2.

After my countless tosses and turns, I finally decide to make my way downstairs to see who's disturbing my peaceful sleep. The whole point of summer is that I don't have to worry about waking up early.

"Dad!" I shout when the excruciatingly loud noise gets louder as I get closer. What is he doing?

"In here Hunny," he shouts back and I finally reach the garage where my darling father and my dear friend and neighbor, Cody seem to be welding onto a metal case, seemingly trying to open it.

Could this seriously not have waited until everyone's stopped dreaming?

"What are you guys doing?" I ask rhetorically as I put the palm of my hands against my ears to block out the noise.

"This was Cody's dad's sweetheart. He found it in the basement and we just want to see what's inside," he answers clearly not getting the question behind the question I was asking, or rather the meaning behind it.

"Dad, this is really loud. Could it not wait until a bit later on?" I decide to stop speaking in riddles and that seems to work because he switches off the machine then says,

"I'm sorry sweetheart. Didn't even realize it was still so early." He says now looking at his watch. I get that, Dad wakes up early. Too early.

"What time's Ezra picking you up?" He asks and I ignore the exaggerated eye roll from Cody. I'm not in the mood for his judgment.

"He should be here in, Oh sh..."

"Watch it!"

"He should've been here 30 minutes ago. He must be running late, I know he's got practice. I'm gonna go get ready now." I say already running back into the house to shower.

He's got a big game later today.

Usually when that happens he picks me up in the morning after practice. We drive to the stadium together and then he leaves me in the VIP section where Michaela comes and joins me later, as well as the rest of the VIP people.

Michaela is one of his teammates' wives and one of the very few people who know about us. She's about 15 years older than me but doesn't look it at all, she's stunning.

We didn't even have to tell her anything, she said she could tell by the way we acted around each other. Like all we wanted was to be around one another but we couldn't. Of course she keeps our secret. She still doesn't understand why it's a secret to start with but she respects us nonetheless.

It's now a week since Bruno's party and things are back to being great with us. We'd fought and fought until we forgot what we were even fighting about and then made up. That happens a lot with us.

I finish getting ready in no time and then I wait. He's never late to pick me up when he's got a game, mostly because he has to work around a schedule so it's extremely weird that he's not here yet.

"Bun-bun!" I hear my dad call from downstairs, clearly to tell me he's here.

I jump off the bed, take my bag then go downstairs to see dad still in his night robe and a coffee mug in hand.

"Where is he?"

He usually comes in and waits with him while I get ready.

"There's a car outside waiting for you," he says wiggling his eyebrows and I internally scream. Ew.

I find it odd that he didn't come out to even say hi to dad but I don't waste a second thinking about it. I know he's probably running late so,

"Thanks, dad. I love you" I say then kiss him on the cheek as I make my way out.

I step outside to see an all-black Land Rover I've never seen before waiting. I hesitate a bit before I get closer to it and then the driver's door opens making me jump slightly.

"Hey, pretty one. Are you ready to go?" A bearded, chubby fellow asks and I feel my heart calm down.

"I'll go to the end of the world with you Mickey." I respond to him with a smile as he opens the back door for me to get in.

My heart breaks a little that he sent his driver to come to pick me up and not him. Mickey is beyond great but I would rather have him with me right now, so I can give him my calming words before the game. He always says seeing me is his good luck charm.

"I see you got a new car." I say to the man as we continue on our journey. They've seemingly upgraded from a smaller Land Rover to a much bigger and darker one. Ezra is getting more and more famous every day and I guess they wanted something a little more private and intimidating.

"Yea. He's always wanted this one." He says.

I pick up the flowers that are placed next to my seat with a box of chocolates and a teddy bear. I take out the note that reads,

'My darling Alex,

We've got to do press today before the game and that messed up my schedule a bit. I hope you can forgive me for not being there right now to pick you up. I sent you this teddy bear to cuddle you and protect you until I'm able to.

Love you always and forever,

Ez'

I smile.

He definitely knows how to make my heart skip a beat.

Mickey looks at me knowingly through the rear-view mirror making me smile wider. He knows probably more than anyone else what Ezra and I have. He gets it.

Everyone else secretly judges and I can always see it through their eyes. They judge Ezra for wanting to keep me a secret and they judge me for taking it.

I don't care. They'll just never get it and that's fine.

We're soon at the incredibly big stadium where the game will be taking place. The gates are still closed but they let us in once they see it's Mickey. We drive down to the private car park and Mickey opens the door for me to come out. He's always insisted to be chivalrous despite my not wanting him to. I can open my own door. He says that's just how he was raised and eventually I gave up trying to change him.

He's going to be an amazing husband to a very lucky lady one day.

He then tells me to enjoy the game as I make my way to the private basement elevator.

"I will Mickey you too."

I get on the elevator, then press the button to get to the highest level.

It's always so quiet when I get here. People are running around cleaning and getting ready for the game later that day.

Everyone's already used to seeing me but I know they still wonder who I am. The VIP is for the wives and girlfriends of the players, as well as incredibly wealthy people.

Although, most of the wives and girlfriends prefer to be down by the field cheering on their significant others. I would prefer that too honestly, but I can't.

I know Michaela sits up here as well because she doesn't want me to be by myself even though she claims it's because there's always a lot going on by the field. So she's the only known significant other of one of the players who sit by the VIP, everyone else is usually on the sidelines of the field.

But basically, not just anyone can have access to the VIP section. So everyone stares at me but they don't ask any questions. I appreciate that.

"Hi. Alex Brown for the Eagles." I say to the nicely dressed gentleman behind the counter once I reach where I'm going. He smiles then opens the door for me to get through.

It's empty.

There's about 5 hours left still for the match to start.

All the other teammates are probably with their significant others right now. They let them see them before the game, I'm guessing to get them in a happy mood.

I walk closer to the big glass window overlooking the stadium and then sigh. I hate this part.

It sucks that I can't be down there with him right now. It sucks that if I go to the players' section, no one will know who I am and he'll probably act like he doesn't know me too.

He always says he needs me to understand, and I do, I guess. But it still hurts.

So I sit just letting my thoughts run wild for almost an hour before I finally let my tears go. I stare at nothing and make no attempt to dry my cheeks. I know my face is probably a mess right now from the mixture of my light makeup and tears but I don't let myself worry about that. I still have a lot of hours left so I'll redo my face later.

I continue to sit now watching cartoons playing on a big screen in a corner when,

"Hey," I hear a voice sound gently.

I turn around to face the boy who brings me so much light and darkness at the same time and I force a smile.

His face is soft because he knows I'm not happy.

"You look great," he then compliments and I mouth him a 'thank you.'

I probably don't really look great at all right now. I feel exhausted from waiting and I probably have tear stains on my cheeks.

He's wearing his team's track pants and a plain white shirt, and he's standing at a distance because there are cameras in the VIP. I mentally facepalm myself when I remember I had a breakdown earlier that whoever's monitoring the cameras has now seen.

"I'm sorry." He mouths back to me now putting his hands in his pockets. "I know." I mouth back.

Now that I'm looking at him, I know that he feels what I feel. I know that he wants more than anything to run to me and kiss me like the world was ending. I can see his body craving my proximity and touch.

I give him a genuine smile and say, "You're gonna kill it today." He always does. He's the best player on the team and he knows that but he gives me a genuine smile right back then says, "You think so?" Like I just made the world's wildest prediction.

One of the many things I love about Ezra is how humble he is.

I nod slightly making him blush.

'I love you.' He mouthes to me and I mouth to him that I love him too before he turns around to leave just when the cleaning ladies enter the VIP, I'm guessing to make final checks before the game starts.

I go to the bathroom to get myself together and then head back to the VIP with my head held high and a new fresh frame of mind.

My man's going to kill it today.