Page 127 of The Way We Collide

Allie

It feels that way sometimes, doesn’t it?

Liv

Last play… they’re doing the goal line formation.

How do you know all of this?

Allie

You pick it up after years of watching, although NFL play is different from high school and college.

HE’S OPEN!!!

Liv

Oh, shit, Tyler’s about to get pancaked… He got it off!!!

I can’t breathe. The ball wobbles wildly through the air. It’s too high for Hendrix, but somehow he takes a flying leap. He’s moving so fast, it looks like his body actually stretches.

The Seattle guy is on top of him, and together they fall to the ground, the ball caged somewhere between them.

Did he get it?

Liv

I can’t see… HE GOT IT!!!

Allie

TOUCHDOWN!!!

Dylan

THAT’S MY BROTHER!!!

Liv

See you in NOLA!

My phone is buzzing nonstop, but I’m jumping up and down, screaming into a pillow. The cameras are on Hendrix and Tyler and all the guys smiling and dancing and fist-bumping.

The kicker-guy trots out onto the field and easily kicks the ball through the post-thingies, and everybody is on the field. Hugging the pillow, I watch him on the screen smiling so big as the newscaster asks him how he feels about the game.

“I don’t like when it’s so close, but at this level, every team’s a winner.” He’s so generous. I’m so proud.

The woman asks him about the final catch, andhe laughs, shaking his gorgeous head. “I expect to see that one on the reels. That was a miracle.”

She thanks him, and he holds up his hand, extending the ring finger on his left hand and mouthing the words,I love you.

I huff into my hand, my eyes filling with tears. “I love you, too,” I say to the screen.

I’m shaking from all the adrenaline, and I feel like I could run a marathon… or at least a 5K. Sliding my phone into the pocket of my leggings, I go to the kitchen to pour a glass of wine, preparing to chew my nails until he gets home.

A buzz in my pocket has me pulling out the device, and the text I’ve been waiting for appears.

Hendrix

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