Page 34 of Only in Your Dreams

This is, without a doubt, the stupidest hiding spot.

Any wild animal worth its mettle would smell us from a mile away, but I don’t know what else to fucking do and so I kill the second lantern and clamp a hand over Mel’s mouth when she still won’t stop her panicked stream of words.

“Zac—”

Her voice is muffled against my hand, and I double my grip. “Shh. I need you to stay quiet, okay?” She whimpers this terrified sound that shatters my heart into a couple million pieces on the tent floor. I crawl onto the mattress behind her and gather her into my chest. “It’s gonna be okay, Clover. I just need you to stay quiet, alright? It’s gonna be fine. Nothing will happen to you.”

I strain my ears trying to hear movement outside the tent. I can’t hear anything, but my body is still so tense I’m sitting rod straight, even as I wrap an arm around Mel’s waist, tucking her into me, willing her body to relax. And then I feel it. Little wet drops hitting the fingers I’m holding over her mouth.

“Shh,” I whisper. I recline until my head hits her pillow and cradle her into my side as she gives muffled sobs into my hand. “You’re okay. I don’t think it followed us. You’re okay. I’m gonna move my hand, but you need to stay quiet, alright?”

After a moment, she nods, and I give her another second to collect herself before releasing her. I can’t see her at all, can’t see anything in this pitch-black tent, but I feel around for her tears and try to catch as many of them as I can manage.

Mel shivers against me and as quietly as I can, I pat around for a sleeping bag.

“Don’t leave me—”

“I’m not going anywhere.” I throw the sleeping bag over us both and a fist closes around my heart when she burrows into my side, clutching the front of my shirt into a fist as though she’s scared I’ll slip away. I feel more tears drench my shirt and I let her cry it out for a while, just holding her to me like she’s my only tether to sanity as I wait for an incoming threat.

Outside, a twig snaps from somewhere to our left.

“Say something,” Mel begs me. “This is unbearable. Tell me a story. Tell me something.”

I release the breath I’ve been holding. “I… Clover, I’m kind of drawing a blank right now.”

She lifts her chin, and I’m hoping it’s too dark for her to tell just how panicked I am. There’s a fucking animal out there, stalking us. And who knows what might’ve happened if I let her go out there alone.

The thought sends my heart into overdrive.

Melody releases my shirt and smooths her hand over my chest instead. “Tell me about work,” she says at last. “You said yesterday your team is struggling. Tell me about it.”

So she did hear my rambling as I was trying to snap her out of her state of shock once we got stranded. Which also means she heard me say that I couldn’t remember the last date I went on—

Something rustles outside our tent. I think I hear the sound of a lawn chair toppling over, and the last breath I took might have been around the same time as my last date.

“Zac, talk to me,” she whispers, so low I can barely hear her though she’s plastered against me.

I force some air into my lungs. “I… I’m not sure I’m cut out to be a coach.”

“I can’t imagine that’s true. You used to mentor your older teammates in school.”

I close my eyes. “I inherited this team in a rebuild phase. Started out as an assistant coach after I graduated there and it went from bad to worse over the years. They fired the guy I coached under after last season, tagged me in as the interim replacement, and then just never hired anyone else before the season started.”

“That’s good for you, though, isn’t it?”

“They weren’t shy about telling me they’re taking a gamble with me. Made it clear that I only had a handful of games to prove I could do it and keep the job.”

The hand she has splayed on my chest moves a few inches to the left, over my pounding heart. “So basically, win games or get fired.”

“And I’ve already lost one. I have an NFL-level quarterback without a receiver who can keep up with him.”

“Tag me in, coach,” Mel says. Somehow she musters a chuckle. “I haven’t caught a football in years, but I’m sure it’s like riding a bike.”

Despite the terror, I feel my muscles start to loosen. “It’s not a bad idea, you know. You were always pretty good, Clover.”

“It’s what happens when you grow up with a bunch of dumb jocks.”

“Wasn’t I your math tutor?”

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