“Shit is right.”
“Sorry, Coach.”
“Take a break, guys,” Coach said with a shake of his head, and I grimaced inwardly as he pinned his gaze on me. “Denny, let’s take a walk.”
I take off my helmet and set it down on the edge of the bleachers, then follow Coach across the field, almost running to keep up with him. On the outskirts of the football field, people watched practice while they studied on the bleachers, looking up every once in a while with half-assed interest. I scanned the small crowd of onlookers, a habit I’d always had when on the field, and I spotted Renee and her friend Jami walking behind the bleachers, heading towards the classroom building not far from here. Just seeing Renee out and about, smiling under the warm sun, gets me all twisted up again, and I could barely tear my gaze away from her.
When we’re far enough from the others for privacy, Coach stops walking and turns to face me, placing a rough hand on my shoulder and squeezing.
“Same girl?” he asked.
“What?” My eyes had lost sight of Renee and Jami. They must be inside now. But the lingering smile she left was like a tick in my brain, unrelenting and annoying but somehow fascinating in its own way.
“Is it the same girl that has had you distracted all season?” Coach asked, drawing my attention back to him. I almost didn’t answer, but that’s never a good idea with Coach. He’ll get it out of us one way or the other, every time.
“Yeah,” I muttered, resisting the urge to drop practice and run after her, just to say hello. It was always Renee. It was never anyone else, not even Carly. “Same girl. I’m really struggling with it, Coach.”
Coach sighed and nodded, allowing his hand to drop from my shoulder. “Do you know what I did to the last girl I couldn’t get over?” he asked, and I shrugged.
“I married her.”
I laughed, but Coach didn’t, and that shut me up quickly. “I’m in college, Coach.”
“So was I.”
“That’s your solution? Just marry her?”
“If you don’t want to marry her, then there’s your answer,” he said with a shrug. “If she isn’t important enough to marry right now, she isn’t important enough to lose your life and career over.”
I wasn’t sure I could see his point, but I nodded anyway like it made sense.
“Right.”
“So,” Coach said gruffly. “Would you marry her?”
I considered this for a moment, imagining waking up next to Renee every morning, the smile on her face, the softness of her skin. Maybe we’d have kids, a little boy that looked like me and a little girl with fiery red hair like her mother.
“Yes,” I said. “I would marry her. Today.”
Then Coach said nothing for a long minute, and I thought he might slap me upside the head for a second. Instead, he sighed and slapped me gently on the shoulder once more. “Then you’re in trouble,” he said with a shake of his head. “Young love isn’t something to mettle around with. But you have to figure it out, Jake, because I need my quarterback. You got that?”
“Sure, Coach. I got it.”
“Good. Now get back out there and play like your woman is watching you from the stands.”
I looked over my shoulder, just out of habit, wishing to see that Renee had stopped to watch practice. But of course, she hadn’t. She probably hadn’t even seen me.
“Sure, Coach,” I said with a nod, turning my attention away from the crowd of students in the stands. “Copy that.”
