"This is Jade," Andrew said, introducing her to his family as he gestured toward her.
Jade, true to her style, was dressed almost entirely in black: a leather jacket, black T-shirt, black jeans, and boots in the same tone. Even her lips and nails were painted black, giving her a distinctly dark look that contrasted sharply with the surroundings, and with the family standing in front of her.
They had met in a back area near the stadium, less than five minutes from the exit Andrew had used earlier.
"Hey," Jade greeted her curtly, without forced friendliness, studying everyone closely.
Andrew looked back at his family and noticed their frozen expressions. It was an expected reaction, but still an odd one. No one really spoke. Just a few muted "hey"s, slight nods, half-formed greetings that died before fully coming out.
Then he noticed how Jay's, Claire's, Mitch's, Cam's, everyone's, gazes shifted almost simultaneously to the space behind Jade, where her parents were standing.
"Oh, right," Andrew added, as if it were a minor detail. "These are Jade's parents. You already know Derek."
"Her parents…?" Claire murmured, trying to process the full scene.
"The UCLA recruiter!" Phil whispered, bringing a hand to his mouth, genuinely shocked.
The reactions rippled through the group. Jay's frown deepened.
Haley's eyes widened even more.
Manny and Alex exchanged a quick look.
Of all the recruiters who had contacted Andrew, Derek was by far the most well-known, the first one, and the one who had been around the longest.
The only ones who didn't seem surprised by the revelation were Luke, Leonard, and Howard.
Luke was focused on eating a popsicle, lost in his own amusing thoughts.
Leonard looked more confused than impressed.
Howard, on the other hand, couldn't stop staring at Jade. "A goth, Leonard…" he whispered, shaking his arm. "A goth!"
"Yes, yes, calm down," Leonard replied, adjusting his glasses without taking his eyes off her.
He was surprised too, having not expected Andrew to date a girl with this kind of style, given his previous patterns.
Haley alternated her gaze between Jade and Derek.
"Hello, everyone," Derek said, stepping forward with a relaxed smile, "Nice to meet you, again. And yes, I had a pretty similar reaction myself when I found out."
"Hello, nice to meet you. And it really was a very funny reaction," Angela added, greeting them with a knowing smile and a nod.
Mitchell finally snapped out of his brief shock and greeted them. Cam followed, then the rest of the family, still somewhat disoriented.
Then Mitch asked, "How long have you known?"
Derek shook his head. "Just a few days," he replied. "My daughter dropped it on me out of nowhere. Nearly gave me a heart attack," he added, half joking, half serious.
He didn't try to hide anything. Derek wasn't the type to pretend professional distance when it wasn't there. UCLA wanted Andrew, and he wasn't about to act indifferent, especially when it came to the top high-school prospect in the middle of a bidding war.
Mitch, Cam, and the others nodded. It made sense. If a recruiter chasing a player like that found out his daughter was dating him, surprise was inevitable.
"By the way," Derek said, changing the subject as he looked at Andrew, "congratulations on the game. And on that left-handed throw. Damn."
"Thanks," Andrew replied with a faint smile. "It was harder than it looked."
"Are you okay?" Angela asked immediately, in full worried-mom mode, looking at the shoulder where Andrew was holding the ice.
Jade looked at him too, her concern quieter, in her own way.
"It's just a muscle bruise," Andrew replied. "A week or less of rest and I should be fine."
"Don't push yourself," Angela said seriously.
Andrew nodded, then turned back to Jade. "Thanks for coming to see me. I'll see you sometime this week, or next weekend."
Dragging out that improvised meeting any longer was starting to feel strange. The families weren't reacting the way Andrew had imagined. Instead of focusing on Jade, all the attention had shifted entirely to the fact that he was dating a recruiter's daughter.
That wasn't exactly the effect he'd been going for.
"Sure," Jade nodded.
She didn't add anything else. She wasn't one for compliments or public displays of affection in front of so many curious eyes. It just wasn't her style.
But before Andrew could say goodbye to Derek and Angela, a voice suddenly cut in, a little louder than necessary.
"You can come to dinner with us!" Cam blurted out, without warning.
"Oh, that's a great idea!" Claire chimed in immediately.
Mitch nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world and added, addressing Jade's parents, "We have a tradition. After every game, we go eat at a nearby pizzeria."
"They make amazing pizza," Haley added. "You're going to love it," she said, looking at Jade.
Andrew slowly turned his head toward them. 'What…?' he thought, confused.
It was, quite literally, the last thing he expected. His family was usually much more reserved with any new romantic interest of his, especially Claire, Haley, and his father, Mitch.
And above all, the first two were basically human security filters.
Before Jade could respond, or even process the invitation, Derek spoke up enthusiastically, spreading his arms.
"That's great!" he exclaimed. "This way you can actually talk to Andrew about the game properly, not just for two minutes in a parking lot. Go on, go!"
Jade shot her father a sideways look, still trying to figure out when exactly he had lost control of the situation.
"And how is she getting back?" Angela asked, her tone much calmer than everyone else's. "We're in Santa Ana, which isn't exactly close to home, and it's already night."
"Andrew will take her," Alex cut in from behind, as if she were solving an obvious equation. "He has a car for a reason, right?"
Derek and Andrew's entire family nodded in agreement, everyone except Andrew.
Andrew looked at Alex with narrowed eyes, clearly confused.
Since when do you decide that? his expression seemed to say.
"Then it's settled," Angela nodded with a faint, amused smile as she took in her daughter's and Andrew's expressions.
"Perfect! Then it's decided," Derek announced, giving his daughter a light pat on the back. "Have fun, eat pizza, and I'll see you later at home."
And without leaving any room for argument, Derek and Angela said their goodbyes and walked off calmly, as if they had just closed a business deal.
Less than two minutes later, Andrew was sitting in the driver's seat of his BMW.
Jade took the passenger seat.
Andrew fell silent, processing how he had gone from an awkward introduction to a full-on family pizza date without having voted on it at any point.
"What happened? Why did you accept without saying anything?" Andrew asked, breaking the silence.
It was strange that Jade had let herself be invited by his parents without a word. She didn't seem like the kind of person who had trouble saying no.
She shrugged. "I was hungry. And your family didn't seem that apathetic," she replied.
From the messages they'd exchanged before this meeting, after their date, she already knew a bit about how Andrew planned to have fun with his family's reactions. Instead of that, though, they'd been surprisingly nice, and had even invited her out for pizza.
"Yeah, that's weird," Andrew muttered as he started the engine.
Just as he was about to press the pedal and pull out of the parking lot, Jade spoke again. "By the way, good game."
Andrew looked at her. "Thanks. Was it entertaining, or boring?"
He knew Jade wasn't a football fan, nor into school spirit or collective chaos. She understood the game, sure, but that didn't mean she was passionate about it. And she wasn't even a Mater Dei student.
"It was fine," Jade replied. "You look really good in the uniform and in action."
Andrew raised an eyebrow, not expecting such a direct compliment. "Thanks."
He noticed Jade was still looking at him, saying nothing. There was no irony or sarcasm this time, just an intense gaze.
Nothing more was needed. They leaned in at the same time and kissed.
After that, Andrew finally pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the pizzeria, which wasn't far.
When they arrived, as always, a table was already reserved. They went in, were guided without delay, and sat down in the space the family already occupied, with plates, glasses, and half-started conversations.
They began ordering pizzas. Cam was flipping through the menu with exaggerated enthusiasm when he looked up at Andrew. "Should we get one with pineapple?" he asked.
Andrew hesitated for a second.
Willa was the biggest pineapple pizza fan, the main defender. Andrew liked it, but it wasn't something he ordered all the time. Plus, half the group hated it with a passion: Jay, Howard, Claire…
The rest, except Willa, liked it, but didn't exactly defend it to the death.
Without Willa there, ordering a whole one required allies.
Andrew turned to Jade. "Do you want pineapple?"
Jade didn't even think about it. "Yeah. Why not?"
Howard, who had been listening closely, opened his eyes wide and looked at Leonard with an expression that clearly said, Seriously? A goth girl likes pineapple pizza?
Leonard just shrugged.
Andrew looked back at his father. "Yeah, order it."
Cam smiled, satisfied, as if he had just closed an important deal, while Jay silently shook his head.
'Another pineapple lunatic,' Jay thought.
"Do you really like pineapple pizza?" Howard asked, unable to keep the comment to himself.
Jade stared at him without blinking. "Yes. Is there a problem?" she replied, throwing the question right back at him.
At that exact moment, she picked up the knife next to her plate. The gesture was casual, almost absent-minded, like she was just playing with it between her fingers, but the vibe she gave off was anything but.
Howard swallowed and immediately raised both hands. "No, no, not at all," he said quickly. "Pineapple pizza is great. I was just asking because some people don't like it, you know."
Leonard and Andrew exchanged a sideways glance at the same time.
'This guy has no shame,' they both thought, without needing to say it out loud.
"Mm..." Jade said, paying no further attention to Howard.
At that moment, she felt someone staring. She turned her head slightly and found two little eyes fixed on her. It was Lily, watching her as if she were facing a new, fascinating creature, one not yet fully classified.
Lily didn't say anything. At almost six years old, she would turn six in January, she already had more than enough vocabulary, but she chose to remain silent, studying Jade with a level of focus that was unsettlingly mature for someone so young.
Gloria's voice cut through that silent standoff. "Did you have a good view of the game?" she asked with a warm smile.
Jade turned her head toward her. She studied her for a second longer than necessary. Gloria was young, radiant, full of energy. Then, without any attempt at subtlety, Jade shifted her gaze to Jay, seated beside her.
The comparison formed on its own in her mind.
Jay noticed immediately. He slightly furrowed his brow, catching that quick, appraising glance, and made a tiny grimace, as if he'd just been analyzed without his consent.
"Yes," Jade finally replied, turning back to Gloria. "The seats had a good view."
And she added nothing else.
Haley, who had been waiting for her turn for a while, didn't let the silence pass.
"And how did you experience the game?" she asked. "The tension? Especially when Andrew got sacked the second time, and then the left-arm pass."
Jade rested an elbow on the table, thoughtful. "Tension?" she repeated. "Not really."
Several of them looked at her, curious, waiting for an explanation.
"Andrew crushed them from the very beginning," Jade continued. "What was interesting was watching Los Alamitos slowly fall apart. The frustration and despair."
She glanced at Andrew for barely a second, then looked back at the table.
"After the left-handed throw," she added, "they weren't playing to come back anymore. They were playing because the clock was still running. At that point, they already knew there was nothing they could do. That was fun to watch."
There was silence.
Haley blinked, clearly thrown off. Fun? Talking about the opponent's collapse as if it were part of the show? The answer sounded almost cruel.
Phil was the first to react, though more to himself than to anyone else. "Fun to watch the other team get beaten?" he murmured, with a mix of confusion and a nervous half-smile.
Even for Claire, it was a bit much.
She was usually the first to celebrate Andrew crushing his rivals, especially if they were arrogant. But that was in the heat of the moment, with adrenaline still high. Not afterward, in cold blood. Sometimes, maybe, she could be like Jade, but more quietly.
'Oh, boy…' Mitch thought, noticing the tension hovering over the table. Without wasting time, he decided to steer the conversation elsewhere before it became truly awkward.
"So tell me, Jade…" he said with a smile, "what school do you go to?"
"A performing arts school, near downtown Los Angeles," Jade replied, without the slightest discomfort over her previous answer.
"Really?!" Cam exclaimed immediately, clasping his hands together, clearly excited. For the first time since they'd sat down, he saw an opening. "I love that! And what do you like most, music, acting, dance?"
"Music," Jade answered without hesitation.
Cam opened his mouth, ready to jump in. "Oh, I adore music! Madonna, Cher, a little—"
"Metal," Jade added, cutting him off. "Electric guitars. Distortion. Heavy stuff."
Silence settled over the table again.
Cam closed his mouth for a few seconds, "Oh. I see…" he finally said, as if someone had just flipped his off switch.
He didn't know what else to add.
Andrew lowered his gaze, hiding a smile. This was exactly the kind of entertaining conversations he'd been expecting once they met her.
"Ahem…" Claire said, clearing her throat. "And what about your future? Have you already thought about which college you want to go to?"
"First I have to stay alive. If that goes well, then we'll see what comes next," Jade replied, in a serious tone that made it unclear whether she was joking or not.
Silence immediately settled over the table again.
Cam was left with a completely blank expression, as if his brain were searching for an appropriate reaction and coming up empty.
Phil blinked twice, trying to decide whether that had been dark humor or a literal warning.
Haley shot a sideways look at Alex.
Claire held her smile for a second longer than necessary, then let it fall. "I see. Well, good luck with that…" she murmured, not quite sure what else to say.
Andrew exchanged a glance with Howard, who discreetly gave him a thumbs-up, clearly impressed by the girl he was dating.
Andrew gave a small shake of his head, amused.
The pizzas started to arrive and, little by little, the table returned to a more normal rhythm. Conversations flowed again, laughter, comments about the game, and trivial debates.
With Jade, though, it was different. It wasn't that she was unfriendly or closed off: she answered when spoken to, but her replies were so precise and final that they left very little room to keep the conversation going. Each exchange died right there.
Except with Andrew.
With him, Jade did talk, more than it seemed. And judging by the way she looked at him and how she subtly leaned toward his side, it was obvious she wasn't particularly interested in talking to anyone else.
At one point, when everyone had finished eating and the table had entered that calm, post-meal lull, a couple of voices made the overall volume drop almost automatically.
"Andrew?" said a high-pitched voice, loaded with barely contained excitement.
Everyone turned their heads.
A few steps away from the table stood two girls, teenagers, about Andrew's age. It was clear they had rehearsed the approach in their heads: they spoke quickly, with nervous smiles and their hands pressed close to their bodies.
"Sorry, sorry," one of them added right away. "We didn't want to bother you. We saw you eating and waited until you were done, we watched the game, could we take a picture with you?"
Jade looked like she was about to intervene. She didn't. But Andrew spoke first.
"Sure," he said easily. "No problem."
In this case, the approach didn't feel abrupt, nor like it was invading his personal space the way it had in other situations. They seemed very polite, and they'd even waited until he finished eating.
The relief on the girls' faces was immediate.
Andrew stood up for the photo and looked at Howard, who understood right away.
"I'll take the picture," he said, standing up immediately, with a confident smile that didn't hide how much he enjoyed the role.
One of the girls handed him her phone, and Howard took it, stepping back far enough.
First, an individual photo: Andrew with the first girl, both smiling.
Then another with the second.
And finally, one with both of them together, one on each side of Andrew.
"Here you go, they turned out great," Howard said, handing the phone back.
The girl took her phone as if it were suddenly worth three times as much and quickly put it away. "Thank you."
"Are you from Mater Dei?" Andrew asked, noticing their red shirts with his number on them.
There were more than two thousand students at Mater Dei, he couldn't possibly recognize everyone.
The two girls shook their heads almost at the same time.
"No, no," one of them said. "We're fans of your channel. We bought them online."
"And we got tickets in the neutral section," the other added. "It was super hard, but totally worth it."
Andrew smiled. "Thanks for coming out to cheer."
"Good luck for next Friday!" they said almost in unison. "And thanks again."
They said goodbye quickly, still nervous, aware that they were interrupting a family table, and walked off at almost a jog.
For a few seconds, no one said anything.
Then Cam was the first to break the silence, grinning from ear to ear. "My son, a full-on star!"
"And he's not even in college yet," Manny said, somewhat surprised by the level of fame. Of course, it was amplified by YouTube, and by Andrew's extremely high level of play, having done in high school what LeBron James did, or even more, with so many nationally televised games.
"They were some of the most polite fans I've ever seen," Mitch commented, looking at Andrew with a proud smile.
"Yes," Claire nodded. "They knew when to approach. That's appreciated."
Andrew nodded in agreement.
Jade stood up from her chair at that moment. "I'm going to the bathroom," she said, clearly directed only at Andrew.
She didn't say anything else and simply walked away.
The rest of the table gradually returned to their conversations.
Howard, however, dragged his chair a few inches closer and leaned toward Andrew with a serious expression. "Man… I saw the way Jade looked at those girls," he whispered. "The temperature in the place dropped. I was scared."
"Don't exaggerate," Andrew replied, taking a calm sip from his glass.
"I'm not exaggerating," Howard shot back immediately. "What did you expect? A goth girl smiling from ear to ear while two girls walk up to you with sparkly eyes like you're athlete-version Brad Pitt?"
Andrew made a face, and Howard continued, "They're territorial. I read it."
Leonard looked up from his plate and nodded solemnly. "And possessive. A lot."
Alex, who had been listening without jumping in, turned her head toward them with an arched eyebrow. "What? Goth girls are a different species from humans now? And you have field guides?"
Then she looked straight at Leonard. "Do you like them?"
Leonard shook his head so fast his glasses almost fell off. "No. No. Not at all," he said. "I just read a bit on forums. You know, when you're bored on the internet, you end up in weird places."
He shot a sideways glance at Howard. "And considering I'm friends with him… some references just come to you."
Before Alex could reply, Howard jumped in. "You're lucky Willa isn't here."
"Very," Alex and Leonard said in unison.
Andrew looked at the three of them for a second and then nodded. They weren't wrong.
An attractive, close best friend with Willa's personality could spark jealousy in most girls, not out of insecurity, but out of instinct.
With Nancy, it had never been a problem: she was mature, secure, and understood Andrew's loyal nature. She never made an issue out of it.
With Jade, everything suggested it would be different. Not because of immaturity, nor jealousy in the classic sense, but complicated, all the same.
Could it cause problems when Jade eventually met Willa? Yes and no.
Mainly because the relationship between Andrew and Willa was no longer what it used to be. They had been especially close as friends, particularly last year, but that had changed.
Willa was twenty and her career was on the rise. Hollywood was beginning to demand her time, energy, and focus. Even though she had never been someone who liked living with a packed schedule, in recent months her life had become much busier, and that had pulled her a bit away from the group.
And there was another important factor: Willa had a boyfriend.
In theory, that wasn't a bad thing. In fact, when they found out, Andrew, Howard, and Leonard had been genuinely happy for her. They had even joked about the almost historic event of Willa finally having a couple.
But Andrew, as her best friend, noticed something else.
It wasn't immediate or explicit. It just happened.
Things they used to do one-on-one stopped happening. Willa no longer came over to his house to play video games or stay for dinner. They no longer went together to the comic book store. Those best-friend outings disappeared. In their place were group hangouts.
Willa turned him down with excuses whenever Andrew suggested those things, and eventually he simply stopped suggesting them. He didn't confront her.
His conclusion was simple: Willa's boyfriend must have been uncomfortable. They had only met him once, just enough for Andrew to catch a poorly hidden insecurity. And it wasn't hard to imagine why. Andrew was a famous athlete, the number-one YouTuber, constantly on camera and in the spotlight.
Willa, to avoid conflict with her boyfriend, had put distance between them.
Andrew admitted to himself that it bothered him at the time. Not enough to make a scene.
With Pippa, whenever she showed discomfort with the relationship between him and Willa, Andrew had been clear: they were friends, just friends, and he wasn't going to change the way they related because of someone else's insecurities.
He had stood firm on that.
Willa, on the other hand, hadn't done the same.
Andrew accepted it without resentment, but he filed it away. And now, he was clear about it: if one day Jade, or another potential girlfriend, felt uncomfortable about the closeness he had with a female friend, he wouldn't mind giving in and putting more distance between them.
Andrew had never been someone who surrounded himself with lots of female friends. The only truly close, deep, and consistent female friendship he had ever had was with Willa.
Everything else had been much lighter connections. With Regina, for example, there had been good vibes and shared moments, but never real closeness or a genuine best-friend dynamic like the one he had with Leonard, Steve, Reggie, Howard, and the rest of the guys.
So, being honest with himself, there wouldn't be that much to sacrifice right now.
Jade returned to the table a few minutes later. The conversation was already starting to die out on all fronts, fatigue clearly setting in. They didn't stay much longer: they paid, stood up, and left the pizzeria together.
Andrew took a slight detour from his usual route to drop Jade off at her place. Then he headed home.
Unlike other Fridays, hangouts with friends, late-night video games, or the occasional party, that night had none of that.
Andrew took a quick shower, set his bag aside, and went to bed earlier than usual. His shoulder still ached just enough to remind him that he needed to take care of it.
Tomorrow meant an early start. They had an early flight.
And so the night passed, and the day of the official visit to the Missouri Tigers had arrived.
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