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“Yeah, I’m a great friend like that. You’re welcome.” Xander turned to me with a frown. “What are you doing here, Rutherford, or should I ask who you’re avoiding?”
“That obvious?” They both nodded, but in typical male fashion, didn’t stop eating. “I’ll tell you, but you are sworn to absolute secrecy. Not even your women can know.” If anyone found out, but especially Eva or Sophie, then I would never ever hear the end of it. “Swear it.”
Xander barked out a laugh. “You want a blood oath, or will a pinky promise suffice?”
Chris punched his arm. “We swear, now fess up. Wait, should I be taking notes for future books?” I glared at Chris, hard. “Sorry. Continue.”
“I’ve been seeing Joss. Sort of. We’ve hung out a few times, that’s all.” It was difficult to explain because I had no idea what we were doing. Not really. “We’re hanging out, let’s just leave it at that.”
“Okay. You’re sort of seeing her, but only for a few times, but you’re already avoiding her?” Chris shook his head. “Doesn’t bode well for the future, my man.”
“Future? Who said anything about the future? We’ve just started to see each other and it’s casual. Very, very casual.” This is why I wanted to keep the info to myself.
Xander snorted and shook his head. “So casual that you’re avoiding her because…what did you do?”
“It’s the girls’ soccer team,” I groaned. “They’re doing their own fundraising to pay for hotel rooms so they don’t have to drive to the playoff games on the day of, and now I’m the villain.”
“I’ve heard about it,” Xander nodded. “They’re cleaning the patrol cars, and we’ve pitched in two hundred bucks. Don’t see why they can’t use some of the football or boys’ soccer money, but you know Pilgrim, always willing to pitch in when needed.”
I groaned again at his words. “It’s not that easy, and I spent an hour trying to convince the powers that be to do just that, and they said no. Clearly.”
Chris nodded with a knowing smile. “You don’t want to disappoint her. Yep, that’s more than casual. Sorry.”
“No, that’s not it. I care because that team is my team, and it’s not right.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Xander added dismissively. “But you didn’t really care until you started doing the naked dance with the girls’ soccer coach.”
“Okay, fine. Yes. That doesn’t make it more than casual.”
Chris held his hands up. “If you say so.”
“I do.”
Xander laughed, at first it was a low, slightly amused chuckle but as it continued, it grew into a loud guffaw that grated on my nerves. “Sorry to say, but damn, this is going to be fun. I can’t wait to see it all blow up in your face.”
“It won’t,” I told him with a confidence I didn’t feel right before I buried my face in another glass of beer.
Joss
“All right girls, are we ready to kick some North Central high butt today?” It had taken the full week, but the entire team had come together and raised enough funds to get a few hotel rooms for the team plus the coach and the bus driver. We arrived last night just in time for dinner, pizza, and an early bedtime.
“You can say ‘ass’ Coach C, we won’t tell anyone.” Tanisha flashed her most mischievous smile as she tugged on her socks. “But yeah, we’re totally ready to smash those bitc-,”
“Tanisha!”
“Just kidding.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “We will annihilate them. Won’t we girls?”
“Damn straight!”
Teenaged girls were an incorrigible lot, and I did the only thing I could, shook my head and hurried them along. “An hour until game time so let’s get a move on so we can stretch and get used to the field before that whistle blows, yeah?”
We loaded onto the bus and made our way to the field, where a crowd had already started to gather. “Ignore the fans, girls. Next week we have the home town advantage.”
“We’re not worried. It’s just too bad they’ve wasted all that time when they’re gonna lose so bad.” Tanisha’s confidence helped the other girls shake off their nerves and put more energy in each step as they exited the bus and jogged to the field.
“All right. Stretch first, ladies!” Coaching girls on the brink of adulthood was a lot more satisfying than the younger age groups I’d coached in the past, and it helped they could be self-sufficient when it was required. Like now.
I made my way to the sidelines with the rest of the equipment, and froze halfway there. Ben. He stood there with a wide, knowing smile because he was so sure he surprised me, which he had. Too bad I’m not impressed. Okay, maybe I was a little impressed, but just a little.
“Principal Rutherford, this is becoming a habit.” It was a nice surprise for the team. Just for the team.
