Page 14 of Racing Heat

“What?” I open my eyes and realize just how close he is. I almost fall backward, but he catches me.

“Don’t hurt yourself.” He chuckles. He pulls me to my feet and backs me up to the wall. “I think you would do better if you were leaning up against something.”

“Ha-ha,” I reply with a roll of my eyes.

“Oh, I wasn’t kidding. I could totally see you falling over and busting an ankle or something. Taken out by kneeling before the whistle even blows.”

He’s grinning at me and it’s making me warm all over. It’s also calming my nerves.

“I might not need yourthree deep breathscrap,” I tell him. “Being made fun of by you is enough to calm my nerves.”

“So, every away game I’ll just have to come over and insult you. I can absolutely do that.” He winks at me, and I swear my knees feel just a bit weak.

Mac chooses that exact moment to come out of the locker room, followed by several of our teammates.

“Come on, Cas, we gotta hit the pitch.” She reaches for my hand to lead me out on the field.

“You can’t call it a pitch,” Jase says, shaking his head. “You’re not from England.”

“We’ll call it whatever we want.” I turn and stick my tongue out at him.

“Go get ’em, ladies!” he calls after our retreating forms.

I want to turn around and sneak one more glance at him, but I don’t.

The San Francisco air isn’t humid like in Tampa, which makes it easier for me to make my runs up and down the field. We’re playing well. No one is on the board, but I keep telling myself it’s better than trailing by even one.

Jase yells out directions for Hendrix every once in a while. He’s helping make sure she’s in the right position, and she’s on fire tonight. She’s had a lot of big shots. Mac is solid at the top, firing the ball right along with Kelsey, a winger. One of those has to go in.

The ball is sent at Hendrix again. It’s a high one. I hold my breath hoping it doesn’t go in, and she makes an unbelievable save.

“Let’s go!” Jase yells.

The crowd goes nuts; the bench is going off. It’s just the pickup we needed.

Hendrix rolls it out to Amelia instead of punting it. She’s able to carry it for a few feet before one of the Angel FC offensive players is on her. She’s the one who’s been firing shots all game. But Amelia expertly shoots it up to me, and I go running up the side with it. I look to see if Mac is open, but she’s covered. So is the rest of the offense.

“Fire it in there!” Jase yells.

He never yells commands to me, but I do as he says, and the ball finds the back of the net!

It actually goes in, and I start jumping up and down. Mac comes over and throws her arms around me. This was my first NWSL goal. Sure, I scored in college, but this one just feels bigger and so much more meaningful.

I’m hugged by so many of the girls, while others just pat me on the back. We make our way back up into formation on our side of the field.

“Way to go, Simmons,” Coach Watts calls from the sideline.

“Way to shoot,” Jase says, joining in on congratulating me.

I wave and whoop in his direction. He looks a bit shocked but recovers quickly. I’m not sure if anyone else notices it, but I don’t care. I’m on cloud nine right now. I scored a goal, and I pulled my team ahead. I wonder for a second if it has something to do with the pre-game pep talk Jase gave me. I wonder if he’ll do that for me every away game.

I try not to think about it too much, because the Angel FC offense is coming hard for us. The goal that we scored has lit a fire under them and we can’t afford to let up. There’s too much time left on that clock. I wish it were only five minutes and not ten. I’m not sure we can hold them for that long.

We can’t.

They end up getting one in, and the game ends in a tie. One to one. It sucks. It’s a regular season game, and it doesn’t have to end with a winner, which I tell myself is fine. Logically, I know that it is. But the illogical side says that it’s stupid.

The teams walk through the line saying “Good game” to one another. Jase finds me afterward.