Chapter 18 #2
I shut my mouth, jaw tightening. If I was going to be better at whatever the hell I was trying to do, then admitting I was the problem would be a good step.
“You’re right. It was an immature reaction. I’m sorry.”
Kodi’s back straightened and she stared at me with wide eyes.
I knew I should expand on the apology, maybe explain that I was hurt by her planning to leave me, that I wanted to go along with her social plans even if it made me cringe, that I liked being around her.
But I think she knew all of that. At least to some level.
So I didn’t say anything else.
“Is there anything else you need for the socials?” I asked instead. Kodi blinked at me for a good few seconds before looking down at her phone.
“Well, I guess you could sum up all my notes by remembering to smile.” She looked over her shoulder towards the entrance where folks were buying tickets. “Preorder tickets passed 200 last night, but do you think it’s worth posting one more time?”
“200?” I repeated, jaw dropping.
“Yeah, the manager for Whip Snap told me it broke their records. But one more post might push any holdouts.” She chewed at her lip and I just stared at her in awe. I’d seen all the posts she’d done over the week for this cup, but I hadn’t realized it translated into so many ticket sales.
And she’d done that on top of running all the errands I could think of.
“I could do another video or something.”
“Really?” She gaped at me and I cringed. I was such an asshole, my own employee was shocked when I cooperated with her.
“Yeah. It’s for the kids.” I shrugged.
“Yeah. For sure, um …” She paused looking around the field before waving at someone over my shoulder. “Brooker, get back over here!”
“Does it have to be with him?” I groaned.
“There’re only two professionals per team, it makes sense to make the video with him.”
“He’s annoying.”
“Who is?” Brooker asked as he crashed into me, an arm going around my shoulder.
“You,” I said just as Kodi said, “Nobody.”
“Aw, stop pretending like you don’t love me,” he said, shaking my body.
“I wanna make a story to promo the event. So act like you like each other as friends and not siblings who like picking on each other.”
“Aw, she knows us so well already,” Brooker crooned.
“Will you get off me?”
“No, this is good.” Kodi pulled out her phone from a pocket under the skirt ruffles. “Stay like that and just say something along the lines of you're playing this charity cup today, you can buy tickets at the door, proceeds go to the kids. Got it?”
“Roger that.” Brooker saluted and Kodi held up a thumb, presumably to signal that she was recording.
“Hey guys, if you’re in the Destin area, you should come out and see Kean and me play sand soccer with the kids at Whip Snap. Think our team is gonna win the cup?”
“Of course we will. And …” My jaw worked as I tried to think of how to phrase everything. “And you can still get tickets at the door.”
“And you know if Kean is saying that many words in a row, it’s gotta be for a good cause.” Brooker shook me again and I rolled my eyes.
“All the proceeds go to the kids, to cover coaches, refs, travel, their equipment, stuff like that,” I told the camera.
“That’s perfect,” Kodi said as she lowered her phone. “Brooker, give Kean some space now.”
“Aw, but I —” Brooker started to say but I shoved him off me.
“Do you have somebody doing your socials or could you share this to your stories yourself?” Kodi asked Brooker, who pulled out his phone.
“I got it.” The two spent a few minutes tapping on their phones and since I felt left out, I pulled out mine, too, opening the Instagram app that I’d downloaded to see what Kodi was doing.
Actually, that was a lie, I downloaded it so I could look at her profile.
Since she wanted to do this for a living, I thought her personal page would be curated, styled.
But instead, it was more like a shared diary.
She posted about anything fun going on in her life, from nights out with friends to nights in with her cat, Nico.
Her profile was a look into her life that, if she had remembered I was her friend, I would be privy to.
Instead I was scrolling through her page like a stalker.
Her latest post was from just a few minutes ago, of her in front of the beach, talking about being excited for today’s charity game. She looked cute, happy, and carefree, hair flowing in the breeze.
So I liked it. That’s what you do with these things, right?
At least that’s what I thought until Kodi’s head shot up.
“Are you on your account?” she asked, staring at me with a furrowed brow.
“Yeah. It’s mine.”
“Well, yeah, but why’d you like my post?”
“That’s what social media is for … right?”
“Oh, dude, you liked her post standing right next to her?” Brooker asked, whistling afterwards.
“You both were doing social shit, too.”
“Language,” Brooker said in his best Christenson impression.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Kodi said softly, putting an arm on my bicep, making me mentally melt. “I was just surprised you were using the account.”
“I bet he felt left out.”
I couldn’t exactly argue with him, so I just shrugged.
Kodi squeezed my arm before letting go and saying, “Thanks for the like, Kean. Now y’all should get going, the kids’ll be here any minute and I wanna get a good spot to get pictures.”
She took off towards the stands, leaving the two of us standing on the sidelines.
“Oh damn, I didn’t realize you were like actually down bad for her.”
“I’m not down bad.” I shoved him and turned to look for the coach.
“Don’t lie to me, you’re fully smitten for this girl. Like this is more than just a nostalgia crush. You like her.”
“I don’t really know her. Or at least not who she is now.”
“Sure, but like, you want to, right?”
I looked back over my shoulder at Kodi, who held up her phone, pointed at the goal, squinting at her screen before moving a few inches to the left. She might be pissed at me and my childish antics, but she was putting her all into promoting this event.
“Obviously I do. I just … fuck up with her all the time. There’s no helping it.”
“Well, maybe there is,” Brooker said, putting an arm around my shoulder.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I shoved his arm off me.
“That I’m gonna help you. You’re clearly helpless with these kinds of things and Kodi not remembering you makes it all the more awkward. So I’ll help.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Aw, come on! It’s hard to watch you pine after her like a lost puppy. Let me help.”
“No,” I repeated.
“But Kean, think about it. Just for a second. I help you talk with Kodi better. Y’all get to a nice place where you’re actually friends and can get close.
You bring up something small from your childhood, like a restaurant y’all went to or your school.
She remembers the kiss. And then y’all are together and can live happily ever after. ”
“What do you know about happily ever afters? You don’t even date, you just … sleep around.”
“True. But you’re nowhere near dating, let alone getting her on a date. And date, singular, is my specialty. You’re not gonna get that as things stand.”
He was right, but I couldn’t stomach getting his help with this.
“Forget about me and focus on not letting the kids down today,” I told him before quickening my pace to join the coach and my teammates for the day.