The Ten-Year Game Plan

Chapter 22- Josie

My friends almost lost their mind when I told them that Donovan was coming to the wedding with me.

The weekend was going to be weird enough for me so I might as well try out this new tentative friendship of ours. Maybe it was because we were trying to pick up where we left off, but it felt different from last time. I don't remember ever being this nervous to see him when we were younger. I also don't remember the fluttering in my stomach whenever I saw him either. But, I suppose
I had to chalk it up to nerves.

He still had practice on Friday so we were leaving as soon as they finished. I was sitting in the parking lot next to the practice field tapping my thumbs against the steering wheel as I waited. I showed up thirty minutes before he told me to because I was driving myself and my roommates crazy pacing our apartment.

There were productive things I could've been doing while I was waiting, but I did none of them. Instead, I made an itemized list in my head of the worst things that could happen this weekend. It was extensive. And thorough. The bottom of the list was food poisoning while the top of the list was somewhere along the lines of a atmospheric catastrophe.

After about fifteen more minutes of doomsday planning, I decided that my anxiety needed a bigger space than my car so I got outside and tried to walk some of it off. Ten minutes and probably fifty miles of pacing later, a wet-haired and freshly showered Donovan finally appeared by the gate with a duffel bag. However, he wasn't alone.

A man in a tailored suit and another man with a camera on his shoulder were walking next to Donovan on his way to the parking lot. I stood on the sidewalk next to my car and watched as they approached, but I could only catch the tail end of the interview.

"—break more records before the playoffs?"

Donovan shook his head, both at the interviewer and the camera. "Whatever happens happens, Matt. It would be great to break another record, but the team and I are focused on the playoffs right now. Anything else is sort of just icing on the cake."

The interviewer nodded his head, eating up every single word that he said. I leaned against the hood of my car, not even bothering to pretend that I wasn't listening. Donovan glanced over at me and gave me an apologetic smile, but I was grinning. How often was a friend that I knew interviewed for national news? Never.

"Naturally. You seem like a focused kid, Starr. Now what exactly are you doing to prepare for the behemoths you face in next week's match-up?"

"I'm going to a wedding," Donovan winked at me, "and I'm actually going to be late, but thanks so much for your time."

He shook his hand out for the interviewer to shake who seemed a little taken aback by his politeness. The cameraman took the camera off his shoulder as Donovan reached out to shake his hand as well. The two other men seemed to finally notice me as their interview subject waved at me.

"Girlfriend?" Matt asked, amused as the camera man tucked away the camera.

I flushed, standing up off of my hood and giving them an awkward wave while starting to shake my head.

"Not yet," Donovan said.

Now my face was absolutely on fire. He bid the two men a polite farewell before joining me at my car. I could do nothing but stare at him as he threw his duffel in my backseat. Even when we were both sitting in the car, I didn't make a single move to turn the key or pull out of the parking lot.

"You want to get there by tonight right, Fish?"

"Um, yes?"

Why did it sound like a question?