The field didn't look the same when no one else was on it.
No music. No whistles. No crowd noise bleeding in from memory. Just grass, goalposts, and the sun hanging low enough to stretch Cam's shadow long across the fifty-yard line.
He liked it this way.
Cam reset the cones for the third time, wiping sweat from his brow with the bottom of his shirt. His legs burned, lungs tight, calves screaming - but he bent down anyway, lining them up with precise care. Slants. Dig routes. Double moves. Routes he had run a hundred times in games he barely played in.
Junior year had taught him patience the hard way.
He exploded off the line, snapped his hips, cut sharp, eyes up. Imaginary ball. Imaginary coverage. he reached, tucked, turned upfield.
Again.
The summer had been nothing but again. Early mornings. Late nights. Empty fields and stubborn doubt. While everyone else talked about Zane - the offers that were on the horizon, the way his name seemed to float through every conversation - Cam kept working.
He thought the world of Zane. That was the truth. Best friend since before either of them knew what recruiting meant. Before Twitter followers and 7-on-7 camps and rankings.
But love and admiration didn't erase hunger.
Next year, the spotlight would be bright. Zane would be at the center of it. Malik Richards too - the new transfer quarterback with the arm and the mystery. The kind of guy coaches whispered about like he was already proven.
Cam hated to admit it, but he felt invisible beside them. Like they were Gods and he was a mere mortal.
Underrated. Overlooked. The reliable guy. The one who blocked well. The one who practiced hard.
The one who waited.
He dropped into a stance again, knuckles brushing the turf.
"I want more"
He ran the route faster this time, legs pumping, breath tearing from his chest. He imagined a defender draped over him, imagined the ball thrown late, high - just like it would be when it mattered. He leapt, arms stretching, fingers clawing at air.
When he landed, he stayed there for a second, hands on his knees.
"I'm going to play D-1" he muttered to the grass.
The words felt dangerous spoken aloud. Greedy. But, at least it was honest.
He stood up slowly, looking around the empty field. He didn't want Zane's shine, or Malik's mystery.
He wanted his own name called. He wanted to be the guy a defense circled in red.
Cam jogged back to the line, sweat dripping, jaw set.
He worked harder. Again.
***
The late afternoon sun softened Ann Arbor, turning the brick paths gold as Bianca and Katie walked back toward the dorms, spikes dangling from their fingers, sweat cooling on their skin. Practice had been light - preliminary work, easing into rhythms - but it still left that pleasant ache in Bianca's legs that reminded her she was exactly where she was supposed to be.
"I'm just saying," Katie laughed, hopping off the curb, "Sabrina Carpenter is fun. You can't workout to Billie Eilish unless you're trying to feel something."
Bianca shook her head, smiling. "That's because Billie makes you think. Not everything has to be bubblegum."
"False," Katie said. "Bubblegum has its place."
They were still laughing when Bianca's phone buzzed in her hand. The name on the screen made her chest tighten in the softest way.
Zane.
She slowed, answering as Katie fell into step beside her.
"Hey babe." Bianca said, her voice instinctively gentler.
"What's up?" Zane replied. She could hear the field behind him - the faint echo of pads, someone shouting in the distance.
"I'm walking back with my teammate, Katie," she said. "I'll be back at the dorm in like, 10 minutes."
"That's cool," he said. "Just wanted to hear your voice."
She smiled, looking down at the pavement. "I'll call you later tonight, okay?"
"I'll be around."
They hung up quickly - practiced, restrained - but the warmth lingered long after the screen went dark.
Bianca exhaled. "I really hit the relationship jackpot. I miss him already."
Katie glanced over, expression softening. "Already?"
Bianca laughed lightly. "Already."
Katie nodded, understanding flickering behind her bright, blue eyes. "I had a boyfriend all through high school," she said. "Little Denver love and bliss. We were inseparable."
Bianca waited.
"Leaving was horrific," she continued. "Harder than the training, the classes. I knew Michigan was where I was destined to be, but ending it?" She shrugged. "Literal Hell."
Bianca swallowed. "I really hope I don't have to go through that."
Katie looked at her. "No?"
"I'm pretty sure Zane's going to be coming here next year."
Katie responded with a raised eyebrow.
"He's on track," Bianca said, a little more firmly. "He's got all the makings of a top recruit, and he's working nonstop. It just makes sense."
Katie smiled gently. "Sounds like you believe in him."
"More than anything."
They walked in silence for a moment, dorms rising ahead of them.
Bianca's hand tightened around her phone. Her confidence stayed intact - but beneath it, faint and persistent, was a throb of doubt she couldn't quite shake.
Distance had a way of testing even the surest things.
And she wasn't ready to find out how much.
