Page 91 of Lavender and Linebackers

All around me is complete pandemonium.

Sometime later, I’ll watch this play back and take in my teammates, the enthusiasm of our sideline as they follow me down the field, and the fans. The fans in a sold-out stadium who are going crazy. Crazy for me.

I’ll also watch as I run into the end zone, look left and right at the cheerleaders who’ve now started their choreographed touchdown dance in each corner, trying my hardest to see if Alice is on this side of the field, and then to have my eyes catch on a large group of people wearing lavender T-shirts just off the closest corner of the field to me. They had entered from the tunnel on that side to get ready for their halftime show.

I knew we weren’t supposed to leave the field, but nothing could have stopped me. Some players will throw themselves into the front row of fans, but at that moment, all I had eyes for was Alice, who was front and center, jumping up and down, and screaming for me.

Of course, she stood in front of all the Mighty Monarchs. Today was their big day, and with the largest smile I have ever made, I made my way straight to her. She immediately jumped into my arms when I reached her, and the crowd around us notched up a few decibels.

“OH MY GOD! That was amazing! I’m so proud of you!” She had tears running down her face, and she was the most beautiful thing. As if I wasn’t already beaming with professional joy, hearing her say those words, warmth diffused through my chest and to my outer extremities, which felt like they’d gone numb.

After swinging her around, I held tight for just a second longer. Did I want to take my helmet off and kiss her? Hell yeah. But did I? No. I wasn’t going to get our team a fifteen-yard penalty for excessive celebrating or unsportsmanlike conduct. Instead, I did the next best thing.

I set her down and held out the football for her to take.

Her eyes turned wary for a split second as they locked with mine, and then they shifted to sudden joy. She took it and hugged it to her chest.

“I love you,” I told her, placing my helmeted head against her forehead.

“I love you, too.”

“Good luck during your halftime show,” I told her, and then I was gone.

I ran back to my team.

A few were waiting for me in the end zone. They slapped my helmet and shoved me in the back. Sully chastised me for not doing his planned end zone dance, but still told me, “Great job.” It’s also during the playback that I’ll see the cameras had zoomed in on my face when we were together, and there was no mistaking what I said to her and what she said back. The live moment was up on the jumbotron, and just like that, my most humiliating moment was replaced with my most cherished one. She and I, just like we should be.

We hadn’t really discussed how we were going to publicly announce our relationship, but this one clip took care of it. The whole world got to see us exactly the way we always should have been. In love. Happy. Together.

You’ve been caught

Nothing says outing yourself to the world more than being mic’d up, telling the girl that you love her, and enthusiastically hugging her in front of God and everyone.

The thing is, at that moment, it was the most natural reaction after scoring and the most consuming feeling I’ve had in a long time. While I probably should have celebrated that pick six with my teammates, there was only one person on my mind, and of course the Tarpons are embracing our moment, my mic’d up clip of her and me talking to each other, and telling the world they’ve entered their love era. You’d think it was Valentine’s instead of the start of the Thanksgiving/Christmas season, but they don’t care.

As it turns out, the fans, especially the female fans, like to see the softer side of us professional men. Marketing conducted a small group to see if people really wanted to know more about us players behind the curtains, and there was a ninety-four percent positive outcome. Given all the relationship status changes that have happened this season, it doesn’t surprise me when, outside of practice and written in large letters on the You’ve been caught board, is, “Who would you like to give a love bomb shout-out to?”

“Ah, this is a nice one. My shout-out goes to my girls: Vivi and Sophie. I love you both,” Jonah says, as he forms a heart with his hands for the camera and then keeps walking. I’ve seen Vivi give him that hand signal before. It’s cute and has me suddenly wondering if and when Alice and I will have kids. We haven’t had the kid talk since we were eighteen and planning out what we thought our adult lives would look like. At the time, she wanted three. Does she still want three? I’d happily give her three children, and I’d enjoy all the trying to get there.

“Love bomb shout-out.” Tyler shakes his head. “Lily, this one’s for you. Love you, babe.” He points toward the camera and then flips up his pinky before he heads off to the locker room.

Sully stands next to me, and both of us are staring at Danica. Me, because she’s grinning from ear to ear and clearly loving this prompt as the guys go by, but Sully, I’m not sure what’s going through his head.

“Oh . . . love bombs,” Rico says, a little too enthusiastically. “Where should I begin?” He rubs his hands together as he thinks.

“Really?” Sully asks him. He’s frowning and looking at Rico like he belongs in a zoo.

“Well, yeah. I love a lot of people.” He smirks.

The ironic part is, Rico talks a big game, but I’ve never seen him with anyone. He doesn’t bring people to team functions. He didn’t bring anyone to the gala, and he never talks about anyone specifically. Well, other than Tammy, that is, which is a running joke between all of us.

Sully turns and puts his hands on his hips. “Name someone.”

“Bro, first and foremost, I’m love bombing my mama.” He looks at the camera. “Mama, you know you’re my queen.” He pats his chest.

From behind him, Dylan comes up and wraps his arm around Rico’s shoulders, and also looks into the camera.

“Respect. Mom, I got you. Love you. Can’t wait to see you next week.”