After the team finished dressing and changing in the locker room, everyone began to head straight to the buses that would take them directly to the hotel, where they would pick up their things and catch their flight back to Clemson.
While the Tigers team was taking the bus, the stir on social media regarding Clemson's victory and Tajh's injury caused a sensation across social platforms, generating a massive debate among the users of the platform.
@Clemsonfan: another victory come on clemson let's keep the streak alive in the next game 💪💪🐯 #gotigers #clemson #victory
❤️35 💬80
@Clemsonfb: Proud of our athletes and the team's victory against NCSU #tigers #Clemson #NCAA #ACC
❤️2.5K 💬500
Messages like those were the most prominent, in which it could be seen how the fans completely backed the performance of the team.
Victories like those generated even more expectations about the Clemson program and the performance of the players, briefly pushing aside the news regarding Tajh Boyd's injury.
Nonetheless, there were also several messages from fans and people who were completely worried about Tajh's injury.
@TysonW: Does anyone have any updates regarding Tajh? Wyatt Sterling mentioned in his interview that the injury wasn't as severe as it looked, but the official account hasn't given further details yet.
❤️89 💬120
@Harry.a: You're right, any news on him? Do you know if he'll be able to return in time or if he'll miss the entire season? That would be a huge disappointment considering he is one of the best prospects in the entire ACC.
❤️48 💬79
@TysonW: @Harry.a you are completely right, it would be a shame for Tajh to miss this whole season in just game two. This could even jeopardize his draft position. Hopefully the injury isn't that severe and we can see him step onto the field soon 🙏🙏
❤️104 💬46
While the discussion on the internet continued, the Clemson players had arrived at the hotel where they were staying, and the players did not take long to go to their rooms to pack their things, since in an hour the bus would head out again toward the airport.
"Brother, I just want to lay down on the bed and sleep," Laquon said the moment he entered the room, throwing himself directly onto the hotel room bed.
At that, Wyatt rolled his eyes at his friend's dramatic performance while he began to pick up the suitcase he had left in one of the corners of the room.
Before having to leave to play the game, Wyatt had already packed his things beforehand, leaving only the essentials out to be able to finish getting ready before having to go down and meet up with the rest of the team.
"If you stay like that, you won't finish organizing your things on time," Wyatt told Laquon, who was still laying across the comfortable bed in the room.
The Clemson Tigers team had rented two entire floors of a hotel near the stadium, and the players had been grouped into double rooms, sharing quarters.
Having the best relationship and since both were rookies, Wyatt and Laquon had been assigned to the same room, just like back in Clemson.
Of course, one of the reasons why Dabo also made that kind of arrangement was because he knew that fostering a deeper relationship between the future starting quarterback and wide receiver of the team would be something that would benefit the team completely in the long run.
Dabo knew that Sammy and Tajh would leave for this year's draft if there were no complications, which was the reason why he had to prepare the next generation of starters ahead of time to prevent the competitive level of the team from decaying completely.
"Man, we have an hour, it's no problem if we stay laid down for a few minutes," Laquon's voice could be heard, with his face completely buried in the pillow, making his voice sound muffled inside the room.
Knowing that getting his friend to move would be a challenge in itself, Wyatt kept finishing arranging his things until his phone began to vibrate on the nightstand where it was located, and as soon as he picked it up and read the name on the caller ID, a smile appeared on his face.
"Hello Mom, did you and Dad watch the game?" Wyatt said as soon as he pressed the accept button, without even waiting for the person on the other side of the line to say a word.
"Of course, we wouldn't miss any of your games," Elena's voice could be heard through the receiver, while the sound of the television could be heard in the background on the other side of the call.
What followed was a series of compliments from his mother, who recounted the most important moments of the game and the comments of the analysts and experts regarding his performance in the second game.
"Your interview also gave people a lot to talk about," Elena told him, who still had fresh in her memory the interview that Wyatt had done with the reporter.
"And how is your friend?" Elena asked in a worried tone of voice, wanting to know what the status was of Aaron's other teammate who had to leave the field on a stretcher in the middle of the second quarter.
"Everything is good, Coach Swinney didn't give us many details, but he said the injury wasn't severe enough for him to miss the whole season," Wyatt explained to his mother while taking a seat on his bed.
"That is good to know," said Elena, who felt more relieved knowing that the other boy's situation was not as grave as what could be observed at the moment he had to leave the field.
Seeing that time was running out and that he would soon have to go down to meet with the rest of the players and the coaching staff, Wyatt said goodbye to his mother, promising to send her a text as soon as he was at the airport and when he landed in Clemson.
Hanging up the call, Wyatt stayed silent for a moment without focusing his gaze on any specific point, until a series of snores in the room snapped him out of the trance-like state he was in.
Seeing that Laquon had fallen asleep at some point, Wyatt, letting out a sigh, stood up and gave Laquon a hard smack on the back, causing the snoring to stop abruptly and Laquon to let out a cry of pain.
"Was that necessary?" Laquon said indignantly while rubbing the area on his back where he had received the blow from Wyatt. "You have 10 minutes to be ready," Wyatt told him while pointing his gaze in the direction of the clock in the room, which showed that indeed, only 10 minutes remained for the team to gather downstairs.
"Damn it," Laquon cursed as he stood up all at once, completely forgetting the blow he had received while he began to quickly stuff all his things into the suitcase without caring about the order, knowing that time was running out.
Seeing Laquon moving frantically all around the room, Wyatt grabbed the handle of his suitcase while leaving the room, closing the door with a click and heading toward the elevator to wait for the team to gather in the hotel lobby.
Exiting the elevator, Wyatt immediately headed toward a corner where there were plush armchairs in which people waited to receive their room keys or to perform their check-in.
Once close, Wyatt realized that a person was sitting in one of them wearing a hoodie that completely covered his face, preventing anyone from recognizing him at first glance if they did not get close enough in his direction.
"Hey man, how are you holding up?" Wyatt asked, quickly approaching the direction where Tajh was sitting.
With a smile that did not reach his eyes, Tajh lifted his head, meeting the gaze of Wyatt, who had a trace of worry in his eyes as he walked toward him.
"Could be worse," Tajh told him in an attempt to joke about the situation he had suffered, while seeing that Wyatt did not entirely buy his false attempt to change the course of the conversation.
Letting out a sigh, Tajh knew that sooner or later the whole team would find out, so there was no reason for him to keep staying silent. "Concussion. I'll probably miss the next 3 games," Tajh told him, lowering his head slightly.
For a player, every single game is important, and especially for one with Tajh's track record, who desperately sought to win the Heisman Trophy this year and knew that staying off the field for 3 weeks would make his chances drop dramatically.
And what's worse, that would also affect his position in the NFL draft, since a player with a history of injuries always brought about mixed opinions or caused their position in the lottery to fall.
All those factors caused thousands of negative thoughts to race through Tajh's head at a mile a minute, starting by wondering if it had been a good idea to have chosen to stay one more year or if he should have followed everyone else's advice and joined the draft pool for this year.
Before Tajh could keep sinking even further into the thoughts that completely battered his mind, he felt a hand place itself upon his shoulder in a clear sign of comfort directed at him.
"Hey, take it easy, at least it wasn't something severe like a ligament injury," Wyatt told him, taking a seat by his side while trying to lighten the mood with his comment.
An ACL injury was one of the worst injuries an athlete could suffer in any sport, and in football, having that kind of injury would be a devastating blow from which to recover.
On one hand was the long recovery process of between 8 to 12 months, and on the other was that once recovered, it was almost impossible to return to your best level from before the injury, in addition to the psychological problems and the relapses that the body could end up suffering, being especially obvious in a high-contact sport such as the case of football.
"If you put it that way, it doesn't sound so bad after all," Tajh said, laughing quietly while the tension and the thoughts that were circling his head relaxed slightly in the conversation he was maintaining with Wyatt.
After that, a comfortable silence settled between the two while little by little more and more players arrived in the lobby.
"Can I ask you a favor?" Tajh suddenly said, with his eyes still fixed straight ahead, without even turning around to see the expression Wyatt had on his face at that moment.
Taking Wyatt's silence as a silent indication that he was listening, Tajh decided to keep speaking.
"I hope you can lead the team while I am recovering," Tajh asked him in a low voice, not wanting anyone else to hear his words nor the vulnerability that could be heard behind them.
After he said that, Wyatt stood up. "You just worry about recovering without any complications and leave the team to me," was the last thing Tajh could hear him say to Wyatt while the latter headed toward the rest of the players who little by little began to fill the hotel lobby.
Once Dabo came down, he also began to order the players to start boarding the buses, since they had to take their flight back to Clemson in a few hours.
Tajh was one of the last ones to head toward the bus, watching with attention each of his teammates who still remained with smiles on their faces following the victory they had just obtained only a few hours ago.
He also knew that he was leaving the team in good hands with Wyatt, which made him lift the last thorn of guilt while one of the team assistants helped him by grabbing his luggage as he headed straight toward the bus, ready to return home.
Authors thought's
In the next chapter, Blaire and the Bennett family will finally appear
What did you think of today's chapter? Give me your opinions and thoughts.
Don't forget to check out my other fic on my profile
Don't forget to subscribe to my Patreon to get more than 10 chapters in advance! https://www.patreon.com/c/merchant17
I created a Discord server! For those who want to join, the link will be here and on my profile https://discord.gg/fWZudwMkR
For everyone subscribing to my Patreon: if you're using an iPhone, avoid doing it through the app! Apple charges a commission, and you'll end up paying more. It's better to subscribe through the website instead