. Thankfully, it was on a wide lens and I didn’t miss anything. I just didn’t do a great job at the zooming and following the ball like Dad wanted.
I took control again and did my job correctly. Until Charlie got the ball, that was. He took off down the field like a bullet, his head swinging both ways to check his teammate’s locations.
He was in complete control of the ball, like it was an extension of himself. His arms pumped at his side, his legs straining from the exertion. His hair flew behind him in the wind. He was focused, in the zone, and completely mesmerizing to watch.
I blinked, shaking out of my stupor, just in time to rearrange the camera and follow him. As soon as he passed it to the guy on his right, who then scored, I stopped recording.
That’s when Charlie looked straight into the stands. Directly at me. And beamed.
It only lasted half a second before his teammates piled on top of him, pounding his back, and celebrating the play. It was only practice, but it had been a magnificent play.
I leaned back, shaking my head slightly in amazement. The thrill of the game coursed through me again, waking up all my senses and making me feel like I was the one playing again.
It gave me an idea. I wasn’t sure if I would go through with it, but I stored it in the back of my mind for future use.
Dad whistled to end the practice a bit later, and I packed up the camera and tripod into the bag he gave me earlier. I slung it over my shoulder as I trudge down the bleacher stairs and waited at the gate for him.
The players grabbed their bags, and either made their way back to school to shower or to their cars. Dad looked like he was going to be one of the last off the field, so I leaned my forearms on the low fence that separated the bleachers from the field and fiddled with my phone.
Flow and Jett had been texting me for the past hour, but I didn’t answer them. They could wait just a bit longer.
Most of the players either gave me a slight head nod or didn’t say anything at all as they passed by me, which was fine.
Charlie threw his bag over his shoulder and slapped the back of the guy who scored the goal during the scrimmage. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the other guy parted a moment later, heading back to the school.
But not Charlie. He headed straight toward me.
I ducked my head, swiping my finger over my phone even though I wasn’t really doing anything. I just had to look like I wasn’t paying attention to him.
I didn’t want him to know I had been watching him almost the entire time. That when he lifted his shirt to wipe some of the sweat from his face, I saw his six-pack and it made my body go into a full shiver.
The closer he got to me, the more my heart pounded. I couldn’t explain it. It kind of made me angry, but I didn’t hate it. It was a funny feeling, one I wasn’t used to.
I wanted to be ready with a witty quip for when he passed, but I also didn’t want to risk someone seeing us talking. The Fairy Godmother would have me on the front page tomorrow morning if anyone caught Charlie and I having a conversation.
So I kept my mouth closed as he came by.
But he didn’t.
“Hey,” he said as he passed through the gate to my right.
That was it. Just ‘hey.’
I bit my lip to stop myself from smiling. I wasn’t going to answer him, but it made me want to burst out laughing.
It was silly. But that one word, coming from him and to me, seemed hysterical to me. It was so incrediblynormal.
A minute later, my phone buzzed in my hand, almost making me drop it from surprise.
Charlie:Hey.
I laughed out loud this time, my eyes trained on my phone so people would realize that’s why I was laughing to myself.
