Hard & Deep: A Football Romance

“Aunt Elsie, can I please borrow Oliver Lance for a minute?” he asked. “I want

him to take me out onto the field.”

Elsie laughed, wiping away the tears of joy from her face.

“Yeah, you may borrow him,” she said, smiling toward Oliver. “But you have to promise to bring him back.”

“I promise,” her nephew said, as he took Oliver's hand and began dragging him away.

Ollie beamed as he looked at Elsie.

“You're coming with, aren't you?” he asked. “You want to see the field up close and personal? I guess you could call it a tour of my office.”

Elsie nodded. “I'd love nothing more.”

She followed them out to the field, where her family and some of the players were already standing around. She watched as Ollie put one of her nephews on each of his shoulders and paraded them around the grass. Those boys were in a heaven that they didn't know existed until now and it was all because of Oliver, their hero.

Oliver Lance, she thought, smiling. I think you might be my hero too.

Epilogue

Four months later...

The Bandit's were behind by three points. With only thirty seconds left in the fourth quarter, it was starting to look like the championship trophy might end up being handed over to The Rockets instead. But after the hard fought season, Oliver wasn't about to throw in the towel. He couldn't. Not with his girl standing on the sidelines watching.

Come on, Ollie, Elsie thought, bundled inside of her Bandits trainer down coat.

The wind howled, adding to the noise of the crowd. It was bitter cold. The kind of January day that should have been spent indoors. If it wasn't for a game like this, that's where Elsie would have been, but no amount of cold weather or rain and thunder would have kept her from being on that sideline and rooting her boyfriend on. Besides, it was her job to be there now.

He needed her there. He'd told her that she was his lucky charm and she was starting to believe it. The Bandit's had won every season game that she'd attended, and had lost the few that she wasn't there for. The team had even joked that they should make it a job requirement to be on the field so that they would never lose again.

It was the Bandit's last possession of the game. Oliver huddled with his team and then they stepped up to the line.

“Blue, forty-two!” he shouted. “Hut. Hut. Hike!”

The ball was snapped and Ollie took a few steps back, scanning the field.

“Come on, Oliver,” Elsie whispered. “You can do this.”

Since it was first down, Elsie had expected him to do a running play. Something safe. But with only thirty seconds on the clock, 'safe' was no longer an option. She watched as the rookie receiver, Demitri Jameson, went long. He ran down the field almost forty yards and didn't seem to be stopping any time soon. Oliver wound up and then launched the ball toward him. It was a bomber. Elsie clenched her jaw nervously as the football soared through the air.

It was a hard and deep throw.

Oh God, she thought. Please, please, don't be intercepted.

Demitri continued to run deep and then turned right as the ball dropped. Elsie winced, afraid to watch, but just as afraid to look away. Ollie's throw was accurate, just like always, and the football landed directly into his receiver's hands.

“No freaking way,” Elsie said out loud.

The crowd echoed her sentiment and began to scream so loud that the ground shook. A lineman for The Rockets dove at Demitri, but he spun, avoiding the tackle. He faced the end-zone and sprinted toward it. Each yard that he gained, the crowd got louder. By the time he was at the ten yard line, he couldn't be caught. He stepped into the end-zone and Elsie felt her knees practically buckle beneath her.

“He did it,” she said, shaking her head. “Oh my God. He did it!”

A deafening roar filled the stadium. The Bandit's had won the championship! Elsie watched as the team rushed the field, jumping and celebrating. The entire place buzzed with an energy she hadn't experienced before. It didn't feel real. She had been sure that The Bandits wouldn't have been able to come back from that. But, just like always, Oliver somehow made it happen. She couldn't hold back her emotion and within seconds, Elsie was crying with joy.

The entire team, from water boys to the other trainers to the entire defensive line, sprinted onto the field in celebration. Oliver saw her immediately and pushed past his teammates in order to get to her. When he did, he lifted her up above his head and spun her in a circle.

The crowd chanted in the back ground, Ollie Lance! Ollie Lance! Ollie Lance!