“It was the beginning of the end for Michael's chance at a career in sports. The chemo affected his bones. I don't remember exactly how the doctor explained it, but something in the medicine had made his bones weak.” Oliver shrugged, trying to move the weight that settled on his shoulders whenever he thought about what his brother had gone through. “He had to stop playing contact sports altogether. His athletic dreams were killed.”
“I'm sorry,” Elsie replied, her words soft and soothing. She squeezed his shoulder with her hand, and somehow it helped. “It sounds like you have a strong little brother, though, to survive all of that. It also sounds like you two are very, very close. It's great you have someone like that.”
“I really think Michael had something to do with me becoming famous,” Ollie said, grunting as he focused back on working his knee. “The game after I found out about his diagnosis was the first game that I got a chance to play. The starting quarterback was injured and so I was put in the game.”
“As a rookie?” she asked, adjusting a knob on the weight machine.
Ollie nodded. “Nobody expected us to be able to win that one. We were fourteen points behind and I hadn't ever played a professional game before. But I said a little prayer, and asked for the same strength that Michael had to go through with his treatments. I went out there that day and played as though I was my brother. I told you he was the better athlete.”
“How'd it work out?” she asked, finally brushing the hair from her face. He loved that she didn't know the story already. It was refreshing to be able to tell it for the first time.
“We won the game.” He still felt the exultation of winning from that game just thinking about it. “And we won the one after that, and the one after that. In fact, we won every game the rest of the season. That's how I became the starting quarterback.”
The story was falling out of him now. He hadn't ever told anybody all these details and it wasn't something anybody could look up on the internet. This was his version of what happened and it was the absolute truth. It felt incredible to be able to share it with someone who actually cared and wasn't going to immediately put it up on social media or sell it for a profit.
Elsie listened intently, her eyes locked with his. He felt so drawn to her, but in such a different way than with other women. Sure, he was physically attracted to her. Who wouldn't be? She had a beautiful body, nice butt and perky breasts. But what he loved about her most is that she was just so real. And “real” was not something that most people were, at least in Ollie's world.
Oliver pumped his leg, pushing himself to the limits of his strength. He hissed as a lightning bolt of pain shot through his knee, forcing him to slow down with his exercise.
“Tell me more about your brother,” Elsie told him, lowering the weight on the machine.
“My dad died when Mike was six. I was seventeen at the time, so I ended up taking on the father role. I felt the need to protect him from everything.” Ollie paused, his voice about to crack with emotion. “I didn't want him to ever feel another ounce of pain in his life, since he had already felt so much at such a young age.”
I can't believe I'm actually telling her all of this, he thought. But she's the first person I've ever wanted to open up to. I don't know why, but I trust her so much.
Elsie touched Ollie's knee. “Okay, take a rest on this leg and do the same thing with the other one so you're even.”
Ollie did as she asked, relieved to be using his good leg once again. It made him feel like he still had strength left in his body.
“That's really nice of you to look out for your brother,” she said, leaning against the machine while facing Oliver. “It's admirable.”
“Not really,” Ollie said, with a sigh. “He's my brother. That's what family does for each other. I'd have given him my right arm if it would have made him better.”
“I feel that same way about my sisters,” Elsie agreed. “Family is everything.”
The way she said it made him look over at her. She smiled and shrugged.
“Has your brother picked a specialty to study in medical school yet?” she asked, bringing the conversation back to his brother.
Ollie nodded. “Oncology, as expected. He wants to help kids that are sick like he once was.”
Elsie held her hand up, motioning for Ollie to stop the exercise. “If Michael is anything like his older brother, then cancer is in for a nasty surprise.”
Oliver chuckled and then looked away. He found his throat to be a little tight. He wasn't used to talking about his brother like this.
I've done hundreds of interviews, but this feels different, he thought. This is like telling it for the first time. It's making the memory feel more real than ever.
In an effort to change the subject to keep himself from tearing up, Ollie said, “So you said you have sisters?”
“Yep,” she replied, still leaning against the weight machine. “Two of them. I'm the baby of the family.”
“And they have kids?” Ollie asked.
“My oldest sister has two boys and the middle sister just had a baby girl last year,” Elsie said, with a smile that showed her pride.
“And one of those boys is who you coach football for, right?” Ollie said, slowly turning to put his feet down on the floor once again.
Elsie smiled, seeming pleased that he remembered that she coached little league. “Yeah, Ryan is six and has big dreams of being a professional football player. But he has a backup. He said that if football doesn't work out then he's going to be a garbage truck man.”