Free Love and Fandoms by CJ Zane

apart? That had to be it, right? But
if that were the case, would his touches still absolutely melt her? As always,
she couldn't get enough of his embraces, his kisses. If it weren't for that,
she might actually consider breaking up with him. But her body, possibly her
soul, said no way.
    Maybe the move to
Michigan would do him good, get him back to his normal self. She could tell
herself that as much as she wanted, but Michigan was where this all started.
She sighed, tried to push it from her mind for the time being, and simply enjoy
the game and her friends.
    The buzz of the
crowd turned her attention back to the field. The Yorba team had to punt, and
the Orange Grove kick returner ran the ball all the way to the Yorba 30-yard
line, only tripped up by a lucky diving tackle from the punter. Alex and the
offense zipped onto the field, ready to strike again.
    He took the snap
and sprinted to his left. The defensive front couldn't catch him as he turned
up field towards the end zone. One of the Yorba defensive backs stood between
Alex and another touchdown, but instead of gliding out of bounds or trying to
spin away, he dipped his shoulder and ran the defensive player over. The kid,
half Alex's size, dropped without so much as slowing him down. He sauntered
into the end zone for another score. Mandy and the rest of the crowd leapt to
their feet, cheering the play.
    A moment later,
the teams lined up for the two-point conversion attempt. Alex took the snap and
again coasted to his left. All eleven Yorba defensemen rushed at him. Instead
of bowling through them for the score, he turned and fired the pigskin to his
right. A receiver, all alone in the corner of the end zone, had no choice but
to catch the ball headed for the numbers on his chest. With only five minutes
gone in the first quarter, Alex and Orange Grove lead 24-0.
     
    WYATT
    Wyatt sat between
Allyssa and Kareem in the far end of the stands, away from the majority of the
crowd. At the end of the first quarter, they were up 56-0. Alex had been
responsible for all seven touchdowns and two-point conversions, either with his
arm or legs. As good as he'd been last season, he looked ten times better this
year. There wasn't even much strategy to figure out. Basically it was let Alex
do whatever he wanted, and the Yorba team could do nothing to even slow him
down.
    On the first play
of the second quarter, the Yorba running back fumbled at the fifty yard line,
and it was recovered by the Orange Grove defense. Instead of watching Alex and
the first-string trot out, the second-string offense took the field.
    "Those guys
will probably get more playing time than the first unit this year," Kareem
said. "Heck, we'll likely see the third-stringers every second half."
    "You guys
should have joined the team," Allyssa said, a twinkle in her eye. "You'd
have gotten plenty of playing time."
    "Ha!"
Kareem responded. "Think of all the side bets in the stands on which one
of us got carted off the field on a stretcher first."
    "I don't
think I'd survive the first practice," Wyatt said.
    "My two manly
men heroes," Allyssa said with a laugh.
    "You knew
what you were getting when you decided to hang out with us," Kareem said.
    Wyatt gave a laugh
of his own, but it was sort of a distracted one. Kareem, to his left, sat their
normal distance apart, a good foot or so away. Plenty of room. Allyssa,
however, sat so close to him that he didn't know how they weren't touching. His
instincts told him to put his arm around her shoulder, but he wasn't sure if
that was proper etiquette for a first date. Did this even count as a first
date? Kareem was here, after all. Shouldn't it only be the two of them? Maybe
it'd be easier at the ice cream parlor. Mandy wouldn't be there, even if he
hadn't spotted her tonight. He shouldn't be, but he found himself discreetly
scanning the crowd for her every few minutes. Luckily he hadn't been caught,
and told himself to stop before Allyssa noticed.
    The second-team
running