God Gave Me You

A stadium full of cheering fans turned into a mob booing and jeering their team as they failed to win their 2011 season opener. During the fourth quarter, a fan began to chant for the 3rd string quarterback. Another fan joined him, then another, and then more as it spread around the dome like the plague.

Tebow. Tebow. Tebow!

The Broncos Hopeful were sure that the changes that had been made during and after the lockout would bring them a step closer to their glory days with Elway. Especially since the man himself was now the VP of Football Operations. Although one change had not been made and that was at quarterback. Many fans did not care for starting QB Kyle Orton's play style, not when they had Tim Tebow sitting on the bench. The fans wanted the former Gator to lead their team, not the guy they got when Jay Culter was traded to Chicago. With this first loss, agitated fans were already calling for him and it would certainly be all of ESPN. For now, none of them would get that change until there was not hope for Orton in the coaching staff but as the French say,

 "Que sera, sera."

A soft sigh escaped from the mouth of a young woman as she made her way down the long concrete tunnel under Sports Authority Field towards the team's dressing room. Her long brown hair seemed to be the only normal thing about her. She was tall for a woman and with heels even taller, but she had moderate curves that gave her body a dose of elegance. Her pale skin seemed to glow in the low light, giving her a mysterious air about her. Her eyes, however, were the most unique. They shined bright with life, one blue and the other green. More often than not bringing more attention to her than she cared for. Not that it phased her as much anymore. She had grown used to all the curious people, who always asked the same questions.

 The sigh came about as she thought about how the loss wasn't going to make her job any easier, but it was part of the job description: she had to report it all. When she entered the room she noted that most of the guys looks disappointed, but not of them looked too upset by the loss. She didn't get much time to study any of them because one of her good friends ran over to her, lifted her off the ground, an spun her around. The girl couldn't help but laugh at his ecstatic greeting. Once the man sat her down, he gave her a bear hug and said,

"Did I look good out there, Emi?"   

Emeline Holmes laughed at his question for a moment and then became serious, cocking her head to the side and folding her arms over chest.

"Did you look good out thee? Hmm, no...." She trailed off as she saw the wide receiver's face fall and a grin crept it's way onto her lips. She brought her dainty hand up to cup his eye black smear cheer, rubbing her thumbing against his prickly facial hair before she asked him in return,

"When don't you look good, Eric?"

Eric Decker, a second year player out of the University of Minnesota, smiled broadly and chuckled heartily at his smaller companion.

"You know what I mean."

"I do?" She challenged back and stuck her tongue out at him. Yes, she did know exactly what he meant, but it was so much more fun to mess with him.

"You do," Eric pointed out rolling his eyes, "Did I play good?"

She pondered for a moment or two, stroking her chin for show before she in turn asked, "Did you have a touchdown?"

"No..." He admitted, hanging his head in shame.

"Then you sucked." Emi informed him, giving him a shove, "GAH! C'mon man, think about it?! Did you contribute?"

Eric shrugged he knew he had caught a couple of passes, but it wasn't enough to make a huge impact on the game. He wasn't the only one who hadn't contributed enough, they were a team. They would win and lose together as a team.

"Hey, Emi, leave the kid alone. He didn't do anything to be picked apart by you." Eddie Royal commented from his stall as he watched the exchange. Emi cocked her head to the side and then asked with a completely straight face,

"Wha'chu talkin' bout, foo?"

The whole room burst into laughter when she said this to the older man. They weren't laughing because her question was funny or that impersonation of a black person was funny, they laughed because they hadn't expected her to be calm about it. On a normal day, she might've tried to take a person's head off. One of the guys who was usually on her bad side was, Brady Quinn and he spoke up to address it.

"Emi Lu, are you sick? Where's the fireworks?"

"Up your mother's butt. Suck it Trebek!" She mocked him with a sassy smile, which shut the Notre Dame grad up, immediately.

"That's what she said!" Eric chimed in, feeling left out now. Emi then turned to him,

"No, that's what Sean Connery told your mother to do last night."

More laughter ensued at her burn, but Eric was not going to let her win that easily and he decided to go for a low blow,

"Are you sure that's not what Tim asked you to do last night?"

Her jaw dropped and eyes almost popped out of her head as did most of the other players, but a well trained eye could see that her reaction was just a ploy to cover up the blush that now colored her cheeks.

"That's too far." She growled at him, her flashing with warning. He couldn't help but smile, smugly as he watched her squirm.

"Yeah, c'mon! Tim's too innocent for that!" Broncos rookie

Emi rolled her at him and tried to avoid making eye contact with anyone, but she found herself stealing glances at Tim. Her face heated up and she looked away in an attempt to calm herself down before looking back at Tim to see him smiling at her. She smiled back at him because she didn't want to send the wrong impression. He was always so kind to everyone even if they weren't very polite back. His selflessness was one of his greatest qualities. He was also the only person who didn't say anything about her eyes when they first met last year. Not a word. He didn't even act like it bothered him. It made her feel normal, like every other girl.

She was about to go over to talk to him, but Chris called her back into the real world just before she lost touch with it,

"Emi! Come on! we gotta finish up!"

"I'd love to hang more but duty calls." Emi informed the guys with a wink before turning on her heel to leave. Eric caught her by the wrist as she walked by him,

"Are you gonna come clubbing with us tonight?"

Considering his invitation for a moment, she shook her head. She wasn't really feeling up to it.

"Nah, I think I am going to my birthday present from last year and have a movie night instead. Thanks anyway, I might go out when you guys win." She frowned and then went to go watch the interviews with Chris.

Afterwards the press conferences were finished, she bid Chris goodbye before making her way out of the building and walking out to her white Jeep Wrangler in the employee parking lot. 

As Emi walked out to her car, she looked up at the Denver skyline with the Colorado Rockies jutting out from behind to create a beautiful back drop on this beautiful fall day. It was on days like this that she truly understood why people call this 'God's Country'. I inhaled, deeply, breathing is the fresh mountain air and noted the crisp undertone that hinted at the bitter winter to come. The thought of winter made her long for someone to curl up with her by a crackling fire, someone to keep her warm during those long, cold winter nights. But alas, She doubted that would happen for her this year, even though she wanted it so much. A voice calling her name from behind brought Emi out of her brooding thoughts.

"Emi! Wait up!"

She knew that voice like she knew her own. It was a voice she could pick out in a crowded room of people. It was Tim's voice. She knew it because only the way he said her name could make her tremble. Sighing, she turned around to face him.

"Hey." Emi greeted him with a smile as he caught up to her. Tim smiled back at her before he said,

"You know it's not very nice to walk over to someone, acting like you're gonna talk to them, then turn and go the other way."

She blushed because she had been caught avoiding him. Part of her hoped that he didn't realize the real reason why she didn't come over to him and the other part of her wished he had.

"I'm sorry, I was going to but Eric jumped me as soon as I walked in and then Chris called me away before I could say anything." She explained to him with a shrug, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Yeah, I noticed your interaction with Eric." Tim asked with a teasing smile. Emi glared, playfully at him before defending myself,

"Yeah, well about that. I'm sorry he drug you into it."

Tim laughed because he knew this was true and agreed with her,

 "It's all good. He could've said worse... You could've said worse"

Emi nodded her head in agreement with him. She knew if it had gone on any longer she would've accused Eric of having a small penis, but she wouldn't tell Tim that. She definitely didn't want to offend him. She was relieved that they were almost to her Jeep so they wouldn't have to continue this awkward conversation.

"Well, this is my stop. I'll see you later this week?" She inquired as she dug in her purse for her keys to unlock the doors.

"Yeah, of course. See ya later, Em." He agreed and then continued on his way to his own car. She couldn't help but stare at him as he did so...

She forced herself to look away and her eyes landed on Brady heading out to his own car. So she climbed up into her jeep and hollered across the parking lot,

"Hey, Brady! Alicia says she loves you!"

The man in question merely waved her off before he, too, got into his blue Ford F-150. She rolled her eyes at him as she started up her jeep and pulled out of the parking lot.

****

Country music leaked out into the hall as she opened the door to the apartment she shared with her older brother, Xavier. She grimaced because he was currently on a country kick. She didn't really care that much for country music. The only things it was good for were drinking, cheating, and other depressing stuff like that. The song he was listening to was not one of them.

'Cowboy take me away. Fly this girl as high as you can, into the wild blue. Set me free, oh I pray, closer heaven above and closer to you.'

"Hey, X, turn that Dixie Chicks shit off or turn it down so I can't hear it. Please!" She asked him as she set her keys down on the counter top in the kitchen and walked into the living/dining room where he was currently seated on the lazy boy.

She flopped face down on their giant tan sectional sofa before he could answer her. However, he did turn down his music so that theycould have a comfortable conversation.

"Long day?" Xavier inquired, jokingly, "I heard everyone at the stadium was chanting for your man."

Lifting my head off the sofa cushion, she sent her brother the best glare she could muster up before rebutting what he had just said,

"He's not 'my man'..."

"Yeah, sure he's not. You only have a lunch date with him practically every other day. You text each other all the time." X paused to think and then looked at his watch, 

"I bet he text's you as soon as he gets home tonight. But anyways, when are you gonna own up to your feelings and just ask him to go out with you as more than friends?"

She shrugged and shook her head. She would have by now if he was anyone other than who he was,

"It's not that easy. I can't just ask Tim out. He's not like other guys. There are so many things he has to do. What if he doesn't even like me like that?"

"Emi, life is about taking chances and well, if Timmy Tebow doesn't like you then you should move on. You can't just hold back or stand on the sidelines. You've gotta take the bull by the horns and discover things for yourself."

Groaning because she knew what he was saying was the truth even though she hated to admit it, but who said she had to? So she just ignored him and asked instead,

"Are we gonna go down to the farm tomorrow?"

Xavier smiled and nodded, looking at his watch again. Just as he was about to say something, her phone vibrated signaling that she had received a txt message. X sent her a cocky smile because he thought he knew who it was. She didn't want to look at her phone. She didn't want to give him that satisfaction but she did and it was who he thought it was...

Tim Tebow: iMessage