Everyone was celebrating. The teams loud cheers were echoing the locker room and I had to do my best to seem just as excited.

We had won our final game which meant we were going to make it to playoffs. We had a chance to win the state championship. It was a slim chance but it was still a chance.

The only thing I wanted to do was go back to my apartment and lay down. Maybe I'd watch some tv but the most important thing would be that Jake would be in the bed right beside me. But that wasn't going to happen. Jake's season was over and I had a feeling he'd be with his football buddies for the night. And unfortunately I had to make my own appearance at the football house as they partied hard in celebration.

I changed into fresh clothes after my quick shower and packed up my bag just ready to get the hell out of here.

When I exited the locker room my eyes landed on a familiar brown haired boy that I wasn't expecting to see.

"Congratulations Captain." Jake smiled.

"I didn't think I'd see you." I smiled right back walking over to him.

"How could I miss your big win?" His hand wrapped around the back of my neck pulling me in effortlessly.

I didn't really care that we were right outside the locker room where my whole team was. I really didn't care about any of it as I sunk into the kiss.

"Does this mean-," I started once we detached.

"That I'm going to take you back to your place and fuck you? Yes it does." He cut me off.

There was no argument in that. I was seconds way from dragging him to my car and speeding my way home. I wanted him so badly, it was sort of embarrassing how quickly my body reacted to him.

"Hey we're heading out, you coming?" Monroe called out to me.

I looked at my roommates and then back at Jake. I had to go to that party and at least make an appearance. We just made it to the playoffs.

"Yeah, I'll meet you guys there." I nodded.

I turned to look at Jake and maybe I was crazy because the words were tumbling out of my mouth quicker than I could stop them.

"Did you want to come?" It was a terrible idea but I wanted to be with him even if that meant bringing him to the football house.

"Do you want me to come?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Then lead the way." He smiled and leaned forward to press a quick kiss against my lips.

This was a terrible idea. I couldn't actually see how this would go well. I was bringing the rival captain into the football house where they were all on a win high.

You know maybe everyone would be too excited about the win to even care that Jake was there and my boyfriend.

—

It felt freeing to be around everyone with Jake by my side. I ignored some of the stares but no one had said anything. I didn't know if that was because none of my team really cared or if everyone was too excited to ruin the celebration with a scene.

The one good thing was that I'd successfully avoided Justin since we showed up. It would be really amazing if I didn't see him at all tonight.

I made my way through the crowd greeting some of my teammates, introducing Jake to a few. We didn't spend too much time bouncing around before I spotted my roommates, they were playing beer pong. Jake and I made our way over there, I knew spending my night with them was the only way I'd have a fun night.

"Kiss my fucking ass you idiot!" Becca cheered as her ball landed in a cup.

"That's real nice Becs." Monroe smiled at his girlfriend picking up the cup and downing it.

"You should have been her partner if you wanted nice." Jetson laughed high-fiving the blonde.

"Yeah you should have been my partner." She stuck her tongue out at Monroe.

"I asked but you told me to fuck off and that Jetson was your partner." Monroe sighed a smile on his face due to his girlfriends antics.

"That's a lie I never told you to fuck off. Stop trying to slander my name Francis." Becca shot back at her man.

I had to bite my lip to stop the laugh from bubbling out. Monroe didn't like his first name, he wasn't a big fan of his name as a whole. He went by his middle name and so most people didn't even know Francis was his first name.

"Dude your first name is Francis?" Reggie, one of the defensive linemen who was Monroe's pong partner, raised his eyebrows in shock.

"Shut up and throw the ball and if you don't make it I'm replacing you with Evan." Monroe grumbled.

At the sound of my name Becca perked up turning to look at me with a large grin. The second our eyes locked she was moving.

"You guys are here!" She yelled rushing over and throwing her arms around me.

"Hey Becs." I smiled at my best friend returning the hug.

"You need to be my partner once Jet and I crush those losers." She gestured over to Reggie and Monroe.

"Thanks babe." Monroe laughed throwing the pong ball and missing.

"See losers." She said making her way back to the table.

"Jake you good at pong?" Monroe asked my boyfriend.

"Really good." He nodded and I knew he wasn't just being cocky, somehow he was just good at everything.

"You're my partner next." My roommate decided.

"Why am I getting pushed out?" Jet threw his hands up in air.

"You can't make a shot even if I put your hand right over the cup." Becca just patted his arm softly trying not to laugh.

And she was right. Jetson put his hand up trying to aim for one of the cups but as he took his shot the ball didn't even come close to any of the cups.

"You might do better if you close your eyes." I teased him.

"Oh ha ha." Jetson rolled his eyes.

I watched the game for a little longer, joking around with my friends before I decided to go get a drink from the kitchen. I dragged Jake with me because if I got dragged into a conversation it would be nice to have someone there to help get me out of it. Also as long as he was by my side most of my team left me alone.

I grabbed a beer from the cooler and then turned to Jake.

"What do you want?" I asked him.

"Nothing, I'll drive your drunk ass home at the end of the night."

"Come on I wasn't going to ask you to do that. I'll probably only have one." I shook my head.

"Evan you just made it to playoffs don't be ridiculous." Jake gave me that look that I knew meant he didn't want me to argue.

Most of the time I was really good at listening to Jake but right now was not one of those times.

"And your season just ended." I argued.

"And I'll get drunk at my end of the season party but tonight it's about celebrating you."

I wanted to argue but I knew he wasn't going to budge.

"Let loose a little Ev, I don't mind making sure you don't do anything stupid for the rest of the night." Jake smiled at me and my heart warmed at how amazing he was.

"You'd totally let me do something stupid." I smacked his arm playfully.

"You know I am on crutches I can't stop everything."

"You're so annoying." I laughed.

"That's my line."

I smacked him again. He was so insufferable sometimes but I loved it. I loved every moment I got to spend with him.

God I sounded so-.

"Well this is a surprise." I felt my body tense as I looked up to see Justin standing in front of us.

"It's a party, it can't be that surprising to see people here." Jake said his face went from amused to annoyed fast.

"I'm Just-,"

"I know who you are." Jake cut him off.

I wanted to fuck Jake so badly right now. How was he so hot? I shouldn't want to rip his clothes off as much as I do because Justin was right here being a dick like usual. But Jake glaring at him did something to me.

"I can't believe you'd bring this," Justin eyed Jake with disgust. "You'd bring this piece of shit into my house."

I opened my mouth to tell Justin to fuck off but Jake grabbed my arm stopping me.

"Not worth it. Come on let's go play some pong." Jake gestured for me to lead the way out of the kitchen.

I wasn't going to argue with that. As much as I'd love to cause a scene I knew that's what Justin wanted. He wanted to get a rise out of me and I wouldn't waste any time giving him anything he wanted. So I listened going to turn to leave Justin behind me.

"You listen to everything your little boyfriend tells you to do?" Justin spat.

Jake moved forward, even on crutches he looked like he was seconds away from taking the swing. I stepped up blocking his path before he did something stupid and got even more injured.

"Yeah you got a problem with that?" I smiled daring him to say something.

I was itching for him to cross that line and give me a reason to kick him off the field. I didn't even care that playoffs were here and we'd need all of our best players out on that field. I'd throw the whole thing just to see Justin off the team.

"You're a pathetic excuse for a captain Barrett." Justin sneered.

"Watch it your jealousy is showing." I said relishing in the anger that flared across his face.

I watched his fists clench at his sides. He looked seconds away from throwing a punch and as he stepped closer to me I was already bracing for impact.

Do it.

Punch me.

It was like he could hear me because his fist was flying through the air before I could open my mouth to taunt him some more.

His fist slammed into the side of my face and I had to stumble back from the impact. I didn't know what I expected, he was on the team, I had watched him work out at the gym plenty of times. I knew his strength but still the force of the punch caught me by surprise.

Fuck that was really going to hurt tomorrow.

Jake's hand went to my back pulling me back as he put himself between Justin and I before Justin could decide to throw a second punch. I didn't want Jake to beat Justin up, ok well yes I did want Jake to beat him up. I just didn't want Jake to get hurt so I grabbed onto the back of his shirt stopping him from doing anything.

But it wasn't Jake I had to worry about apparently. I hadn't even seen Monroe enter the kitchen but he was rushing at Justin before I could even stop him.

"I'm going to kill you." Monroe slammed his fist into Justin's face towering over him as he collapsed to the ground. "Lay a single hand on my best friend again and you'll find yourself in a hospital."

"Are you ok?" Jake turned to look at my face his hands hovering over my skin which was probably already marked with Justin's fist.

"Yeah I'm fine." I assured him.

"Are you sure?" He used his hand to tilt my face trying to get a better look.

"Jake seriously I'm fine." I brushed his hands off me.

The pain in my face was causing it to throb and with the combination of Jake's concerned face staring down at me it was all getting to be too much. I couldn't handle it.

I didn't know when the last time someone looked at me with that much concern. The last time someone had wanted to comfort me when I was injured.

I hadn't ever had that and now that Jake was here giving it to me I wasn't sure exactly what to do with it. It was overwhelming and I was still trying to decide if that was a good thing.