The days leading up to that Sunday were spent far away from the field or anything related to football. I was a woman of my word, and I did quit. I was done. Working for god wasn't as heavenly as I thought it would be.

I tried to convince Everett he was making a mistake but retracking the article, he wouldn't listen. When Sunday finally came and the article was released, neither Everett nor I read it. We both knew what it would say. Instead, we fled the city for Newark, where we had spent the day with Dale on the farm.

"And look at that! It's snowing, in November? It's going to be a cold one this year," Dale said as he looked out the window of his small farmhouse.

"Why look at that. It is snowing," I said as I looked out the window beside him.

For a moment we looked out the window and watched the snow come down like feathers. It wasn't until Dale's phone alarm broke us from the scene.

"Ah, well, that's it. Pizza is done. I'll get it," Dale said as he got up from his chair and walked into the kitchen.

I turned my attention to Everett who stared out the window. He had been so silent and it was because of the article. I knew it was weighing on his mind but I wondered if he was regretting the article.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

He nodded. "I'm fine. I thought leaving my phone at home was a safe move, but it's only driving me crazy."

"I think my phone is in the car. Want to see it?"

Everett shook his head as he rested his back against the wall. "Nah. I'll just find out everything when I return tonight."

"If you change your mind, let me know. I'll get that phone."

He chuckled as his father walked back into the room wearing a frown.

He looked at me then at Everett in silence. With his phone in his hand, he cleared his throat. "You're involved in a smear article against your own team?"

Everett's eyes glanced at me before turning his attention to his dad. He nodded. "Yeah."

"Why?"

There was such pain in his voice. As much as I wanted to speak up, I knew this was Everett's chance to defend himself. It was his time to finally be honest with his father.

Everett shook his head as his body turned ridged. "Football has done nothing good for me. There are terrible people on the team that needed to be exposed."

"But what does this mean for you?"

"I don't care," Everett said with a shrug as he tried to keep his voice level.

"You don't care? What do you mean? What about your dreams? You looked so hard and now the pro teams will think twice. You shouldn't have rocked the boat. That's not what good players do," Dale said, raising his voice.

Everett walked closer to his father. "No, that's what spinless players do. And going pro was never my dream. It was yours."

"You can't be serious," Dale yelled.

Suddenly the relaxing day was turned into something stressful.

"I am. You know what, I'm done. Dad, I hate football and you never saw that. I've hated it for years. I was incredibly unhappy playing football. I was abused in football. If I never played, I wouldn't have experienced all this pain. I've tried to tell you, but you never listened."

Dale opened his mouth then closed it. "You can't throw this all away just because of one experience."

"That's what you don't understand. It's more than one experience but you wouldn't know since you never listen to me." And with that Everett walked out the door.

In the silence of the room, I looked at Dale with a frown. He frowned back at me as he shook his head.

"Did you know?" he asked with pain in his voice.

I nodded.

"Why did you not tell me?"

"It wasn't my story to tell."

He grimaced as he stalked around the room. Finally he sat down on the couch.

Minutes ticked by as he sorted his thoughts and I waited for Everett to return.

"You know, there were so many times Everett tried to talk about football and his feelings towards the sport. I didn't want to hear them. Over time, he stopped bringing them up..." He shook his head. "But I never understood. Reading it from the article, it hurt."

"Don't you think it hurt him too?" I asked as I looked out the window to see his car gone.

He chewed on his lip. "It just caught me off guard. For years I knew he would be something in football. But this article tossed that away like a snap of the fingers."

"Where did he go?"

"He probably went to the barn down the road from here. It's about a mile from here. He often went there to clear his mind. I can drive you there if you want," he said as he pointed towards the path of the barn.

As he mentioned it, I remembered passing it before. Everett made a comment about how it was his place to escape. I knew where it was. I shook my head as I slipped my coat on. Having Dale there was the last thing I needed. "Nah, I can do this myself."

"Okay. Please call me once you find him."

I slipped on my boots and nodded. "I will." Then with that, I left out the front door into the snow.

I kept my head high as I walked out of the driveway. So here I was, walking down on a country street in the middle of Ohio blizzard, wishing I did everything right. I shouldn't have pushed him to write the article. I shouldn't have insisted on publishing it. Now that it was live, it would leave a path of destruction. It would destroy Everett but at this point he didn't care.

As much as I thought this was for the better, in the back of my mind, I couldn't help but thing I screwed everything up. I screwed up my relationship with my father. I caused drama in Everett's life. I was the one that was rocking the boat.

My hands were clammy in my pockets.

I thought I was helping him. I saw who Charles was and I thought I was guiding him to the right thing. I thought this would be freeing.

I blinked tears from my face as I pushed forward, hoping I would make it to the barn soon. But with the snow, I could barely see a few feet in front of me.

"Everett?!" I called out, hoping he would hear my cries. As the wind hit my face, I wrapped my coat around my body tighter. My voice was practically silent against the falling snow. Snow flew into my eyes, but I blinked it out. "Everett!"

Silence.

Snow.

I pushed forward, hoping I would see anything that resembled a barn soon. Minutes passed and finally the barn came into view. As it took shape, I sprinted to it, wanting to find Everett and get out of the snow.

I walked into the barn and saw him sitting on a hay barrel.

He looked up at me and frowned with my phone in his hand. Notifications lit up the screen. "Things are blowing up," he said as my phone dropped to the ground, hardly making a sound. "I prepared for this, but I didn't think people would say as hurtful things as they are now."

I wish there was something I could have said, but nothing would take away this pain.

"They are calling me a slut, or they're saying I lied, that this was just a call for attention." He shook his head.

I picked up my phone and shoved it into my pocket without looking at it, however I felt it buzz with another notification.

"Dad was right, I should have not rocked the boat."

I was starting to think he was right. This wasn't worth the fall out. "This will end soon enough."

He nodded. "But right now it's hard." He sighed. "I have hated football for so long, I thought I would be happy for this article to be release. But I feel conflicted now."

I placed my hand on his and gave it a squeeze.

"On one side, I know I am doing the world a favor by shining light on Charles, but on the other hand I know how this will hurt your father. He has done so much for me..."

But not enough because Everett was suffering for so long. I held my tongue.

He paced the barn. "I am so done with all of this. This was my choice. I thought I was doing something right. And deep down, I know I did the right thing. But your father texted, saying the president of the university wants to speak to us. He said that there's going to be a council. They're going to kick me out of the team." He took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.

We already knew this would happen. "Are you worried about that?"

He shook his head. "I'm really just worried about giving up the money the university gave me."

"Do you think they will really do that?"

He shrugged. "I wouldn't put it past them." He looked at his feet. "Do you think I'm disappointing everyone?"

"No. At least not everyone? I'm proud of you."

He smirked. "little miss 'I hate everything related to football', you sure did seem invested."

I smiled at him. "I guess I don't hate everything about it."

He wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace and I melted into him. "I guess I don't hate everything about it either."

I breathed in his aftershave and for a second, I didn't want him to let me go.

Who knew the hate we had for the sport would bring us together. I never would have guessed, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

"I think I'm ready to go back to Columbus. It's time to finish this match."

I nodded. I would follow him as long as he was ready for it.

As I got into the car, I quickly texted Dale then turned my phone off.

In the drive back, no words were spoken, but we both knew that everything as we knew it had changed. The university would never be the same after this. We would never be the same.