The Student Therapist

Chapter 22

On Tuesday morning, I walked to the stadium with a smile on my face. I shouldn't be smiling really, because Coach Yang called for an early morning practice leaving us all trudging to the field by 6 AM.

And yet, I didn't mind. In all honesty, I was excited to see Lisa again. Despite spending a long weekend at hone with her, I somehow hadn't reached my limit of how much of her I can handle.

"Jennie." Momo moans from the bench as I approach. "I'm so hungover."

I give her a blank stare and ask, "Why were you drinking on a Monday night."

She glances up at me with squinted eyes and mumbles, "I was celebrating getting a C on my paper."

I roll my eyes at her. "You knew that we had early practice today."

"I didn't think I was going to get so hammered." Momo tries to excuse lamely, but ends up groaning. "I'm an idiot, I know. But can you please help?"

"Obviously." I tell her with a small smile. "Go sit in the shade. I'll be right back."

I drop my backpack on the ground beside the bleachers and continue walking into the tunnel of the stadium. I pass the locker room and hear the girls hooting and hollering inside, and wonder how the hell they're all so riled up this early.

As I pass the door, it swings open and I catch what the girls were chanting. "Manoban's whipped!"

Lisa herself is the one who stumbles out of the locker room with a small smile on her lips. Her gaze lifts to meet my amused one as I wonder if they were all giving her shit about coming home with me for the weekend.

"Hey." I greet and watch her small smile widen. "What's that about?"

She rubs the back of her neck and says. "Uhh, getting whipped into shape. You know, so I can finally practice with everyone again." I nod slowly, not fully convinced but she just grins and changes the course of the conversation. "Where are you headed."

"The fridge." I tell her and push away all the butterflies entering my stomach. "I have to break into my stash of Pedialyte for Momo."

Lisa falls into step with me and we start walking towards the ice baths, where the fridge was located. She seemed equally as chipper as I this morning, and it threw me off. She usually hated mornings, but I guess she was wired with excitement at the prospect of finally practicing with the team again.

"They don't deserve you." Lisa swears with a shake of her head. "You're too good for those girls."

I raise ny eyebrow and give her a pointed look. "You're one of those girls."

I turn into the room with the fridge and open the handle while Lisa leans against the doorframe and watches me grab two bottles.

"The difference is, I know your worth." She tells me confidently.

I tuck a bottle of water and another bottle of Pedialyte under my arm an pretend as if her words didn't surprise me. "Do you?"

As I approach the doorway, Lisa slides in the middle so she's blocking my exit with either hands gripping the edge of the doorframe. She leans down a little to get closet to me as I stand there, my heart thumping a mile a minutes for no good reason in my chest.

There's too little distance between us. When she breathes, I can practically feel it on my cheeks. She grins at me. "I do."

And then she swiftly takes the bottles from underneath my arm and turns back into the tunnel. "Hey!"

"Relax Jen." Lisa sayad calmly, looking back at me. "I'm just carrying them for you."

Her chivalry wasn't necessarily new but the frequency of it was increasing by the day. It was like Lisa was trying to make me fall for her charm.