Chapter Six - Ollie

Ollie

Oliver hobbled across the house, distributing his weight between his left leg and his crutches. His knee was a bit sore from the massage. He hadn't told Elsie that, though. He didn't want to look weak in front of her.

He approached the window above the kitchen sink and looked out, watching as she got into her car and backed down the long driveway. His eyes on the window, he opened an orange bottle and popped two pills into his mouth. He watched until she disappeared from view, then he made his way to the living room, where he plopped down on the overstuffed leather love seat.

“That was... interesting,” he whispered to himself.

She didn't know who I was, he thought. I can't remember the last time I met someone who didn't immediately recognize me and start asking for an autograph or something.

It was shocking to him. Just strange. He was so used to everyone knowing all of the intimate details about his life. But Elsie didn't. She didn't know a thing. She didn't recognize his face, or know his name, and hadn't heard the tragic story of his ultra-intelligent brother in medical school. It was oddly refreshing to him. Wonderful, even.

It's so nice to be able to have a conversation with someone where they can ask me questions and they don't already have the answers, he thought, reaching forward to grab the TV remote from the coffee table.

He clicked on the television, to find that the antenna only got two stations. One was an infomercial for a blender and the other was televising a game of golf. He went with the golf one, and watched lazily while his thoughts wandered. He had a lot on his mind. He worried about the future of his career and about whether or not people would find out about the severity of his injury.

“I've got to stay tough,” he said out loud. “I've got to grind hard and get through this.”

It's not like physical therapy is going to be the worst thing I've ever gone through anyway, he thought. If the rest of it is anything like today, then it'll be a piece of cake. Some massages and a few simple exercises. No problem.

In the back of his mind, though, he knew that it wasn't going to be quite that easy. He'd seen enough players with an ACL injury to know that recovery was not all sunshine and rainbows. Most of the players that had it never came back to play the game, at least not in a starting position.

“Not me, though,” he said, slowly standing up from the chair. “I'm the strongest one out there.”

He hardly finished the sentence before his injured leg gave out from underneath him. A soaring pain shot through him, starting at his knee and radiating up and down his leg. He immediately collapsed back onto the love seat, letting out an agonizing groan.

“Dammit,” he grunted, in frustration.

It was a reminder that he was, indeed, human. He was going to have to take the time to heal. It wasn't something he could rush, which drove him crazy. Ollie wanted nothing more than to be just be able to work hard and make himself better, but unfortunately, there was only so much he could do.

His mind whirled around the ever-looming idea that this could be the end of his career. The idea haunted him constantly and he hadn't been able to stop thinking about that possibility since the minute he had woken up in the emergency room the night of the accident.

What if I didn't have football? He thought. What in the hell would I do?

Oliver needed the game. From the time he first held a football as a kid, until now, it was the biggest thing in his life. Playing was the only thing he ever wanted to do and the only thing that he would ever want to do. It was also the only thing that he felt he was actually good at.

Being photogenic and good-looking was simply luck, though it had definitely served him well. Combined with his talent for playing football, it opened up some very lucrative doors for him. A few well placed sponsors, a couple of championship games, and some shrewd business purchases was enough to add up to millions in the bank. Not too bad for a kid with a single mom and a sick little brother.

But it was never really about the money. He had more money than he knew what to do with, and checks continued to roll in all the time as he got signed with new endorsements. No, Ollie didn't do it for the dollar bills. It was always for the simple love of the game. It was about the thrill of throwing the perfect ball, the adrenaline of the line up, the deafening noise of the crowd... that was his lifeblood. That was his everything. That was what made him feel alive.

If this goddamn car accident ruins everything I've worked for, I'll be devastated, he thought, feeling a tear well up in his eye.

He quickly wiped it away and shook his head.

That's why this has to be a secret, he thought.

So far, Nikki had done a good job of keeping the severity of the accident out of the press. It was known that he had been involved in a car collision, but the details had been kept under wraps. As far as anyone knew, all injuries had been minor, the culprit was in jail, and Ollie was just taking a relaxing break from a very busy season. The truth about his ACL tear hadn't been exposed.

Oliver looked over, glancing out the window next to the front door. It was snowing again, and the window sill had at least six inches on it. He thought about Elsie, hoping that she'd drive safe in the snow.

I can trust Elsie with my secret, though, he thought. I don't know how I know, but I feel that I can really put my faith in her. She's genuine and devoted to her job. It's obvious in the way she carries herself. She wouldn't stab me in the back.

The pain medication that Ollie had taken earlier had begun to kick in and he felt his eyelids grow heavy. The monotone voice of the golf announcer on the TV hypnotized him. He tried to stay awake, but quickly began to lose the battle to sleep. As he slowly drifted off, his mind was filled with images of Elsie in her cute, lime green scrubs.

I'm actually looking forward to the next session, he thought. I hope that she asks me about my brother, so I can tell her how proud of him that I am. It'll be nice to share that with someone who doesn't already know everything about my life. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship with a beautiful woman.

With that, Ollie relaxed his head back and let himself drift into a deep sleep.