The coach made all the guys who played football run, even the linebackers, who were obviously born to tackle people because they were so wide they had to turn sideways to fit through doorways. They lumbered along behind everyone, barely above a walking pace, while Adam set his pace at a pretty solid run. Nate and Jonah kept up pretty well. If it came down to a sprint, he’d have them both beat, even though they were taller.
Nate was quarterback and one of the most popular guys in school. He had odd, dusty-brown hair and piercing blue eyes that made him look like the most likely to end up someone important. And while Adam found him nice to look at, he hadn’t bothered to get too close because Nate had enough hangers-on who liked to torment others, and Adam had no desire to be one of the popular kids or the most beat on kids. Jonah was Nate’s number one hanger-on. Adam was just a teammate, and grateful most days to be that.
“We’re going to State,” Nate said, breath still solid. They’d all have to go more than a few miles to really be working up the sweat the coach wanted. A half an hour of running, then off to drills. Though of late, Nate had been requesting more time on the track.
“Of course we are. With you as our quarterback, we can’t be beat,” Jonah piped up.
“I mean for track.” Nate looked at Adam.
Adam glanced in Nate’s direction with a raised brow. Nate was fast, but he wasn’t beating anyone in regionals; too much bulk and not enough leg to make up for it. They had six months to work toward it, but since last year, they hadn’t even made it to regionals. He didn’t hold out much hope for this year.
“Means you, Corbin.” Jonah nudged the smaller man. “You’re the fastest shit around.”
Why did that sound like a bad thing coming from him? “I cannot take us to State by myself.” Track didn’t work that way anymore than football did.
“No I in team, eh?” Nate teased. He nodded back toward the stands. “Friend of yours?”
“Huh?” They didn’t really have anyone who watched when they ran unless it was an actual competition, because, well, running in circles wasn’t really all that exciting. In fact, football drills were sort of boring in general. Adam glanced back toward the stands, and on the end near the fence was the pretty, blue-eyed guy from the library. “Crap.”
Adam stumbled but recovered quickly to catch up to Nate and Jonah again and not kill himself trying. His face burned with embarrassment from almost wiping out in front of Ru, who he really didn’t know at all but somehow cared more about than the two guys he’d attended school with for years.
“No, I don’t know him,” Adam denied and put all his focus into moving his feet.
They ran drills for almost two hours. Nate requested more course time from the coach, who agreed and then told Adam and Jonah to join him. The backers gave up halfway through, pretending to tackle each other or just sitting on the bench. Even Jonah gave up, but Nate seemed determined to keep going, even though both he and Adam were breathing hard. Adam was in the zone, had thrown off the long-sleeved top, leaving just a tank, and let the chill evening air cool his heated skin. He could have gone for hours, the burn in his lungs familiar, his legs and thighs pushing hard in rhythmic strides. They weren’t even going that fast. He preferred to run rather than play tackle dummy.
When the coach blew the whistle and told them to head to the showers, Adam slowed to a walk and finished two more laps, stretching to keep his muscles from seizing up. Nate followed his lead, but shook his head at the group of guys eager to get away from the course and into the showers.
“No devotion. We’re never going to win with a team like this.”
Adam retrieved his shirt and a clean towel. “Not everyone likes to run. And the guys do okay with knocking each other down. That’s sort of the point of football.” Until Adam had discovered how peaceful it could be a little over a year ago, he had hated running.
“The U is offering scholarships for runners. I think they want more variety with the Gophers ’cause they’ve been sucking so bad this year. They were so busy picking the biggest, scariest guys they could find they forgot they had to have guys who could actually move.” Nate stretched and patted Adam on the shoulder. “I’m sure we could all use some scholarship money.”
Ah, so that was why he was all hyped on the track thing. Not that it mattered, since Adam didn’t plan on attending the U of M. He honestly had no idea what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. He just knew he wanted it to be something else, somewhere else. But it made sense why Nate would work so hard. He was a senior. Adam was just a junior and was actually looking into going to an out-of-state school, maybe something in Washington or Maine, where it wasn’t always about sports or being the top of the class.
Wiping the sweat off his face and shoulders as they made their way back to the locker room, Adam scanned the stands looking for Ru. He was gone. Adam sucked in a heavy sigh and headed back to the showers. Probably best Ru didn’t see him covered in sweat and stinking. No one would find that attractive.
