Page 65 of Waiting for Friday Night

The rest of the team jumped up and down and cheered. Quinton waved a hand. “Alright now, settle down. Save that until after we’ve shaken the hands of the other team.”

The kids settled but their grins were wide and eager as they formed a line and shook hands with the other team after the game. Quinton shook the hands of the other coach.

“You got me with the girl receiver,” he said. “I didn’t expect that play.”

“Never underestimate any player on the field,” Quinton said, unapologetic. If the other coach chose to assume Shania didn’t have any abilities, then that was his fault. A fault Quinton would happily take advantage of with any other team that chose to underestimate her.

The other coach laughed. “True that. Good game.”

“Good game.” Quinton slapped him on the back and then went to join the team.

As he ran toward the locker rooms located behind the goalpost on the field, he looked toward the stands. Halle stood there, her friends Imani and Tracey on either side of her. They all wore bright smiles and chatted excitedly. Halle threw her head back and laughed. Her shoulders trembling with her happiness. Her body had shaken when he’d kissed her, touched her, the other night.

Quinton stumbled and barely caught himself from falling. Damn him and the thoughts that came into his head. The other good thing about the game was the distraction. He hadn’t been able to get the feel of Halle in his arms out of his mind. The taste of her lips and the way her fingers had clenched his shoulders; the softness of her thighs and the heavy weight of her breast in his hand.

“You okay, Coach?” one of the players asked.

Quinton cleared his throat and looked around the field. “Must’ve been an uneven patch of grass or something.”

The kid, Paul, cocked a brow as if confused. There were no uneven patches on the field, but thankfully, he didn’t mention it and hurried on to join the rest of the team.

After the post-game pep talk, Quinton and the other coaches helped the kids gather up their items for the end of the night. Shania found him as he was leaving the locker room.

“What did you think?” Her eyes were bright with excitement.

He patted her on the shoulder. “What do you mean what did I think? I think you did a great job out there.”

Her face split with a bright smile. “I could’ve run it in for a touchdown.”

“Going out of bounds wasn’t bad. You got the first down, that’s what matters.” They walked together toward the stadium where her mom would be waiting.

“I knew we were getting close to the end of the quarter with no timeouts,” Shania said. “I tried to help stop the clock.”

He nodded, proud that she’d paid attention to the time and chosen to be strategic. “Smart. It worked and gave us more time to set up for the next play.”

“I was worried I wouldn’t catch it.”

“If you think about it too hard, then you won’t. Just let things happen. That’s the best thing about football.”

Octavius ran up to them. “Good catch, Shania.” He held out his hand.

Shania slapped hands with him. “Thanks.”

“Not as many yards as me, but still good,” Octavius said with a confident grin.

Shania rolled her eyes. “Whatever, if Jabari knew how to scan the field he would have thrown to me sooner and I’d have just as many yards.”

Octavius shrugged but nodded. “You right. They were straight up ignoring you over there. Wanna run routes this weekend?”

Shania looked surprised. “Sure. Give me a call.”

“What’s your number?” He pulled out his cell phone.

Shania rattled off her number when a young girl ran up. “Octavius, what are you doing?”

“Getting Shania’s number. We’re going to practice this weekend.”

The girl glared at Shania. “Practice?”

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