Free Holding Onto You (Never Letting Go) by S. Moose

Boston so this would be cake. When we got to the gym, my mouth dropped and I stopped dead center.
    “ Yo?”
    I couldn’t say anything. Fucker was going for the team too?
    Connor shook me. I shook my head and look at him. “Sophia’s new boyfriend.” I pointed in his direction and thought about leaving.
    “Yeah? And? Dude, come on. Think about it. We make the team and you get to see her. She gets to see you. Am I right?”
    Damn. He was right. I had to think about making the team because if I made the team, I’d be able to see Sophia at the games and hopefully talk to her. I threw those thoughts to the back of my head. “Come on. Let’s get on this team.”
    Fist bump.
    Then it hit me out of nowhere. I swallowed the lump in my throat. My insides started shaking. My eyes went wide. My heart was racing. Flashes of light went through me.
    Sophia.
    She was sitting on the bleachers. Laughing. Happy. She was sitting with someone else. The same girl that was running with her in the park.
    Damn, Sophia was beautiful. Her long blonde hair and smile captured my heart. She was laughing out loud and expressing her words with her hands. She was wearing pink shorts with a white tee and looked incredible. She was flawless. I couldn’t stop looking at her. I wanted to call out for her. I wanted her to know that I was here but something stopped me.
    Him.
    I watched as he put his arm around her. Her body went stiff and that smile disappeared. What the hell? What just happened? I knew my reservations about Kyle were real and it wasn’t just in my head. He was bad news and I could tell by Sophia’s body language. She responded as if she were scared of him. What the fuck was he doing to her? I swallowed hard and fought the urge of wanting to punch Kyle in the face. My fists clenched by my sides and I was burning up with anger.
    Connor pulled me away. “Not today, man. Come on. Let’s go meet the guys.”
    I tried to calm down but I couldn’t get the image of how scared she was out of my head. We walked to the large group of guys and introduced ourselves. Everyone went crazy and started talking about how they watched us when we played for Boston. We laughed and felt flattered and the guys seemed excited to have us on the team.
    “Alright, listen up ladies,” the douche bag yelled as he came towards us. “I’m Kyle and welcome to hell. Coach Roberts can’t be here today but he left me with strict instructions. He wants us to run, so let’s go bitches! Line up on the black line.” He clapped his hands three times and we made our way to the line.
    I looked up and saw Sophia. Our eyes met. I gave her a smile but the look on her face was of fear. Connor pulled me back and shook his head.”Not today. Focus, Adam.”
    She wasn’t happy to see me. Fuck. First she ran away from me and now she was terrified to see me. What the hell was going on? Did I mess everything up that bad?
    “Alright ladies. Ready? Set? Go!”
    I took off. I made it to the other side of the gym and back to the black line without any issues. Connor and I were the first to make it back.
    “Alright, good job. Let’s go again. Go for as long as you can and last man standing wins.”
    We lined up again.
    “Go!”
    I ran. Hard. This was cake. Connor and I ran every morning and night. We went at least six miles each time. After we ran we hit up the gym. Lifting and boxing. We had one day of rest. Sunday. Then it was six days of training.
    Connor and I kept a steady pace, but guys started falling out one by one. I made it back to the black line and turned back to run again. I looked and saw Sophia. She was staring at me. I knew she saw me and I could tell she knew I was looking at her.
    Patience I kept telling myself.
    Connor and I made it back to the line and Kyle dropped.
    “Come on, let’s hit it.” Connor started laughing. We made it to the other side of the gym and turned back. The team went wild and started cheering. I looked back up and Sophia was