“Do I need to get a ticket?”
“Of course not—we’l sit in the owner’s box.”
“Damn. Yeah, I definitely want to come.”
“Cool. I’l cal you about details. Oh—and wear a suit or something nice.”
“I can do that. Thanks for the invite.”
I smile. This is great. I get to hang out with Ty under the supervision of JJ and Carter. They’l keep me sane.
“Did you want a ride home tonight?”
“Thanks for the offer, but I think I’l check out this party.”
“Gonna hang with Kristen again?”
“Hel no,” he says, laughing. “I like being with girls who have actual brain activity. Girls like you.”
Oh. My. God. I quickly say, “Have fun. I’l cal you tomorrow. Bye!” I jump into my truck and drive away. I don’t bother looking in the rearview mirror this time. I know he’s watching me.
At home, I run upstairs to Mike’s room and pound on the door.
“Come in.” I open the door to find Mike lounging on the floor playing a footbal video game. I sit down next to him, and he passes me the second control er. “What are you doing home so early?” he asks. “No parties or anything? No hot date with Ty?”
“If you want to play bal tomorrow, you’d better shut your mouth, because I’l kick your ass, bro.”
“Yeah, right.” Mike laughs as he immediately scores a touchdown. Man, do I suck at video games.
“So tel me what the Alabama coach said about me already!”
“We’re going to talk about Ty first. He’s real y cool, Jordan. And even though he’s not starting this year, he’l have his pick of col eges.”
“Great,” I say, throwing the control er down. I stand and shuffle across the room and fal onto Mike’s bed.
“Tel me what the Alabama guy said.”
“Well , on the down low, since I stretched the rules a bit by talking to him about you, if you keep playing like you did tonight, they’l offer you a ful ride.”
“You’re kidding me!”
“Nope,” Mike says. “Keep up the good work and you’re a shoo-in for Alabama. Just don’t get distracted, don’t get hurt, and don’t do anything stupid.”
“But isn’t it kinda weird that they’re wil ing to give me the ful ride even though I didn’t make any big passes tonight?”
“Hel , don’t question it,” Mike says, laughing. “Just rol with it. I would.”
“It would be awesome if I went to Alabama—we’d be rivals!”
“Tennessee would total y kick your ass.”
“Sure, keep tel ing yourself that.”
Mike rubs his jaw. “But there’s one thing I don’t think either of us has considered. The coaches of any school you go to are going to use you as a recruitment tool. Alabama wil be showcasing you al the time, and they’l want you to help with advertising.”
“Ugh,” I say. “Like that time Sports Illustrated wanted to do an article on me? Thank God Dad stepped in and said no.”
“Yup,” Mike says. “I don’t think your life wil be so private anymore. Everyone’s going to know everything about you.”
“As long as I can play col ege bal , I don’t care.”
“Cool. Now, on to more important issues—tel me what’s up with Ty. I like him.”
“Me too. I invited him to Dad’s game on Sunday. Are you going?”
you going?”
“I can if you want me to. Don’t you want some alone time with Ty?” Mike asks, grinning.
“Please come. Please help me act normal. I real y like Ty and want to be his friend, but I keep pushing him away. He sat next to me on the bus tonight and I ignored him most of the time.”
Mike suddenly drops the control er. “He sat next to you on the bus? In the back row? In front of al those guys? Oh sis, he total y wants you bad.”
“What are you talking about?” I say with a sigh.
“I can’t even imagine having the guts to sit with a girl in front of al those guys. Henry and JJ wil kick Ty’s ass if he hurts you. And even if they don’t kick his ass, they’l make fun of him for it in the locker room. Hel , I’d never stop mentioning it,” Mike laughs.
Enough about Ty. “I’m going to bed. Thanks for the help with the coach.”
“No prob. Wait—Jordan,” Mike says, standing and putting a hand on my shoulder. “Give Ty a shot. I don’t want you to go through life never taking a chance on a guy.”
“I don’t know if I can,” I whisper.
“Why not?”
“I don’t know how to kiss or anything like that.”
Mike chuckles. “Sis, if he kisses you, you’l figure out how to kiss back pretty quickly.”
“What if we get together, and then he breaks up with me? That would suck. And then we’d be stuck on a team together.”
“He wouldn’t risk anything if he wasn’t serious. Trust me. I can tel he’s a good guy.”
I nod. “Yeah, I know.”
But is a good guy worth the risk of losing sight of my goals? My dreams?
only father
Watching my favorite sport
Watching my favorite brother
(okay, my only brother)
Watching my only father cheer for Mike
Smiling
Laughing
Shouting
Telling Mom how proud he is
Saying no father could have a better son
And I’m sitting right there
Ready to drown myself in nacho cheese
’Cause all I have is football
And the person I want to share it with,
more than anything
Hasn’t even asked if I won last night…