Hard & Deep: A Football Romance

“How do you feel about eating here in the living room?” he asked. “I'd like to be able to elevate my foot on the coffee table. It makes my knee feel a little better.”

“Yeah, of course,” she replied, as she set the pizza on the end table next to the couch. “We can definitely eat out here. We aren't trying to be fancy. We're eating pizza, after all.”

“Okay, great,” he said, taking a few limping steps toward the kitchen. “Let me just grab some plates. I'll be right back.”

“No, no, no,” Elsie replied, leading Ollie to the couch. “You sit down. I can get the plates if you tell me where they are.”

He plopped down on the couch, relived to have the weight off of his knee. “The plates are in the upper cabinet to the right of the sink.”

She nodded and then disappeared into the kitchen. When she returned, she had two cans of ginger ale and two plates with her. She set everything down onto the coffee table and took a seat next to Oliver.

“Thanks for agreeing to meet up,” she said, pausing to bite her lower lip. “I realize that it was kind of short notice.”

“I appreciate the company.” Oliver turned to face her as he spoke. “I'll admit, though, that I was surprised to hear from you. This will be the first time we've ever gotten together and not done something that involved my injury. In fact, I'm pretty sure this is the only time we've ever spent in the living room. All of your other visits consist of us being in the gym while you torture me for hours.”

“I figured a break from the torture would be a nice change,” she said, pushing her dark hair over her ear. “Are you hungry?”

“Starving,” he said.

Elsie put a slice of the pizza on each plate and handed one to Oliver. The smell was incredible and reminded him of his favorite Thai restaurant in California.

“This looks amazing.” He was practically drooling and his stomach rumbled louder than ever. “I didn't have the energy to make dinner tonight, so this couldn't be more perfect.”

“I didn't feel like making dinner either,” she said. “It was kind of a weird night for me.”

She paused, the pizza hovering uneaten in front of her.

“Are you okay?” Oliver asked, halting the pizza just in front of his mouth.

Elsie fidgeted for a second. “I wasn't sure you'd want me to come over and I wasn't even sure I wanted to ask. I was afraid that I'd be intruding.”

“Intruding?” Oliver asked, shaking his head. “Are you kidding me? I love your company. If you hadn't come over, I'd still be tossing and turning in bed.”

He took a bite of the pizza and moaned approvingly. It was seriously the best pizza he had ever tasted.

“This is so good,” he said. “You weren't kidding about this.”

“Told you,” she replied, finally taking a bite of her own slice.

Oliver gobbled up his piece and then had seconds. Elsie did the same thing. They ate in silence, both of them too hungry to think about anything else but the food. Once they were done, they set the plates to the side and relaxed on the couch.

“You said that you had a weird night,” Oliver said, bringing his leg on top of the coffee table. “Is everything okay?”

Elsie sighed and looked down at the ground. “A lot going on. I thought I'd feel like talking about it, but I think I'd rather just hang out.”

“That's pretty vague,” he told her, giving her a pointed look. “That makes me assume the worst possible scenario.”

“I can tell you what happened, but I don't think I want to spend the whole night on the subject. It'll only make me sad,” she said, with a depressed sigh.

“You don't need to share anything with me that you don't want to.” Oliver could see the pain in her eyes and it made him stomach clench.

Elsie took a deep breath in. She tucked her hands up inside the sleeves of her sweater, balling the cuffs into into her palms. Her eyes focused on the floor. It took everything he had not to wrap his arms around her.

“My mom called me after I got home from our session earlier. She called with some pretty bad news,” she replied. Her breath in faltered. “They found a tumor in my uncle's brain.”

“Oh, my God, Elsie. I'm so sorry.” Oliver sat up straighter, twisting his body to face her. “I know how close you are with him. You talk about him a lot.”

She nodded. “Yeah, it's devastating for sure. But the doctors still have tests to run, so we don't know what the prognosis is yet. My fingers are crossed that it all works out okay.”