Out on the Field

Chapter 40

Colby's POV

The season was going to start next week and I had made the final roster for the Texans. Clara had joined me here in Houston after she graduated and spent a bit of time with her Dad. She had found a job here as a researching scientist into new medicine.

TJ was right though. The locker room is a disaster zone and I avoid it as much as I can. People are always yelling and arguing and I try and spent as little time in there as possible. TJ tried to split them up but there is only so much he can stop.

We were all in the locker room after getting well and truly beaten in our last pre-season game. Coach told us a couple of things that we would be working on during the week. The game was not good and I sat down in front of my locker and turned to face TJ.

"Do you think that this is ever going to change?" I asked.

"Not with Hogan as our quarterback," he said.

Mitchell Hogan is a diva but a shitty quarterback. He is usually in the middle of the arguments and he is the reason that the offense and defence don't get along. We both looked up when we saw people arguing in the middle of the locker room now that Coach was gone.

TJ groaned but he stood up and got in between Hogan and one of the running backs. I don't know how TJ became the mediator in the locker room but it is a role that he hates but it is better than fights in the locker room.

The media came in minutes later and everyone had to pretend everything was alright in the locker room. I didn't get asked anything so I was free to go and I wanted to escape the locker room. Clara was at home so I headed home.

Clara was waiting for me and I joined her on the couch.

"It was pretty bad," she said.

"It was even worse in the locker room," I groaned.

She nodded and turned the TV away from football onto some comedy movie that was on.

"How was your day?" I asked.

"Not bad. You had a pretty good game," she smiled at me.

I helped Clara make dinner. I didn't help that much except keep out of the way and tell Clara a bit more about my day. TJ was the only person on the team that I really talked to but I did take part in rookie initiation.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" she asked.

"A few meetings and probably a walk through practice and I'll probably do a bit by myself," I told her.

She nodded and handed me a plate of food.

"I got a call from Paige and she wanted to meet up just before Christmas back home."

"Are the other girls going to be there?"

"I think so."

"Go have fun. I'll just be playing a game and you can watch it from wherever you are," I told her knowing what she was thinking.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," I told her.

She hugged me tightly and we stood like that for a minute. I was glad the Clara and I finally got to live together because I missed her when she was in North Carolina. It was nice to come home to her every day.

I always made sure that I was early to training. Clara was still asleep when I left and sometimes I wished that it didn't have to be like that. I walked into the dining hall for breakfast and found TJ sitting at one of the tables. I grabbed breakfast before joining him.

We both finished our food and headed into the empty locker room. We liked working together so we didn't even have to ask each other. Neither of bothered to go into the weight room, instead we headed out to the field.

We worked together until I was needed for a special teams meeting. I left TJ out on the field and headed into one of the film rooms. The specials teams' work on Sunday wasn't bad but it wasn't that great either.

The rest of the day was pretty boring because practice was just a walk through so we didn't have helmets or pads. Coach wasn't pleased when we had team meeting earlier and he ripped into all of us for the really bad loss.

Most of the days for the rest of the week were pretty normal but all the coaches were constantly reminding us that our season started at home this Sunday. I knew I had been playing well during pre-season games and training camps but I was still surprised when Coach told me that I was starting on Sunday.

I told TJ and he smiled at me. We had become close after working together closely for so long and he had taken me under his wing.

"You deserve it," he told me as we headed to the last meeting before the game tomorrow.

I smiled at him and we both took our seats. Coach started talking to us about plans for the game and reminding everyone to play because every game matters. I was just excited because it is my first real game as a Texans.

Clara promised that she would be there and I could see her in the stands. She waved at me and I offered her a smile. She had got me to send her a photo of me in my uniform which made me laugh. We headed back into the locker room and Coach gave us one last message before we ran on to start the game.

We started with the ball so I wasn't on the field. I watched our offense fall apart and go three and out. I was on the field for the punt but it was a fair catch. As a defence we huddled once more before heading onto the field.

I think that we all knew that we had to carry our struggling offense. We were playing man coverage and I lined up against one of the receivers. I had a pretty good game but we were down 24-7 at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

The Colts' quarterback bounced in the pocket and threw the ball towards me. I out-jumped the receiver and pulled the ball down. I was a couple of steps in front of the receiver and I started down the side lines.

My first NFL interception resulted in a picked six. It wasn't good enough for us to win and we lost 31-14. The offense was terrible and we couldn't only hold off their offense for so long. We headed back into the locker room and everyone had their head down, disappointed.

Coach had a couple of things to tell us before going off to talk to the media. The arguing started immediately and I glanced at TJ. He had his head in his hands and I knew that he was sick of splitting up the arguments.

I didn't want to listen to everyone yelling either so I jumped up on one of the benches.

"Shut the fuck up guys. We are supposed to be a fucking team and you can't stop fucking arguing," I snapped.

Everyone looked at me because I don't talk much.

"The rookie talks," someone snapped.

Alright, I don't talk at all because I don't have anything to say. I talk to TJ and some of the other defensive backs but that is it.

"I'm fucking sick of listening to you guys bicker. This is supposed to be a fucking team and we aren't acting like it. I don't know about you but I don't want to be the team that everyone thinks is an easy beat. So you guys have got to fucking figure out what the issues are and fix them because I'm sick of this."

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The Wise One