Football season was officially over.

After sleeping off the excitement and the jet lag for a week following the National Championship, I dragged myself to the football complex to start packing up things in my office. Guys were coming and going as they cleared their lockers out, and a general feeling of bittersweetness singed the air.

In the center of the lobby, proudly displayed behind glass, was the National Championship trophy, still all smudged with everyone's fingerprints from holding it up and embracing it. Reid got to keep his MVP trophy, which I was sure he put beside the family photo on his TV stand in his bedroom.

JJ was one of the guys on his way out as I lingered in the lobby, looking over the Championship trophy as if I could decipher which fingerprints were Reid's. Fingerprints he'd left on me just the same.

"Hey," JJ greeted me, breathing out a sigh as he adjusted his workout bag on his shoulder. I hadn't been face-to-face with JJ in weeks, and I couldn't help wondering what he did or didn't know about me and Reid. It certainly felt like he was looking at me differently, and I couldn't blame him.

"Hey," I echoed with a soft smile. "Got your locker all cleaned out?"

"Yeah, just about." He swung his bag back and forth for emphasis. "What about you? Going to see that lady that's been hanging around in your office?"

My heart stopped. "What lady?"

JJ shrugged. "Elijah escorted some lady upstairs a while ago, and she went into your office."

"Thanks, I'll see you later," I blurted out before bolting for the stairs. I went up them two at a time until I reached the second floor, slowing down to see if I could peer around the corner and get a glimpse through the glass door to see if my suspicions were correct. They were, and I groaned to myself, feeling a sick knot begin to twist itself up in my stomach.

I couldn't leave now, so I took a few breaths to attempt to steady myself before walking into my office. Mariah Roe was admiring the little glass tiger figurine I had on my desk - the same one I'd given Beth for Christmas.

"There you are," she greeted me with a thin smile.

"I'm sorry," I blurted out. "If I'd known you were here, I would have-"

"Don't worry, it's on me," she cut me off. "I was on my way home from LA and decided to stop here first. Elijah said you'd be coming in so I figured I'd just wait. Take a tour of the facilities and everything. The school has really done a good job with this place."

She realized I was still standing dumbfounded in the doorway and sidestepped out of the path to my desk. "I'm sorry, did you want to sit?" She gestured to my desk chair, and I gave her a rigid nod before doing as she suggested.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here." She sat down at the chair across from me, still holding the glass figurine and gently turning it over in her hands.

"I think I could make an educated guess." I sighed out. Something along the lines of becoming fodder for the sports version of Page Six with the guy I was supposed to be doing a legitimate set of articles and interviews on, followed by an eloquent way of saying I have no job or future with them. I braced myself for impact.

"I want to offer you a job on my team."

"Look, I'm so sorry, I..." It took me a moment to realize that what Mariah actually said was nowhere near my supposed educated guess. "Wait, you what?"

I was so flabbergasted that any professionalism I had was swallowed up.

If anything, it amused her as she gave me a tapered smile. "Since your work-study internship is officially over, I can now formally offer you a position as Associate Content Creator. I know you have a small handful of credits left until you graduate, but I figured you could spare some time in the spring to travel with us once football starts up again. Maybe be able to give some lucky girl at some other university the same opportunity you were given."

The sick feeling had all but dissipated, but what remained I couldn't quite place. Pride? Satisfaction? Relief? Had I been so caught up in all the negative bullshit that I tricked myself into believing I didn't deserve this? "I'd be honored. Wow. I, uh...I really thought this conversation was going in a completely different direction."

She smirked. "You thought I was going to reprimand you for getting involved with Reid Donahue?"

I let out a dry chuckle. "Something like that, yeah."

Mariah shook her head, still smirking. "Trust me, if I was going to do something about that, I would have said something to you a long time ago."

I felt my jaw unhinge. "How did you...?"

"Intuition, I guess," she shrugged. "Maybe it's just easier to see because I've been there. The way you look at someone who you're not entirely sure is yours to keep can be very identifiable...if you already know what it looks like."

Mariah took her phone out and showed me her lock screen. It was a photo of her and her husband on their wedding day, underneath a gorgeous floral arch on the beach with crystal clear ocean in the background. Even their dog was good looking. I smiled softly at the picture, and then I realized I recognized her husband.

"Wait a minute," I handed the phone back to her. "Your husband is Dakota Barnes? Oh my god, he was one of the first college quarterbacks I ever paid attention to. I remember watching him at Florida..." The realization brought my train of thought to a screeching halt. "Where you also went."

Mariah nodded. "I was the editor-in-chief of the school paper as a junior, which at the time I guess was a big deal. He was a senior, and when he was named as the team's captain that year, I did a whole sit down interview with him." She paused, no doubt re-living fond memories. "I'm pretty sure it was love at first sight. For me, at least. Sure he was good looking, but...we talked for hours. He smiled a lot, laughed, and he treated me like a journalist, not a woman. He took me on one date, and I knew he was the one."

I frowned at the memory of mine and Reid's first date, and barely being able to actually have one since we were constantly interrupted by people too obsessed with him to give us privacy.

"You didn't get grief over it?" I asked her.

"Oh I did," she nodded. "Especially when I started working at ESPN around the same time he earned the starting job on the Bengals. Our relationship wasn't exactly a secret, nor was every other guy in my department's belief that Dakota got me a job."

"How did you handle it?"

"Ignored it. Worked hard." She paused and smirked. "And then when I got to be in charge of all those same assholes, I took a lot of pride in...redistributing them."

That got me to laugh, not just at her story but at the ridiculous irony of it all. "So that's it? You just ignored it and it went away?"

Mariah leaned forward in her chair and looked at me head-on. "It won't affect you if you don't let it, and there are plenty of ways to earn people's respect. If you are going to let something as trivial as the unsolicited opinion of a few idiots stop you from doing what you want to do, you're not the girl I thought you were."

I let my gaze drop slightly, my voice softening as the words hit my throat. "I'm not sure I know what kind of girl I am anymore."

"Well I'm sure. You're the kind that goes after what, and who, she wants." Her words lifted my heart in my chest, and my gaze back up to her. She gave me a confident nod. "If you think that there's even a possibility that he's the one, you need to tell him that. You're not breaking any rules by following your heart, honey. And far be it from me or anyone else here to deny a talented young woman a career and happiness."

"Thank you," I told her sincerely as I stood up from my chair. "I mean, not just for the job offer, which I obviously accept, but...for what you said. If you'll excuse me, I have something I have to take care of."

Mariah smirked and held her hands up. "I won't stop you."

I bolted out of my office and down the stairs quicker than what was probably deemed safe, my sneakers squeaking on the linoleum and echoing off of the emptiness of the lobby. Hardly anyone was left, and soon this place would revert to its ghostly, empty shell until the spring, when it got warm and everything bloomed again. I jogged back towards the locker rooms, not giving a damn who saw me and if they thought I should be there or not.

"Reid," I heaved out when I got back to the players lounge. "Where's Reid?"

"He's gone," Clayton told me, nodding to Reid's empty locker space. Even his nametag had been removed, and the very sight stung.

"Gone where?" I asked, still trying to catch my breath and cursing the idiot that made this facility far too big.

"Back home to Charleston for a bit," Clayton replied. "Poor guy seemed exhausted. I think the season finally just caught up to him."

"Oh," I stood up straight with a nod. "Thanks, Clayton."

I didn't stick around for the opportunity to be probed with questions. Instead I ran straight for the doors, as if whatever magnetic pole in me was still leading me towards him until I made it out to the parking lot. Reid's truck was nowhere in sight, and the cold air stung my jacketless arms and aching lungs.

He was gone, and maybe I should have taken that as a sign. Maybe I deserved some things, but maybe it was too late for others. Maybe it didn't matter if I deserved them or not, because that's not how life works. I felt something cold and wet on my cheeks, and at first I thought a few phantom tears had slipped out. But when I looked up, I realized it had started snowing.

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sad girlie is sad! WE'RE ALL SAD HERE!

honestly, while it's not my FAV chapter of the story, this very well might be the most IMPORTANT. it's everything i wanted represented in this story in just a few thousand words. women uplifting women, women being powerful in sports, and proving that they deserve to be there regardless of who they are involved with. it was really important that mariah be the one to have this conversation with jo, because it's important for women in male-dominated spaces to uplift other women! that's all there is to it, it's not complicated. 

ONE MORE LEFT *sobs*