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“Alright, alright,” I put up my hands to stop him, anxious to think that if he’s been able to piece all this together, maybe other people can do it. “Is it that obvious?” I ask, cringing at the possible response.
Hunter dips his shoulder. “Not really. I mean, I figured it out, but like I said, I know you. Plus, I see you two together a lot. Do I think anyone else has noticed yet, do I think Coach has noticed? No.”
“That’s a fucking relief,” I say, breathing out a heavy sigh.
“But you know this can’t go on, right?”
All the relief I was feeling suddenly gets yanked away. What replaces it is dread. Dread at the thought of no longer having what I have with Zoey—whatever the fuck it even really is.
Rationally, I’ve always known that it couldn’t last forever. But when I think about it actually ending, it makes my stomach churn.
I’m silent, not sure what words to formulate in reply. My mouth is hanging open, my eyes practically glazing over as my mind searches for how to respond but comes up blank.
“Oh, shit.” Hunter fills in the silence. “Fuck, man. Don’t tell me.”
“What?” I ask, my brow furrowing.
“Oh, dude. Shit!”
“What!” I insist.
Hunter lets his arms fall off the table and dangle at his sides as he throws his head back again, looking up at the ceiling. His chest swells with a deep breath before he picks his head back up and levels me with a serious look.
“You’re not just sneaking around with Coach’s daughter, dude … you’vefallenfor her.”
“I …” the rest of that sentence doesn’t make its way from my brain to my mouth. Because I was intending to sayI have not—but there’s no way my lips and tongue are going to form those words.
Not when every single ounce of me knows they’d be a lie.Too muchof a lie.
“You know how bad this is, right?” Hunter asks.
“Of course, I know,” I answer, my jaw tightening. “It puts everything at risk.”
“Not just for you. For the whole team.”
Guilt sinks it claws into me. Of course, I know that, too. I’ve always known that.
If Coach finds out about this, he could bench me. Considering I’m breaking a serious rule about getting involved with a staff member of the team, someone in administration above Coach’s head might outright kick me off the team. That doesn’t just sink my career, but it sinks our whole team’s chances of winning the Championship this season. And I know how badly all our senior teammates want to close out the last season of their college careers with that Cup.
All that should worry me. Obviously, it should worry me.
But the thought of things between me and Zoey ending worries me even more.
Nowthat’ssomething I should recognize as a problem.
But I just can’t force myself to think of it as one.
“I know, I know,” I admit, apologetically.
“Do you have an endgame here?” Hunter asks.
My heart skips a beat as one single word flashes in my mind as the answer to his question:Her.
But a second later, my chest contracts and a bitter taste floods my mouth as I realize how foolish the thought is. How can Zoey and I be each other’s endgame when we can’t even go and have lunch together freely?
“You know the ancient Chinese proverb?” Hunter asks.
I arch an eyebrow. “Remind me.”
