one

It was a chilly, Friday night in Autumn like any other. The entire lakeside town of Barton was crammed into the bleachers of the local high school's football field watching their alumna beat the opposing team. There was nothing as small-town as a Friday night high school football game, but it always proved to be entertaining. One player had all eyes on him, as per usual.

Daniel Schwinn raced effortlessly across the yard lines, beating the defense to the end zone. Danny was the fastest running back Barton Memorial had seen in two decades, since his late Uncle Daryl, and the entire town was in awe of him. Rightfully so, as he completed the pass from his teammate, scoring for Barton.

"Just like that, folks, Schwinn's taking us to the playoffs!" The announcer cheered over the PA system, and the crowd joined. They had missed the playoffs last season, and the goal for this past year was to take Barton to state and make up for the lost opportunity.

"Abby!" I turned around to see my best friend, Stacy, putting her pom-poms down on the band bleachers behind us. "Should we go in there?" I looked back at Danny to see his eyes scanning the cheer squad on the sidelines for me, and his face lit up when he found me. I blew him a kiss and he grinned, shaking his head which caused his shaggy brown hair to fall in his face, before focusing back on his friends.

Aside from being great at football, Danny Schwinn was the love of my life. We had been together for just shy of three years, and I knew loved him with every fiber of my being.

"Maybe we should give it a moment, let them be boys." I said, but Stacy was already onto the next thing, putting her jacket on and letting her hair down.

"You're so weird. If Danny was my boyfriend, I'd race out there in a heartbeat to make out with him."

Stacy shrugged her shoulders, making me laugh. Stacy McMahon was my oldest friend, and we had a comfortable friendship since we'd known each other for almost a decade and a half. She was always blunt about how I should be more hands-on with my relationship, even though I was comfortable.

"Well, he's mine, and I'm going to give him some space before I spend all day with him tomorrow." I told her, and she rolled her eyes. "Besides, aren't we all still on for tacos tonight?"

"Oh my god, I forgot. I cannot wait to have nachos shoveled in my mouth." Stacy moaned.

"You're drooling. Close your mouth, please." I shook my head in disbelief. The girl weighed all of 115 pounds soaking wet; I was jealous of how she could slam down two McDonald's quarter pounders with cheese and cheer fifteen minutes later without getting sick. Her older sister was the same, genetics had truly favored the McMahon family.

"Did I hear someone say nachos?" A pair of strong arms wrapped around my shoulders, and I felt Danny kiss the top of my head before he spun me around. His eyes were bright with pure happiness, and he flashed his lopsided smile at me.

"That was a great last play, babe." I wrapped my arms around his waist. "Hi."

"Hi." He chuckled, and pulled me in tighter. "I've been waiting to see you all day."

"Would you two please get a room?" Rhys Tyler, Danny's best friend and senior co-captain, whined. "I mean, you're really killing my eligible bachelor status here, Schwinn." He chuckled. Rhys had just recently broken up with his boyfriend of a year, and was uncomfortably single.

"Get over yourself, Tyler." Danny snorted, and kissed me again. He hovered over my lips for a moment, catching his breath. "But we should probably get some food." He laughed. "I'm starving after that game."

"I love you." I kissed him on the cheek before pulling away to pack up my duffel bag. Stacy was already on the move to the locker rooms, and I said my goodbyes to Danny and Rhys before racing to catch up with her.

"There are tacos to be eaten, lady! Hurry your pretty little ass up!" Stacy yelled, holding the door to the locker room open for me. I picked up my pace and she swatted at my backside as I ran inside. I rolled my eyes and gave her a death glare, and she playfully held up her hands and shrugged. We walked into the locker room, and we found our lockers, side by side. I unlocked mine - 0914 - my dog's birthday.

"Has Danny asked you yet?" Stacy asked, in a faint voice so our other senior teammates couldn't hear. Of course, she meant about a ring. I already knew marrying Danny was my endgame, and his mom had been dropping hints about ring sizing for the last week. But, he wasn't shopping for an engagement ring—I knew he was looking for a promise ring to switch out when the inevitable proposal came. As weirdly mature as it sounded at seventeen, it was small-town tradition. One of the other girls, Bri, had gotten a promise ring from her boyfriend who had already enlisted in the Guard for after graduation.

"Not yet." I said, a blush creeping over my cheeks. "I don't know when he's going to, Stace. We are only into the first semester of the school year."

"Girl, we've all known he was the one from the day you guys starting seeing each other." Stacy said without a doubt.

"He totally is." I said lovingly, thinking of how great he had been to me since we met. Danny Schwinn was a total sweetheart off the field, and his philanthropic attitude was what drew me in to him. My parents had also fallen in love with him, which was a major plus. He was also a preacher's son, which made him even more impressive to my family.

I slid my leggings on and discarded my cheer uniform in my locker, ready to go. Stacy was dressed shortly after me, and we walked out together to meet Danny and his friends as some of the younger girls from the squad were walking in from the front end. They were chittering excitedly, and they awkwardly brushed past Stacy and I with a short and sweet hello. Stacy animatedly cheered, before turning back to me with an enthused eye roll as if to say 'remember when we were freshmen?'

"Thank God we're seniors." I said under my breath, and Stacy and I snickered while heading out the back door. Barton had a weird tradition that had been upheld for decades; the field entrance was reserved solely for upperclassmen and any student with a physical disability. It was nice not having to walk the quarter mile around to the front entrance, especially when it was only 45 degrees. I shimmied into Danny's varsity jacket as we walked toward the parking lot, and pulled it tightly around my body.

Danny was standing against his red pickup truck, talking on the phone to someone, assumedly his mom. She hadn't been able to make it to the game tonight, since his little sister was sick all afternoon. I watched him as he ran a hand through his messy hair, chuckling at something his mom said. His mom was his kryptonite, he was an absolute mama's boy. He caught me out of the corner of his eye, and his face lit up.

"I gotta go, I love you." He said quickly, and hung up as I walked up to him. "Hi." He pulled me close to his side and leaned down to kiss my forehead.

"Okay, I am actually starving. Let's go, please!" Stacy clapped her hands, gesturing toward the road.

"I'll see you in a few?" I said to Danny, and wrapped my arms tighter around his waist before pulling away and heading to my car. Stacy didn't drive, and was already sitting in the passenger seat, plugging her phone into my audio jack to play whatever her current obsession was.

"Okay, three words. MGK and Blackbear." She said as soon as the car was on. "It's not new-new, but I think you'll love it." A pop punk-esque guitar riff filled the older Volkswagen as I pulled out of the parking spot. Stacy was the most popular (or, well-liked) girl at school, and she deserved it. Not only was she the sweetest person I knew, she was also so cool and always on top of everything new. Her dad was one of the prime-time DJs at the local alternative rock radio station, which got her all-access media passes to any concert she wanted to go to. She had started a blog off her encounters, The DJ's Daughter, which had gained quite a bit of traffic in the few years she'd been running it. Although she was extremely popular, the one thing that always threw people off about her was her taste in music. She would listen to Ariana Grande and Bring Me the Horizon in the same ten minute car ride.

"Since when did MGK make pop punk music?" I asked as the next song started.

"Since Eminem completely roasted him and made him switch genres." Stacy laughed. "No, I don't know, he's always done features and stuff in metal music."

We pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant, and Danny was already parked and inside. Rhys and two other guys from the team, Alex and Thomas—maybe Alex and Heath? I didn't know, truthfully—were pulling in just as we were getting out of my car, and we all piled into the building to find our table.

Danny was seated in the back, and an older couple was standing next to the table, congratulating him on the win. Danny didn't take compliments well once he wasn't in game mode, he hated being the center of attention as soon as he was off the field. He was doing his best to appease the conversation, and I politely excused myself past the woman so I could slide into the seat next to him to save him.

"It was nice talking to you, Daniel. You're a great athlete." The man said, and Danny shook his extended hand. Although he didn't like to take compliments, he disliked being rude to people even more. When the man turned, I noticed his Vietnam veteran hat, and gave him a tight-lipped smile.

"Thanks, sir. Have a good evening." Once they were gone, Danny looked at me and mouthed 'thank you'. I placed my hand on his forearm and squeezed lightly to say you're welcome.

"So, I'm starved, can we order?" I asked after a moment, pulling some menus out of the centerpiece and passing them out.

Nearly an hour later, we were all stuffed to the brim on chips and salsa, and I was barely able to finish my second taco. The boys were discussing their win, and Stacy and I were looking up tickets for a Halloween theme park.

"We're going to destroy Valley." Alan, the quarterback, hated our rival school, Barton Valley, the most of all of us. Every year, we would play them to lay claim on the name of the park. It was always a random Saturday night, and The Battle for Barton Park was the biggest turn out of the year for both schools. Needless to say, Valley had won this year.

"Dude, we're going to crush their offense this game." Rhys boasted. "Spencer's out for the season, he broke his leg last week."

"No shit?" Alan asked.

My phone rang suddenly, pulling me out of my trance.

"Hi, Mom."

"Abby, baby, where are you? You have a voice lesson in the morning." She said sternly. My mom was pretty strict on curfews, and didn't like me to be alone with Danny late. My dad had gotten her pregnant at sixteen, and although they had now been married for eighteen years and my grandparents had supported them extremely well financially, she didn't want me to face the same fate.

"I'm sorry, I forgot. We're getting Mexican food, Stacy is with me." I told her, and ran my free hand over my face. It was the second time this week I'd forgotten to call my mom first, I knew I was going to get a lecture when I got home.

"Well, be home soon. Before eleven, please."

"We're finishing now. I'll be home, love you." I said, hanging up with my mom. Danny perked up when I turned my attention back to the table. "Mom needs me home, I totally forgot I have a lesson in the morning."

"I should probably get going too, if I want to get a good sleep before we go to the farm tomorrow." We were visiting his grandparents' farm tomorrow and taking his little sister, Aly, with us.

"I can't wait, babe." I said, and flagged our server down for some boxes. "If I leave you with a $10 bill, can you pay mine?" I asked Danny, and he nodded sweetly.

"Don't worry about it, it's on me." He said, pulling me into a goodbye kiss before I got up with Stacy. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Love you. Bye, guys! Congrats on playoffs!" I said over my shoulder, catching a wink from Danny as I headed out the door with Stacy behind me.

My phone went off as I grabbed my door handle and sat down in the seat. Stacy grabbed it for me from my backpack and handed it to me.

"It's probably just Danny already telling me he misses me." I joked, and unlocked my phone.

‘Be careful with Danny.’

I scanned the text again to make sure I read it correctly.

"Tell Danny you'll see him in, like, twelve hours." Stacy laughed.

"It's just another stupid underclassman who's jealous about homecoming." I mumbled, rolling my eyes. I'd been getting snide comments and stares all week in school from juniors who wanted Danny to take them to homecoming next weekend. "They must have finally moved to texting."

"God, can't they give it a rest?" Stacy relaxed in the passenger seat, and I tossed my phone in the back before pulling onto the road.

‘Be careful with Danny.’