Homecoming - Chapter 23
Thursday
Matt
I blew my whistle. “Jefferson, get out there and show them how it’s done,” I said.
Jefferson looked up at Kennedy instead of at me.
She whispered something to him. And then he smiled and ran out onto the field.
“Thanks for coming to practice the last two days,” I said to her. “Everyone missed you. Including me.”
She didn’t look up at me, but her cheeks grew rosy. “No problem, Coach Caldwell. I can’t let the Empire High Eagles lose their homecoming match. That would be the end of your illustrious coaching career.”
I laughed.
“Go Henry!” Kennedy screamed at the top of her lungs.
I looked over to see Jefferson’s kick go perfectly between the uprights. “You are a freaking amazing assistant coach. The perfect number two.”
She didn’t respond to that at all.
We’d had a really fun date on Tuesday. We’d stayed up till 2 am at some random pizza place talking the night away with Tanner and Nigel. But ever since then, she’d been hot and cold. One minute we’d be laughing. And the next she’d wrap her arms around herself, totally closing off.
I watched her as she did exactly that. She folded her arms and stared at the field.
“Did I say something wrong?” I asked.
“No.”
“Kennedy…”
“You didn’t. I actually love everything you say.” She gave me a sad smile. “I’m just in a really bad headspace right now.”
“Okay. But I’m here to talk about it.”
“I know.”
“So…”
She laughed and looked up at me. “Coach Caldwell, get your head in the game. We have a game to win this weekend.” She grabbed my whistle from around my neck.
For a second I thought she was going to pull it down so that I’d kiss her.
Instead she leaned forward and blew into the whistle and turned to the field. “Enough chit chat, Smith! Let’s run the next play!”
“Yes, ma’am,” Smith said and gave her a little salute.
She smiled.
“You like bossing them around, don’t you?”
“I like making them win.”
Jefferson ran off the field. He seemed less out of breath than usual.
“Water?” Nigel asked.
I turned around. Nigel had set up a little stand filled with cups of water. All within 10 minutes of us stepping out here. Where had he even gotten the water?
“Thanks,” Jefferson said and grabbed the little cup Nigel handed him. But instead of drinking it, he just lifted up the glass to inspect it. “Is this crystal?”
“Only the best of the best for Master Matthew’s team.”
Wait, he was serving water in crystal glasses? “Nigel, that’s a little fancy.”
“Oh. Is it too fancy? Did I do a bad job? Maybe I need to be punished.”
Everyone was very silent all of a sudden.
I cleared my throat. “No, Nigel it’s perfect. But in the future, paper cups are fine.”
“No, paper cups are for paupers and vagabonds.”
What? “I don’t think that’s a thing.”
“It is.” He went back to filling up more of the crystal glasses. I guess we’d just be very fancy from now on. Wait…had I accidentally just asked Nigel to come back? I needed to stop doing stuff like that.
I watched as Jefferson sat down on the bench and some of the guys started talking to him right away.
“It’s really working,” I whispered to Kennedy. “I think we made him some friends.”
“You mean I did that. Because I helped him learn how to kick.”
“Is that so?” I looped my arms around her and pulled her in for a kiss. But before my lips met hers, Nigel chucked the water out of two glasses at us. And then he chucked the crystal glasses at my chest.
“Nigel, what the hell?”
“Sorry. They slipped.” He shrugged. “Oops.” That last word came out very sarcastic.
That was the second time this week he’d thrown water at me and Kennedy. What the hell was his problem? We’d been having such a nice day together.
But Kennedy was laughing, wiping the water from her eyes. And I found her laughter quite contagious. So I started laughing too.
Nigel shook his head and went back to his water boy position.