Whenever Parker found Sampson on a route, they would connect, like they were reading each other’s minds, it was eerie.
I knew Sampson and I could both make the team, but every wide receiver spot was precious, and there were other returning veterans that had claims on other spots, so every single one of them counted, and I needed to make sure I was 1 of the 7 or so wide receivers the Patriots carried on the roster into the regular season.
I couldn’t go back to my earlier life - there was nothing left there for me, so I had to make this work - I had no choice.
I tried asking Lance Parker about it, considering that he and I were roommates and all, but he was almost never around, always in meetings or out on the practice field with his buddies. The guy was a machine. I couldn’t help but admire his work ethic, even if it meant we barely said two words to each other.
Finally, just after the second preseason game, one in which I caught all three of the targets he sent my way, I sat him down in our room. I straight out asked him if he had it out for me, if there was some unknown beef between us, something getting the way of him sending the ball in my direction more often.
Lance took it all in stride, swearing up and down that he was just following the playbook, going through his reads and making the calls that gave the team the best chance to win the game.
It was really frustrating to talk to him because it made me feel dumb, like I was the one not on the same page, like I was the one who needed to work harder. So that’s what I fucking decided to do, right then and there. I told Lance Parker I was gonna be his best target from here on out, and that we were gonna win a championship together.
Lance said he liked my guts, then he fell back against his pillow and was snoring loudly inside of 3 minutes.
Gee, thanks, roomie. Good talk. We would remember this one someday.
The next few days were rough. I stayed out of the way, working on memorizing the routes and running them whenever I had a free moment. I talked with the coaches, coaxing any more tips I could get out of them.
All of it made me feel really good about the next preseason game. Though there were 4 preseason games each year for each team, the third one is by far the most important. The last one was so close to the start of the regular season that most teams blow it off. So the third one was the biggest chance for an on the bubble player like me to shine, to show off, to make the big play and secure himself a roster spot.
Which is exactly what I was going to do. It was what I needed to do. It was all I could do to keep this football dream alive.
I couldn’t really talk to Lily about it. We had avoided each other for few days, only meeting to do our customary interviews, and barely exchanging any words. I tried to open up to her but Lily clearly didn’t want to talk to me anymore.
That hurt really badly, and not just because I would lie awake in my bed each night thinking about having her lips on mine, feeling her boobs in my hand, feeling the way she shook when I pushed my cock into her and made her moan.
I worried about what she thought of me, why she hated me so much all of a sudden.
I had to get those feelings, those memories, out of my head so I could focus on football, but it wasn’t easy. There was only so much time I could focus on the X’s and O’s of the game, so naturally, each time I hit my breaking point for the day, I would wonder what Lily was doing, where she was, whether she was thinking about me.
I missed her greatly.
Finally, on Friday morning, I had had enough of this. The rumor had died down by now, as rumors often do in a near-high school environment. Given how fast information and libel spread, it was just as fast people found something new to talk about and gossip over.
No one was talking about Lily and Bill Thompson anymore, but I wanted to get to the bottom of things. Lily wouldn’t talk to me, and I didn’t dare bring up the subject again, because seeing her run away from me in tears like that on Tuesday afternoon had almost torn my heart out from my chest.
So I went to the next best thing, the horse herself. Lily had mentioned Annie’s name before the stormed off, and it didn’t take more than a little digging to find out that Annie was the source of the rumor in the first place.
After practice on Friday, I walked up to Annie and asked if I could have a word with her.
Annie put on this huge fake smile that I could see coming a mile away. “Of course, sugar, I’ve been just dying to talk to you since I got here, but you’ve always been so busy.” She playfully punched my shoulder like Lily did, only with Lily I actually enjoyed it.
With Annie, none of this was any fun, I realized. “Can we talk?”
“Of course, sugar, let’s go right over here and we’ll have ourselves a little pow-wow.” She smiled and directed me off to one side, and I followed her, finding it easy to avoid staring at her body along the way. The rest of the guys might be way into that, but just by looking at her I could tell already she was definitely not my type.