18. Chapter 14

Pulling into the parking lot at the team training facility, I'm getting ready for practice and some physical therapy. Though things are going well, and I've been cleared for practice, I'm still relegated to wearing a red shirt. I'm only doing basic drills and practicing routes with the goal of keeping my muscle memory fresh.

"Have you seen the coverage from the presentation yesterday?" Finn's excitement is palpable through the phone. "This is exactly the type of press we want. Then you and Brie in Tea Time again is beyond perfect. You two look great together. I'm so glad she agreed to do this."

I did see the pictures, Susie made sure of that. Her teasing has gone overboard, and honestly, I'd expect nothing less. It's something we've done since we were little and both of us live for the opportunity to hold something over the other's head.

My mouth lifts into a smile as I think about yesterday. It was everything Finn was hoping it would be. The local media coverage of it has been positive and seeing the smiles on the kids' faces is always something I live for. But the best part for me was seeing Brie.

Most of the time I've spent with Brie throughout my life has been with Susie, and it's always been a bit of a competition between the two of us of who could press the other's buttons more. But with this it's like we're on the same team and I have to admit that I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would.

"I'm glad it meets the Finn standard," I joke. "Principal Monroe also mentioned having us participate in a track and field event they do for the kids. It's apparently a day filled with games and competitions. He thought it could be good exposure for the school. I said that you would talk to the team to see if it's possible and then get back to him."

"Oooohhh, I love that idea," Finn says enthusiastically. I can see him rubbing his hands from here and I shake my head. His enthusiasm about his client's careers is one of the main reasons I decided to hire him, but it still makes me laugh. "Let me get on that now. Bye, Josh."

I chuckle at Finn's abrupt disconnect. My phone vibrates and I see a text from Susie. My little sister has been driving me absolutely bonkers with all the ribbing about Brie and I. I thought my teammates were bad, but they have nothing on Susie.

Not only has she continued sending me Tea Time updates but now she's starting to ask when I'm going to stop denying that Brie and I are actually a thing. I'm gonna have to reach out to Brie and schedule talking to our families. If only to shut Susie up. Truth is though, Susie's teasing will probably intensify once she knows. I know if the situation were reversed I would never let her live this down. Even I can see how crazy fake dating is, but with Brie it really doesn't feel ridiculous. Must be because we've known each other our entire lives.

I push open the door to the locker room and head to my locker to drop off my duffle bag. The room is empty since I'm here pretty early. I wanted to get a head start on my PT with Shawn before heading into the film room with the rest of the team. This weekend we have a home game against the Cardinals.

I smirk as I imagine Brie wearing my jersey. I can't help but get a bit of pleasure knowing it's something she's going to hate a little. Okay, probably a lot. She's avoided wearing my jersey from the first day I signed with the Mavericks. I recall her making a promise that she'd never wear the jersey of one "Joshua Owens" and that she didn't want to support my ego getting any bigger than it already was.

Knowing that never will be this week has a warmth spreading through my chest and I can feel a sense of pride in knowing that everyone will see she's mine. The sense of possessiveness I feel surprises me.

"Owens, you're here early," Coach's voice breaks through my thoughts.

"I'm meeting up with Shawn for PT in about ten minutes and wanted to settle in before heading over."

"How is the shoulder feeling? Shawn tells me that everything looks really good."

"Good," I respond thinking about how I can feel my shoulder improving. "It's getting stronger every day."

"Glad to hear that." Coach turns into his office, hits the light and then closes the door. I grab my water bottle and just as I'm heading out the door a few of the guys walk in and start ribbing me about the newest pictures. I hear smooching noises and awwws from a few of them while others are making hearts with their hands.

"We love you hashtag Briosh," Darius yells in a high pitched voice. I chuckle at their antics and feel a slight blush creep up my neck. Shaking my head I keep walking out the door. Not wanting to look further into how for the first time in a long time I'm actually excited about something other than football.

Brie.

Getting through the ribbing today was harder than I thought it would be. Not because the guys were cruel but because it was non-stop with the pranks. I'm not sure if it was my teammates who set it all up or if some of the staff were in on it.

When I went to the cafeteria for lunch, one of the cooks handed me a plate with some actual Brioche and a huge cheese wheel of Brie. Training facilities are all about making sure that we are getting the right amount of food to help our bodies perform at optimal potential. So bread and cheese are rarely on the menu, at least not as a full meal. After a good laugh, he gave me my actual lunch plate.

Next, when I got back to the locker room to shower and change I walked into a lifesize cardboard cutout of Brie and I. She has her hand on my chest and my hand is on her shoulder. It's the picture from Tea Time of us at the elementary school.

"Who the heck did this?" I asked while laughing.

I hear snickers from around the locker room. Johnson then walked up holding a jersey with his number but the name was customized with #Briosh. Through laughter I let him know flat out that there was no way Brie was wearing that.

He proceeded to tell me that it was completely acceptable for away games. Still laughing, I ripped the jersey out of his hand and shoved it in my bag. There is no way Brie is wearing that, none. But she needs to see it.

Now in my car heading home, I smile. Even I can appreciate the creativity that everyone put into the events of today. Leave it to a bunch of big burly men to act like teenage boys. It's one of the things I love about my job, if you can call it that, and my teammates.

My phone rings and Susie is announced as the caller.

"Hey Suse, what's up?"

"I"ve been texting you all day! Are you coming to dinner tonight? The Woodburys invited us over." I realize that I haven't checked my phone today. When I give it a quick look I see a ton of text messages from Brie, Susie, my parents and Marie.

"I haven't checked any of my messages. What time is everyone meeting up for dinner?"

"Last text from Brie's aunt was for six thirty." She sounds a little too excited about this and I get an empty pit in my stomach. Brie and I haven't talked yet about what we're going to say to our families. If I'm honest, this part of the arrangement is not something I'm looking forward to. But I guess it's time to tell them what's going on.

"I'll be there."

"Yay!" I can hear her gleefully clapping her hands and I shake my head. I can truthfully say that I never thought my sister would be this happy about me and her best friend dating.

"Bye, Suse." I hang up and immediately call Brie.

"Hello." The sound of her voice has warmth spreading throughout my chest and a grin splitting my face.

"So apparently I missed the ambush of our families arranging dinner tonight."

"Yes, you did. I take it you haven't read the texts yet?" She groans. "They want to talk."

I laugh at the obvious dread in her voice, and find myself wanting to take care of her.

"Don't worry. I'll do most of the talking."

"Really?" I can imagine her eyebrows shooting toward the sky.

"You're doing this for me. The least I can do is handle telling our families. I'll pick you up at six and we can talk about it a bit before we get to Marie's." I assure her.

"Thanks, Josh. See you a little later." When she hangs up I can't help but feel disappointed at admitting to others that the dating scenario between Brie and I is all for show. I didn't realize until this very moment how much I actually like thinking of Brie as mine.

A memory of a six year old Brie bringing me a picture she drew pops into my mind. It was of the two of us holding hands with little hearts. I was eight, so of course I ripped it up and yelled gross. Girls were not cool, especially not my sister's friends, and I couldn't let any of my friends know that I secretly looked forward to pictures from Brie.

Every time Brie would come to visit Marie and Rich with her parents, there would be another drawing. Before ripping them up I would look at them. She was an awful artist and I would make fun of them. Brie would always smile at me like her little self knew I wasn't serious.

The drawings stopped after her parents died.

The idea of telling everyone the truth felt a bit like ripping up those pictures, a ruse to cover up how I really felt. Which left me feeling extremely confused.

I don't really have feelings for Brie, do I?

Do I care about her? Yes. Would I help her if she was in trouble? Absolutely. But did any of that mean that I actually had romantic feelings about her?

Without answering, I shake off the thoughts of how I may feel about Brie and turn on some music to distract myself from thoughts and feelings I'm not ready to look at yet.