He hasn’t had anyone in the stands for him since his mom had been the one coming to his games. But, after going back and forth on the idea for the weeks leading up to the game, he’d finally given in and email his high school coach, gotten Wymack to put aside a ticket for him—and then a few more, for a few of the juniors and seniors who had played with Colin. It had come together so smoothly, he felt almost foolish for worrying about it the way that he had.
It’s all that he’s ever wanted: to know that, when he leaves a place behind, he leaves something of himself there. That people remember him. That people miss him. That it matters that he was there at all. He’s always feared being invisible, being forgotten, because he knows just how easy of a thing it would have been for him to be, living the way he had lived. It may not have been his mother in the stands, but if there are people from an Exy team that he’d only played on for a year that want to come and see him play in a stadium he’d sat in and watched games in before, never even once dreaming that it would be him—well, that’s not nothing. It’s more than he’d ever thought he’d have.
The team had gone back to the hotel without him, Colin meeting up with his old coach and his old teammates outside of the locker room, basking in their congratulations and their admiration. And he could have done more—could have gone out to dinner with them, could have caught up more, could have thanked his coach more for being the reason he was a Fox in the first place—but there’s only really one place he wants to be, and that’s with his team. They drop him off in front of the hotel, and Colin watches them drive away—unsure if he’ll really see them again or if he’s gotten everything he needs from coming back to somewhere he’s called home twice in his life.
Now, making his way back to the hallway that holds all the Fox rooms, he just hopes his teammates haven’t gotten too drunk—or worse, gone somewhere—without him. “Are we getting this party started, or what?”
Of course Vivian was ready to party. The Foxes had been trying hard as hell to win and honestly, she was amped as fuck. Honestly, she didn’t remember much of the game, just that they won and basically got to rub it in the faces of everyone who had been practically glaring at them the entire game. High stakes meant their spirits had to be even higher and that meant blocking out the heated glares and hate being shouted at them. She had plastered a smile on her face and, look, she wasn’t saying that it was the Vixens cheering that had helped them win, the Foxes won on their own, but cheerleaders helped everything.
The ride to the hotel was great. The team was already on their way to popping bottles and Vivian was right there with them. She wasn’t planning on letting her guard down but a celebration was a celebration nonetheless. Still in her uniform, she’s scrolling through her phone, through Tinder, to find someone at least pretty to spend the night with. She didn’t want to spend the entire night talking, though, so she wanted them to be pretty but absolutely dumb. She was out in the hall, not having made it to the hotel room while swiping left on profile after profile. She just wanted to get out of here for the night, no use in getting undressed when she planned on going somewhere. Probably to someone who found short skirts and spanky pants hot.
Still, leaning on the wall outside her hotel room, not having quite made in it yet, the voice surprised her. Vivian turned and grinned at the figure. “The party started without you,” she responded, offering over the bottle in her free hand.
