Page 73 of Teaching the Kot'oll Coach

I roll my eyes. He is standing a bit too close. It’s a bit too tempting to let him hold me with those arms. My cheeks are heating up and that’s not helping anyone. “The cat food is on the top shelf.

“Sure.” He opens the cupboard and takes the bag. “Why do you store it this high up? Is Ossa going to steal it otherwise?”

“He hasn’t managed that, and I hope he won’t.”

Ossa meows, seemingly complaining.

Telke chuckles. “That’s a grumpy cat.”

“A hungry and grumpy cat.”

I pour cat food for Ossa while setting up the auto feeder for tomorrow.

Telke is a mere step behind me. Still a bit too close. His heat almost torches me even though we aren’t touching.

“If you don’t stand to the side, I’m going to bump into you.”

“Oh, sorry.”

I straighten and give him the bag of cat food. Ossa is already munching on his food, not paying attention to us anymore.

Telke takes the bag and puts it back.

My heart skips a beat. This almost feels natural. If I were with Telke, we’d be doing this together on a daily basis.

He heads to the living room and doesn’t seem to be giving any other thoughts.

I follow him back to the couch. He sits and stares at the television ahead. I join his side, but keep my distance from him.

I can’t. We shouldn’t.

Silence lingers. Do I tell him to leave? Is that rude?

But I want him to stay around. Yet...

Maybe he wants to leave.

Do I ask him?

He clears his throat before I can put the words together. “How was the floatball practice today? Did you enjoy it? It’s okay if you still don’t like floatball.”

“It’s fine. I scored a point, so that’s pretty good.”

“Except you almost smacked someone else on the head. You also almost got smacked in the face by the floatball.”

“We should have helmets for that.”

“Not really. No one is getting smacked by the ball. In terms of average speed, floatball isn’t even fast. Usually, only kids use them.”

“You just love to mess with me.” I smack his shoulder and he wraps his arms around me.

I suck in a breath and freeze in my spot. He gives warm hugs that are a bit too hard to resist and...

He lets go of me. “I’m sorry.”

I lean onto him, not wanting to think about the consequences. How bad can it be anyway? I don’t have to fall for him. “It’s okay.”

He wraps an arm across my back and holds me to his side. “You know what? I really hope you’d feel safe to tell me what’s in your head, someday.”

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