Page 80 of The Fake Date Agreement

“Your friend is intense,” Caleb says with a strange note in his voice.

“Yeah. Should we go before she comes back?”

He holds the door open for me. “Let’s.”

Chapter 20

Tobie

“What’dyou do on your first day off?” I ask as he drives us away from the campus. He opened the door for me as well, and I hadn’t been expecting that from him.

“Tried to sneak into the gym.”

“And?”

“Failed.”

“Then?” Because there must be more. A guy like Caleb Boucher doesn’t seem the type to give up easily.

“Tried the arena at night.”

“But?”

“Security refused to let me in, and Coach must’ve had them disarm my security pass because it didn’t work.”

“Sounds like he’s serious.”

“He is.”

We continue the drive through the city, and he’s so quiet it’s easy to guess what he must be thinking.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to be here. I can tell your coach that you did this if you want to go back. The game is too important for you to waste your time dragging me out like this.”

He makes a turn on downtown Main Street, along a side road before pulling up in front of a park. “Coach might have a point,” he says quietly.

“Oh?”

He cuts the engine and unsnaps his seat belt. “Come on, let’s go for that walk.”

I follow him out and let him lead the way.

It’s not the green park I’d expected, but more of a recreation center with some small green spots with benches to picnic. It’s a cool day, just as Caleb warned, so the only people we pass are dog walkers and joggers. There are separate sections for different sports like tennis, badminton, and basketball courts. We’re headed toward an enclosed court where little kids rush back and forth as they laugh and yell at each other.

“I might be a little too focused on the big game.”

He admits it as if it’s a dirty secret, like someone will punish him for not being one hundred percent focused on the game twenty-four-seven.

“That sounds exhausting.”

He jams his hands in his pockets. “It can be, but this team deserves to lift that trophy, and I intend to make it happen. Not just for me. For them.”

I understand why Reid didn’t want me to tell any of his teammates about his struggles with his paper, and why he keeps dropping working on it to help Caleb.

He’s shouldering a lot, and even though I don’t know him all that well, I want to take some of the pressure off him because it sounds like too much for one person.

“Coach is the reason I chose LU,” he says, staring straight ahead. “I had recruiters for most of the major colleges trying to get me to sign before I started high school.”

That would have made him…

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