Hard & Deep: A Football Romance
Absolutely, he's ready. Physically and in every other way, too. To be honest, ever since he got back from his vacation, he's been happier than ever before. Ollie is a positive guy in general anyway, but this year even more so. I think that will show in the game. If your quarterback is happy, then so is everyone else.
Elsie nearly dropped her phone onto the floor. Based on what she had just heard, Oliver had been noticeably happier since returning from his “vacation”. She couldn't be sure if that was because of her, but it definitely made her wonder. Still, though, it didn't matter. It didn't matter that he'd apparently just fired Nikki either.
“What's done is done,” she whispered.
“I'm sorry, ma'am. What did you say?” The driver looked into the rear view mirror again.
“Nothing,” she said. “I was talking to myself. Do you mind turning the radio off? I'm sorry, I kind of have a headache.”
“No problem,” he replied, turning the volume all the way down.
The car was now quiet, so Elsie closed her eyes and tried to relax. She didn't know long she'd stayed like that, or whether or not she fell asleep. But the next thing she knew, she was awakened to the sensation of the car stopping and the sound of a crowd of people.
Are we at the airport already? She thought, as she opened her eyes and glanced out the window.
Elsie expected to be parked at the drop off point at the airport, but looming outside, was a building as wide as a city block. Surrounding it were people wearing jerseys and hats, just like the ones she'd seen outside of her hotel a fifteen minutes before.
Are we seriously outside of the Bandit's stadium right now? She thought.
“Sir, what are we doing here?” she asked, looking toward the driver. Anger flared in her stomach. “I told you that I needed to go to the airport. We need to hurry or else I'll miss my flight.”
The young man unbuckled his safety belt and then grabbed a white envelope from the glove compartment. After that, he turned around in his seat and handed the envelope to Elsie.
“What is this?” she asked, with a confused expression. “I don't have time for this. We need to go to the airport. Now.”
“Please, ma'am, let me explain,” he said. “Inside of that envelope are two tickets to today's opening game.”
“What?” she asked. “I have no clue what you're talking about.”
“The tickets are compliments of Mr. Lance,” he explained. “He paid me to pick you up from your hotel and to surprise you with them.”
Oliver set this up? She thought.
Elsie opened the envelope and sure enough, there was a club-level ticket inside with a printed ticket price of over a thousand dollars. There was also another slip of paper.
“What's this?” she asked, pulling it out.
“That would be a first class plane ticket,” he said, pushing his sunglasses up onto his forehead. “It leaves about an hour after the game ends.”
“Oliver Lance gave this stuff to you to give to me?” Elsie asked, shaking her head. “How is that possible? How did he know you'd be picking me up?”
“Mr. Lance has many connections,” the driver said. “It's not difficult when you're famous, you know? He did want me to tell you one thing, though. He said, and I quote, 'Elsie, please come to my game. Even if you don't want to talk to me, you'll still get to finally watch a live football game. And also, you'll get to fly home in first class afterwards. Remember what I said? Anything for my girl'.”
“He told you to say all that?” Elsie asked, raising her eyebrows.
“I assure you, ma'am, I couldn't have made that up. Oliver made me repeat it to him several times to make sure that I wouldn't screw it up.”
Elsie looked out the window once again. A line outside of the stadium was beginning to form as the crowd made their way in. The game would soon be starting.
Wow, she thought. This is most certainly not what I was expecting.
She sighed, glancing back toward the driver.
“Did he say anything else?” she asked.
“That was it,” he said. “So, what are you going to do?”
“Why can't I just skip the game and use the first class ticket for later this afternoon?” she asked.