Fourth Down and Dirty: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (16 page)

It had been a
couple hours or so since Ivy left my house. I still hadn’t heard from her, not
that I was at all surprised by that. She wasn’t the type to call or text me very
often. On top of that, she had stormed out of my place after spewing a storm of
insults at me.

What she said got
me thinking, but it didn’t change the fact that I was upset by the way she
spoke to me. What hurt the most was thinking how low she thought of me. Even
after all the time we had spent getting to know each other and connecting on a
deep level, she still thought of me the same way she did back when I first
walked into the Tutoring Center. I felt frustrated, but I knew the only way to
fix this and move forward was to actually talk to her.

I reached for my
phone, hoping she had already calmed down.

It went straight
to voicemail. I felt instant disappointment drop over me.

“Ivy,” I started,
“I just wanted to say that… Well, you were right about my dad. I called him and
now I know that I should do that more often.” I paused and said a muffled
‘bye,’ before ending the call. I leaned my head back against the wall and
waited for her to return my call. I knew it could be a while, but I had nothing
better to do. I felt pretty tired anyway so lounging on my balcony wasn’t
exactly a task.

I waited and
waited, but she never called back. When enough time had passed and she still
hadn’t called, I decided to text her.

“I want to talk. I get it now.”

There was still no
answer even to my text a long time later. I stared at my phone and gripped it
tightly to keep from hurling it off the balcony in a fit of anger. I stood up
and stumbled into my room, pacing back and forth in front of my bed. I knew she
needed time to calm down. She had been really upset, but I made the first move
and reached out twice. Was it not at least common courtesy for her to respond?

I felt slighted.

As I continued to
pace back and forth in my room I started to go over everything she had said to
me earlier that morning. It worked me into more anger at first, but then I
focused on her rant about being a good son. I thought of her mother and I
stopped, the blood draining from my face.

 
Every ounce of anger I felt turned to concern.
Something could have happened to her or her mother and here I was, worked up
over feeling rejected.

Ivy was more than
right to call me selfish. I didn’t want to be that guy anymore. I hated that
about myself. I stared out the window for a moment, thoughts racing. I needed
to know everything was okay with them.

Against my better
judgment, or more like I wasn’t thinking everything through, I called the
Tutoring Center. I explained I had been trying to get in contact with Ivy, but was
unable to and asked if they could help me. They told me they couldn’t give out
that kind of information so I asked if I could have Stella’s phone number,
figuring she would be willing to help me track Ivy down. Still they refused to
give me anything so I finally got fed up and dropped my father’s name. The
person on the other end of the line went silent for a moment before reluctantly
muttering Stella’s personal cellphone number.

I thanked them
begrudgingly and ended the call, quickly entering Stella’s number and calling.
When she answered after the third ring, I exhaled loudly in relief.

 
“Stella! This is Landon. Landon Bryce, Ivy’s
student, the football–”

“Landon,” Stella
cut me off, “I know who you are.” My heart sank. Stella’s voice sounded shaky and
it was clear she wasn’t in high spirits. I feared the worst.

Something was
wrong.

“Stella,” I said
in an equally shaky voice, “Are- Are you with Ivy?”

She sighed, “Yes,
we’re at the hospital with her mom.”

My blood ran cold.
Without a word I ended the call and rushed downstairs. As I bolted toward the
front door, my teammates who were hanging out in the living room asked where I
was off to in such a rush.

“Calm down, man!
The game isn’t this morning!” There was a round of laughter and I scurried to
grab the door handle. I didn’t have time for these childish exchanges or to
explain anything. Noah jogged up to me and asked what was going on.

I glanced over at
the guys, who were too preoccupied with their video game to care about what was
going on between Noah and I.

“Listen, Noah, I
have to go be with Ivy. It’s an emergency.” I gulped before going on, “I don’t
know, man, I might not even make it to the game.” I didn’t notice the others
had paused the game. They’d overheard everything. I heard my teammates scoff at
me, so I quickly stepped out to look at them. They were all looking at me like
I was completely crazy. I didn’t have time to deal with them or explain further
to Noah so I ran out to my car as fast as I could.

I didn’t even know
how fast I was driving as I made my way to the hospital, but all I could think
of was getting there as quickly as possible. I practically threw the keys at
the valet and ran inside, immediately spotting Ivy. Stella nudged her and
nodded toward me. The moment Ivy looked up she ran to me crying.

I immediately
wrapped her in my arms and held her tight. As much as I knew she was hurting
for her mother, I couldn’t help but feel immense relief knowing
she
was safe and sound. I felt better
just being there with her and all I wanted was to provide her with even the
tiniest bit of comfort.

That was when the
thought struck me—I must love her.
 

I had always put
myself first and nothing had ever stood in the way of football but here I was, not
even caring if I missed one of the most important games. It was the second time
she had broken through my wall of selfishness.

I was more
concerned about her than myself.

“It’s all my
fault,” I cried into his chest, “This is all my fault. She’s here because of
me, Landon. If I hadn’t been so selfish I’d have been home to pay close enough
attention to her. I would have noticed something was off. I would have picked
up on the symptoms. I could have avoided this!” I cried more and more, my tears
soaking through the thin fabric of his t-shirt as he held me tight.

 
“You know your mother would never blame you
like this and she wouldn’t be okay with you doing this to yourself either.” He
said as gently as possible.

I cried more. I
knew deep down he was right. All my mother ever wanted was for me to be happy,
but I was too consumed with guilt. Landon saw that side of me every day. I was
constantly worried about her. I hardly ever lived in the moment.
 
I stopped sobbing and held my breath thinking
about what he had just said. I thought of my mom, unconscious on the hospital
bed, and felt something I couldn’t make out.

My mother only
wanted me to find my flowers through the dirt.

That was the thing
that would make
her
the happiest. I
pulled back and looked into Landon’s eyes. He wiped away my tears and cupped my
face reassuringly. He was it.

“It’s you,” I
whispered. “You’re my flower that’s grown through all the dirt, Landon.” A
single tear slid down my cheek. He kissed it instead of wiping it away before
kissing me on the lips. I could taste the salt of my tear, but it was easily
the sweetest, most meaningful kiss I had ever experienced.

The kiss lingered,
our lips just touching. Neither of us wanted the moment to end. It was the only
real comfort I had felt through all of this. Landon finally pulled back enough
to look in to my eyes. I felt my chest tighten. He was looking at me in a way
he never had before. I suddenly felt nervous as he opened his mouth to speak.

“I love you, Ivy.”

It was three days
later, but my mother was still in the hospital. I had barely set foot outside
of the place the entire time. Stella had come by as often as she could to bring
me a change of clothes and food. She also kept me company, but I quickly felt
guilty about taking up my best friend’s precious little amount of free time.

“Stop that,”
Stella scolded me. She had even helped me get extensions from my professors,
all of them were very sympathetic to my situation.

The first day was
the hardest. My mom hadn’t regained consciousness and I was starting to fear
for the worst. Landon stayed by my side the entire time, but even that comfort
quickly started to fade away. By late night I was inconsolable, back to blaming
myself and sobbing relentlessly into my hands. Landon sat silently beside me. I
know he was wishing there was some way he could take away my pain.

As Landon rounded
outside the hospital room to head to the bathroom, he ran into Stella. I
quieted my sobbing as much as I could so I could hear what they were saying.

“If my father
could write a check to make this go away for her, I’d tell him to give away
every last penny we had.”

“I know,” Stella
said sadly. I know they both hated seeing me this way.

“Are you sure you
don’t want a ride home?” Landon asked.

“No,” Stella
responded, “Stay with her. That’s way more important.”

Landon spent the
rest of the night wide awake, alternating between sitting silently beside me as
I cried and cradling me in his strong arms. Sometimes I cried against his chest
and other times I was completely quiet and out of tears. I was never asleep. It
was early morning when my mother finally began to stir. I jumped up at once and
scurried to the bedside.

“Mom,” I cried. By
that time Landon was too tired and it was too late for him to make it the game,
but he didn’t say anything; there was no use in making me feel guilty for that on
top of everything I was already going through.
 

My mom spent three
days total in the hospital. In the late afternoon of the third she was well
enough to be sent home. I had done everything to make sure she was taken care
of and, true to form, diligently took notes on everything nurses and doctors
said.

“Honey,” she
finally said with a sweet smile, “I think you can take me home now. I don’t
think these fine folks would say otherwise if it weren’t true.”

“I know, mom,” I
responded softly as I knelt in front of her. “I just can’t help being worried
about you. I love you so much mom.” She ran her hands through my hair and
nodded, an affectionate look in her eyes.

Landon helped get
my mother into a wheelchair and then pushed her out to his father’s car, which
he had borrowed to make her ride home more comfortable. His sports car wasn’t
the best option. He was attentive enough to actually think about that.

“Thank you,” I
told him in a broken voice as he opened the back passenger door for my mother.
He smiled and nodded, closing the door once she took a seat. He did his best to
drive smoothly to our house, avoiding any bumps he saw on the road no matter
how small they were. Once we arrived, he helped her back into the wheelchair
and pushed her up to the front door. I thanked the heavens that we had a paved
ramp in place to make the wheelchair maneuvering easier.

“Are you hungry?”
He looked from my mother to me, but we both shook our heads.

“That’s sweet,
dear, but I don’t have much of an appetite,” she told him. She asked to be
pushed to the living room and Landon helped her into her favorite armchair. I
quickly helped her get comfortable, hoping she would be able to take a nap and
get the rest she needed. The two of us sat on the couch next to the chair and
watched a movie together, but it wasn’t long before mom was fast asleep.

I looked over at
her sleeping peacefully in the chair.

I cried seeing her
looking so content and at rest. Landon held me close and let me get all my
emotions out. He only wanted to comfort me. I loved that about him. Even though
this was his first time going through anything like this and being so selfless,
it seemed like it came naturally to him.

 
“I know you don’t feel like eating but I think
you really should,” he finally told me. I grumbled in complaint, but he coaxed
me into the kitchen nonetheless, even if he only got me to eat some fruit and
drink some water. He was probably right; it was better than nothing.

I could see the
sun was beginning to set. “You don’t have to stay,” I told Landon.

“Are you kicking
me out?” he joked.

 
“Of course not!”

He rushed forward
and wrapped his arms around me. “I was just kidding,” he muttered against the
top of my head, smelling my hair and kissing me softly. I looked up at him. I could
see so many emotions in his eyes and I only hoped he could see the immense
gratitude in my own.

“Maybe I don’t
have to
stay, but I
want
to.” He kissed me on the cheek, right at the corner of my
lips, and swept his thumb over the side of my face.

I smiled weakly
and sighed. Then my eyes instantly grew wide.

“Landon,” I
croaked, “The game. The big Homecoming game– you missed it! What’s going to
happen?”

He could already
see my breakdown coming. “Hey,” he barked. He held my chin gently and repeated,
“Hey. Don’t worry about that.”

“How can–”

He pressed his
finger to my lips, effectively silencing me. “You don’t need to worry about it
because I’m not worried about it. I’ll be fine. Somehow the football thing will
work out. But, Ivy,” he paused. He cradled my face between both his hands and
looked deep into my eyes. I felt a fluttering in my chest. He was looking at me
the way he did in the hospital just before he told me exactly how he felt.

I could hardly
believe he had said those three little words. The only thing that shocked me
even more was how
I
felt. It was a
feeling that had been creeping up inside of me for a while. It felt like a lake
overflowing with water until the dam broke and it all spilled over. The dam
broke in the hospital; when he held me tight and looked at me with glistening
eyes.

That was when the
water spilled over.

That was when I
knew I loved him too.

 
The very young man I detested from the second
I met him, the one my mother had warned me not to dismiss so easily, had gotten
under my skin to this point. I couldn’t even wrap my head around how it was
possible. I couldn’t pinpoint the moment all of it started to turn. One day I
was complaining about him and then, suddenly, I was falling for him without
knowing it. But the entire time we both took risks to do things we never
thought we’d ever do.

I couldn’t help
but wonder how his football career would end up after missing the game and a
ton of practices to be with me at the hospital, but he was assuring me
everything would be okay. All I could do was believe him. If he was calm about
it, there was a reason. I was tired of not being calm. I had been through three
days of stress and emotional storms at the hospital. Now I just wanted to focus
on Landon and all the
amazing
feelings
he brought out of me.

“Ivy,” he
repeated, pulling me out of my thoughts. “I’m doing what's best for me.”

“This is what’s
best for you?”

He almost looked
disappointed, “Of course it is. Being right here with you, being here for you and
your mom, that’s what’s best for me.”

“I love you,” I
whispered.

It was a couple
days later and my mother had been making a spectacular recovery. “Now go spend
time with your boyfriend,” she said.

“He’s not my
boyfriend,” I shot back.

“He missed his big
game to stay at the hospital with you and your sick mother,” She said
pointedly. “Honey, he
is
your
boyfriend. Now, go.” I couldn’t help the smile spread across my face as I
watched my mom scold me.
 

I went over to
Landon’s place, but warned him from the start that I couldn’t stay long. He
told me he understood completely before pulling me onto his lap, sitting on one
of the chairs out on his balcony.

“We better make
the most of your time here,” he told me suggestively, pulling my body closer to
his.

“Excuse me, we’re
outside in plain sight of, well, anybody!”

“And your point
is?” He tickled my sides and I giggled, batting away his hand. He dipped me
back and kissed me deep, silencing my protests.

“The point is I
thought you were an arrogant asshole when I first met you,” I confessed. I
reached up and ran my hand over his hair. “But turns out you’re not so much. I
guess I was wrong. And I’m never wrong.” I laughed.

“I am an arrogant
asshole,” he admitted, “Only not so much when I have you by my side. And…” His
eyes cast down as a little grin started to inch across his face, “you make me a
better person.”

I smiled back at
him, “I fought like hell not to fall for you, even when I didn’t realize I
actually
was
falling for you. But you
got me to love you. Somehow. Someway.”