“And?” Jay is digging for more info. “You had dinner with her?…”
“Yeah, they invited me to sit down with them. I thought she was just being nice at first, with her dad being coach of our team and all, but a couple of drinks in and we exchanged numbers…”
They all stare at me in disbelief. I don’t add about the driving her home thing and kissing her in the driveway.
“So, you’re like sexting her now?” Jay asks.
I give him an unimpressed look. Anyone talking about her like that irks me. “Texting, fucker.”
I hear Ashton and Taylor chuckle.
Jay holds up his hands. “Texting, sexting… whatever. What’s the vibe?”
“She’s fucking gorgeous… I mean, have you seen her?” I run my hand through my hair in frustration.“What the hell am I gonna do?”
“You fallin’ for her?” Taylor asks.
I sigh… “Fuck… I think I am.” It’s not news to me, but saying it to them is.
“Of all the women in the world, you had to go and pick the coach’s daughter?” Ashton laughs.
“How the fuck is that my fault?” I grumble.
Jay shakes his head. “You better cut that shit out, bro, if you’re serious, at least until the season is out. If Coach finds out…”
“He’s not going to find out… not yet, anyway.”
“You think it could go somewhere?” Taylor asks.
“We went out for coffee once after the dinner thing. I mean… nothing is set in stone. But yeah, I think it could go somewhere.”
“One coffee!” Taylor shakes his head.
“Maybe that’s all it took,” Jay muses.
“Nothing happened,” I say. “I just can’t get her out of my head. We text all day, every day.”
“Well, I can now see where your head has been during training,” he laughs.
I flip him the bird. “Why the fuck do I tell you guys anything?”
“Look, if Coach gets wind of this, we all suffer,” Ashton says. “So, we gotta help a brother out here and keep it on the down low.” He nods toward me.
“In all seriousness, Ty, if you like Cindy as much as you’re making out here, you gotta do the right thing by her and Coach. But I agree with the guys, I would wait until after the playoffs before you start dating or whatever,” Taylor offers.
He’s right. I know it. There’s no point in doing anything to disrupt coach during such a crucial time. However, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to keep secretly seeing her.
They get on to talking about Emmerson coming to the game and I tune out a little, only jumping in when they jibe Taylor about him not getting laid for a while. I’m one to talk.
Of course, Jay is in the thick of it as always, claiming he’s up to his neck in it and that he’s seeing someone right after we’re done here. Maybe that’s why he keeps looking around for his main course. I don’t even bother asking him anymore who he’s hooking up with.
Jay snaps me out of my reverie with a click of his fingers. “Woah, you’re going deep there, brother.”
I sigh. “I’ve got a lot on my plate, that’s all.”
He pats me on the back. “Just focus on the finals. That’s all we need to do right now. The rest will follow.”
I can only hope he’s right.