Lucky Number Eleven

Chapter Eight

Branch

"Then he comes down the stairs with his—"

"Stop!" Layla shouts, covering her ears. "I can't hear any more of this."

"I wasn't even to the good part," I laugh, setting down my bottle of beer. "Come on. Just let me finish."

"No," she laughs. "No. No more. I can't."

Poppy wipes tears from her eyes from laughing so hard at my tale from the locker room. Finn stands next to her, watching me tell the story. He knows half of what I've just said isn't one hundred percent true, but it was good enough to entertain the girls. And him. He was laughing too.

Music plays on the overhead system as we shoot the shit. Finn brought back beer and steaks for the grill from his earlier trip to Linton. While the girls made some dips for chips and some vegetables Poppy apparently insisted on that almost caused bloodshed in the grocery, Finn and I worked the grill. It's been one of the best, most relaxing afternoons I've had in a long time.

"Tell them the story about the direct message with the donkey nuts," Finn requests.

"Okay, so this girl—"

"Answer me this," Layla cuts me off. "Do you ever get normal messages? I mean, these stories are insane. Is your inbox full of crazies?"

"It was until those pictures of the commissioner's daughter got leaked last year," I grimace, thinking back on the mess I had on my hands from that little episode. "After that, Coach made us all shut off our inboxes on social media."

"I thought that was a lie!" Poppy exclaims. "Seriously? Those pics of her were real?"

I grin. "The pictures were real. But her tits weren't."

"Good to know," Layla flinches, swirling wine around in her glass."

"Nah, it wasn't that good," I say, the look on her face making my stomach ache. "I wish I hadn't fucked around with her at all, to tell you the truth. Caused a lot of headaches."

Poppy stands in front of Finn and leans back, her back against his chest. He catches my eye over her head and shoots me a wink.

"Hey, Branch," Poppy says. "Why do they call you Lucky?"

"Because he's lucky someone hasn't killed him by now," Finn cracks.

"So funny," I say with a poker face. "The year Finn and I started in the league, we played our division rivals the very first game thanks to a mistake by the people who set the schedules. That game usually doesn't happen until later in the season. Anyway, two of our wide receivers were out with injuries, so I was in. We were down by a touchdown and time was ticking."

I think back to that moment, my skin breaking out with goosebumps. "So, a pass was made that got deflected. The ball shot up in the air, maybe ten yards downfield from where I was. Somehow I get under it, but only as it was almost hitting the ground. The defense started making the 'incomplete pass' sign, just trying to sway the refs, you know? And I jumped up, demanding I caught it."

"You were running around screaming it, if I recall," Finn snorts. "He was pointing at the screens overhead, forcing everyone to watch the replay."

"I wasn't letting them not see it. I caught that thing."

"Did they give you the catch?" Layla asks.

"Yeah, after a review. Everyone kept saying it was the luckiest catch ever and the name kind of stuck."

"Do you think you're lucky?" Layla's voice is quiet, almost thoughtful, against the music and Poppy's giggling at whatever Finn is whispering in her ear.