Page 6 of Kiss Cam

I know I shouldn’t be flirting with a woman who’s in a relationship, but I can see the sadness in her eyes. Clearly that idiot has done something to fuck up tonight, and I want to tell her — like I have many times — that she deserves better. But more than that, I want to tell her how I feel. I’m just terrified that she’d laugh in my face.

“Did you talk to Dominic about tutoring?” she asks as she restocks the glasses.

“Yeah. He wasn’t very receptive of it, but I made him understand that without it, he won’t be able to play.” He had some unsavory things to say about Kelsey as a teacher, which I shut down immediately. She’s one of the few teachers in that school that actually does her fucking job.

It was a bit of a gut punch when Kelsey assumed that I was going to ask her to be lenient with her grading for Dominic, but I understand why she did. So many teachers at that school give preferential treatment to athletes, and I respect the hell out of her for the fact that she doesn’t. I’m somewhat thankful that the teachers weren’t like that when we were in school, because then Kelsey would’ve never been brought into my path.

I’ll never forget the look on her face when I brought her my first English exam after she started tutoring me.

“A 78?! Joey, that’s a huge improvement!” Her smile was so bright and genuine, that it made me smile in return. I wanted so badly to hug her to say thank you, but I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate.

“Thank you for all of your help, Kelsey. I know it’s not the best grade —”

Kelsey interrupted me before I could finish my sentence. “Joey, do you remember what you got on your last test?”

I shook my head in response, praying that she didn’t remember either.

“You got a 58. That’s a twenty-point difference! So don’t downplay your improvement, okay?”

There it was again — that halo that seemed to surround her head. I’d never been more sure that this girl was my guardian angel.

“So, does this mean you’ll come to our next game?” Maybe she’d be my guardian angel in other ways too — maybe our team would win with her there.

She pursed her lips together in contemplation. “I guess a deal’s a deal, right?”

I’m not a superstitious person, but ever since that day, Kelsey went to almost every single football game to cheer me on. I know because I asked her every week and subsequently looked for her in the stands every time I took the field. The only games we lost were the ones she wasn’t there for.

Kelsey shaking a tumbler pulls me out of my thoughts. “Well, if you need some additional motivation, tell him if he doesn’t take tutoring seriously, I’ll be giving him extra credit books to read to bring his grade up.” The scowl on her face tells me she’s not fucking around. She’s not a woman whose bark is bigger than her bite — she will back up every word of that statement.

“Kelsey, have I told you lately how savage you are?”

“I have to be to keep up with these kids.” She shrugs, and I can see some exposure of her midriff when she does.

All of a sudden, my brain is flooded with thoughts about what she looks like naked. I have fantasized, more times than I can count, how it would feel to have her underneath me, moaning and writhing.

“Joey? Did you hear me?” Her fingers snap in front of my face.

“Sorry, what?” I feel like a creep for staring at her as long as I did. She probably gets losers staring at her every time she bartends, and I’m no better than they are.

“I asked if there’s anything I should know about Dominic that might make it easier for me to help him understand the material.”

“I think if you can somehow relate the material to football, he might understand it better.” It’s a lame suggestion, I know. For someone like Dominic, I can’t think of any other method that would work.

“You realize I know nothing about football, right?” She raises her eyebrows.

I damn near choke on the sip of beer I just took. “You’re kidding me, right?”

She shrugs nonchalantly. “No, not kidding. Just never had much of an interest in it. I know when a player makes it to the end zone, it’s a touchdown — that’s about it. Any other suggestions for what I can relate the material to?”

I sit here, blinking repeatedly as I stare at Kelsey across the bar. How the hell is this possible? There was no way she could go to all of those games and not understand the sport.

Before I can force my brain to manifest a response, she starts laughing hysterically. “Oh, my God! You should see your face! You look like you blew a microchip… do you need to be rebooted?”

“Thank fuck, Kelsey. I really thought I was going to have to sit here all night tutoring you.”

“You’re talking to the eldest daughter of the biggest Bears fan in the state, okay? My wardrobe before I could pick out my own clothes consisted solely of navy and orange. It was a crime in my house not to understand football.” She shakes her head and continues to chuckle to herself. “I really thought your head was going to explode for a minute.”

“Ha-ha, very funny,” I mutter, fighting back a smile.

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