In the first few minutes of the second half, Hailey made a run up the sideline after receiving one of Cole’s punts from the goal. She got a little bit lucky when the guy marking her tripped, but she took advantage of it. She made it down to almost the corner and then noticed Abby was wide open twenty yards in front of the other team’s net.
Hailey sent her a pass on the ground that Abby was able to one-time into the corner of the net. They all ranin to give Abby hugs and high fives. They could actually do this! Hailey didn’t expect to win today, she was just excited to get out of the house and do one of the few things that made her happy these days. It was even better now that she got to play three more rounds than a bunch of teams.
The lead was short-lived when the Goblins’ goalie launched a ball into their half and the other team’s striker got a breakaway, faked out Cole in the net, and tapped the ball past him for a goal.
It was a tied game with ten minutes left. Hailey didnotwant to go into overtime against this team because the neon green monsters were scrappy and she didn’t want anyone getting hurt.
Avery had a few shots on net but the Goblins’ goalie made some sick saves and it was still tied with one minute left. They made some give-and-go passes to get up the field and Josh was able to cross the ball right in front of the Goblins’ net. The green jerseys got to it first and knocked it out behind the net. Out of bounds on them meant a corner kick for the Cherry Stems, a big scoring opportunity.
Elena set up the free kick by the flag on the corner of the field while the team set up to crash the net on her kick. There had to be barely any time left.
She made the kick and the ball soared across the field to right in front of the far post, exactly where Hailey wasmaking her run.
She saw the ball streaking toward her through the air and knew if she could time it just right…
Soaring over everyone else, Hailey met the ball about five yards in front of the net. She tensed up and let the ball smash off her head.
Time seemed to slow as everyone watched the ball. And they watched it go right behind the goalie into the back of the net. Right after, the ref blew her whistle to mark the end of the game.
It took Hailey just a second until it hit her: she scored. They won.
The next thing she knew, she turned to find her teammates surrounding her with hugs and high-fives. When Avery got to her he picked her up into a giant bear hug, lifting her off the ground with such ease she felt like a feather in his arms.
Was time still going in slow motion? It certainly felt that way to Hailey. It all went too fast and too slow at the same time. After another moment, the rest of their team crashed back into Hailey and Avery, hugging and jumping like they just won the Super Bowl.
For a bunch of twenty-nine- and thirty-year-olds who all stopped playing for competitive teams in high school or college, it kind of was their Super Bowl. Reliving their glory days, they all made their way to the center of the field where they received little medals with thetournament name on them. They posed for a few pictures and then started making their way back to the bench to grab all their stuff.
On the way, Cole shouted, “Celebration drinks at Hero’s!”
It was met with hell yeses all around. A few of them changed their shirts again so they wouldn’t head into a restaurant smelling like feet. Hailey caught Avery looking her way again and she tried to hide a smile until she realized they just won a championship so she had a damn good excuse to smile and she could blame the blushing on all the running and the excitement of the win.
A championship and drinks with friends? Might be better than therapy. Considering she hadn’t heard from her boyfriend all weekend, the promise of quality time with Avery didn’t hurt either.
13
“I’D LIKE TO MAKE a toast!” Cole stood at their table after they received their round of shots. He wanted something red so the server recommended a cherry cheesecake shot. Hailey would have preferred a glass of Sangria if she was going for something red. Or a Dirty Shirley, of course.
“Oh geez Cole, how are you possibly going to live up to your halftime speech? It was some Vince Lombardi-level shit,” said Hailey.
“Who is Vince Lombardi?” asked Abby.
Hailey just slapped a palm to her face, “He’s a famous football coach with a bunch of famous quotes.”
“Ohhhh, okay then that’s funny.”
Explaining jokes was always such a buzzkill. Good thing they didn’t even take their shots yet.
“Ahem. As I was saying before I was so rudelyinterrupted, I’d like to make a toast.” Cole raised his shot glass in the air and everyone at the table did the same. Elena leveled him with a glare, but still raised her glass.
“Good job,” said Cole before knocking back his shot and sitting down. He was a man of few words when it came to inspiring them, but it worked.
Everyone cheered and downed their shot, then Cole asked their server for a second round for everyone.
Two shots in a row after playing soccer all morning with no food in her stomach yet? Yup, Hailey was about to get smashed.
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“It simply cannot be done. The science does not back you up on this one at all.”
