Rushed

"I'm on a month to month lease right now, I'm paid up through the end of the month. I just need to leave about four hundred bucks behind to close out the electricity and hydro bills. Speaking of bills, halfsies I guess on this place?"

Tyler shakes his head and laughs. "I'm going to make ten times the amount of money you are this year. Going halfsies on the rent would be a crime."

"Well, I have to pay something," I protest. "I mean, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I won’t just cadge off you. And you're right, I'm not going to accept charity, even if it's from you."

Tyler thinks for a bit, then nods. "Okay. Here's the rental agreement. You pay the water and electric bills, and you cook about four days out of the week. We both win, and I’ll finally eat better more regularly.”

I can't help but smile. "Make it five days, and you've got a deal. I don't trust your cooking.”

Tyler nods and smiles. "Deal. Welcome, roomie. Maybe after our date on Sunday, we can start moving your stuff over here? How much do you have to move, anyway?"

"Not a lot," I admit. "I rented the place furnished, except for my bed. I have to leave the frame behind though, but the mattress is mine."

"How about you leave it, and we can get a better one for here?" Tyler asks. "Then we can just move your clothes in your car and mine, and not have to bother with some truck.”

“I see your game. You just want to give me no option but to sleep in the same bed as you for a day or two."

"Well, maybe, but with only the purest of intentions. Absolutely the purest."

Tyler arches an eyebrow, totally lying but pretending to be as innocent as a choir boy, and I laugh. "Right. The absolute purest. I think I might be sleeping fully clothed and in double layers Sunday night."

"I could always take the couch," Tyler offers. "Being a gentleman, you know."

I snuggle against him, feeling at peace for at least a while. "I know."





Chapter 11





Tyler





"And at starting quarterback, a rookie from Western University, one hundred and eighty-eight centimeters, ninety-six kilograms, number fourteen, Tyler Paulson!"

I shake my head, chuckling at the figures. It's going to take me a while to get used to the new numbers still. Of course, it's also strange to me that the team insists on metric measurements on the players, but the field is still measured in yards. Whatever.

I run out onto the field, raising my fist over my head as I do to some polite applause. The fans haven't seen a lot of me in the preseason, just a little over three quarters of action, and Coach was calling the plays very conservatively during the time I was playing. He didn't want to show everyone the new wrinkles he thought up in the offense, and there's a lot of questions out there about me. Can the new American boy come out and handle the pros, especially against one of the Fighters' main rivals, the Hamilton Tigersharks?

It's a tough test, and part of one of the rivalries that I'm just starting to get a handle on. For example, we're playing Tigersharks today here in Toronto, but next week we're playing the same team thirty miles down the road in Hamilton. Who thinks this shit up, anyway? But they've been doing it this way for nearly seventy years.

I reach the sidelines, high-fiving all the other offensive starters, including Lance Pollard, who is still sporting tape on his nose, but has been cleared to start contact again this week. He and I have had a silent understanding. He's going to be a pro, making sure that I'm able to do my job . . . and neither of us is going to be on the other's Christmas card list. Fuck it, I didn't get along with everyone on the team at Western either.

The crowd cheers loudly again as the defense is introduced, and I take a moment to look around at the crowd. Thirty thousand . . . not too bad. I mean, it's the smallest crowd I've played in front of since high school, even including that game we took against Navy my junior year, all the way on the other side of the country. We'd played in front of forty-five thousand then.

Robbie, who's also played in front of some big crowds, understands and claps me on the shoulder. "Don't sweat it. Next year this place jumps to fifty thousand, and if we're good, we might even see that. Just play the game."

"Right," I reply, looking around still, not at the crowd per se, but for April. I know it's impossible, but after two weeks of living together, including two weekly dates that have been more fun than I'd have ever dreamed, I feel the need to look for her all the time. She promised me that she'd be here, and finally, I see her wearing Western Kelly Green and White, just like she promised. She gives me a wave as our eyes meet, and I have to admit there's a certain appeal to having this small of a crowd for games. I can see the crowd up close, and for me, being able to see April is a good thing. "Just play the game."

Robbie sees where I'm looking and laughs, clapping his hands in amusement. "You wanna impress her rook, light up the scoreboard the way I know you can, and you're going to have a great date tomorrow."