For those few minutes I was exactly what these people wanted. I was everything.
I found Morgan in the stands. Still on her feet. Still screaming my name with the rest of the fans.
I couldn’t describe exactly what I felt seeing her there, cheering for me and my team. Women had come to my matches before. It wasn’t new to me.
But I couldn’t deny that I felt a twist in the center of my chest having her there.
And there was a definite twinge in my shorts when I thought about seeing her later. After all the madness was over. Just her and me.
I had told her to head back to the hotel and I would meet her there.
Because the chaos wasn’t over yet.
I was promptly grabbed for an interview on the side of the pitch. I was awarded the auspicious honor of being named Man of the Match. They handed me a golden brick, which looked more like a doorstop than a trophy.
“You’re the man of the hour. The talk of the town. How does it feel to take down a top flight team like Barnet United in your debut season?”
I held up the brick. “This says it all. I’m on top of the world.”
The interviews kept going. One for Sky Sport. Another for BT. On and on they went and I answered the same damn questions over and over again.
“How does it feel to win against such a strong team?”
“What did you think about the penalty in the first half?”
“Can you comment on rumors you’re already thinking about transfer in January?”
I was learning the art of vague sound bites. Gaz would be proud of how far I’d come.
The dressing room was crazy.
“We did it! We fucking did it!” Alan shouted in my ear, throwing a pair of dirty pants in my face.
“We sure as fuck did!” I shouted back, putting my friend in a headlock.
“Chester! Chester! Chester!” A chant started and we all joined in.
Part of the time I couldn’t stand some of these fuckers, but today, that didn’t matter.
Today we were part of something bigger than our egos and personalities. Today we were fucking winners.
“Jack tells me you’re not coming back on the coach,” Mario said, sitting down on the bench while I dried off and changed into street clothes.
“That’s right.” I shoved my dirty kit in my bag.
“He’s being super mysterious about it, don’t expect him to tell you what he’s doing,” Alan piped up, spraying deodorant a foot from my face making me cough.
Mario raised an eyebrow. “Why won’t you say what you’re doing? It’s nothing illegal is it?”
“No, it’s not illegal. At least I hope not,” I joked.
“I think it has to do with a woman,” Rhys joined in. Alan nodded.
Mario gasped in feigned shock. “A woman? No. Not Bradley. He’s as chaste as a monk.”
Everyone laughed at that and I rolled my eyes. That’s why I wasn’t telling the lot of them about Morgan. I’d never hear the end of it. And sometimes you want to keep things to yourself.
For as long as possible.
