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“Oh, don’t even get me started about that,” Oaklynn warned, narrowing her eyes and lifting a stern finger since no one had tried as hard as she had.
I laughed just as the director of the photo shoot clapped his hands to gain our attention and start the session.
After greeting everyone and explaining how he wanted the process to go, he called for the players he actually wanted pictures of to come forward to sign our press releases.
When my name was listed, I glanced to either side of me. “I’m up. Catch you ladies later.”
But Raina walked over with me while Oaklynn remained behind with the other reporters.
“You should at least ask if going shirtless is an option,” she insisted, making me tighten my lips to keep from smiling.
Clearing my throat as I reached the table after waiting for a couple of my teammates to sign before me, I asked the photographer, “This isn’t going to go on another billboard, is it?”
He merely lifted his eyebrows and answered, “Depends on how well you pose, I guess.”
I paused and lowered my pen. “I’m not really a billboard kind of person.”
“Oh, come on, man,” one of my linebackers encouraged, jostling my arm in encouragement. “You gotta be up there. You’re the team captain.”
When the others chipped in, telling me to just sign the release, Raina nodded along with them. “I wouldn’t even know you existed right now if I hadn’t first seen your face on that billboard.”
I glanced at her and then sighed. “Fine.”
My boys cheered as I scratched my name on the line. Rolling my eyes, I straightened and turned to them to join their discussion of what kind of poses we were going to have to make.
“So you think we’ll have helmets off or on?” one asked right before another spoke up, “Man, I think we’d look sharp in three-piecesuits.”
Javonte blew into the room, late as usual, just as the last person signed, and when I got a look at him, I cried, “Holy shit! You tookeverythingoff, didn’t you?” His head was as bald as a baby’s butt.
The guys and I crowded around him as he signed his own release.
“Did you not see the finished result the other night?” he asked me as I cradled his head in my hands so I could check it out.
“No. I got distracted by something else. Just look at this, though. Damn. You look good bald. Can I rub your noggin for good luck now before every game?”
We were still laughing and joking around when we got our instructions on what to wear. The manager already had our uniforms on hand, so we just had to go back and change.
I glanced around for Raina before following the others into the changing room, and when I found her beside Oaklynn, both girls waved, smiling in encouragement.
“Whoa! Wasthatwhatdistracted you at my party?” Javonte asked, nudging me in the back as he followed my glance and saw Oaklynn. “The hot chick with the dimples? Because damn, Eighteen, she is fine.”
“What? No. That’s just Oaklynn,” I argued, shaking my head. “She’s dating one of my buddies.”
“Okay. Alright.” He nodded as if he wasn’t sure if he was going to believe me or not. “So who distracted you, then?”
I opened my mouth to tell him no one had, but one of the receivers teased, “Don’t even try to crack Union open, Witt. He’s so private with the girls he screws youneverknow when he gets laid.”
As the others laughed and joined in, I cringed lightly. They honestly thought I scored as much off the field as I did on it. I could only imagine how disappointed they’d be if they knew my dating life wasn’t so much private as it was nonexistent.
“Come on,” Javonte wheedled as we finished changing. “Give me something here, man. Name. Bra size.Haircolor. She was a blondie like you, wasn’t she?”
I shook my head and laughed, only to blurt, “Think auburn.”
“Auburn?” he cried in confusion. “What is that? Some kind of fancy term for brown?”
I shrugged, then nodded. “With a little red tossed in.”
“A redhead?” He whistled and lifted his eyebrows as if impressed. “I never would’ve taken you for the type.”
