Page 89 of Home of the Brave

Schultz: Why

Josh: We’ve run into each other enough

Schultz: No, why do you want it now

I groaned. Why couldn’t he make this easy on me?

Josh: To apologize

Schultz: What did you do?

Josh: I wasn’t in a great mood yesterday

Schultz: I’m aware

This was almost not worth it. I could just wait to talk to her in person and ask for her number myself.

Schultz: Are you going to ask her on a proper date?

I hadn’t thought about it. I wanted to, but this was also a bit of a crazy week for both of us.

Maybe we could squeeze in some time, though. . .

Schultz: I’ll only give it to you if you ask her out

Did this count as blackmail? It was something I was going to do anyway, but letting him think he was getting something he wanted made me want to tell him no.

Josh: I’ll just see her later

Schultz: If she even speaks to you

Was his main goal in life to irritate his teammates? I’d been a rookie when he started dating Madi, so I hadn’t been in a position to mock him at all. But she was our head coach’s daughter! I heard whispers of the drama they caused. If anyone knew about making stupid mistakes, it was him.

I ignored him, deciding that would drive him crazy and be even more satisfying than getting her number.

My best chance of running into her was at the arena, so I hurried and changed into my designated shirt and made it to the lobby before Hartman could give me a hard time for being late.

“You didn’t reply,” Schultz glared at me while taking in my outfit. “Why am I the only one in white?”

I glanced around and noted that he was, in fact, one of the few guys from our team in white.

“You’re special,” Hartman said distractedly, his eyes scanning the crowd before he stopped and walked away.

I watched until he reached Tyson and turned back to Schultz. “I’m going over now.”

“You’re going to walk? It’s so far.”

“I don’t want to wait for the bus just to sit in traffic.”

“I’ll get us a ride.”

“That wasn’t an invitation,” I pointed out, but he followed me out the doors and onto the sidewalk.

I was perfectly fine walking; it was just under an hour, but he stopped me on the corner, and a rideshare car pulled up.

“Thanks,” I caved after we stepped out in front of the arena.

“Are you going to ask her out now?” Schultz asked as we showed our passes and entered through a side entrance.