Chapter3

#Chapter3

Colt

/"I am so proud of you, Son,/" my father said as we sat down at the table in the middle of the restaurant. I had gotten a signing bonus and wanted to treat them to a nice dinner in one of the best places in L.A.

/"Thanks, Dad,/" I said smiling back at him. I was glad that my parents were proud of me. Especially Dad, I always wanted him to be proud of me. I always wanted to be just like him. Everyone said I looked like him. I was a couple inches taller than him and I had Mom’s eyes, but I had his dark hair and facial features and his drive. Now, I had graduated from UCLA with a business degree and been drafted by the Atlanta Falcons. I have wanted to play in the NFL since I started playing football at five. The fact that I got drafted by my dream team made it even better. Life was looking a lot better than it had been over the last four years.

/"When do you start training?/" Mom asked me from across the table.

/"I have to be in Atlanta in a couple weeks./"

I watched Mom’s bright blue eyes light up even brighter which meant that she had an idea. /"Why don’t you come home with us tomorrow and see the family and everyone before you get busy with training and your new life of fame,/" she sent me a huge smile and I knew that most likely she was not going to take ‘no’ for and answer.

/"Well, you know I didn’t really plan on that and I’m packed but haven’t check shipping prices for all my stuff and Josh planned a party to celebrate tonight so.../" I trailed off when I noticed the look on her face. She wasn’t buying it.

/"Colt, you haven’t been home in four years. I didn’t bother you about it because I knew that you had to work hard year-round to reach your football goals. But now you have reached them, and I would like you to come home for a little while. Two weeks with your family won't kill you,/" she looked at me with puppy dog eyes and I knew that I was going home. /"Besides you will need to find a place to live before you get so busy that you end up living in a hotel,/" she added like she didn’t know I was already going to agree.

/"Fine I guess I’m coming home,/" I forced a smile.

My mother beamed and I watched her smiled widen noticeably every second. /"Great you will get to see how much things have changed./"

I snorted and shook my head, /"nothing every changes in Brownston,/" I told her laughing. She shared a look with Dad that I didn’t understand before taking a drink of her water.

/"Somethings do,/" She muttered. Mom was acting weird. Well, weirder than she normally did. Truth was I was sure that she was up to something I just couldn’t figure out what. /"Well, we should get back to the hotel and pack and you best get to your party and figure out shipping arrangements. We are leaving at eight in the morning. I expect you to be on time,/" she gave me the same threatening look she had my entire childhood. /"If you’re late, we will wait longer,/" she kissed my cheek when I stood up before turning to wait for Dad to shake my hand.

Later at the party that Josh, the guy that had been my best friend and roommate the last three years, was throwing me I sat around the dining room table playing a game of quarters with some friends. I was losing and I hated to lose.

/"Man, I hope you’re a better quarterback than you are a quarters player,/" Jarome laughed. He always thought he was funny, but he was the second-best friend I had. His apartment was across the hall from ours and his apartment was where the party was being held. I glared at him and tried bouncing the quarter into the shot glass. I missed again. /"Man, you sure suck at this game,/" he laughed picking up the quarter and sinking it. I took a shot before slamming the glass back down.

I leaned back in my chair, /"I’m done,/" I waved my hand over the table. I put my head in my hands. /"Ugh. I have to fly home tomorrow,/" I sighed into my hands. I wasn’t ready to go home. I knew what was waiting for me. Mom had told me the Mayor had said he wanted to declare my birthday a holiday and hold a parade every year. It was ridiculous. I only was in the NFL. I didn’t curse cancer or save a baby from a burning building. I was a football player and while I loved that I got to do what I loved for a living; it wasn’t something worthy of a parade.

/"Going home early huh?/" Jarome asked.

I nodded, /"My mother worked her magic like she always does and convinced me to go back and spend the two weeks before training catching up with family and friends./"

/"Aren't you from like a really small town?/" He asked, /"Isn't everyone a family or friend?/" I shook my head with an eyeroll.

Josh came and sat down in the empty chair beside me. /"Yes, Mr. Small Town U.S.A. here has a girl back there too. Any chance you will see her when you go back?/"

My heart speed up thinking of her. /"Oohhh a girl huh? Is that the reason you haven't dated anyone this whole time?/" Jarome slammed his hand on the table laughing. He had been on my about dating the whole time I had known him. I didn't even sleep with anyone which really bothered him for some reason. I just wanted to focus on football and my grades. Every time I thought about seeing a girl, I remembered what happened and pushed myself harder on the field instead.

/"Her name is Callie and I guess she is a big reason... The main reason that I don’t date,/" I shrugged.

/"I would say so. She dumped him three weeks before graduation. They had been dating since the sixth grade,/" Josh chimed in. I shot him a glare he held up his hands in surrender.

/"Damn Man, that’s cold,/" Jarome drew out the word ‘cold’.

I sighed. I was regretting getting drunk and telling Josh the whole story two years ago. I tried to picture Callie’s face on any day but the last day I saw her, but I couldn’t. Only with tears in her eyes as she said goodbye and broke my heart. She gave me no reason other than she was staying in Georgia for school and I was coming to L.A. That would have made sense for most people, but Callie and I had already talked about how we would fly to see one another on breaks our families shared a private jet. It would cost nothing. We planned to call or text every day. We were working on a schedule so that we didn’t drift apart. Then one day she was crying, and she told me she couldn’t do the distance. She apologized and walked away from mer. Her eyes had been so red. Like she had been crying the entire night before.

I followed her home after school that day and tried to talk to her. I begged outside her house for her to open the door. Her father had opened the door after dinner and told me to just go home and give her time. I gave her a week. She didn’t change her mind and she didn’t come to school. I tried talking to her best friend and my cousin, Daisy and she told me she had graduated early and decided to go to a spa with her mother for two weeks. She wasn’t planning on seeing me again. I had graduated early also so I went home and told my parents I wanted to head to L.A. early. They understood me wanting to leave with what had happened, so they allowed it.

/"Maybe you will get a second chance buddy,/" Josh patted me on the shoulder pulling me from my thoughts. /"No way she will be able to turn you down now that you are a big NFL star./" I nodded and forced a smile.

I stood up, /"Sorry guys, I have to get to bed. Flying out early in the morning./" They both stood and gave me a bro hug. /"Thanks for everything guys and I want you both out there for my first game, okay?/" They nodded. I handed Josh a piece of paper, /"can you send my boxes to this address. I will pay the shipping,/" I asked him.

/"Of course, buddy. Don’t sweat it,/" he said pulling me into another hug. /"We stay in touch no matter how famous you get, yeah?/" He restated our agreement we had discussed. I nodded in agreement. I finished saying my goodbyes to everyone that had come to celebrate me or at least to party for free, before heading across the hallway to my apartment.

I threw myself down on my bed for the last night. Tomorrow I would be back in my hometown and close to her again. I thought of Callie. I wondered how much she had changed. Did she have someone in her life now? I forced myself to go to sleep, but she was in my dreams the whole night too. I woke the next day not looking forward to this visit. I hoped Mom was right when she said that things had changed. I hoped they had changed enough that it would have no effect on me.