Chapter 46

Tuesday night was not a good night for sleeping. As the 60 rostered players for the game itself lay in bed they worried about their job, their performance, the outcome, and for some who still not used to it, just the trepidation of flying. Certainly flying is safer than driving, but there is one subtle difference. When you get a case of the jitters in a car you can ask the driver to stop and let you out. That doesn't work well on an airplane. The truth is, if everyone knew the basics of flying, lift, drag and all that, you would know there is little to fear except human error and equipment failure. Flying is basic and simple. So simple, in fact, that a small private plane can become airborne at 40 miles an hour.

Truthfully, most worried about the game, what secrets their opponent knew about the Green Aggies and how they planned to exploit them. Were the Golden Panthers of FIU cooking up a new offense or defense to befuddle the NEAT coaches and void all of the prep and practice? Despite wanting to uncloak an element of surprise, most all teams go to these games and play the kind of offense and defense that got them there. There may be a trick play in the bag somewhere, but for the most part, you know what you're going to get.

Julie Murcer had her bag packed since Sunday as she anticipated the trip. Even though she knew her chance to get in the game would swing on an injury to Brian Faraday, she was hungry to show off her stuff for the national audience. She had paced around her little dorm room since she got home at 6:30. The Tuesday workout was perfect. The sun came out and it was near 40 degrees, but inside the confines of Meditek Stadium it felt almost 50 with the dish effect of the edifice seeming to magnify the heat. After stretching, exercises, and their run, the coaches came out with a bag of balls and soon there was laughter and play as little challenge games of cover and catch started. They were loose.

Coach Winslow blew a whistle and all play stopped as they ran to gather round him.

"It's pretty nice out here today. Before we go down in the catacombs and eat and try to tear apart our opponent, would you like to throw on the pads and have a low contact scrimmage? We can work on a few plays, or do you want to keep it loose until we get down there? I hadn't planned on scrimmage today, but it feels like spring." Jared said trying to gauge the mood.

From the crowd around you heard quick responses, "I'll scrimmage!", "Me too", "Contact, baby, contact", "Let's go", "Playbook, playbook"

It was pretty much a consensus that the teams nervous energy played well with the idea. So, in 15 minutes with pads fitted over their sweats, two 50 yard games were starting as coaches flipped playbooks and ran players in and out. For just about an hour, between the horseplay, and serious explanation and dissection of the playbook pages, this loose group convinced themselves that they were ready for any opponent.

After showers and a hearty lunch they filed into the blackboard rooms where video rolled and they took notes in the borders of playbooks as they watched FIU execute on screen.

Whether everyone was as nervous as Julie wasn't known to her, but she couldn't settle down. She called Gerry Granahan hoping he might have the right words to calm her.

"Gerry, I've never been so hepped up, so nervous and anxious in all my life. I know it isn't like we're playing in a National Championship game, or one of the major Bowls, but this could be my last game. I'll have to make the team next year and Ben is pretty strong. You know, I don't hold that against anyone. God only knows who'll walk onto camp next year. I..." She started to say before it turned into an on and on blather when Gerry interrupted her.

"JULIE, for God's sake get a hold of yourself! Your mind is running up to next year and we haven't got through the weekend yet. You had no intention or chance of making the team this year, and here you are. Let life play out. God, you'll be up all night worrying about things you can't control, at least now!" Gerry said trying to reason with her.

The other end of the phone stayed silent for a moment before she spoke.

"You always have the right words, Ger. I wish I were there to hug you right now." She said exhaling deeply.

"Why don't you come over, spend the night here. I'll take your mind off things." Gerry suggested.

"I'm all packed and ready to go for the morning." She retorted.

"So, leave from here." He said calmly.

"I want to shower in the morning and I'm sure I would look cute in the men's dorm shower." She joked.

"Well, you wouldn't be the first woman, you can go in with a towel on and close the stall door, umm ... although most of the guys here won't be that modest." Gerry laughed.

"Not happening, Ger. Why don't YOU come over here? Stay the night, then go back to your dorm and shower. Much easier for a guy. Bring your travel bag over and I can put it on the van when they pick up the luggage at 7:30. We have to be on the bus at the Union at 7:50. Leave here at 7:00 and meet the team at the Union. Okkie got them to leave a bellman's cart at the end of the hall for us because we have two staffers going from here too. Leave your bag on it when you leave to go shower." She explained.

"Somebody wants to get laid pretty bad." He said with a wise-guy tone.

"That's Gerry the bicycle seat sniffer talking. I thought I got rid of him. Can't I want to see you because I think I'm falling in love with you, or is this all about sex? I can get laid easily. I'll put on a pair of "fuck me" jeans and go to "The Union" tonight and have cum dripping from my pussy all the way to Tampa." She answered in a snippy tone that Gerry already understood.

Julie had "saved" him from empty relationships and shown him what feelings were and how good they could feel. Now she was holding a mirror up to let him see someone he, under the surface, didn't care much for; the old Gerry Granahan.

"OK, I get it. It was an asshole thing to say to someone I want to respect me and us together as a couple. You KNOW I meant it to be on a different level. You only have my word to trust me by and you don't have a reason to doubt me." He defended himself.

"I know I don't Gerry, but every time I tell someone who asks who I'm going out with, I get the look, and they tell me to be careful. It's hard to keep your past out of the back of my mind, and when YOU keep putting it there, it's harder." Julie reasoned to him.

Gerry didn't mind Julie "calling him out" in these situations, except for the embarrassment factor as if the person doing it were a third person doing it in front of Julie. His time with Julie had been the happiest and most settled of his life. She was the dot to his I and the cross to his T, never having felt so comfortable with any woman, besides sexually.

"Jules, you know me much better than anyone ever has. You've seen my worst and my best as well. I want every chance to prove myself to you. Don't lose faith in me, that's all I ask. I'd love to come over and spend the night with you." Gerry said hoping she still wanted him.

"Of course I want you to come and stay with me. I just don't like being treated that way by you, because if it shows up in public I look like one of your old bimbo's. Understood?" She said in a tone she hoped didn't sound too whiny.

"I get it already, Jules. Beat me up when I get there. See you in a half hour." Gerry said hanging up.

When he knocked on her door he was surprised to see her answer it in just a cropped t-shirt and little red panty. He was no more in the door when she presented her lips to his on the tips of her toes and then hugged her head into his chest.

"I didn't want it to seem that I was beating you up, or beating you down. I just want the real Gerry to be with me. I'm sorry if I made too much of it." She said in an apologetic tone.

"Don't worry, he's here." He said smiling as he swept her up in his arms and went to the bed in the little dorm room and sat with her on his lap.

"You're so cute, so pretty, and so sexy. I'd just love to kiss you everywhere. You are my dream." He said with a look so sincere she couldn't help but melt.

"I'm not stopping you!" She said with a giggly grin.

While Julie was the first woman to come along and really steal Gerry's heart, he feared he might grow tired of her and was amazed how each time he made love to her he was still energized. He recalled ski weekends with a bunny of the week where he couldn't wait to get her home before Sunday afternoon came around because he had a phone number to use for Sunday night.

No other woman was on his mind as he sipped the nectar from her pink little pussy. She thrashed under his mouth and stifled her shouts of joy, so as not to give away the fact she had a man in her room. If there were any doubt in her mind that this was not a fling, but a serious relationship, it was squashed on this night when Gerry, holding her tight later, with his cock buried in her pussy, was kissing her deeply, and broke the kiss to say "I love you, Julie". He himself was stunned at hearing the words come from his mouth.

As Gerry's hips jack-hammered his cock in and out of her tight pussy she clenched her arms tightly around his shoulders as he breathed heavily in her ear. Her breath caught as her orgasm rose and only a long, low, squeak came from her throat instead of the scream of joy she wanted to let out. Her grip on Gerry was so tight it nearly pushed the breath out of him as he filled his condom with the juice from his balls. He stayed buried in her lithe little body as their muscles relaxed and he began to bear weight on her. She moved in a rolling motion as they turned on their sides and he slipped out of her.

"Those words, ... Those words are more than something to say in a fit of passion." She mumbled as she looked in his eyes while brushing his hair back behind his ear.

"They mean something, ... a commitment to the heart and soul of the person they are directed at. Don't use them lightly. I'm fragile that way. I'm sorting out my feelings for you that way too. This has been a fun trip so far, let's not jump in the deep end quite yet." She continued avoiding direct eye contact as she still combed his hair with her fingers.

"I know it's soon, but I think I really mean them. Uh, ... I do, I DO really mean them. My heart, ... umm ... my everything soars when I'm with you." Gerry said in all seriousness.

Julie paused in her thoughts and sort of froze, then smiled with a weird half smirk on her face. "Just WHO are you? ... and what did you do with Gerry Granahan?"

Gerry averted his eyes from hers and said sheepishly, " I know, I know it's all a little weird, but you know the real me, the me not many have broken into. You're so magical to me. I keep waiting for it to wear off, and it keeps getting stronger."

"Gerry, you're getting pretty heavy. Are you sure it's not just the sex talking?" She asked trying to sort out his words, his feelings.

"Jules, I've had LESS sex in this time with you than I normally have. We talk, we do other things, we get into each other's heads, ... and we make love. When I look down at you with me in your mouth I see passion, I don't see that girl who wants to just be wild because she's not home anymore. There are a hundred of them every night at the Union bar. They almost scream out "Hey Mom, Hey Dad, you paid 25 grand to put me in school and I'm suckin' cock and gettin' laid!" It sounds so "touchy-feely' so say this but, ... you complete me. I don't want this to end, and I hope you feel the same way as well." Gerry admitted.

"Oh God, Ger, I want to say the same things to you, but isn't there a lot more for us to get in line before we say those words and..." She started before he cut her off.

"You don't feel it?" He asked incredulously.

"Well, shit yes, I do, but..." She started to answer before a big hesitation.

"Julie, I won't hurt you. Things may progress down the line and we may switch tracks and end up NOT being together, but I have to take this chance. I promise with all my heart I won't hurt you. I'll always be honest about my feelings. I've protected myself so closely that now I know it's time to take the chance. We don't need to tell anyone but ourselves. Julie, I love you!" Gerry said with wet eyes.

Julie sighed in exasperation. "God Gerry, you make this so hard. I feel so special too, but I hate to even use the words "I love you" because of all of the trouble and heartache they've caused in the past. I won't lie to you, I've had a few "roll in the sheets" affairs here at school just for the sex of it and to let off steam, but this is VERY special and I think, ... I love you too." She said with a pixie smile as she flushed red.