Page 53 of Third and Ten

He reaches to scratch the back of his head, his eyes looking distant. Then he opens his mouth to speak, but only shakes his head instead.

“What’s wrong, Coach, didn’t think I’d ever be able to hold my own?” Although if he keeps his arm up in that position any longer, I’m going to get tongue-tied myself.

He looks away and thankfully drops his arms as a smile spreads across his face again. “I guess now that you’ve officially friend-zoned me, you can finally let loose and be yourself?”

I shrug. “Maybe.”

“Do you always flirt this hard with your friends, Ms. Tenley?”

“Not usually,” I answer plainly. “But it feels like you’re abusing your privileges. Someone needs to put you in your place before you utter the phrase ‘bosom buddies’.”

“Hey, that clause was supposed to include unlimited boob puns. I want my money back.”

“Too bad I don’t keep a wallet,” I say, patting my collarbone to imply I’ve stashed my money in my bra.

He licks his lips, his expression getting more serious. “You know, it’s not nice to play—” But he’s interrupted by some guy I barely remember from school.

“JD, get over here, man! You’ll never guess who I found!”

I glance over and notice that a couple of pretty but overdressed women have walked over. I don’t recognize them, but then again, who knows what they might really look like under all that contouring makeup? I turn back to JD, nodding my head in their direction.

“Looks like you’re needed elsewhere, Coach.”

“Yeah. I guess I’ve got to get to work at some point, too. I am on the clock.”

For some reason, I feel the urge to reach out and touch him, even just to poke or pat him on the arm. I bring my right hand up to twirl my ponytail around my finger instead. “Good luck, then.”

“Thanks. Have a good night, Tenley.”

I bite my lip and nod, watching a little too intently as he turns and walks away.

Wait, what?

Did I just purposefully flirt hard with JD?

I’m totally guilty, and I enjoyed it entirely too much.

Also, how is it fair that his butt looks so good in those khakis?

I finally go on to retrieve that water from the concession stand, trying not to glance back in JD’s direction. But I can’t help that I want to see the way he interacts with the others, even just to have a rubric by which I can rate our exchanges.

It seems as if he’s trying to keep the conversation short, slowly backing away as he talks. One of the women grabs his arm and leans in to say something, making me feel something unpleasant in the pit of my stomach. He smiles politely, then reaches into his pocket and takes out his phone, inadvertently sloughing off her hand. Then he says something to the whole crowd, waves shortly, and jogs over to the sidelines, pulling up his headset.

And I smile, allowing myself to consider that he might be more welcoming to my touch instead.

CHAPTER 17

JD

I glance at my reflection in the mirror, realizing I’ve been grinning like an idiot all day, even though I’m dreading the rest of the evening.

I let Blake and some of my old football buddies talk me into going out later tonight, and while I used to live for a night out with the guys, it just isn’t the same anymore. Not to mention that I’m worried about my students who will be attending the homecoming dance later. I know firsthand that the temptation to make any number of poor decisions will be overwhelming, but I hope they’ll all use whatever bit of common sense they have at that age.

So why am I smiling again?

The simple answer is that Tenley flirted with me. The long answer: she encouraged me to picture her in her underwear, even going so far as to describe it for me and to pose so that I could create a mental image, and I’ve been very obedient to her wishes since then, like the good friend that I am.

I’m honestly lucky we played one of the weakest teams in our district last night, because I was so distracted that I even made a few bad play calls. After she blew my mind by being so suggestive, she had the nerve to sit toward the bottom of the stands and ruin my concentration during the game. I could feel her eyes on me all night, especially when the game ended and the team dumped a cooler of water over me, leaving my shirt soaking and clinging to my chest. Something has definitely changed over the last few days, and although she claimed just last week that she only wanted friendship from me, she’s been sending me signals ever since that we’re past the “for now” stage.

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