Josh

“We won!” I rushed, with all the other players, to where the girls (and Ezra) were, because now, I had someone to celebrate with.

Jumping up onto the fence, I held on tight with one hand and extended the other for a high five. Ezra slapped my palm with his own, not holding back (which I appreciated, because weak high fives were boring).

“I told you we’d win,” I said, somewhat grandly. “Your luck worked.”

“You’re welcome,” he responded, laughing.

I smiled at him. “We haven’t won a game in forever. You’ve gotta come more, you might just turn out to be our good luck charm.”

He nodded a little, tentatively. “If you want me here.”

“As long as we’re winning, you can come.” I paused. “You can come if we’re losing, too, I guess, but it’s less fun.”

“Noted.”

One of the girls at Ezra’s side nudged him gently. “You sure?” she asked, which made no sense to me.

“Oh my god, Anise. Stop.” Ezra sighed. “It’s nothing.”

She shrugged. “If you say so.”

I frowned. “What…?”

“Nothing,” he assured me. “Want to raid my snack stash when we get back to the room?”

I sensed an obvious distraction, but at the words ‘snack stash’, my stomach growled loudly.

“Yeah,” I admitted, “that would be great.”

“Okay.” He paused. “Should I give you your jacket back, or…”

“Keep it. You fit in it better than I do.”

He blushed. “Okay. Th-thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” I jumped back off the fence. “I’ll catch up with you after I take a shower, okay?”

“Okay.”

I left, vaguely seeing the same girl-- Anise-- poke some more fun at Ezra for… something.

-+-+-+-+-+-

“Hey.” I ran a hand through my still-damp hair as I went back into my and Ezra’s room.

He was sitting in the window seat, still in the same pants and shirt, wearing my jacket.

He looked strangely… attractive.

I pushed the thought aside when he offered me a bag of white cheddar popcorn. I took it and joined him in the window seat, opening the bag with a little bit of difficulty.

“I don’t know much about football, but that seemed like a really good game,” he said quietly. “You scored like three… hoops?”

“Goals. And it was four, but that’s not important. The whole team worked together.” I nudged him until he would look at me, then said honestly, “Thanks for coming.”

“Oh. Uh, yeah. Of course.”

“So you’ll come to another one?”

“Yeah, sure.” He hesitated before asking, “Can I really keep the jacket?”

I cocked my head at him. “I told you that you could, didn’t I?”

“I mean, yeah, but…” He worried his bottom lip, clearly anxious. “The only other people who wear the players’ jackets are their girlfriends. Won’t people get the wrong idea?”

I hadn’t thought about that-- when I’d offered it to him, or when I’d told him that he could keep it. And even now, when I was thinking about it, I found that I… didn’t really care about it. So what if everyone else in a letterman was someone’s significant other? Ezra and I weren’t like that, and everyone important knew the truth.

“Maybe, but I don’t care,” I admitted honestly.

“Oh. Um, okay…” He pulled the jacket a little tighter around himself. “Thanks for letting me keep it. It’s really comfortable. Should I… give you something, too?”

“There’s no need, really.” I shrugged. “I don’t wear that jacket much-- it’s just a status symbol as a football player, and, like you saw, most players give them away to people they care about. I’ve seen players give them to little brothers, too, not just girlfriends.”

“Oh.” He had a small frown on his face. I couldn’t tell why.

“I’m…” I paused. “I’m glad we’re getting along.”

“Yeah,” he said, kind of offhandedly, as he stared out the window into the night. “Yeah, me too.”

“Are you okay?” I asked. He seemed kind of… distant, and it made me inexplicably worried.

He shrugged. “Fine.”

“Okay…”