Page 80 of Love and Other Chances

“Well, that’s up to you,” Lana says. “We can take you guys to some of the typical D.C. tourist spots, or we can stick closer to the Silver Spring area and show you around our daily life. Your pick.”

“Real life, for sure,” Brooks chimes in. Given his profession, I’m a little surprised he wouldn’t jump at the chance to tour the nation’s capital. My heart melts that he would set aside his interest in history to defer to my interest in my best friend’s world.

“Yes, I’d much rather hang out with you guys on your real stomping grounds. I’ll bring Brooks back some other time to see all the old stone buildings,” I say with a teasing grin over my shoulder at Brooks. He catches my eye and gives a wry smile back.

“Okay, we’ll have most of the day to hang out, but Mateo is coaching one indoor soccer game a little closer to D.C. later this afternoon. You can come with us, or we can drop you off at a coffee shop or something,” Lana says once we’re in their car.

“That depends,” I muse, leaning up between the front seats. “Mateo, will we get to see fiery Soccer Lana in action?”

Mateo laughs, then pokes Lana’s side. “You know it’s impossible to keep her from showing up in the stands.”

“Then we’re in,” I state with a grin, sitting back in my seat. Lana huffs and crosses her arms. But she knows she can’t contradict us.

Lana and I chatter the whole drive to their apartment, hardly allowing the guys to get a word in edgewise. After dropping off our suitcases at the apartment and briefly freshening up, we walk to a nearby café for lunch.

“So, Brooks, tell us more about yourself,” Mateo says once we’re seated with our food.

“I could take that answer a variety of directions,” Brooks says. “Door number one, two, or three?”

“All the doors,” Lana replies before taking a bite of her panini.

Brooks recaps the highlights of his life from high school till now, mostly sharing information I’ve heard already. Lana interjects withdetailed follow-up questions like the lawyer-in-training she is, which leads to me hearing a couple of stories that I haven’t heard yet. Like the time Brooks got benched for two games because he got caught sneaking into a building on campus late at night.

“Listen, everyone swore that the old theater in that building was haunted. We were just checking it out!” Brooks says, defending himself. “Students did it all the time—literally every day—but Coach benched us since we were athletes on scholarship.”

“What position did you play?” Mateo asks.

“Point guard,” Brooks replies. “I was never tall or bulky enough to play center or forward.”

“I’m going to confess: I know nothing about basketball,” Lana says. She turns to Mateo. “Can you translate to soccer terms?”

“Point guard would be sort of a combination of forward and midfielder,” Mateo replies. “Lots of ball handling and passing to keep the offense moving. But still important on defense.”

Brooks chimes in, “Yeah, the point guard controls the pace of the game and runs the offense. I would defend against the opposing team’sgood ball handlers, but I wasn’t ever the big guy in the middle rebounding.”

Lana nods. “Okay, that makes sense. I can see the midfielder similarities.”

The sports talk is pretty much going over my head, but I don’t mind. “Well, if anyone needs tips on chaîné turns or switch leaps, I’m your girl.” I dramatically flip my hair.

Brooks wraps an arm around my shoulder, pulling me close enough to kiss the top of my head. “Yes, you are.” Then he turns back to Mateo. “Bro, I want to hear more about your time playing professionally. What was that like?”

“Oh, it was League Two, not thepropros,” Mateo says.

“Don’t let his humility fool you,” Lana jumps in. “He was amazing. He was on his way up had he not ruptured his Achilles.”

Brooks grimaces. “Ouch. That sounds rough.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t an enjoyable experience,” Mateo replies. “But God used it to redirect my focus. I really did love playing professionally and the relationships with my teammates. I’m incredibly grateful that I got the opportunity to continue playing after college.” He pauses to wink at Lana. “But I’ve been so happy this year being able to devote my full attention to theTodos Juntossoccer club and my master’s classes.” Mateo gives a brief overview of the nonprofit he started, Lana occasionally chiming in with additional details.

“That sounds incredible,” Brooks says, looking thoughtful. “So, you coordinate with the local school counselors to identify kids who could benefit from the program?”

Mateo nods. “Yes, we couldn’t do it without them. We’ve leaned a lot on their expertise and personal knowledge of the kids to build some of the character lessons that we teach throughTodos Juntosin addition to the soccer skills. It’s much more impactful to have an integrated approach between their education at school and how we supplement.”

I look at the glazed over, starry-eyed look on Brooks’ face and realize a bromance has been born today. A giggle escapes before I can stop myself.

They all look at me quizzically.

I wave a hand. “You have no idea the monster you tapped into, Mateo. Brooks is all about building community involvement in the local schools. It’s the heartbeat of his professional outlook.”

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