After a quick glance at the scoreboard, Logan could feel his body on edge. Beads of sweat collected beneath the padding of his helmet as his foot dug deeper into the turf to gain his footing. His pulse was out of control, his lungs expanding and collapsing rapidly as he waited for the go-ahead. The coaches were gathered at the edge of the field, deliberating over which play the team should run. Logan's syrupy brown eyes darted to his left to meet Kendall's knowing green-eyed gaze. His hands gripped the pigskin, thumb running down the traditional white laces. Brown eyes shifted from Kendall to the other guys lined up in front of them, identifiable only by their jersey numbers. Each of these boys had everything riding on this, the division championship game, the deciding factor in whether they'd go onto nationals. Though the school had only made it to nationals twice in its history, they had a strong team this year, and Logan couldn't bring himself to give up just yet. They had exactly eight seconds to turn this thing around.
His eyes were now focused on the head coach, his thick eyebrows furrowed just above his sunglasses, his wrinkled finger jabbing at the clipboard in the center of the circle. After a season spent under these men, Logan could practically read their minds through their expressions. The scores were tied and the ball was on the fifty-yard line, it would take a risky play for them to have a shot at getting another touchdown.
"Skelly!" the offensive coach called across the field in his gruff voice, and Logan felt his heart instantaneously lurch into his throat.
He knew they needed a touchdown, but he had never expected all of that pressure to fall on his shoulders.
Skelly was the codeword for the offense to rush. The quarterback would pass the ball to the running back, who'd try his best to reach the end zone.
Kendall would hand the ball off to Logan. It was up to Logan to rush fifty yards to make the touchdown.
Even with all the pressure and the adrenaline that flowed through his veins, all he could think about was her.
She was standing off behind the sideline, offering little paper cups of Gatorade and water to the guys that had just come off the field. Her typically-wavy chestnut hair was pulled back in a side-braid for game day. She'd woven a gold ribbon down the middle, and its threads glimmered beneath the stadium lights. In her game day uniform, she looked professional and more mature than usual, but that air of maturity vanished as soon as his gaze landed on her face.
Her smile seemed to set the field ablaze, her brown eyes softening as she chatted with another one of the players. And though Logan knew she had to have heard the play being called, he knew that she had no idea what it meant for him. Though Kandi excelled in academics, football was completely foreign to her. Nevertheless, she was amazingly loyal to the team, lovingly nicknamed "her boys," and she'd do whatever she could for them. And Logan would do anything he could for her.
Though she got compensated for her duties as water girl, Kandi's true contribution to the team went above and beyond just mixing Powerade and filling up water bottles. The bright-eyed girl was a true friend to the team, helping them out in any way that they needed, and her devotion was what drew Logan to her. She and Kendall would pull all-nighters in Logan and Kendall's shared dorm room, stretched out across the black matted shag rug on their stomachs with a heavy history textbook, a few spiral notebooks, and a collection of crumpled pieces of loose-leaf paper scattered around the cramped area. After a semester's worth of her free tutoring sessions, Kendall came out of the class with the highest grade he'd ever made in his college career.
As he watched them study together from the corner of his eye, his fingers typing absentmindedly at his laptop, Logan became increasingly attracted to the water girl. She truly wanted Kendall to do well in their class; there was no other explanation for it. It wasn't like she was gaining anything from those nights spent hunched over notes; her grades were already stellar, and Kendall was dating one of the head cheerleaders, so it wasn't like she was trying to get closer to him. For weeks afterward, Logan had been unable to shake the fair-skinned girl from his thoughts.
Things had evolved from then on. A couple dinner dates in the cafeteria, a few excursions to frat row together, and they were considered a couple. Logan had even asked her to be his date to the school's upcoming winter ball. All in all, things between them were easy, though they had gained their fair share of teasing from the rest of the team.
All of these moments flashed through Logan's mind in an instant before he nervously readjusted his helmet, making sure his mouth guard was in place. The team let out a grunt in unison as they crouched down into position.
Logan jogged across the field to his spot at the edge of the formation, his body nothing but a bundle of nerves as he waited for the whistle to sound. Kendall's eyes subtly met his as he called out a coarse "hut, hut!" The ball snapped back into his waiting hands, and Kendall's torso shifted slightly to guard the ball.
Though Logan was aware of how quickly these movements were occurring, each twist and step seemed like a tape playing in slow motion. Kendall pushed his way over to the edge of the line, effortlessly handing off the ball to his friend. Logan cradled the sought-after pigskin into his abdomen before scurrying past the line of scrimmage.
And then he ran. A sudden burst of energy coursed through his muscles, and he bolted like a thoroughbred that had just busted from the gate. The adrenaline made everything seem like a blur; he couldn't feel the drag of his cleats against the turf or his lungs pressing against his ribcage as he gasped for air.
With his senses hyper-alert, Logan noticed the flash of red and white in his peripheral vision and quickly evaded the tackle. Though he was aware of the movement around him, he couldn't stand to tear his eyes away from that end zone. As he passed the twenty-yard line, he could feel his exertion begin to catch up with him, his calves burning with each push of his cleats. He worked through the pain, barely dodging another tackle at the ten-yard line.
In the moment he carried the ball over that last painted line, time seemed to stand still. He'd had no clue how many seconds were still on the clock, but as soon as he trotted through the pristine stretch of grass, the buzzer sounded. His heavy arms thrust the ball into the air with pride, his face beaming with the biggest smile he could muster. As he heard the crowd erupt into cheers, he let the ball fall to his feet as his body caved in on itself.
After his lungs were somewhat replenished, Logan jogged his tired muscles over to the sidelines and into the waiting crowd of his teammates, each one giving him a hardy pat on the shoulder or a smack to the helmet as he passed. The coaches hollered their praise at him, shaking his hand as he made his way to the benches. When he practically collapsed onto the hard metal bench, Kandi was ready and waiting with a smile and a cold bottle of his favorite lemon-lime Powerade clenched in her hand.
"You were absolutely amazing out there," she remarked as she handed him the drink, settling into the space beside him.
"Thanks." He unscrewed the top and held the bottle to his lip, allowing the refreshing liquid to ease down his throat.
Neither of them really knew what to say, and Logan was too exhausted to rake his mind for the right words.
"Look at them," Kandi laughed, nodding towards the group of guys jumping and yelling in the center of the field in celebration.
"Yeah." He smiled. "I guess it just hasn't really sunk in for me yet…we're going to nationals. Wow." His mind still had difficulty grasping the concept.
"They're really proud of you," she commented, but he could hear the inflection in her voice that gave her away. She was the one that was proud of him, she was just too shy to put it that way.
Logan leaned in closer, lowering his voice as he spoke. "You know, the entire time I was out there rushing the ball, the only thing I could think about was getting back to the benches with you."
He caught the hint of pink play across her cheeks as she stood up.
"Well, I hope you keep a clear head during nationals," she teased before tossing a towel into his lap and heading over to help clean up.
Logan highly doubted the chances of that happening.