Her First Love

CH 8

Susan walked among the many fans cheering, eating, and enjoying themselves. When she was in college, she had never watched any football. This was her first time and she was glad to be here with Zack. He pushed past others to reach a group barbecuing in a tent set up in the parking lot. Zack fist pumped one of the guys and hugged another girl. 

While they chatted among themselves, Susan felt like an outsider. She took a step back to give them privacy when she felt Zack reach out to hold her hand. 

“Meet Susan, this is the girl I was telling you about. Susan, meet Dan and Jenny.” Zack introduced them to each other. Susan smiled and shook their hands. Dan had black hair and brown eyes, muscular body while Jenny had black eyes and auburn hair with a slim and tall build.

 “The other guys are on their way, the game is in 2 hours, so we will eat here first and then find our seats,” he explained to her while holding on to her hands. Zack turned to his friends again when a guy approached them holding a pack of beer. He handed one to Zack and one to her with a smirk. “Who is this pretty lady with you, jerk?” asked the stranger to Zack. 

Zack hit him on the shoulders playfully before saying “She is Susan, and this is Chris, the flirt of the group. He is like this with all pretty girls'' Zack said before turning to her “but you're not pretty, you are beautiful and mine” Zack kissed her cheeks while glaring at Chris. Chris took that as a warning and backed off, giving her a firm handshake. Chris was the typical bad boy, with blond hair and blue eyes, very similar to Zack’s. As the group chatted about the season games, Susan felt left out. 

She walked around the barbecue station, making her burger, with chicken and ranch. As she was busy with her food, she felt a pair of hands circle around her waist. Feeling violated, she turned around and squeezed the ranch bottle on her opponent, realizing too late that it was only Zack. Susan took a step back in horror as she saw the damage to his jersey. 

“I am so sorry, didn’t know it was you, that looks bad” Susan gushed as she grabbed napkins and a plain soda to clean up the mess. “I am sorry, I shouldn’t have startled you like that” Zack said instead. 

Susan cleaned up as much as possible but there was still a stain. Luckily it was hidden behind those huge letters. “Don’t worry, I can get it cleaned. This is nothing, you should see some of the stains I get while working.” Susan tried to reassure Zack. 

Susan gave him a hug and a kiss to say sorry which seemed to work like a charm.

“If this is what I get for a sorry, I hope you make lots of mistakes” he joked. “Don’t worry, it’s just a stain, not the end of the world. If not now, I would probably have a stain by the end of the day.” 

Their moment was interrupted as more people walked over to make their burgers. As they ate, Zack talked with the boys. 

Susan saw Jenny approach her with a jersey, “here, have this, I had a spare and you are roughly my size” Jenny said while holding the jersey close to Susan’s body for measurement. Since Jenny was a bit taller, the jersey reached Susan mid-thigh. “Don’t worry, we can make a knot on the side, it will be cute.” Susan thanked her before slipping it on top of the tank top, knotting it on the side.

Zack turned his head to gaze at her “Wow, this looks so much better on you than on Jenny. You have the curves baby” Zack said, making her blush while Jenny punched him in the stomach. 

“I do something nice for your girl and you insult me, Chris was right, you are a jerk,” Jenny claimed as she playfully hit him again. 

Soon, their party was over as she noticed others getting up to get inside the stadium. Zack took her hand, guiding her to their seats, in the middle section. As they sat down, she noticed a lot of cheerleaders on the field warming up. They still had half an hour before the game. “Don’t worry, I will explain everything,” Zack whispered in her ear. 

The cheerleaders got the crowd cheering as the players joined the field. The Osu Buckeyes were playing against the University of Michigan Wolverines, their rivals. Susan couldn’t understand the crowd’s excitement as each player moved across the field, running from one direction to another with just a ball in their hands. Why do they call it football when your feet and the ball don’t even connect, wondered Susan. 

After three and a half hours of overloaded testosterones and some penalties on both sides, the game came to an end. In the end, Osu got a chance to kick as the Michigan team tackled one of their players, injuring his shoulders, thus winning the game with just 2 points. Susan had never seen such a scene before, the crowd roared so loud that the bleachers they sat on vibrated with their voices. All the fans rushed past the security onto the field to congratulate the team. 

Susan stood off to the side as people pushed past her to be a part of the cheer, separating her from Zack. Seeing that it would be difficult to locate him in the sea of people, she chose to exit out of the stadium and make her way to the parking lot. She decided to text him 

Hey, I am out here in the parking lot, don’t worry. 

After 10 mins, her phone rang, 

“Hey, sorry about that, just saw your message, about to get out now” started Zack. 

“It’s ok. Just waiting out here by the barbecue tent.” 

“Will be there in 5” he replied before cutting the call. 

Susan sat in a chair as people started to pour out from the stadium, some with a good mood while others wearing blue jerseys sulked. 

She saw Zack coming towards her with a big smile. He picked her up to kiss her passionately in front of his friends. 

“That was incredible, did you see how they tackled, and the last kick. It was amazing. This trip was so worth it. I hope I didn’t bore you.” Zack gushed happily while putting her down on her feet, making her smile. 

“Your excitement was contagious, how could I feel bored? It was a good game.”