My heart sinks and my appetite disappears. An unhappy Eli on the field means an unhappy and potentially angry Eli off the field too. And that’s the worst. I’ve dealt with his moods before. I was almost glad I wasn’t around much last season—his worst season by far. He was constantly beating himself up.
The team gets into position, Eli getting ready to throw the ball, and I notice his frenzied movements. As if he doesn’t know who to throw to. Diego is trying to catch his attention, but he’s also being blocked by a big dude from the other team.
Eli throws the ball and it sails high into the sky, landing…
In that big dude’s equally big hands.
“Oh shit!” Gracie exclaims, clapping a hand over her mouth when she catches me looking at her.
His disappointment is palpable. He’s mentally beating himself up. And it’s like this the entirety of the game. At halftime, I have high hopes he can readjust and get his head back into the game.
But it doesn’t work. And at one point early in the third quarter, I swear it looks like he’s about to get into a fight with…Diego?
What the hell?
My mood—as well as my friends’—becomes more and more somber. We toss most of the food we bought, too upset to eat it. By the time we’re nearing the end of the fourth quarter, I’m completely discouraged.
We’re going to lose. The second loss of the season—and it’s at home.
I’m sure Eli is devastated.
Somehow, during the final seconds of the game, our boys are able to drive the ball down the field, but unable to score a touchdown. They’re close enough for a field goal, which the kicker makes.
Now we’re tied.
Holy shit.
“We’re going into overtime,” Hayden says. “Oh my God, I hope we can win.”
I say nothing. It’s like I can’t. I’m too choked up and filled with worry. We must win.
We have to.
The game ends with the score tied, and after a few minutes, the team captains walk out onto the field for the coin toss. I watch Eli and Tony walk out together, my chest expanding with pride. Hayden reaches out and grips my hand, not saying a word, but I can tell she’s nervous.
So am I.
We win the coin toss and they choose the opposing team to receive first. Perfect. I sit perched on the edge of my seat, my entire body tense as I watch our defense play. Gracie is rowdy, constan
tly screaming for Caleb, which makes me and Hayden laugh, but it’s nervous laughter. We can’t fully get into it.
We’re both too stressed out.
The other team gets a field goal, which devastates me. If our boys can’t score, they’ll lose. The pressure just turned up even more, and from what I’ve seen today, Eli isn’t handling it well.
At all.
“He did this last week,” Gracie announces, causing both Hayden and me to look at her.
“Who did what?” Hayden asks.
“Eli. At practice though. He messed up again and again and their coaches pulled him off the field. They had the second-string quarterback play for a while, and Caleb said he was pretty good.” Gracie nods toward the field. “That’s why they probably had him play earlier. Just to test him out.”
“They usually never do that sort of thing when they’re losing and they’re only in the third quarter,” I say, busting out some of my coach’s daughter knowledge.
“True that,” Hayden says with a nod.
They go out on the field and…I don’t see number one out there.