Chapter 13
A Normal Interaction
Olli
“So?” Sosa asked when I stepped into the locker room. “How’d your social media lesson go?”
“And why’d you follow me last?” Brooker shouted.
“I didn’t want to follow you at all,” I grumbled, tossing my bag into my cubby. “But Kodi said it’d look bad if I didn’t follow everybody.”
“I mean, yeah,” Fuller said. “There’re tons of people that look at who’s following who and come up with fake gossip based on that.”
“And with Brooker’s reputation, I bet folks would assume he stole your girl,” Taylor said.
“I don’t have that bad of a reputation.”
“I saw the comments on your posts.”
“Well, I can’t it help if the ladies thirst after me,” he said with a cocky smile. I ignored him and focused on getting ready for practice.
“Did you manage to behave yourself?” Christenson asked while the others ragged on Brooker.
“Yes,” I grumbled, even though I didn’t think that was 100 percent true.
When she offered the path of least resistance, the path with less work, I should’ve taken it.
The point of hiring a PA was so that I had more time to focus on soccer, hone my performance.
But when she brought up the team, my first thought was an image of her standing by Brooker, laughing.
And I hated it. Hated that it was my first thought, that it was realistic, and that as things stood, there was no way she’d laugh like that with me.
So I took the other approach, the approach that kind of forces her to hang out with me more, get to know me. And then maybe she’d remember me.
And I could not let the guys find out that’s what I was trying to do by going along with Kodi’s plan. They’d give me so much shit for it.
“Is she coming to the game tomorrow?” Fuller asked, sliding closer to me on the bench.
“Oh. I don’t know.” I looked down at the floor, trying to think if she’d mentioned the game, but nothing came to mind.
It was one of the few days I didn’t really need her PA services.
I’d be occupied with the game and not need anything someone from the stadium couldn’t provide.
It’d make sense she wouldn’t be at work on an off day.
But that didn’t mean I didn’t want her there.
“We’re up against the Bruisers, though, so it won’t be an exciting game,” Ricci said and a couple of the boys hooted in agreement. “But if she’s doing your socials, she definitely should come to the charity game next weekend. What’s that one called again?”
“The Whip Snap Cup,” Christenson answered.
“Whip like —” Ricci made a classic Indiana Jones whip snap sound with his brows furrowed.
“No, like whipper snapper. It’s like … an old-timey word for kids,” Brooker said. “Hold up, I’ll Google the Italian equivalent.”
“You know, I do think it’s unfair that you try to learn Spanish, but not Italian.”
“Trust me,” Alvarez interrupted, clapping Ricci on the shoulder. “It’s not all that fun hearing him butcher my first language.”
“Plus they always fuck up the difference between our …” Sosa said, snapping as he tried to think of a word. “Accents?”
“All right, stop picking on me. I’m doing my best,” Brooker grumbled.
“You are,” Taylor said, clapping a hand on Brooker. “You just aren’t that good at it.”
“Okay, fucker. Are you fluent? You’re second gen, right?”
“Oh, yeah. My mom would’ve whooped my ass if I wasn’t.”
They continued chatting about Brooker’s shit Spanish and with the attention off me, I dug my phone out of my bag.
I pulled up Kodi’s texts and stared at them for a long while.
We’d only exchanged short messages so far, all about the tasks I’d asked her to do.
Tasks she’d completed without any issues and so much quicker than I thought was possible.
I’d have to come up with more things for her to do, just so she was thinking of me half as much as I was thinking of her.
“Just go ahead and text her. The longer you think about it, the creepier you’ll end up sounding,” Carter said.
I looked up and he gave me a nod before moving on with his own prep.
Out of all the guys on the team, Carter was the least rowdy and the most down-to-earth.
So if he said not to overthink it, I trusted him.
Me: Do you plan on going to tomorrow’s game?
Kodi: Oh absolutely! I’m actually from around here, so I’ve gone to tons of Dastards games, and now that I get a free ticket, there’s nothing holding me back
I huffed out a little laugh. She really didn’t remember me in the slightest. We’d gone to her first professional game here together.
Me: Good, if you need any content stuff before the game, just let me know
Me: And if you don’t and we don’t talk before then, enjoy the game
Me: Oh and the charity game next weekend might be good for content too. I’ll send you those details tonight if you’re interested
After each text, the read receipt instantly marked my messages as read. And yet there was no response. It twisted my stomach into knots, more than getting rushed at by forwards from the other team with my teammates nowhere in sight. Did I come off awkward? Say something weird?
Kodi: Yeah, I can put that in the schedule. Do you know why Brooker would DM you ‘Don’t become a social addict and be late for practice’?
I looked over my shoulder to see Brooker and Fuller snickering in the corner.
Me: Yeah, he’s being an ass. You can ignore him
I put my phone back in my bag and finished lacing up my cleats, ready to beat Brooker’s ass on the field.