Chapter 42
A Chat with the Captain
Olli
Ifinished washing up after practice about ten minutes ago and was waiting for Christenson to wrap up with Coach so I could have a turn getting his advice.
“Dude, what’re you still doing here?” Brooker asked, stepping out from the shower, towel wrapped around his waist.
“I’m waiting to talk with Christenson. Why’d you take such a long shower?”
“Perfection takes time,” he said, gesturing to his body. I rolled my eyes, wishing I still had my towel to smack him with. “But if you’re waiting for our dear old captain, you’re gonna be waiting a hell of a lot longer. I think he got pulled into a meeting with the owners.”
“Fuck,” I hissed.
“What? Are you actually worried about them selling?”
“Aren’t you? Depending on who they sell to, our team could end up changing a lot.”
Brooker shrugged and sat down beside me. “It could. But the team’s kinda stagnant in terms of financial growth. A new owner could bring in new resources, a fresh perspective, and it’d give us the chance to renegotiate our contracts.”
“Why’re you being the sensible one?” I asked, suspicious that Brooker was presenting a logical outlook of all people.
“My agent said all that shit to me when I told her about the rumors,” he said, shrugging with a small chuckle before nudging me. “But forget about that shit, it’s not nearly as important as what happened with you and Kodi this weekend.”
“Nothing happened.” I tried to shrug, but heat crept up the back of my neck as I thought about Kodi.
“Bullshit. I helped you out, you can at least tell me if you’re a couple now. And if you’re being coy cause you aren’t together yet, I gotta say I’m disappointed in you. There’s no way she isn’t into you, not with how jealous she looked with all those chicks bidding on you.”
“It’s … more complicated than just liking each other.” It actually felt bad to lie to Brooker. Over the last month, he’d gone from an annoying teammate to an annoying friend. Sure, he liked to fool around and be the equivalent of a class clown, but he did commit to helping everybody, me included.
“If it’s about her being your PA, then we can ask Hansen to move her to me.”
“Like hell would I have her be your PA,” I grumbled.
“Dude, have some confidence.” He patted me on the back. “She made it pretty damn clear she’s only interested in you. Nothing’s gonna change that unless you turn into a grumpy asshole again.”
The door opened and both our heads snapped up to see an exhausted Christenson. He looked at us and let out an exasperated sigh. “Please tell me y’all are behaving and not picking on each other.”
“Dude, you look like shit.”
“Thank you, Brooker. I hadn’t realized.”
Brooker and I exchanged concerned looks. Christenson didn’t do snarky. So as far as red flags go, that was a huge one.
“Are you all right?” I asked, nodding to the empty spot next to me. He sighed, but sat down.
“Keep this quiet, but … the owners want to sell.”
“No shit,” Brooker huffed. He got up and went to his cubby to get dressed.
“Seriously? Who all knows?” he asked, looking between the two of us.
“The whole team, I think.”
“Fuck,” Christenson hissed.
“Everybody thinks it’s just rumors though,” Brooker added.
“That’s bad enough. I don’t want everyone to worry about that and lose focus on the games. That might make the sale … more difficult.”
“Difficult?” I repeated. “Are they having trouble finding people who want to buy the team?”
Christenson’s face twisted and my gut mimicked the look.
“Are they talking with Langston?” Brooker asked, sitting back on the bench with us, now fully dressed.
“Who?”
“Becca Langston, Black woman, was in a gold dress at the gala, maybe around your age, thick braids. Don’t know her background, but she mentioned something about being interested in buying the team when we were chatting and she’s a thousand percent better than some old white dude.
Plus she has a connection at TJ’s and they’d be a fun sponsor. ”
“Not that I know of. But if you got a good impression of her, I can pass that along. Not sure it’ll be worth much though. They’re currently talking to the Corchis.”
“The ones who own all those 30A restaurants?” I gawked and Christenson cringed before nodding.
“It seems like their interest might lie in the advertising potential.”
“Ugh, fuck that. Or actually, do we get free food? 'Cause the smash burger place is pretty good. It’s not TJ’s, but still,” Brooker said and I nodded along.
Most of those restaurants were down closer to Panama City Beach, so I’d have to ask Kodi what kind of rich they were and if this would piss off the locals or not.
“I don’t know about free food at the restaurants, but I imagine they’ll cater most of our events.
Problem is … the current owners are pushing Boyd to make plays that might impress buyers.
And it’s just … exhausting.” Christenson rested his elbows on his knees, head in his hands, and groaned.
“And I’ve been spending all my extra time trying to get Boyd to do his job and make good plays rather than the bullshit he’s pitched lately.
If we have to play the whole season like we’re cattle being presented for sale, I might lose it. ”
I patted Christenson on the shoulder, unsure of how to comfort him in this shitty situation.
“You know what?” Brooker clapped his hands on his legs then pushed off the bench. “Imma go. Kean seems to want your sagely captain advice anyways and I wanna look up Langston and see what she’s about.”
“Wait,” Christenson said, voice stern but weary. “Are you looking into her because you think she’d be a good owner or because you think she’s hot?”
“What? A woman can’t be hot and a capable manager? Kinda sexist, man.” Brooker mock saluted and took off before Christenson could ask any follow-up questions.
“I think he’s just being a brat,” I told him with zero confidence.
“One can only hope,” he muttered, running a hand over his face. “I’m guessing whatever you want has to do with Kodi? I’m sorry it’s been so long since I followed up with you on that.”
“Don’t mention it. It sounds like you’ve got enough on your plate.” Christenson hummed in response. “And Brooker has actually been helping me out.”
“Seriously?” Christenson gaped.
“Yeah. Well, him and Taylor. Jimenez, too. But mostly Brooker.”
“That’s …” Christenson paused to clear his throat. “That’s great. I’m glad the team’s supporting each other off the field. That’s nice.”
“It is. I hadn’t really … thought of everyone as friends until now. Though I guess that’s kinda a dick thing for me to say after getting all this help.”
“Heh, I’m sure Brooker was all too happy to help you with ‘woman’ problems.”
“Yeah, he was. But … I need your advice for … something a little more serious.”
Christenson’s head snapped up and he stared at me, just blinking dumbfounded for a few seconds before asking, “Is she pregnant?”
“What? No. Why was that the first thing you jumped to?”
He sighed and shook his head. “God, I don’t know. I just feel so out of touch with everyone and that’s the most serious thing I can think of.”
I grunted, not sure what advice to give the man who was single-handedly holding the team together while the coach and owners created unease.
“Well, if that’s not it, what is?”
“Her job. She originally applied to be the social media manager but Hansen hired her as my PA as a … sort of trial run. And she’s worried if our relationship gets out, especially with the sale, she might lose that chance.”
“Oh, okay.” Christenson straightened up and rubbed his chin.
“That’s a valid concern. A new owner won’t want to cause any scandal or risk rumors of favoritism.
It might be worth moving her to PA for somebody else and then have her reapply for the position she wants once the sale goes through.
Maybe Brooker? He gets a lot of interview requests, given his … personality.”
“That’s what he said, too,” I grumbled and Christenson moved on like he didn’t hear my gripe.
“And while I trust you not to be coercive, I’ll meet with Kodi too to check in on her. I assume you came to me because you wanna keep things quiet until she has the other job, right?”
“Yeah. I … she’s really good at the socials shit. She should’ve gotten that job in the first place.”
“Uh-huh,” Christenson said with a small smile. “You sure that’s not your bias talking?”
“No.” It struck me in that moment that before Kodi reappeared, I would’ve kept my answer at that.
Between her and the others' friendships, my views on communication had grown a lot though. “You should see her resume, she’s got years of experience and she took my page from nonexistent to ten thousand followers. She deserves that job.”
“Okay.” He said the word with a surety that made me feel heard. “I’ll talk with her about that too and put in a good word for her if that’s amenable. Not sure how much that’ll be worth with everything else going on, but I’ll do my best to get this to work for you two.”
“Thanks.” I let out a long breath, though the relief only lasted a second before another thing occurred to me. “It’s going to be a long while before this all works out, isn’t it?”
Christenson made a high-pitched mumble and I sighed. I thought liking her and not knowing if she’d ever return those feelings was hell. But being together as a secret was so much worse.