“Oh, sorry.” I gave myself a little shake like I could literally shake my horniness out of my system. “Was just spacing out. Never have —”
“Do you want me to get you some food?” Kean asked, leaning closer so he could look me in the eyes.
“Yeah, sure. Food would be good. I’ll go —”
“No,” Kean interrupted, standing up. “You’re not working right now. I’ll get it.” Then he grabbed his drink and went off down the stairs.
“Kinda rude he didn’t ask if we wanted anything,” Fuller said, sarcastically huffing.
“Well, he didn’t askwhatI wanted either, so …” I trailed off, taking a sip of my drink. “I guess our next game will be guessing what Kean brings back.”
Fuller and Sosa exchanged a look, both of them raising their eyebrows, having a whole silent conversation. Then they abruptly got up and sat on either side of me.
“So,” Sosa started, but before he could get anywhere, Noah bulldozed through with, “Do you have the hots for Kean or not?”
“Dude!” Sosa shouted while Taylor chuckled at the two younger players.
“Guys, I already went over this with Brooker,” I said, rolling my eyes. “You don’t have to play wingman for him. Whatever it was that Kean said, he just meant he wanted to be friends is all.”
“Wait, what did Brooker do?” Sosa asked.
Huh, guess whatever scheme this was wasn’t a team scheme. Or at least not a coordinated one.
“He was showing me this video of Kean saving a turtle in an attempt to get me to swoon over him or whatever.”
“Oh, that’s a solid strat,” Fuller mumbled.
“But Brooker’s shenanigans aside,” Taylor said. “Doyou like him?”
“Like him as a person? Yeah, sure. He’s got a tendency to be an ass, but overall, I think he’s a nice guy,” I said, hiding my nerves by taking a drink. I didn’t think Taylor would participate in this weird get Kean … something plan. I’d say they were trying to get him laid, but I don’t think Brooker would’ve started with a cute video if that was the plan.
“But do you think he’s hot?” Fuller asked again.
“Well, sure,” I said with a nervous giggle, feeling stupid for admitting it. But with these three, what did it matter? The only person who couldn’t know is Kean and he wouldn’t be back for a bit. Getting bar food always took forever. “But that’s sorta irrelevant given the situation.”
“Which part of the situation?” Sosa asked.
“Which part?” I laughed. “He’s kinda my boss and if I cause any more trouble, myrealboss’ll fire me. And even if I manage to convince Hansen I can be the social media manager, I’m sure it’d still be off-limits.”
“Wait, you wanna be the social manger?” Fuller asked.
“You’d kill at that. After what you did with Kean’s profile and how the charity game went, Hansen should hire you, like, yesterday,” Sosa said.
“He thinks I’m immature because …” I might be tipsy enough to confess to something harmless like thinking my boss is hot, but I’d have to bedrunkto tell these guys about my tit-flashing fiasco. “The whole arguing with Kean on the field and meme thing.”
“Oh, that’s bullshit,” Sosa said, collapsing back into the couch. “Some of the higher-ups need to relax. Like Kean’s uptight in a ‘I wanna focus’ way, but they're uptight in a ‘I wanna control every aspect of my image’ way and that’s utter bullshit.”
“Do you think Hansen would listen to us if we went to him as a team to get Kodi the job?” Fuller asked, looking at Taylor.
“Ah, your hearts are in the right place. But us fighting her battles isn’t gonna make her look any better.”
The boys made some disgruntled noises before quieting.
“It’s fine, guys. There’s nothing that can be done about it. About Kean being hot or my dream job.” I sighed and crashed back onto the couch, nursing my drink. “It’s fine. I’ve just gottabe calm and cool around Kean for now and eventually Hansen might give me the job I’m better suited for.”
“What about dating Kean?” Taylor asked and I furrowed my brow at him.
“Dating? I just said he was hot. I …” I paused to let out a loud groan. “Y’all should just get whatever wild idea you have about us getting together out of your head, because it’s not gonna happen. Even if I did get the other job, I’ve never had much success in the relationship department. And while Kean might not havehada relationship that lasted long, I’m sure hewantsthat.”
