v. welcome to the party

ONE tablet of oxcarbazepine, one tablet of quetiapine, one tablet of guanfacine, multivitamins, and vitamin C.

Jamie gulps down the rest of her water before crushing the plastic bottle, and tossing it in the trash can. Today is game day and in a few minutes Kamilla will be picking her up so they can start their job. As media personnel, they get access into the stadium hours before the game starts, and because of Kamilla's connection to Coach Hughs, they pretty much have all access to anywhere Kamilla deems they need access to.

"Ready for your big day?" Kendra asks from where she's leaning against the counter by the coffee machine, a mug of said coffee in her hands. She just woke up, clearly still worn from the previous evening's shenanigans, but there's a soft, proud smile on her face.

Jamie grins. "I am."

"Good." Kendra hums after taking a sip of her drink. "Did you have fun last night?"

The memory of her first college party had Jamie smiling. It was definitely tamer than the parties Kendra would sometimes frequent, but it was just Jamie's pace. "Yes. I enjoyed it very much."

"Have you checked your Instagram? We were tagged in some photos."

Oh, right. The twins took some pictures last night, and Eden had squeezed herself, Jamie, and Kendra into several selfies before she asked to follow them on some of their social media pages so she could tag them. Overhearing their conversation, Carter jumped on it and soon Jamie was looking at her new follower count that included Roman.

Shaking her head, Jamie pulls up her profile and swipes until she could see the pictures she had been tagged in. They were all group photos, and Jamie isn't in all of them, but one of the few that she is in gives her pause. It was a candid one, taken from across the fire, most likely taken when Carter had switched out with Dillan to take their group photo. It was of her and Roman, sitting on their end of the log, heads tilted towards each other, Roman was in the middle of saying something as she laughed. Jamie was trying to tamp down her mirth because Roman was making fun of Carter for the weird position he had adopted to take their group pictures.

She's toying with the idea of asking Carter for a copy of the photo when her phone pings with a message from Kamilla.

"Oh, Kamilla's here." Jamie scoops her bag up from the couch and heads for the door. "I'll see you later, Ken!"

"I'll keep an eye out for you," Kendra waves, disappearing behind the door as Jamie pulls it close behind her.

Just as her text had said, Kamilla was waiting in front of her apartment building, car idling.

"Good morning!" the older woman greets, plopping a paper bag onto Jamie's lap once she was buckled in. "I got some breakfast sandwiches and since you don't drink coffee, I got you some orange juice."

Jamie eagerly pulls a wrapped sandwich out, smiling. "Thank you, Kamilla!"

"No problem. You're gonna need all your energy for today, so if you start to feel hungry later on, let me know. Are you ready?"

"Yep!" Jamie nods.

Kamilla grins. "That's what I like to hear."

The stadium is bustling with even more activity than the day before and Jamie takes it all in with awe. There's still over an hour to go before the gates open, but staff from the hospitality team all the way to the concession stands were running about to get ready for another home game. Jamie follows closely behind Kamilla as she leads them towards one of the tower's entrances to get up to the media floor.

"Make sure you're wearing your passes at all times," Kamilla says as they unpack their bags and work to get the cameras they'll be using together. "I know it's a little bit bothersome to wear two, but the sidelines need different identification so we'll just have to deal. Uhhh, what else? Oh, of course, you can't give your passes to anyone and we obviously can't go to the VIP sections, and, I think, that's it for this segment of mandatory rules reminder. If I remember anything else I'll let you know. But you should be fine if you just stick with me."

"That's the plan," Jamie grins.

Kamilla sends a thumbs-up her way. "Good."

They finish setting everything up in a few minutes, just in time to see the visiting team spill out onto the field to stretch and put in a little bit of practice.

Kamilla stands, hooking a camera around her neck and hands Jamie another camera. "Come on. Our guys are gonna join them in a few. Let's get those pictures, yeah?"

"Roger that, boss lady!" Jamie mocks a salute.

Back on the concourse, Jamie dutifully follows Kamilla, keeping the camera around her neck steady so it doesn't bounce while Kamilla herself checks the sights on hers and snaps a few practice photos. Before they could go down to the field, however, Kamilla suddenly spins around, camera aimed at Jamie, and says, "Smile!"

Jamie responds automatically and the shutter clicks. Kamilla grins down at the shot. "Nice! I'll send this to you and Roman."

Jamie tilts her head in confusion. "Why Roman?"

Kamilla just continues to grin and spins back around to start down the steps towards the field as Jamie scrambles after her, asking again, "Why? Kamilla, why Roman?"

But Kamilla refuses to budge, keeping mum as they reach the bottom where they present their passes to the security guard keeping watch of the gate there. Jamie attempts to try again, but GHU's football team decides to step out from the locker room onto the field at that moment.

"There they are!" Kamilla calls out, raising her camera to her face to take some shots.

Some of the players look in their direction, offering smiles and waves. Jamie recognizes a good handful of faces in the crowd from the party last night, however, she looks out for a specific face in particular. There. He blends in a bit with the crowd, but with the twins at his side waving towards them while Carter enthusiastically calls out their names, he was kind of hard to miss.

Jamie smiles and waves back, noticing that Roman has earbuds in, but he catches the commotion, and when his gaze shifts towards their direction, they land on her. Inexplicably, Jamie's heart flutters with nerves, like she's about to stand in front of her class and give an impromptu presentation on something she knows nothing about. But she still smiles at him and her heart does the same thing again when his mouth tilts in a small smile in reply.

"Ooh, that was a good shot!" Kamilla cheers and Jamie leans over to look when the other woman angles the camera towards her so she can see the preview. Kamilla caught Roman's smile. "This is so going on Instagram. Thank you, Jamie!"

Still confused, Jamie tilts her head. "Uh, welcome?"

Kamilla giggles. "I'll send this to you too."

"Again, why?"

"No time to waste! Onward, my faithful pupil!"

So, Jamie follows like a faithful pupil.

They stay on the sidelines as the two opposing teams warmed up. Jamie tries hard not to keep looking for Roman and actually focus on her job, nodding at Kamilla's pointers and taking a few notes on her phone to research later. Still, her eyes keep roaming the field, always landing on Roman. Out here, among his peers, he doesn't stand out as the tallest or bulkiest as he normally would if he were simply walking across campus, but Jamie has no problem picking him out.

"Here."

Jamie tears her gaze away from where Roman was doing some drills with the twins and down to where Kamilla had placed the back-up camera she'd been carrying into her hands. Jamie gives her a bewildered look. "What?"

Kamilla looks as if she is trying not to laugh. "Take a picture, it'll last longer."

Automatically, Jamie looks back to Roman. "Oh. Right. Huh?"

Kamilla snickers and waves a hand toward the camera. "Go ahead, take some shots."

With her heart suddenly hammering against her rib cage, Jamie hesitantly lifts the camera up to her face, zooming in on Roman through the viewfinder as he runs forward then takes a sharp turn to intercept the ball. Her finger presses down just as the ball flies into his awaiting hands, the burst shot ending as he pivots again to run off. Kamilla leans over to see the final product.

"Oh, not bad. If he does that again, try getting his back. Jersey shots are always nice."

Jamie nods. "Right. Is it okay if I move around?"

"Go for it. I'll sit down over there." She points towards the home team bench where some of the staff were beginning to set up with water bottles, towels, extra chairs, or running balls back and forth for the players.

"Okay!" Jamie resists the urge to shimmy her shoulders and instead opts to look back towards the field through her camera.

She tracks Roman as he leisurely walks around, tossing the football in his hand as he bops his head to whatever song he was listening to. She takes a couple of practice shots before making her way around the field, sticking to the sidelines.

Slowly, her focus shifts from Roman to everyone else on the team, and all too soon, the two teams begin to pack up and make their way back into their respective locker rooms. Jamie looks around and finds Kamilla making her way over.

"Had fun?" the other woman asks when Jamie meets her half way.

Jamie's face aches from the wide grin on her face, but she makes no effort to will it away. She bounces on the balls of her feet, trying to release some of the excitement thrumming across her body. "I did. What next?"

Kamilla laughs. "Whoa, slow down there, Energizer Bunny. Right now, we don't have to do anything until they open the gates, which is in-" she checks her watch, "-about forty minutes. So, we have forty minutes to waste away."

"Oh." Jamie looks down to her camera before lifting it back up and snaps a quick photo of Kamilla who blinks in surprise. Jamie grins. "Revenge."

Kamilla snickers and holds her hand out for the camera. "Lemme see."

Jamie dutifully passes the camera over just as Kamilla's gaze sweeps past her shoulder and smiles, waving at whoever she sees. "Hey there, hotshots!"

Jamie pivots around and comes face-to-face with Roman and the twins coming over to join them.

"Jamie!" Carter jogs the remaining steps separating them, arms held open and Jamie automatically mirrors the action but she doesn't register the hug until Carter is swinging her up and around.

"Boy, put her down!" Kamilla exclaims. "You're sweaty and gross!"

Jamie giggles as her feet touch the ground, a little off-balance. Roman is suddenly by her side, hands steadying her by the arms. "You good?"

"Yeah, I'm good, thank you." Jamie nods up at him.

He nods back, mouth set in a firm line before releasing his hold on her.

"Took any good pictures of us, Jamie?" Carter asks with a grin, leaning forward so they're at eye-level.

Roman shoves him back enough that Carter stumbles into his twin who easily catches him, and, instead of getting mad, Carter's grin only grows, eyeing Roman before his gaze returns to her. "So?"

Jamie looks away from the fierce frown on Roman's face to answer Carter, "I think I did. Kamilla?"

Kamilla holds a thumb up. "Yep! She somehow managed to make you clowns actually look good!"

"I resent that," Dillon says, "Eden says I'm plenty good looking."

"Your girlfriend doesn't count."

Carter snickers. "Love does make you blind."

Dillon simply stares at his identical twin.

As the two continue their back and forth, Roman sighs heavily beside her. "God, I live with idiots."

Jamie snickers quietly at his words. "I like them."

He raises a brow at her, his disbelief clear to see. "And you've come to this conclusion after, what, an evening with them?"

"I've been told I'm a good judge of character," Jamie shrugs.

"If you hadn't helped the drunk passed out on your front porch, I'd believe you," Roman replies, wry amusement dripping from his tone as one side of his mouth ticked up in another small smile.

"But it turned out pretty well, didn't it?" Jamie bumps her shoulder against his arm.

"Oh, did it now?"

Jamie smiles. "Yep! And I like you, too."

Roman makes a choking sound, and before Jamie could ask if he was okay, he starts coughing, an arm coming up to cover his mouth while he pounds a fist against his chest.

Apparently, the sound of their captain in distress is enough to burst the twins from their bantering bubble.

"Hey, man, you good?" Carter asks.

Roman, despite still coughing, nods.

"Want some water?" Dillon offers.

Roman shakes his head before finally calming down, red in the face and eyes watery. His chest heaves with deep breaths. "Okay. Yeah. I'm- I'm good."

"Good," Kamilla says and holds up her phone, showing the boys a text message. "Dad says to get your asses in the locker rooms."

"Oh, shit," Dillon says before taking off.

"Oh, shit, indeed." Carter salutes at them. "See y'all later."

"Ooh, bad word," Jamie giggles, waving at the twins before turning to Roman.

He holds up both of his hands. "Wish me luck?"

Jamie gives him the double high-five. "Good luck."

He smiles. "Thanks."

***

The stadium is vibrating with anticipation, seats were stuffed with fans, students, and family, and bass boosted music blasts from the speakers. In the midst of it all, Jamie sticks right to Kamilla's side as the photographer runs around and takes photos that would either be uploaded to the university website and social media pages, splashed across local billboards, or be plastered on the university's weekly magazine.

Jamie finds Kendra in the student section during half-time as she follows Kamilla around the sidelines taking pictures of the marching band while they perform. They manage to share a quick high-five after the performance ends. Kamilla pulls her off the field for a quick break in the media room before half-time is up. On the way back, they share the elevator with The Golden Knight, GHU's mascot, escorted by a girl from the cheer team after having spent the half-time in the VIP lounge. At Kamilla's request, Jamie poses next to the mascot and the other woman takes a quick picture.

On the concourse, the crowd had mostly dispersed back to their seats, ready for the second half of the game to start and stomping along to Seven Nation Army, then Jump Around, watching the countdown on the Jumbotron as camera feed from different angles play on the large screen of students dancing, cheering, and making faces.

Jamie follows Kamilla back down to the field where the two teams were warming up once more. Their team is behind a few points, but Jamie has confidence that the guys will have no trouble catching up.

Roman doesn't come out of the locker rooms until there was a minute left on the countdown with Coach Hugh, heads bent towards each other as they walk across the field, mouths moving in a conversation only they could hear. Finally, the countdown ends, the crowd cheers loudly, and the game resumes.

Jamie loses track of the time, equal parts from doing her job and cheering along whenever they score. Kamilla lets her take some more photos, and before she knows it, Hunter scores the final point as the clock runs out, and the stadium shakes with the triumphant roar of the fans.

Kamilla grins at her before she motions for them to move to another spot to get more photos of the celebration going on from a different angle. A heavy rock song fills the air as fireworks go off in the sky and a replay of Hunter's final touchdown takes up the Jumbotron. On the field, Hunter is carried on Marlon's shoulders as the man walks over to the student section so Hunter could give high-fives, the team trailing around them.

Jamie stands next to Kamilla while the other woman takes a shot of the spectacle, laughing when Hunter nearly loses his balance.

"I think that's a wrap," Kamilla says over the music, looking up to Jamie.

Jamie nods. "Alright."

Kamilla's gaze flickers over the bleachers before wincing. "Well, maybe we could wait until the crowd thins a bit."

"Yeah," Jamie agrees. She's not up to accidentally stepping on someone's toes or bumping shoulders with strangers.

"Let's hang around over there."

Jamie follows Kamilla towards the field exit next to the end zone, where an ambulance had been parked. Thankfully, it was not needed for the night and the EMT crew were packing up their stuff. Jamie watches them for a second before turning back to the field where the celebrations had died down a bit, scanning the sea of shoulder pads and numbers. Kamilla nudges her arm and points down the field where it was less crowded.

"He's getting interviewed over there," she says.

Sure enough, Roman is standing tall next to a professionally dressed woman, hands on his hips as she holds a mic up to his mouth.

"I somehow forget that he's a big name in college football," Jamie says.

"Yeah. It still catches me off guard when he gets professional." Kamilla rocks back on her heels. "What are you gonna do after this?"

"Stay home, maybe watch some movies." Jamie shrugs.

"Sounds like my kind of night." Kamilla nods her head in approval. "But hey, you did good work today."

"Thank you!" Jamie smiles. "I had fun. What will we be working on next week?"

"I'll be showing you what we do with the pictures we took today. Think you can handle that?"

Jamie nods. "I'm looking forward to it!"

Kamilla grins thinly. "I don't think you'll be saying that when we start working, but I'll give you extra kudos for your enthusiasm."

"Challenge accepted!" Jamie says, giving the woman a two-thumbs up.

"What challenge?"

Jamie turns away from Kamilla to find Carter standing before them, making their duo a proper trio.

"Good game out there, Nickles," Kamilla says, holding out a fist for the player to bump.

Carter grins, wagging his brows at them. "Thanks. We tried our best."

"Seems to me, it paid off," Jamie says. "Congratulations on your win."

"Thank you, thank you," he says, bowing at the waist, twisting an imaginary hat off his head as he went, like some kind of performer. "How did you like your first live football game?"

"I liked it very much," she replies. When she told them last night that she has yet to attend a game, they flipped, Carter more than anyone else. "Good show."

Carter nods his head firmly with an approving pout. "That's what I like to hear. You gonna come to the celebration party later?"

"There's a party?"

Kamilla hisses in a breath next to her, face twisted into a wince when Jamie looks back to her. "Ooh, those could get wild."

"We'll be there," Carter says with a dismissive wave. "She won't have to worry. Though, I guess this all depends if you want to go, Jamie."

Jamie hums, tilting her head as she thinks. It's not like anything exciting is waiting for her at home, but on the other hand, she's not too sure about how much more excitement she could actually handle after the day she's had.

Carter must've seen the conflict on her face because he says, "Well, hey, don't stress on it. Gimme your phone number and I'll text you the address. If you wanna go, let me know so we can be on the lookout for you, and if not, no problemo. Sound good to you?"

Jamie smiles in relief, pulling her phone out to give it to him. "Yeah, that sounds good to me, thank you."

Carter quickly taps in his number, saying, "You're very welcome."

Someone on the field chose that moment to call out to Carter, waving at him to come over. He gives them both a parting smile and wave. "Alright, see you around!"

"Bye!" Jamie calls after him.

Kamilla settles for a simple wave before telling her, "Hey, if you go to that party, just be careful and always stick next to the twins or Roman, okay?"

Jamie nods. "Yeah. But I'm not sure I'll even be going. Thank you, though."

***

Roman

I heard from Carter. You going to the party tonight?

Jamie blinks down at the message.

She just got back to her apartment, having met up with Kendra after she and Kamilla finally made it out of the stadium, and had every intention to eat dinner, take a shower, and go to bed because she had not realized how tired the really was until she had plopped herself down on the living room couch.

"Jamie?"

With a start, her gaze snaps away from her phone screen and towards Kendra, standing in their kitchen holding up a frying pan, her brows raised in question.

"I'm sorry," Jamie shakes her head, "what were you saying?"

"I asked if you want eggs," Kendra says. "I don't think I have the energy to cook anything else."

Jamie nods, sending her friend a sympathetic smile. "I know what you mean. Eggs are fine, thank you."

"Alright."

With Kendra focusing back on her task, Jamie turns back to her phone. The screen had timed out so she taps the screen and, sure enough, the text message is still there.

At some point, while waiting for the crowd to thin, Jamie had lost sight of Roman, and by the time they left, the football team had gone back to the locker room. She was mildly disappointed but consoled herself by reminding herself that Roman is a very in-demand player and just because they're friends doesn't mean she has special privileges to him.

He doesn't belong to her, much like Kendra doesn't belong to her, so she can't be upset about it.

It's been a while since she's had to have that talk with herself.

Now, all of the feelings she's managed to hold down have come back with a vengeance. And all because of a text.

How to respond...

Not too sure yet. You?

The three dots appeared a second later.

Carter's trying to rope me in.

Hey

I'll go if you go

what do you think?

Her breath stutters in her chest. "Kendra? I need a ride."

There's a split second of silence that precedes Kendra's confused, "what?"

***

"I thought you said you didn't have the energy?" Jamie asks Kendra half an hour later, poking at Kendra's arm while she drove them to the address Carter had sent her.

"And I thought you agreed," Kendra responds, blindly swatting at her hand to stop her poking.

Jamie laughs. "I did! What a pair we make, huh?"

Kendra grins. "We'll be a pair of sorry asses tomorrow, but I'm down for that. You ready to suffer with me?"

"Ready!"

The party seems to be in full swing by the time Kendra pulls the car up to the location. It's a two-story house, quite a good ways out from campus, and in the middle of an isolated field.

"Prime party spot," Kendra comments with an impressed whistle as she manages to park somewhere on the grass.

Jamie sends a quick message to Carter to let him know they've arrived, and when he responds with a thumbs-up emoji, they set off for the house. With each step they take, the bass of whatever song the DJ is playing gets louder.

For a second, Jamie questions her decision to come, especially when they make it to the open door and she gets a peek into the party.

"Oh, boy," Kendra mutters next to her, before taking her hand, no doubt eyeing the flashing lights with worry.

Jamie swallows heavily, already feeling herself take a step back before Carter suddenly materializes in the doorway, arms open wide and mouth pulled into a wide smile.

"Jamie!" he screams above the music before she finds herself in his embrace once more for the second time that day.

"Carter!" Jamie laughs, hanging on to his frame when he picks her off her feet.

"Glad you could make it," he says as he sets her back down, moving towards Kendra to give her a hug as well, though definitely more normal than what he greeted her with. "Good to see you again, Kendra."

"You, too. Congrats on the win."

"Thank you! Can I get you ladies anything to drink?"

"I'm good. Unless they have something to snack on in there," Kendra says.

Jamie shakes her head when Carter turns to her. "I'm good. Maybe some water. Roman here?"

"Not yet," Carter replies. "We left before him, but he should be here in a few. Wanna come in and wait for him?"

"Uh," Jamie shifts her gaze beyond Carter's bulk and into the house. It's still packed, the music is still pumping, and the lights are still flashing.

Kendra smoothly cuts in. "Actually, if you don't mind, we'll wait for him out here. I think I need a minute before going in there."

"Yeah, no, I don't mind!" Carter quickly says, "take your time. Lemme go see if I can scrounge up some munchies and water then. I'll be right back. Feel free to sit anywhere."

Thankfully, the front deck is completely furnished with a picnic table and several chairs, and Jamie allows herself to be led towards a pair of lawn chairs in a corner furthest from the house.

"I'm so sorry, Jamie," Kendra says as soon as they're seated. "That completely slipped my mind."

Jamie smiles gently at her. "Don't be. It's alright."

Kendra shakes her head but doesn't refute her, saying instead, "I just got excited. Think Roman would be down to just hanging with us out here like a bunch of losers?"

"I dunno," Jamie answers, snickering in amusement. "He probably won't feel like much of a loser but I guess we'll see."

Carter comes back out after a few minutes, armed with a bag of Doritos and a water bottle which he hands off to them before bringing up a chair to join them in their corner. "Sorry, this is all I could get my hands on," he says.

"This is good," Kendra tells him, ripping open the bag and popping a chip into her mouth. "This is more than good, thank you."

"Welcome." Carter flashes then a smile before looking around. "I thought Roman would be here by now. Has he texted you?"

Jamie shakes her head. "Nope. Maybe he got caught in traffic?"

"Maybe." Carter pulls out his phone, frowning at it as he taps at the screen a few times and brings it up to his ear. His frown only deepens when the call doesn't go through. "Huh, that's odd."

"He doesn't usually like going to parties like this, right?" Kendra asks.

Carter nods. "Yeah, but I don't think he'll chicken out of this one."

"Then we'll just keep waiting," Kendra says with a shrug.

And so they did, the conversation turning towards anything and everything as ten minutes went by, fifteen, thirty, an hour...then, the party started winding down. She and Kendra say their good-byes to Carter who sees them off to their car, and they're back on the road again.

Roman didn't show.