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“So, this is a really important game for Nero?” I asked Quin not having realized how big of a game it was.
“It’s his first chance at getting national attention. If he enters the draft, he’ll still have to go through tryouts where they’ll see how fast he runs and all of that. But if he plays well here, he’ll show everyone how he performs under pressure. That counts a lot,” Quin explained.
Once Quin told me that, I was hooked. Sure, I helped set up and then played the board game, but most of my focus was on the TV. When the teams exited the tunnels, my heart thumped.
“That’s him. It’s Nero,” I told everyone when they showed him warming up on the sidelines.
My God was he beautiful. I had seen him in his football uniform, but only from the nosebleed seats of the university’s stadium. Seeing him close up, I had to bend over to hide how happy I was.
The first time he stepped onto the field I could barely breathe I was so nervous. It didn’t take long for him to get into position and fall back. In a second he was running with the ball in his hand. I hadn’t even seen the handoff from the quarterback. And running into a wall of two-hundred-pound men, somehow he found a crack.
“Oh my god!” I said springing to my feet. “He’s got it! He’s got it!” I said as he spun past one defender after another.
Eventually, he was running in an open field. He passed the twenty-yard line, then the ten. There was only one defender left in view. That one was sure to take Nero down before he reached the goal line.
The opponent dove. Nero jumped. As if he were an acrobat, Nero flipped over his opponent’s head and somersaulted into the end zone. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen.
“He did it!” I screamed with excitement.
Everyone around me cheered. I had never felt more elated. I felt drunk without having had a drink. I wanted more of what I had just seen. Having avoided football my whole life, I hadn’t realized how thrilling it could be.
There was no way I could pay attention to the board game after that. The only two people who could were Titus and Lou. Eventually, they started playing a game on their own. The rest of us sat glued to the TV as if our lives depended on it. I wondered how much of mine did.
Nero had said that he would win this game for me. What would it mean if he won it? What would happen if he got drafted? Wouldn’t that mean he would have to move? And would he want to be with a guy while playing professional football? It wasn’t exactly the most open-minded sport.
Although they were all legitimate concerns, I didn’t have time to think about them now. Because as amazing as the first play of the game was, there were a lot more that followed. The football didn’t always end up in Nero’s hands. But, when it did, it was an automatic touchdown. It was the most incredible thing I had ever seen.
I wasn’t alone. The announcers couldn’t stop talking about it. They called him a star in the making. He was. And with every play, I fell more in love with the guy who had already changed my world.
At halftime, Nero’s team was up by twelve. The announcers said that Nero had broken the record for most yards run in a half. I was so proud of him that my heart hurt. I could have cried just thinking about it.
When the second half started, Nero picked up where he left off. Spinning, diving, dodging, he was practically dancing on the field. No one could stop him.
By the end, the announcers said that he had shattered every record in college football history. So when they cut to a postgame interview with him, I had to wipe the tears from my cheeks.
“Nero Roman, you just broke the NCAA records for yards run, connected passes, and touchdowns in a game, and you did it as a freshman. Your name will be cemented in college football history as one of the greatest ever. I have to ask, what inspired this performance?”
Nero looked at the woman interviewing him with a light in his eyes. It was like he had been waiting for this moment.
“Love. Love inspired this.”
“Your love for football.”
“No,” he said with a smile. “Football is great. But I told someone that I would come out here and do everything I could to win this game for them. So I did.
“Kendall, everything I did, I did for you. I know you think we shouldn’t be together. But I want you to know that I’m gonna do anything and run through any line I have to to be with you. Because, you make me better. You make me wanna be better. And, when I get you back in my life, you’re gonna make me the happiest person on the planet.
“I love you, Kendall. I have from the first moment I saw you. And nothing anyone will do or say will ever change that,” he said, his eyes tearing up as he stared into the camera at me.
“Well, there you have it, Frank. A historic game by a freshman all done not for the love of the game, but the love of a girl. Back to you…”
Nero reached over and pulled the microphone back to him cutting her off.
“Kendall’s a guy. The person I won this game for is a guy. I just wanted everyone to know that. And, I could never love anyone more.”
The interviewer looked at him dumbstruck. It took a moment before she turned back to the camera and said, “There you have it. A game won for love. None of us have ever seen anything like it. Back to you, Frank.”
I stared at the TV stunned. I was speechless. It took a moment to realize that tears were rolling down my cheeks. Looking around, I wasn’t alone. The only one not crying was Cage. He was smiling and looking at me like he knew something I didn’t. That was when he got up, walked to the door, and opened it.
