Change Your Ticket

Despite my exhaustion from having been up at five thirty in the morning to catch this plane, I was elated when it finally touched down. For the first time in weeks I was back on Massachusetts soil, and so were my best friends. I quickly collected my bag from the baggage claim carousel before heading out of the airport to meet the boys and wait for Aaron. Before I had made it completely out of the door I was greeted with their familiar faces.

“Look who showed up,” Jayden teased.

“I’m surprised he’s not in pajamas,” Jared joked.

I hadn’t even thought about traveling in pajamas, it would have made the plane ride way more comfortable. As usual the boys continued giving me a hard time, rubbing in my face the times they left at.

Aaron arrived shortly and we all piled into his van. It was almost a surreal experience driving through town with the guys again. Everything felt like it was back in order, like we’d never left. We arrived at Aaron house shortly and made ourselves at home, leaving our bags at the front entrance. All of intended to sleep at home, at least for tonight.

Once everyone was settled the endless banter started. The five of us conversing about anything and everything. We sounded like a group of girls we made fun of when we were naive little freshman. A month may not be a long time to be away but it was. Especially when you go from seeing someone everyday to not seeing them at all.

“So does Max know we’re here?” Jayden asked.

I shook my head. I was going to tell Max the night Josylne called me upset. After that whole debacle I decided against it, knowing she would be mad at Max for keeping her in the dark. It was time to not put Max in the middle of things.

Unfortunately the conversation quickly changed to college and football. I knew the boys knew I wasn’t starting, and I was grateful when they didn’t bring it up. Instead, they talked about classes and the schools in general. Up until this point I figured everyone was loving college except for me, thankfully that wasn’t the case. Jared was having a hard time adjusting to Florida’s unnecessary humidity, Aaron was stuck in the shadows of his high school career at Amherst and Jayden was struggling with some of his teammates. The only one of us who was having a good time was Jason, which wasn’t too surprising except that the only reason he liked Texas was because of some girl.

“So the real question Jas, is who is that mysterious blondie that’s all over your profiles?” Aaron questioned.

Jason was never one to shy away from talking about girls, but suddenly he was speechless. As far as I knew he had met her at orientation and they lived in the same building. Though I knew it was more than that seeing as she was the only girl Jason was ever posing with pictures with. Jason’s lack of sexual retorts lead me to believe something was going on between him and Miss Texas.

“Are you dating her?” I asked.

When Jason responded with a head nod the room erupted into hollers. For as long as we’d known Jason he was never about relationships. I had a flashback to the countless times we hung out last year trying to convince us all to break up with our ladies, because college was no place for commitment.
“What happened to Mr. I’m just here to have fun?”

“Didn’t we tell you that you’d end up falling hard for some random girl?”

“We should have made a bet with him! We could be rolling in cash right now.”

“Oh fuck off,” Jason finally retorted. He excused himself momentarily, only to come back with a round of bear bottles from Aaron’s fridge. “Her name is Maci by the way, and she’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Look at our little Jason all grown up and in love!” Jayden teased.

“Whatever Emmerce. What about you idiots? Jared where’s Ash?”

Listening to the boys complain about their long distances relationships was somewhat reassuring. As horrible as it was that everyone was struggling, it also made it seem better. No one had figured out how to handle it. Jared and Ashley were having trust issues, nothing that was new. Apparently they hadn’t spoken in a week and he had no idea if she was going to fly out for the game. Aaron and Sam were okay they just weren’t talking much. She was busy with the advanced program she was in over there. Even Jayden was having trouble, despite him being the closest to home.

“She’s pissed at me cause I haven’t been home. I also told her I wasn’t coming to the game this week, cause I wanted to surprise her, but she didn’t take it well. I’ll be surprised if she even acknowledges my presence tonight.”

“Your sister isn’t too happy with me either,” I confessed. “I kinda neglected to tell her about my football debacle and she found out from some kid on the Mass High team.”

“Now that you brought it up, what’s going on with that whole thing?” Jason asked.

I gave them the gist of what happened. How, for some reason, they had given my position to some junior who was just all right. The boys didn’t press the issue more, clearly understanding it was a touchy subject with me.

“With any luck he’ll break something and the spot will be rightfully yours,” Jason added.

Leave it to Jason to wish harm on others for me. If that wasn’t true friendship I wasn’t sure what was.



When we piled into the van hours later, it was weird. Here we were, driving to Mass High on a Friday night but instead of being in our jerseys we were wearing plain Mass High shirts. Sure, we had our varsity jackets but it just felt weird. I felt like I was in some alternate universe. We decided to park in the back lot to avoid anyone seeing us.

The original plan was to just show up on the field right before kick off. We soon realized that wasn’t going to work unless we had the field passes from Coach. The game wasn’t set to start for another hour meaning Coach would be in his office and the team would be elsewhere. Thankfully we were right, the locker room was empty aside from Coach.

“What are you boys doing here?” he marveled.

“What? You’d think we’d miss the first/Homecoming game of the season?” I smirked.

“How come you didn’t tell me? I could have used you boys at practice today.”

“It’s kind of a surprise.”

Coach nodded his head. Before we got the chance to ask for the field passes he handed them too us. Joking about how it was going to be tempting not to put us in tonight.

Back in the stadium, the team was heading off to the locker rooms while the stands were filling up with people. Just as we arrived to the entrance gate, the team had left. I’d just have to wait for Josylne and Max to come out of the banner to see them.

Much to Jared’s surprise, Ashley ended up showing up tonight. The two of them spotting each other from a mile away. They didn’t run to each other, though Jared did end up spinning her around when they finally reached each other. Jayden’s welcome wasn’t as warming. Miranda eyed him carefully, almost as if she wasn’t sure it was him. When she was sure she practically burst into tears. I stayed for a minute to greet my sister, knowing there was no way of her telling Jos I was here since the cheerleaders didn’t see the team again. After I headed up to the bleachers.

Josylne wasn’t the only girl I had come to see. Climbing the bleacher stairs two at a time I finally found who I was looking for. Perched on her father’s leg was Lexis, wearing Josylne’s old jersey; Cassadee sitting right beside her. Cass saw me first tapping Trevor lightly to get him to look. The two of them chuckled softly, startling Lexis who looked up at the two of them. Their distraction allowed me enough time to get to them without Lexis seeing me.

“Hey Lex,” I greeted from an empty space behind her.

The toddler whipped her head back so fast I was sure she was going to fall from her space on Trevor’s lap. Luckily he kept her balanced. Lexis let out a scream causing the surrounding area to groan. She immediately grabbed for my arm.

“Parker!”

“Don’t you look cute in Josy’s jersey.”

“What are you doing here?” Cassadee asked.

“The guys and I decided to fly in and surprise everyone. Jayden’s here too.”

I stayed up in the bleachers a while more. When I left to go back to the field Lexis wouldn’t let go of me. It took a few extra minutes of convincing her I wasn’t going anywhere. She finally released her death grip on me and I hustled my way back down to the field.

When I reached the others, they were standing with the cheerleaders. The team was set to come out soon so they were getting ready to hold the banner. Before running out to the field Miranda handed me something.

“It’s Jos’s jersey. I was wearing it this morning but I’m sure she’d like you to have it.” With that she ran out onto the field to meet the rest of the cheer team.

Without hesitation I slipped my jacket off, pulling the jersey over me. Of course, the boys laughed at my actions. Brushing it off, I put my jacket back on before turning my attention back to the field.

“Never thought I’d see the day you’d be wearing Josylne’s jersey.”

“Never did I think I’d be watching her play in an actual game.”

Just then, the Mass High fight song started and the team broke through the banner. Max leading the back with Josylne following suit. Once they were through Max paused, letting the rest of the team take the field. From what I could see he was talking to Ava who then pointed in our general direction.

Before long the guys and I were met with the familiar faces of our team. Max of course was shouting about how betrayed he felt. Saying something like we had kicked him out of our group. We reassured him that that wasn’t the case. While the others stayed chatting with former teammates and new additions, I snuck glances at Josylne.

She hadn’t seen me yet. The minute she broke through the banner she went straight to practice kicking. I knew how nervous she was. Unlike everyone else on the team she had never played in an actual game of football, at least not one where there was something to lose.

Despite my better judgement I left the safety of the boys and headed to where she was practicing. I quickly asked Hutch to give us a minute, leaving me alone with Jos-who still hadn’t seen me. Nerves ran through me as I waited for her to turn around, fearful of what her reaction would be. Before I had much time to back out she turned around, her hands immediately flying to cover her gaping mouth.

“Parker?” she whimpered.