Page 31 of The Golden Receiver

I didn’t expect him to answer, but within minutes, my phone lit up with a notification from him.

Kieran

Me too.

You really thought I would fuck up the game for everyone?

Evander

I said I’m sorry.

It was just a bad game, huh?

Kieran

Yeah. Just a bad game.

I felt like there was so much more to say about this. About the bad game, about the way I’d acted, but now that we were texting, I couldn’t find the words outside of apologizing. I wasn’t a good writer. I was better at talking, mostly because I could just say what I wanted to say and deal with the aftermath later. When I wrote a text message, I had to actually think and then I started to think too much. It was too hard.

I hit the call button.

A few moments later, Kieran’s voice sounded over the speakers of my cell phone. It was quiet and tinny, and I couldn’t hear anything in the background. “Who the fuck calls people these days?” he asked.

“I suck at texting,” I admitted. “At least about serious things. When it’s just shit talking with my pack mates, I’m an expert, but when I have to actually stop and think?” I grinned, even though I knew he couldn’t see it. “Then it’s just a disaster.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I need to explain what happened tonight,” I started. “At the game, I mean.”

“No, you don’t.”

I blinked. What did Kieran mean that I didn’t? I’d accused him of being a shitty player in front of our coaches. I’d messed up parts of his game because I thought he was messing up parts of mine. I had been a terrible teammate. What did he mean I didn’t need to explain.

“It’s over. Do better next game,” he said, breaking my stunned silence.

“You really don’t obsess over a bad game?” That didn’t sound like him at all. He got mad even after he was the starter because it wasn’t a good enough role. Because he wasn’t first target on the first string. If anyone was going to obsess over a bad game, I’d have thought it would be him.

I heard something shift in the background of his phone. “Sometimes. But I know where I fucked up this game. No need to obsess.”

That sounded so simple. “And?”

“And the plan is to do better next game. Work on what I fucked up on. Get my first touchdown as a Cockatoo.” He paused for a moment. “Be a better teammate. Want to meet for a run tomorrow morning?”

I was so shocked that I almost fell off my bed. Was this the same Kieran Sawyer that had given me the silent treatment all week? Now he was the one suggesting that we go running tomorrow morning. That we started our day the way we had every day leading up to the kiss.

I sucked in a deep breath. Even though I expected him to laugh in my face and tell me he’d been joking, I agreed. “Meet me in front of the dorm? Same time as always?”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Kieran hung up, and I was left staring at my phone.

What had just happened?

Chapter Eleven

Kieran

Morning came early when you spent the entire night tossing and turning. I might have told Evander that I’d put the bad game behind me, but that was a lie. I’d spent the better part of the night replaying it in my head, thinking about the mistakes I’d made. Thinking about the way Coach Shaw had ripped us new ones in his office, and the way Coach Erikkson’s quiet disappointment had felt ten times worse.