Explosions

October 4, 2015. It was a day that would stay in Charlie’s mind for the rest of her life. Two months after her conference in New York. Six months since their trip to Punta Cana. Seven months since Ryan was traded to the Jets.

She woke up that morning, barely able to contain her excitement for the game. If J.J. knew something big was going to happen today, she was sure something big was definitely happening today.

Her phone rang at nine that morning. J.J.’s face popped up on her caller I.D., and she answered it with a smile.

“Hi, baby,” she said. “How’s Atlanta?”

“It’s good,” said J.J. “I just thought I would call my favorite girl before warm-ups today.” There were a few voices on the other line. “Oh, Brian and Christian say hi.”

“Tell them I said hello and good luck today,” chuckled Charlie. “Are you okay? You never call me.”

“I just wanted you to know that I love you,” said J.J. “I know today’s going to be huge. I can feel it. Can you feel it too?”

“Yes, babe,” she said. “Are you ready for it?”

“I can’t wait to squash Matty Ice like a little bug,” he laughed.

Charlie giggled when she heard all the other defensive guys begin cheering in the background. Someone turned the music up, and she could imagine them all dancing and singing along. She shook her head.

“When we win today, I’m gonna take you out for the biggest dinner you’ve ever had in your life. Maybe in a completely different city. Have you ever been to Galveston?”

“Yes, J.J., we went to Galveston together, remember?” said Charlie. “J.J., please don’t psych yourself out before this game.”

“Babe, we’re going to win this,” he replied.

“I don’t have any doubts that you’ll win this, but you need to keep the same mindset for every game. You need to keep a clear head.”

“Oh, shit. Babe, I gotta go. We’re heading onto the field for warm-ups now.”

“Okay,” said Charlie. “I’ll pick you up tonight, okay? Good luck, Justin!”

“I love you, Charlie,” said J.J. “I’ll see you tonight.”

He quickly hung up the phone, and she sat down on the couch with a cup of coffee. She flipped through the news on her computer and checked her emails, but after an hour, she was tired of waiting for the game to start. Something didn’t feel right.

Charlie changed into her leggings and her J.J. Watt jersey, and she went into the kitchen. The radio was playing a new song, and she turned it up louder. She danced around the kitchen, cleaning up and beginning to busy her mind. She hadn’t noticed her phone going off until it was a half hour before game time, when she finally shut the radio off and grabbed a beer. She glanced down and saw June’s name on her screen, and she picked it up.

“Junebug,” she said. “Happy Sunday!”

“Charlie,” June said. Her voice was distant and raspy. “I’ve been trying to call you for forty-five minutes now.”

“Sorry, I was just”-

“Turn on ESPN,” June said. Her voice was shaking now.

“June, you’re scaring me,” said Charlie. “Is everything okay?”

She grabbed the remote and turned the television on. She flipped through the channels until she got to ESPN, listening to June’s quiet breathing. Charlie’s heart stopped, and she sat down on the edge of the coffee table.

“-surfaced after the Texans’ win over the Buccaneers last week. In them is Watt’s girlfriend entering and leaving a restaurant with Fitzpatrick. Other photos from the unknown source show photos of the pair entering a hotel but not leaving.”

“June…” Charlie said.

“Charlie, I’m so sorry,” said June.

“We have not been able to reach out to Watt or Fitzpatrick for comment, and we are not sure if either of them even knows about these photos. Is this even Charlotte Elliott in these photos? What was she doing in New York?”

Charlie slid onto the floor, staring at the T.V. and breathing sharply. Her hands began shaking, and she dropped the phone.

“What will happen now? I guess we will see in today’s game against the undefeated Falcons.”

The game was a total loss. The Falcons won 48 to 14, and J.J. had all but been silenced. She sat in the same spot on the floor for three hours, her heart and head pounding in her ears. She watched the whole game in disbelief, and then she continued to sit there.

Charlie was finally able to break away from the television as her phone buzzed again. She looked down and noticed a text from her sister. It was a screenshot from her Facebook page of J.J. Watt trending and the reason he was trending. The text read, What’s going on???, but Charlie didn’t answer. Instead, she brought herself to go on the Internet and search herself.

The article came up almost immediately. There were twenty photos in total. There were ones of her entering the restaurant with Ryan. There were ones of her holding his hands and drinking wine with him. There were ones of her laughing and leaning on him. Whoever had taken the photos had been persistent. They’d followed them on the bus and back to her hotel.

The photos ended with one moment she remembered through the haze of the night. He was helping her into the elevator, and she had put her hands on his face. She scanned her own face. Her eyes were so bright, and her smile shone from ear to ear. She shook her head.

“You know…”

She looked up at the T.V.

J.J. was at the podium, and he was scratching his chin.

“There’s a lot I could say, but I think this is something I need to talk with Charlie about first,” he said.

“What are your first impressions of the photos?” asked a reporter.

“First impressions?” J.J. said. “I guess I’m a little nervous, but this conference isn’t about these photos – photos I still haven’t seen yet. This is about the loss to the Falcons. If there’s something out there that involves my girlfriend, that’s between her and me.”

There were some mumbled questions, but he shook his head.

“No, I’m not talking about anything but football today,” he said.

He waited patiently before leaving the podium. Coach O’Brien spoke next. They didn’t ask him about the photos. Brian Hoyer spoke after Coach, and no one asked him about the photos either. Charlie wasn’t surprised. They were trying to blame J.J. for something, be it their apparently failing relationship or today’s loss.

An hour and a half after his press conference, Charlie got a text from J.J. She snatched for her phone quickly, expecting a paragraph from him. She had expected him to question her or demand answers. He didn’t. The text said only, Cush’s bringing me home. See you tonight.

Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe. Her skin grew warmer and her heart began racing. Her vision blurred as she stood and walked to the bathroom. She collapsed near the toilet and threw up.

---

Charlie waited in the kitchen. Her hands were shaking as she held her glass of water. She heard the door open, and her head shot up. She heard J.J.’s footsteps walking toward the hall, and she felt the pulse in her palms. She saw him. Her heart dropped.

“J.J.,” she said. She jumped off her chair. “J.J., please listen. I”-

He walked right by her. She grabbed for his hand, but he pulled away. He looked into her eyes, and she moved quickly to step in front of him.

“Please, listen to me,” she said.

He stopped and nodded. He set his bag down next to him and took his jacket off, and he crossed his arms.

“Did you sleep with him?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “We had dinner, and that was it.”

“Were you going to tell me?” said J.J.

Charlie shrugged and looked away from him. He rolled his eyes and moved to leave her, but she stopped him.

“I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t know if you trusted me again,” she said.

“Well, I did trust you, but I don’t anymore,” said J.J. “I thought this was over. What were you doing with him?”

“I ran into him after the conference on Saturday,” she said.

“You ‘ran into him’?” scoffed J.J. “It’s New York City, Charlotte. There are literally, like, three million people in that city. You just happened to run into the one person that you already knew?”

“I didn’t believe it either,” said Charlie.

“What was he doing in your hotel room?” asked J.J.

“I got drunk at the restaurant, and he helped me back to my room,” she said.

“If you were drunk, how do you know you didn’t sleep with him?”

“Because I know, J.J.”

“He didn’t leave until the morning.”

“I asked him to stay with me.”

“Why?”

“I was lonely!” cried Charlie. “You had barely spoken to me since our anniversary, and I was sick of being alone. I told him how I was feeling, and I cried and asked him to stay.”

“Why didn’t you talk to me?” asked J.J.

“How do I come to you and tell you that you’re not loving me right?” she said.

Charlie waited for him. He shook his head.

“Is that what you think?” he asked.

“That’s what I thought then,” she replied.

“And what about now?” said J.J.

“It’s…it’s gotten better,” she said. “J.J., I was lonely, and he was a familiar face.”

“It’s gotten better, but it’s not how it used to be, is it?” he asked.

“J.J.”-

“Is it?” he snapped.

Charlie jumped at the tone of his voice, but she didn’t reply. He stared at her a moment. He uncrossed his arms and put his hands on top of his head nervously. He ran his hands down his face.

“You changed,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“You did, too,” he said. “Look, I don’t really know how to process this right now, so I’m just going to go to bed. There’s plenty of other rooms in this house. I don’t really want to be in the same one as you.”

J.J. picked up his bag and left her standing in the hall. A moment later, she heard a door upstairs slam. She covered her mouth with her hand as she began sobbing. She didn’t go to sleep that night. She just sat there in the hall, trying to stop shaking.

---

Earlier that day, after the Jets beat the Dolphins, Ryan had been immediately bombarded near the locker room. Having been on the field at the time of the photos’ release, he had no idea what anyone was talking about. The coaching staff made sure they stayed out of the locker room while they had their team post-game, but Ryan knew he couldn’t avoid them once he tried to leave.

He sat with Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker, the Jets’ wide receivers who had quickly become his friends here. Brandon clapped him on the back as Ryan looked through the photos online. He shook his head.

“Post-game, here I come,” he sighed, standing up.

The interview room was completely packed. Ryan could barely get in the door, but when people saw him, they made a path. The room was abuzz with questions from all around. He tried to answer everything with something that had happened in the game, but it became a game to them. He finally shrugged and gave up.

“Okay,” he said. “I know you guys are all here to ask me about these photos, not the divisional game we just won going into our bye week. I’ve been trying to be as patient as possible, but it seems like you’re just going to keep asking the same questions over and over again.

“I’m going to say this as loudly and as clearly as possible,” he continued. “Nothing happened. I would never go behind J.J.’s back like that. Despite anything that may have happened in Houston, I still consider him a friend. Charlie would never do that to him either. I’d like to remind all of you that you are reporters for a sports station, not a gossip one. The only questions you should be asking J.J. and myself are about football.”

The room began to hum, but he continued.

“Charlie is a great person,” he said. “If any of you opened your eyes, you’d see it. Everyone around her loves her. She does not deserve you people ruining her life. I know none of you care about her life, but the rest of us do. So please, if you’re going to ruin someone’s life…” He paused and looked around. The reporters all waited anxiously for him, and he finished, “Find someone else, but don’t ruin hers.”