Chapter Eight
Naruto smiled at a message from Katie as he stepped off the team bus at the airport. The game with the Cowboys ended a few hours ago and despite the time the pair had been texting since he finished his interviews. The rookie was gonna text her back but one of his teammates came up from behind him and grabbed his phone.
"Look at what we got here. Rook got himself a girlfriend!"
A few of his teammates cheered as Landon Collins walked to the top of the stair truck leading to entrance to their plane.
"Come on man. I'm all for fun and games but that's personal man."
Collins smirked and went to read Naruto's messages but Odell grabbed the phone out of his hand.
"You heard him man, don't take shit too far."
Odell glared at Collins who grumbled before handing Naruto his phone back and headed towards the back of the plane. The two receivers found their seats.
"So you really found yourself a girl?"
Naruto could only shrug as he thought about his and Katie's brief relationship.
"Honestly I've only known this chick for a few days and we actually haven't even been on a date yet."
He stopped and looked around before whispering. "But the sex is fucking amazing."
"So it's just physical."
Naruto shook his head. "Actually no. We've had deep conversations and I can feel something between us."
Odell nodded. "That's dope man, just make sure you keep your head in the game we got something good this year."
The wide receiver nodded. "Nah G I'm all in, you know that."
New York
Naruto was drenched in sweat as wiped turf pellets off of his shorts. The NFL player was at his parents gym surrounded by cameras. He was shooting his first commercial for Jordan and to say the least it was not going well. He was dressed in a pair of white Jordan shorts and tights with a pair of gloves on his hands. The clothes weren't the problem. The problem was the trash ass quarterback that Jordan had brought out to the commercial.
"Come on dawg! It's not that hard!"
He walked off the field and grabbed a bottle of water and chugged it. Amelia walked up to him and he could tel that she wasn't happy either.
"So apparently the guy they got out there right now isn't their normal guy. Their actual guy contracted food posioning and this guy stepped up from the film crew. I talked to some reps at the office and their working on rescheduling the shoot."
Naruto shook his head. "No, I think I got someone, hopefully she can get time off work."
About thirty minutes later the door to the gym opened and a woman wearing scrubs. She had shoulder length pink hair and green eyes.
"Alright Naruto I got forty five minutes until my pathology class so lets get this started."
She threw her bag to the ground and grabbed a football.
"You don't want any warm up throws?"
"Forty four minutes."
Naruto laughed as he lined up. "Alright what you need from me mister director?"
"A sideline catch."
The receiver nodded his head. "Alright Sakura, five yard out ready?"
She held the ball out then nodded her head. Naruto took off and she took a step back and watched as Naruto planted his feet and turned to the outside. Once he was facing the sideline she launched it his way and he caught it making sure to keep his toes just short of the sideline.
"That's what I'm talking about, you still got."
Sakura laughed as she rolled her shoulder. "My flag football season starts up in a few months so I've been practicing. What next?"
The two spent about thirty minutes going through a couple of routes, letting the cameras get a bunch of angles.
"Alright this is my last one, I need to head out."
The director nodded. "Yes well we were wondering if you could make a catch the replicated the Jordan logo."
Naruto smirked as he nodded to Sakura. When she nodded back he ran a slant route. When he saw the ball coming his way he jumped and snatched it out of the air with one hand making sure to spread his legs, recreating the iconic Jordan logo. When he landed he saw Sakura grab her bag.
"It's been fun Ruto but I'm already running already but hit me up later."
Before he could say anything Sakura left.
"Who was that she was badass."
Naruto smirked as he looked at Amelia. "That was Sakura one of my best friends we played football together since elementary school. Been catching touchdowns from her as long as I've been playing football."
Next Day
Naruto removed his helmet and shook out his hair.
"That's what I'm talking about baby!"
Naruto could only smirk at Odell's enthusiasm while Cruz patted him on the back.
"Don't worry you'll get used to it. Any plans when we get out of here today?"
Naruto nodded as he blew into his hands. "I'm working on my Camaro. Looking at installing a push to start kit. The new engine got dropped in it last week and the new transmissions on the way."
"Sounds like a big project?"
Naruto smirked. "Yeah it is but I learned a lot as a kid from my dad. Whenever he was home we'd fix up his old classic cars."
"That's dope. So what you pushing now?"
The rookie shrugged as the two headed towards the locker room. "I got a little something."
"Uzumaki! Over here."
Naruto patted Cruz on the shoulder as he ran over to coach.
"You ever done kick returns?
"No sir?"
Coach nodded. "Well I'm gonna email you some plays and a couple of film packages. For now I want you to get a few runs with Special teams crew."
Naruto noticed the special teams getting ready to practice.
"Like right now?"
Coach nodded as he wrote a few things down on his clipboard.
"Yeah now."
Naruto sighed as he put his helmet back on and headed to the special teams coach.
"Uzumaki you ever been a returner?"
"No sir."
"So I can assume that you don't know how to catch a kick?"
Naruto shrugged. "No but I assume it can't be that hard."
Everyone around him laughed and the coach smirked. "Ok then why don't you take a couple steps over there and Wing will kick it to you."
Naruto nodded as he got ready and the kicker smirked. "How bout you put your money where your mouth is?"
Naruto smirked. "Oh yeah, what you got in mind?"
"I heard you've been eyeing my number. If you catch this kick on the first try, we can swap numbers. If not you owe me a hundred bucks."
"You'd put up your number against a hundred bucks?"
Wing shrugged. "It doesn't mean as much to me as it means to you. But I'm not just gonna give it to you."
Naruto nodded as he and Wing stood on opposite sides of the field. Naruto banged his helmet as Wing kicked the ball. Naruto watched as the ball soared through the air. His eyes tracked it and his body moved into position. The ball came down and hit him square in the chest before falling through his hands to the ground.
The entire special teams sideline burst out laughing while the coach shook his head.
"Catching a pass and fielding a kick are two different things. Now go out there and try it again."
After a few extra hours of practice Naruto finally got off the field and headed to the recovery room for an ice bath. Once he lowered himself in the tub his phone went off and he smiled when he saw Katie's name flash across the screen.
"Hey, how's filming going."
"I just finished my last scene. Gotta take care of a few things here but I wanted to see if you would be free to have dinner. You know like a real date not just pizza on your couch."
Naruto laughed. "Yeah that would be nice. Tell you what, you come down here to New York and I'll treat you to the best night you've ever had."
Katie laughed. "Wow, now I have really high hopes. Looking forward to seeing you again."
She hung up and Naruto sank deeper into the bath.
After his soak he headed to the locker room where the coaches had everyone gathered.
"Great practice everyone. You all look pretty solid just a few areas we wanna tighten down but I definitely think we're ready for week two. That being said no practice tomorrow but the day after we got the Buffalo Bills coming down for a joint practice so everyone bring they A game."
Odell looked at Naruto and smirked. "If you ball like you did the other day we gonna send those boys back upstate crying."
Naruto simply smirked.
And Done!
Short chapter but I got something new cooking so keep your eyes peeled. Also hope everyone is staying safe.
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Duces!