5. Callum

I hadn”t seenAddison or any of the other guys since our night out.

Instead, I”d practically run home to spend time with my family.

They were all over the moon to have me home. Mom said the house was dead without me. I was happy to be home too, but football still consumed me along with the growing pressure in my chest that my first NFL game was drawing closer. I spent every night pouring over our plays, memorizing them, making sure to do all of my homework.

It was funny really, that I was so nervous. I wasn”t expected to play, but I would be there just in case, and I had to be ready.

Waking up early for our flight on a Thursday at the start of September reminded me of waking up for the first day of college. It had the same vibe in the air, the same nervous energy, like everything was about to change.

Everything was going to be different from here on out. I could feel it. Case in point, I was taking a chartered plane with my team mates.

That, in itself, was something to get used to, but the energy was high, excitement palpable in the air as we traveled and I was excited too. Whether I was out there or not, the guys I trained with would be. I would be right there with them.

Our team and everyone involved packed out the lobby of our hotel when we arrived.

There was a bit of a commotion as one by one people were given their room keys.

A buzz of excitement shot through me when I saw Addison”s familiar form at the front desk. He’d been at the back of the plane and I’d been at the front so we hadn’t had a chance to talk. He had his broad back to me now, a t-shirt stretched across his shoulders as he checked in.

Smiling, I approached him, setting my bag down next to his on the floor.

“Hey,” I said.

He glanced over at me, frowning, but the unexpected frustration on his face eased when he saw it was me.

“Hey Cal,” he said, returning my smile.

“What”s wrong?” I asked.

I glanced toward the front desk staff who were stepped back from the counter, both on the phone, looking worried.

“They double-booked a bunch of rooms,” he said, sighing. “I really don”t need this right now.”

He rubbed a hand over his tired eyes.

Concerned, I watched as he roughed up his short hair next.

I had never seen Addison looking so stressed out. It didn”t suit his easygoing nature and made me want to help somehow, but for all I knew, we were both out of luck. Shit, were we both about to spend the day looking for a new hotel?

Finally, the concierge returned.

“I”m sorry,” she said. “There”s no way to free up a room for you at this time, but I called the Inn a few blocks over and they have availability.”

Addison”s face fell.

“I just—I would really like to stay with my whole team around me.”

“Perhaps you could ask one of your teammates to share a room with you?” she suggested.

Addison paused. His gaze flickered in my direction, and I just jumped in without thinking.

“Do I have a room?” I asked.

I gave her my name and we stood there, tense while she looked it up.

“Yes, Callum Jones, we have you right here.”

“Perfect,” I said. “Problem solved.”

“You don”t have to?—”

“It”s fine,” I interrupted, patting his shoulder.

I hadn”t meant to jump in like that, but I could see the stress melt from Addison”s shoulders, and I was glad that I had.

She gave us two keys and by the time we were in the elevator, Addison seemed more like himself again.

“What did you do the last few days?” he asked.

“I went home,” I said. “Spent time with the family. Nothing special. You?”

He nodded.

“Same. I had a great time relaxing and spent a lot of time with my parents and my sister, Sabrina. Her kid is only two now, so I try to see him as much as I can when I”m free. He loves his Uncle Addy.”

I grinned.

“I can imagine.”

Considering that he was so friendly to grown adults, I could only imagine how special he would make a little kid feel.

“Here we are,” he said when the elevator stopped on our floor. Our room was only a couple of doors down from it.

“Thanks again for doing this,” he added.

I swiped the key and pushed open the door, about to brush off his gratitude when I saw the room and all the words dried up in my throat.

“Shit,” I muttered, walking inside to see if there was another bed hiding somewhere.

Nope. The room was nice but small. There was one queen-sized bed and a desk in the corner and nothing else aside from the TV on the wall.

I looked back at Addison.

All the stress had returned to his face. He looked worn out and suddenly I wasn”t so sure he”d had the blissful holiday that he told me about. There was something else there, a line of stress that messing up a room booking wouldn”t give someone.

“I”ll go talk to them,” I said. “Maybe they can switch us.”

He shook his head.

“It”s past check-in, most of the rooms are already taken. It was hard enough dealing with them a few minutes ago.”

“Maybe one of the other guys has a bigger room?—”

“It”s fine,” he said, shaking his head. “I”ll get the number for that Inn down the street.”

It shouldn”t have been a big deal. I wouldn”t mind doing it if I was in his shoes, but there was something about the defeated look in his eyes that made me want to make things right.

“Look, I don”t mind if you don”t.”

He frowned, looking at me like he didn”t get it.

I shrugged suddenly feeling awkward.

“We can share,” I explained. “It”s not like the bed”s so small we”re going to have to cuddle.”

I laughed at the idea, but Addison just reached up and ran a hand through his hair again, assessing the bed like he was trying to make sure we really would fit without having to be on top of each other.

Truthfully, a queen would be crowded with one of us, let alone two... but I used to share with my cousin sometimes when the house was full and we’d made it work.

Finally, Addison let out a sigh and nodded.

“Sure,” he agreed. “If you really don”t mind.”

“I don”t,” I said firmly.

And I really didn”t. Ever since that night out, I felt differently about him. He was a lot nicer than I”d realized. Every now and then that annoyed me. I mean, how on earth did a person manage to be good-looking, athletic, and friendly? But whenever I had those thoughts, I shook them away. Some people really did have it all. That was just how it was. Addison was lucky and kind enough to deserve all the good things he had.

He smiled at me, the first one since I”d arrived that seemed genuine.

“Thank you,” he said sincerely and for some reason, warmth flooded me.

“No problem,” I muttered.

We unpacked our things, chatting the whole while and everything started to feel more normal with him again.

“Want to go grab a bite and go over our plans?” he asked.

I nodded eagerly.

Sitting next to him at the sports bar across the street, eating lunch while he discussed tomorrow”s game, I realized how nice it was to be taken seriously.

Addison didn”t care that I wasn”t going to play. He spoke to me like there was a good chance that I would.

It wasn”t true, but it made me feel good anyway and by the time we were with the rest of the team to practice at the actual stadium I was feeling more in it than I had this entire time.

It was a good thing we got to be there a day early because walking out onto the grass of EverBank Stadium to practice for my first game in the NFL was overwhelming in a good way.

The whole team was sharp. The QB coach was on top of both Addison and me.Coach Oliveira was dialled in. Everything was perfect.

We kept it light, just testing out the field and playing through a few different scenarios before Coach called it for the day.

I knew we were ready.

Addison left while I was getting caught up chatting with some of the guys. By the time I was back at the hotel, he was already there.

I walked into our room to find him sitting at the small table in his boxers, looking at the view out the window.

“Hey,” he said.

His voice was casual, but I knew straight away that he was upset.

How strange that in only a short while knowing him I could already tell when something was amiss.

“You ready for tomorrow?” I asked, wondering if he was having pregame jitters.

He nodded and pushed to his feet, stretching.

“I”m ready. Just need a good night”s sleep and I”ll be good. You?”

I smiled.

“Yeah, I”m ready... to watch the game.”

I laughed at the face he made.

“It”s okay,” I said. “I don”t know why, but I”ve been feeling better about it since…”

Since that night out, I realized.

“Really?” Addison asked, a hopeful note touching his voice. “So, you don”t resent me anymore?”

I froze, staring at him.

“What...?”

He grimaced.

“You forgot that you told me that, didn”t you?” he asked.

My entire face went red hot. I lifted my hands to my cheeks, hiding them as something came back to me.

I suddenly remembered sitting in the back of Addison”s car, watching the way he was frowning in the mirror. And he”d been saying something... Something about how it was hard for everyone when they first started.

“Oh my god… I”m such an asshole!”

He laughed, shaking his head.

“You”re not,” he said gently. “I get it.”

He turned his gaze to the floor and that strange look filled his eyes again. Something was filling his head with dark thoughts today.

“What should we do?” I asked, drawing his attention back to me. “Watch a movie? Order food in?”

He grinned.

“You know what? Yeah. That sounds perfect.”