Page 51 of Brick Wall

Annie

S ebastian and I are lying on the beach in the Caribbean a few weeks after the Super Bowl win. It’s a beautiful eighty-degree day with the turquoise ocean as our background and the waves as our soundtrack. The beach is quiet, with only a few people in the vicinity.

I dip my toes in the warm, soft sand as I lie on my beach towel in the morning sun. I turn on my right side to get a better view of Sebastian. He’s lying on his back with just his swim trunks and sunglasses on.

I have the perfect view of him. His shirt is off, which is half the fun. Only his bathing suit remains until I can see…

“Stop ogling me, woman,” Sebastian interrupts my thoughts, but his complaint holds no heat. In fact, I think he secretly loves it. I also think he finally believes in his own attractiveness and appeal, which he should. I make sure to tell him often, and he usually reciprocates.

“I can’t help it,” I say with a shrug. “Hey! Did you know that we met one year ago today?”

Sebastian’s face lights up with an all-knowing grin. “I did.”

“No, you didn’t!” I drop my finger into the sand and flick some onto his towel, but not enough to do any damage.

“Why do you think I planned this trip for this week?”

I sit up fast. He has my full attention now—and outrage! “Hey! I planned this!”

“Oh, that’s right,” he easily concedes. “Well, I helped.”

I scoff at that. If his definition of helped means let me plan every single thing, then yes, he helped plenty. He also ate all my snacks on the plane ride here and “borrowed” my travel pillow.

It’s quiet for a moment, and then Sebastian leans closer to me and adds, “We would have met eventually even if we didn’t at the bar that night.”

“Probably,” I agree, especially since Bryce and Goldie are still together.

“We would have met at the college since you recommended me and all.” Amusement is shining in Sebastian’s eyes.

I shrug. No comment.

“It was really cool when I got that call from Adam in Athletics. I never told you, but I loved that you saw value in my foundation and nominated me. I loved speaking at the college last spring.”

“Even if I was a crazy gold digger?” I tease.

“Hey, your words! Not mine!” He holds his hands up in the air in front of him like he’s a helpless victim. He’s not.

I graze my hand to the sand and flick it at him. I don’t care if he gets sand in his pants now.

There’s a peaceful silence in the air after. We are both quiet and thoughtful looking out to the beautiful, immense ocean .

My mind flicks back to the beginning, and a thought pops in my head.

“I never told you why I recommended you to my boss.” He quirks a single eye up.

I take a small breath. Why am I so nervous all of a sudden?

This is Sebastian. “Well, I knew you were a football player, obviously, but I also loved your foundation. You know how you give scholarships to female players to help them succeed in college and sports…” I trail off for a second, and look down at my sand-covered toes.

“Well, you know my libero, Morgan? She received a private scholarship to play volleyball at the school of her choice.” I unfortunately only have so many scholarship dollars and offers to make, which is not much.

Male athletes tend to have more scholarship opportunities in college sports than women. Shocking, I know. Cue the sarcasm.

I’m not sure Morgan would have played at Chestnut Hill University her freshman year without outside funding. She probably would have played for a state school with cheaper tuition if it wasn’t for her generous athletic scholarship from a local foundation that was helping to bridge the gap.

After more research, I realized that Sebastian was one of the founding members of a new foundation in the community. I wanted to thank the person who sent me my dream libero. Ironic now that I completely forgot to tell him. Better late than never.

“Thank you for Morgan—and Callie, too! I think Hannah also received a scholarship from your foundation.”

His eyes bulge out and his body momentarily freezes. He rapidly blinks as he tries to process the information I told him.

“Really?” he finally says after a moment. Sebastian is in complete shock, but a happy one. His eyes are starting to swell, but he rubs any moisture away.

“Yes. I’m sorry I never thanked you before now. I think you may have distracted me a few times this year.” I add a wink for good measure. Sebastian definitely distracted me many times over the past year, but in the best ways possible.

“I’ll have to tell my sister,” he chokes out.

“Please do. You are doing amazing things on and off the football field.” I take his hand in mine and give him a squeeze.

I make a mental note to tell this man how much he means to me often and how incredible he is.

I know now he doesn’t give himself as much credit as he deserves, so I’m going to be his hype woman for as long as he’ll have me.

He leans forward and I match the distance as he gives me a sweet kiss. Sebastian breaks away quicker than I would like. I moan in protest.

“Happy one year of friendship.”

I laugh at that. “Today is our friendship date? Is that what we are calling it?”

“Exactly. You still owe me your worst date story.”

“Well, you still owe me the Dirty Dancing lift.”

“Do I?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll tell you what. You tell me your worst first date story and then I’ll get in this ocean and lift you over my head, or try to at least.”

“Promise?” I bat my eyelashes at him as I extend my pinky and intertwine my finger with his.

“Promise,” he repeats.

“Okay.” I take a deep sigh. “It’s really not an interesting story. It’s been overhyped.”

“I’ll be the judge of that. ”

I lay back down on my beach towel, where we lie side by side. We both turn to face each other, our hands grazing.

“Well, let’s see. I told you about the cat guy.”

“Yes, and you said that wasn’t the worst one.”

“Right, that date wasn’t bad. My actual worst date isn’t too bad either. It’s definitely not worth all this anticipation.” I pause for a second, and then I share, “For my worst date, he just kind of forgot.”

He raises his eyebrows in question. “Forgot about the date? He stood you up?”

“Not exactly. We were on the date, and it was going well. We went to one of those bar and arcade type places. Well, we ran into someone he knew from work, and he was chatting with them for a while. I stepped away for a minute to play a game because I had gotten bored, and he just didn’t notice.

He ended up texting me three hours later, asking if I went to the bathroom.

I was home in bed at that point. It sucked to be so unforgettable and unnoticeable for three whole hours.

” I shrug to indicate it hurt way less than it actually did.

It sucks when you are invisible sometimes, especially when you put yourself out there and thought it was going well.

“Hey, come here.” Sebastian tugs me forward and gives me one of those big bear hugs I love. I love being in his arms. I feel so protected and cared for when I’m with him.

“I don’t know how anyone could forget you.” He pauses and looks into my eyes. “Thank you for telling me.”

“You’re welcome,” I softly say.

“I honestly thought it was going to be funnier than your cat story,” he admits after a moment of silence.

I lightly punch him on the arm.

“Ow.” He holds his arm in pain. “That was my lifting shoulder. I guess I can’t do the lift anymore.”

“You wouldn’t dare back out.” I make a move to attack, but he’s quicker on his feet than I expected. He jumps up fast and dodges me, running closer to the sparkling ocean.

Bad move on his part because I’m now in the perfect position to jump.