Love is for Tennis, Not Football

Have you ever been caught in between two people you love? Two people that you love just as equally? Well, I have, and let me tell you, it sucks.

This is my story:

“Once upon a time, there was a girl. Like most girls her age, she went to college after high school. The University of Alabama to be exact.

While there, she became close friends with a guy who was in a few of her classes. This guys name was John Parker Wilson.

They started off by just talking in class. It then progressed to lunch together and then study dates.

Through this, they began to fall in love.

People didn’t believe it. They said it wouldn’t last. He was a junior, a good student, the popular kid, and the star quarterback of the undefeated football team. She was just a freshman, the new kid. The girl who started college early at 16. She was a band nerd and a tennis player, nothing special.

They broke every stereotype in college, but that’s not what they thought about.

To her, he was the boy who made fun of their math teacher with her, and the boy who went to her band practices if he could.

To him, she was the crazy teenager who didn’t know how truly amazing she really was. She was the one who danced in the middle of the courtyard, not caring who was watching.

They were the perfect couple. They bickered all the time, but never fought. He walked her to class each day, holding her hand, and kissed her when he left her.

Towards the end of his senior year things began to change. He started focusing on making the NFL draft. He started stressing more, and it was putting a strain on their relationship. They spent less time together, and he became moodier.

She stood by his side the entire time. She dealt with him snapping at her and spending less time together. She knew what he was going through at the time, and knew that he did still love her. And she loved him.

Things did not go as he dreamed they would. He was not picked in the draft. Instead he became and unsigned free agent for the Atlanta Falcons. Third-string quarterback. The chances of him seeing playing action: as good as zero. He threw himself into his work. He hoped that somehow he would get bumped up and he would see some playing time.

He knew that it wasn’t fair to put her through that, so he broke it off. His decision killed both of them. He lost himself in his work; she lost herself in her studies.

Unable to face the memories that going back to Alabama would present, she transferred to the University of Florida.

She quit band and tennis, doing nothing but going to class and going back to her dorm.

On the day that would have been their three-year anniversary, she broke down in the middle of class.

She left the room, sliding down the wall of the hallway. She put her head in her hands and started crying.

She didn’t notice that someone had come up and sat beside her until they put their arm around her, rubbing her back. She looked up. She knew who it was. Everyone in the county knew who it was. It was Tim Tebow, star quarterback for the Florida Gators.

He didn’t ask her what was wrong or if she was okay, for which she was thankful. He just held her in his arms, as she continued to cry into his shirt. They stayed like that until she was able to stop crying and get herself under control. Before he left he gave her his cell phone number and told her to call him at anytime if she ever needed to talk.

Everyday for the next two weeks he gave her a hug every time she saw him. He was persistent, even though she never said a word to him.

She was afraid to let him in. She thought he was just doing it to keep up the good boy Christian image he had. She couldn’t believe that he would care about a transfer student who he met crying in a hallway that never talked and had no friends. She didn’t think anyone would ever love her again.

She continued thinking this way until he asked her to meet him after football practice one day.

She was confused. Wouldn’t he be embarrassed to be associated with her in front of his football friends?

He wasn’t. He held her tight to him, and introduced her to the entire team. He told them that she was his new best friend, a transfer student from the University of Alabama.

Her heart began to mend that day, Not only did he introduce her to his other friends, but he had taken the time to find stuff out about her.

That was the first time she ever spoke to him. They went to a movie and had dinner afterwards. Over dinner she told him her story.

His heart broke for her. He was falling in love with her, but she clearly was not ready for a relationship.

It was his senior year, and the team made it to the SEC Championship game again. Like the year before they were playing against the University of Alabama.

They lost.

He was really broken up about it. She was there to cheer him up.

Then it started again. He started to get ready for the draft. However, he did not take it out on her. She knew when to give him space and when to take him out to get his mind off of things.

He had nothing to worry about. He was a signed player for the Denver Broncos before they even started finals.

His next step: graduation.

Both of them didn’t like to think of what would happen after he graduated. Even though she had more friends now, she was going to be lost without him. They were always together. He was going to be just as lost.

Graduation came. After he tossed his cap she ran up to him to give him a hug. After he hugged her for a second, he pulled back before kissing her on the lips. He told her that he loved her. She told him that she loved him.

That summer was the best simmer of her life. She stayed in Denver with him. When he wasn’t at practice, they were together spending time on the lake or at the movies.

Then she had to go back to school. She kept herself busy, rejoining the marching band and the tennis team. He came to a game and she went to see him as often as she could.

Someone else came to see her, too. John Parker Wilson. She wasn’t mad at him anymore. They talked and she told him about Tim. He said he was glad she had found somebody. He told her she deserved it.

As marching band ended and Tim got busier and busier, she began to party more. She frequently went out to have a drink with her friends. She also kept in contact with John.

He did not like that. They began to fight and the distance started to take its toll on them. They began to drift apart.

Before they reached the point where their friendship was irreparable, they decided to end it.

After she graduated, she moved back to her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. Home of the Atlanta Falcons.

She started hanging out with John again. They often went out to dinner together. She remembered why she fell in love with him as a freshman.

He was the goofball who made dirty jokes during math class and threw paper balls at the teacher. He had settled down with the his team and was probably going to play in the upcoming season.

She was happy for him. If she had ever fallen out of love with him , one would say she fell back in love with him. But since she never fell out of love with him, so one couldn’t say that.

Things were back to the way they were before they had broken up. Perhaps even better.

She was still best friends with Tim, and they talked almost every night.”

And that leads me to where I am now. It is the day of the game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Denver Broncos. Both John and Tim are starting.

I couldn’t choose what team to wear, so I decided on both.

I have on an old Alabama jersey of John’s, Broncos sweatpants, Falcons flip-flops, a Falcons hair ribbon, and Tim’s trademark eye black with John 3:16 on them (ironic, right?)

As I walk through the stadium I’ve been getting funny looks, but hey, they don’t know my situation.

The game goes good and the Falcons win.

The people next to me, who I’ve talked to all night, laughed when I took everything team-related off and ended up in an old high school hoodie.

John and Tim both laugh at me when they saw me. I told them I couldn’t take it anymore because I wanted them both to win, so I retreated to the safety of high school.

They grinned and gave me a hug as we walked to my car. We were going out to eat together.

I’m so lucky to have my such a great best friend and boyfriend.