Page 133 of On His Team

The typing bubble appears.

Gianna: THAT’S ALL I GET?

I grin.

Me: It was really fun, G.

A few seconds pass.

Gianna: Better.

Gianna: Goodnight.

Me: Night.

I sit down at the table and open my laptop.

My assignment is still open.

I read the first paragraph again, get halfway through the second sentence, and realize I haven’t absorbed a word.

Gianna has been gone for maybe ten minutes.

The house already feels quieter than it did before she got here.

Chapter 13

GIANNA

By Tuesday morning, I have learned two things.

The first is that doing sexual things with somebody you already have a crush on does not, in fact, cure the crush.

The second is that Mara should never be allowed access to my phone again.

She is waiting outside Sport Finance when I come out at ten-forty with two coffees with the expression of a woman who believes I will give her my first unborn child.

I stop in front of her. “What’s this?”

She holds one coffee out. “Coffee.”

I take it suspiciously. “You brought me an interrogation beverage.”

She scoffs. “That is so ungrateful.”

Mara falls into step beside me while I head toward the student center. She lasts maybe twelve seconds. “So?”

I shake my head.

“Gianna,” she moans.

“I have Sport Law in two hours, and I would like to preserve what remains of my dignity until then.”

“You called me Sunday morning to tell me you kissed him.”

“That was different.”

“How?”