Page 24 of Teasing the Winger

“As much as I love manual labor, I think it’s time for me to go,” BooBoo tells his dad once he sees me.

I chuckle and Karla shakes her head. “Come visit soon,” she tells me before my friend grabs my arm and ushers me out of their house.

“Dude, I didn’t think my mom was going to put me to work today, or I never would have offered to bring you,” he grumbles when we get in the car.

“What were you expecting to do?” I question.

“Listen in on your tarot reading, obviously,” he responds like it’s a no brainer. “Did you find out anything cool?”

“Kind of,” I mumble. Apparently, the key to my happiness is to get over my fears and accept change.”

BooBoo lets out a full belly laugh at my words. “How come that sounds exactly like most of my readings?”

I can’t help but laugh along and shrug. “It’s kind of life, isn’t it? If only it wasn’t easier said than done.”

“Tell me about it,” BooBoo mumbles, keeping his focus on the road.

The drive home is just as quick as the drive there, but my head isn’t any more clear, which kind of sucks. I was wanting clarity in my reading, and all I got was more things to think about.

“Good luck on facing your fears,” BooBoo says when he drops me off.

“Thanks,” I reply before slowly heading toward my apartment.

Is my true happiness really as easy as pushing my fears aside and letting Sasha in? It can’t be that simple, can it? Should I just respond to Sasha’s text and see what happens? Maybe things are that easy.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

SASHA

There is a giant smile on my face as I’m changing out of my Kerrington Koala costume. I was able to celebrate another win with the GSU soccer team, and the energy from the crowd tonight was electric. I’m so happy I was able to witness the win tonight, especially after the loss the team experienced on Friday. I’m glad they were able to turn it around. Not only did they win, but they played a killer game. I know everyone is proud of them and are excited about being back on track to compete for a potential championship.

“Can I talk with you for a minute?” Evangeline asks when I step out of the changing room.

“Of course, what’s up?” I ask, leaning against the wall.

“I know when we hired you, I told you that you’d be a part of a lot of different sporting events, but Coach Rudder has requested a change,” she tells me. My stomach drops.

“They hate me?” I question, feeling like an utter failure.

“Oh my God, no,” she quickly corrects me. “They love you, so much so that the team has developed a superstition around you. They’ve asked that you attend all of their games. We don’t normally have a mascot at every soccer game, but it’s hard to convince athletes that superstitions aren’t real. Logistically, it’s probably going to be a nightmare to work it out, but with how well the team was playing up until their last game, there is a strong chance they are going to bring home the championship win. But they won’t be able to do that if the team is stuck in their head thinking they’ll only win if you are there.”

I blink at her a couple of times. “So, I’m not fired?” I check and she laughs.

“No, but you are going to be a bit busier than we originally thought.”

After my training was complete, I was supposed to go around and fill in for the other mascots, but apparently, that won’t be happening anymore. Which isn’t something I’m going to complain about. I’ll get to be at every single one of Rio’s games and get to ogle him from the sidelines. And if he ever decides to ask me out on that date, then things will be even better. We won’t have to spend a ton of time apart while trying to build a relationship. Of course, that’s all just wishful thinking at this point in time. It’s not like he’s texted me to say he wants to try something, and we haven’t really seen each other since the night we almost kissed.

“I’m cool with being busy,” I tell her with a smile. “I might have to talk to a couple of my professors though to make sure it’s okay for me to miss a class here and there as I’m not sure the away games line up with my current schedule.”

Evangeline nods. “How ‘bout we sit down with your schedule, and I’ll email any professor you need me to. They tend to be more willing to be flexible if it comes from someone higher up than a student.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you for being so understanding. Thankfully, we have the two mascot costumes, but a third would be really handy right about now.”

“Maybe the school will find some random funding and gift it to you,” I say, which makes her laugh.

“And maybe pigs will fly,” she retorts.

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