Explosions

J.J. lived up to his promise. With Charlie watching from the front office’s suite, he recorded a sack, a recovered fumble, a blocked field goal, and a swatted ball. After his blocked field goal, he pointed up to the box where she sat and blew a kiss her direction. She grinned.

Ryan threw a touchdown to DeAndre, and the sold-out crowd went nuts. It was their first regular season win at home in a very long time. The city of Houston came alive that afternoon, and George congratulated her on completing possibly the biggest task of her career. This would be huge.

After the game, she made her way down to the locker rooms. She could hear them before she got there. She never went in. That was their place of worship, and she’d only ever set foot in there once. It’s not that she wasn’t allowed. She’d been told before that she was welcome. She just didn’t feel it was her place.

The cheering slowed after a few minutes, and Coach O’Brien came out with the rest of his staff. He stopped and shook Charlie’s hand.

“Watt mentioned you got this crowd here today, Miss Elliot,” he said.

“I helped,” said Charlie, humbling herself.

“No need for that,” said Coach. “I just wanted to thank you. You’re doing great things for this organization. Watt speaks very highly of you.”

“Thank you, Coach,” Charlie replied. “Congrats on your first win.”

“Thanks,” he said, beaming. “Now it’s off to post-game.”

“I’ll see you there!” Charlie said.

Some of the players made their way out. Charlie congratulated them, and they either shook her hand or hugged her. She saw Ryan come out, and he smiled at her. She put her arms out, and he hugged her. She was reminded of all those times she’d waited for him in college, but she shook the thought from her mind when he let go of her.

“Big win today,” he said.

“Yeah, congrats!” she said. “You doing post-game?”

“Dressed like this?” laughed Ryan. “I’d never hear the end of it from my mom.”

Charlie smiled and said, “Well, congratulations, and I’ll be seeing you around soon.”

“Same to you, Char,” replied Ryan.

She saw J.J. come out of the locker room out of the corner of her eye as Ryan began walking away from her. He picked her up around the hips and kissed her on the cheek. She put her arms around his neck.

“You did it,” said J.J., squeezing her a little tighter.

“You did it!” giggled Charlie.

“We did it,” said J.J.

“Okay, okay,” said Charlie. “Now put me down. You gotta go to post-game.”

“Mhm, but I love you,” said J.J.

He set her back down gingerly and kissed the top of her head. She blushed and took his hand. He led her down the hall and into the pressroom. Coach O’Brien was just finishing up, and Charlie moved to the side of the room. The room got quiet as he left the podium. Then it was J.J.’s turn.

A couple cameras flashed, but he was as calm and collected as ever. He almost made it the whole interview with a smile on his face, nothing out of the ordinary. Someone from ESPN asked him what his drive was for playing so hard today, and he chuckled.

“If we won today, my girlfriend, Charlie, was gonna take me out for dinner,” J.J. said. “I never pass up an opportunity like that.”

The room rumbled a little with laughter from all the reporters. Then, just as June had guessed and just as Charlie had dreaded, a reporter from a local gossip magazine raised her hand.

“What do you think of your girlfriend, Charlie, having a previous relationship with your new quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick?” she asked.

Charlie’s palms began sweating, and J.J.’s expression changed slightly. His smile disappeared, but he didn’t seem angry or upset. In fact, he was blank. The room began to hum. The reporter had a small smirk on her face. Charlie wanted nothing more than to cross the room and punch the lady square in her jaw. She glanced over at Coach O’Brien and a few of the players standing near him. Their faces were confused, and a couple of them whispered among themselves.

“You know, she and I have talked about it,” J.J. said finally. “It doesn’t bother me. It was a long time ago, and she and I have very good communication about that stuff. Ryan and I are becoming friends. He’s one of my brothers now. We’re all in good places in our lives.”

A few more hands shot up, but he shook his head.

“I’m here to talk about football and football only,” he said. “Are there any more questions about that?”

A couple hands stayed up, and Charlie ducked out of the room. Ryan was walking toward the room, and she stopped him.

“Don’t,” she said. “You don’t want to go in there.”

His eyebrows went up quizzically.

“Just…trust me,” she said.

“Where’s J.J.? Do you need me to walk you to your car?” he asked.

“I’ll be fine,” said Charlie. “I’m gonna wait for him at the tunnel.”

“Okay,” said Ryan. “Is everything okay?”

“Ryan…”

She looked up as Brian Cushing and Arian Foster came out of the pressroom. They paused awkwardly, and everyone stood there for a second, silent.

“J.J.’s just finishing up,” said Brian.

“Thanks,” said Charlie. She turned to Ryan and said, “They know. Just…be honest with people if they ask you anything.”

The door opened again, and J.J. joined the group.

“Charlie, you ready to go?” he asked.

“Yeah,” said Charlie.

J.J. and Ryan shook hands.

“Good game today man,” said J.J. “See you Tuesday.”

“Same to you,” said Ryan.

---

Ryan opened his eyes and looked around. It was morning time, and the sunlight was filtering in through the blinds. There was a blonde girl at his side, Liza, breathing slowly. He heard his phone beep once. He rubbed his eyes, and he reached over her to his side table. She stirred and turned away from him. He grabbed his phone.

There were three voicemails, all from the previous night. He groaned and sat up. He pulled his sweatpants on and got out of bed. Liza stayed asleep as he left the room to sit on the couch.

The first voicemail began with a girl sniffling and then taking a couple deep breaths.

“Ryan…um, it’s me. It’s…it’s Charlie. I just really needed to hear your voice. I miss you. I…god, I miss you so much. I’m sorry. I just wanted to talk to you. Um…I’m gonna go. Call me if you want to. Or, you know…whatever.”

It ended abruptly, and Ryan waited a minute. He set his phone down and looked at it. Her voice was so foreign to him. It had been two weeks since he’d even looked at a photo of her, let alone heard her voice. He blinked a few times, took a deep breath, and picked his phone back up.

The second voicemail started a little quieter.

“Hi. It’s me again. I know you’re probably ignoring me, but…Ryan, I’m so sorry. I should have supported you and been there for you, and I’m just…I’m so mad at myself, looking back. I should have told you I loved you more. I should have…” She began crying. “I’m just so sorry. Please, I want to be with you. Will you call me? Please.”

She cried another moment before hanging up. He heard a noise in the entryway, and he looked up. It was Liza.

“Ryan?” she asked. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, just got a couple messages that I’m checking,” replied Ryan. “Go back to bed. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Okay,” said Liza.

She disappeared back into the bedroom and shut the door. He’d seen her a couple times over the last few weeks. He didn’t really see it going anywhere, but it was helping him not think about Charlie. He put his phone back up to his ear.

“Ryan, don’t call.” This time, it was June. “I don’t know what she said to you, but I know she called. Don’t call her. Don’t text her. Don’t even think about her. She’s making this her fault when everyone knows full and well that this is on you. If I find out that you’ve called her, I will personally find you and break your fucking fingers.”

Ryan deleted the messages and put his phone on the coffee table as he stood up. He rejoined Liza in his bed. He put his arms around her, but she felt wrong.

---

Charlie played with the base of her wine glass nervously. She stared at her pasta, possibly willing it to move or disappear or do something other than sit there. She crossed and uncrossed her ankles nervously.

J.J. touched her hand, causing her to jump. He smiled at her.

“Hey, hi,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” sighed Charlie.

“It’s fine,” he chuckled. “Are you okay?”

She shook her head and folded her hands in her lap.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” she said. “About the reporter.”

“Babe, it’s fine,” said J.J. “It’s not your fault. I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t see it coming. Once you told me, I figured someone like her was going to bring it up. It’s just people trying to distract me from football and get a rise out of the team.”

“Are you sure you’re not bothered by it?” asked Charlie.

“I’m sure, Char,” he said. “I meant what I said when she asked me.”

Charlie tried to smile. She said, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” said J.J. “And I’m so glad I got to eat this dinner with you tonight. This is delicious, babe. Thank you.”

Charlie did smile this time, and she said, “Anything for my favorite man.”

“I’ve been upgraded to man now, huh?” chuckled J.J. “Not just player?”

“You’re more than just a football player to me. You know that.”

J.J. smiled as the waiter brought the check to Charlie. She took it gladly.