Chapter 21
A Coaching Session
Kodi
“Oh, this is bad. This is really fucking bad,” I muttered to myself, sitting on the empty stand. The tournament wrapped up about thirty minutes ago, so I’ve been sifting through all the photos I took. And after I tagged potential content, I went online to see Kean’s meme trending.
God, I’m gonna have to explain what a meme is to this man, aren’t I?
“What’s wrong?”
I looked up to see the man in question sit next to me, in a shirt that was so sweaty it clung to his skin. Rude.
I turned my laptop around to show him his meme. He leaned over, squinting at the screen.
“What am I looking at?”
“Are you familiar with the word ‘meme’?” I didn’t even need him to answer, I could tell based on how his brows pinched together. “It’s an internet thing. They take a picture and put text on it that’s … relatable or funny.”
“And it’s funny to …” He pressed a finger to the screen, dragging it across as he read the text out loud. “‘Be scolded to clean your room when you just wanna play soccer’?”
“That’s not the best one, but I did say relatable.”
“Hmm. But why is it a bad thing? Don’t these internet trends not last that long?”
“It depends. But either way, it’s not good for your image.
And if Hansen sees it, he’ll be pissed I was —” Just as I brought him up, an email notification popped up in the bottom right corner of my screen.
The subject line read, ‘The meme’ and the preview said, ‘I want to see you and Kean in my office first thing Monday.’
“God fucking damn it,” I hissed, letting my head fall back so I could stare at the sky and fight the oncoming tears. “I swear to god, if I lose this job I’m gonna —”
“I told you that’s not gonna happen,” Kean interrupted. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I’ll explain that to him.”
“That won’t work, his whole problem is … my unprofessional behavior. You taking the blame for this won’t change his opinion.”
“Did that one fight really make him think that little of you?” Kean asked, his head tilting like a confused little puppy. Well, not puppy, but an old, grumpy pup. All dogs were puppies, no matter their age.
“Well, it’s because …” I chewed at my bottom lip, unsure how to tell Kean about my embarrassing history or if I even wanted to tell him.
It might help him understand how royally fucked I was in terms of keeping this job.
But then he might get curious and look up the video and that …
well if I could somehow keep this job, it wouldn’t make dealing with Kean any easier, that’s for sure.
But maybe I could give him a half truth, just enough so he’d understand the situation.
“So, back in college —”
“Mr. Kean!”
We both turned to see a girl from Kean’s last game, hair slicked back from sweat, holding a ball and glaring at Kean.
“How come you didn’t let me score? You went easy on everybody else but me!” she cried in frustration, stomping her foot. Kean raised an eyebrow at her then pushed up to stand.
“I didn’t go easy on them, I met them at their level. Just like I met you at your level. You just weren’t playing as well as you could have.”
“That’s bullshit!” she shouted and I covered my mouth to stifle a laugh. I might be in deep shit with my job, but having a kid curse out Kean did make it better.
“So you’re saying you tried your hardest out there?”
Her cheeks puffed up, but she didn’t say anything.
“That’s what I thought. You wanna try for real now?
” Without waiting for her to respond, Kean went over to the goal post and took up his position.
The girl took one big inhale before running over to the box.
She slammed the ball down on the corner and kicked it with all her might, aiming for the far right corner.
Kean didn’t attempt to block her shot, he didn’t have to. It rang against the post and shot off into the field.
“That’s how I know you’re a better player than this,” Kean shouted over to her before grabbing the ball. “You’re frustrated you’re not doing better. But that frustration is what’s making you miss.”
“What do you know? You’re just some old geezer,” the girl muttered, just loud enough that I could hear but Kean couldn’t.
“Lindsey!” some woman shouted and the girl’s head snapped up.
“I’ll be right there, Mom!”
“Dear lord, is she bothering you?” the woman said once she reached the sidelines, stopping next to me. Thankfully she wasn’t one of the cougar moms from before and instead one of the ones who passed out extra bags of chips to the crowd. The best kind of soccer moms.
“Oh, no, Kean’s the one who egged her on. I think he’s having fun challenging her.”
“That’s so sweet,” the mom said, hand to her heart.
“Lindsey is … really talented, but she gets bored playing with the other kids and doesn’t apply herself.
I was hoping this game would help with that, but she’s too smart for her own good.
Once she realized the professionals were taking it easy on her, she lost interest again. ”
“Ha! That’s the perfect kid to practice with Kean. He’s stubborn just like that.”
Out on the field, Kean tossed Lindsey the ball and she moved to shoot again. But before she could, Kean shouted, “We’re not in the middle of a game. Take a second to shoot.”
Lindsey didn’t listen and shot low and to the left. It bounced off Kean’s outstretched shin.
“What did I just say? Take your time to come up with a tactic.”
“I was using the surprise tactic.”
“Well, how’d that work out for you?”
“This is some bullshit,” Lindsey muttered and her mother gasped.
“Unless you wanna give me laps every time you curse, you better cut that shit out.”
“You just cursed!” she yelled, pointing at him.
“I’ll do laps with you then.”
“This is, like, the most words I’ve ever heard Kean say in a row,” I told the mom, giggling a little. “You mind if I take a few photos for his socials?”
“Oh yes, we signed all those releases,” she said, waiving a hand at me, eyes still on her daughter. “But this is just so … good to see her being active like this.”
I gave the mom a pat on the arm and went around taking a few photos of Lindsey kicking at Kean. Giggling when a few of those shots were aimed right at his head rather than the net.
After a few dozen tries, Lindsey took a deep breath before staring Kean down. Now, she was a talented kid, far better than I could ever be. But she was still a kid. I could see the feint. And if I could see it, Kean could, too. But it was a tactic she hadn’t tried, a tactic she executed with care.
So Kean fell for it, went to the right and jerked sloppily to the left when the ball switched paths. And it just barely grazed the tips of his fingers before hitting the net.
Lindsey went wild. She threw her hands up in the air and jumped around, screaming at the top of her lungs. And just like during the keep away game, Kean’s smile broke out.
“Did you see that, Mom?” Lindsey said, running up to her, buzzing.
“I did. It was amazing, sweetie! I’m so proud of you!” She wrapped her kid up for a tight hug, kissing the top of her head. She then looked back over at me and Kean, who just joined me on the sidelines. “Thank you so much for playing with her a little longer. It means the world to me. Truly.”
“Not a problem,” Kean grumbled, going back to grumpy mode as he was praised.
“You wanna get a picture together?” I asked Lindsey, nodding to Kean. She let go of her mom, teeth sinking into her lips as she considered the offer. Her mom gave her shoulder a squeeze, not forcing the issue like some parents would.
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Lindsey mumbled. She stepped away from her mom to stand by Kean. The man stiffened, putting a hand on her shoulder. They both had uncertain looks, mouths pressed into thin lines, a matching pair of grumpy players.
“Could you at least —” her mom started but I shook my head at her as I snapped the photo.
“It suits them,” I told her. “Plus forced smiles look way worse than resting grump faces.”
We exchanged numbers so I could send her the photos, then collected our respective grumps before saying goodbye. As we watched them walk back to the parking lot, I leaned against Kean, resting my head on his bicep. I felt him stiffen under me, but he didn’t move away.
“Hey, Kean?” I said, head tilting up to look up at him.
“Yeah?” he said, throat bopping.
“Can I use your card to send them some tickets and a jersey?”
Kean looked down at me, face softer than I’d ever seen it.
“Yes. Please do.”