Coach's Daughter

43

I can't believe my life right now. It's like I'm being a hermit alone in my room for long enough to make me think I'll never talk to anyone but my parents again, and then out of nowhere I have so much going on.

Today is Jenny and Mark's wedding. Since my parents already RSVPed Clayton and invited him to this wedding, I caved and agreed to let him be my date. I also caved for another thing. I'm going on a date with Caitlin tomorrow.

It's crazy how fast it all happened. I eventually decided it would be best for me to get out there in the dating world to get over Paige.

I also put that stuffed hippo in my closet to stay. I haven't been messing with her hair tie either. I'm doing better.

I've been messaging Caitlin for about a week now and apparently she's in Connecticut with her friends right now. I have no idea why. I guess rich and famous players can do whatever they want during the offseason.

My dad is driving all four of us to the wedding. Thank God I don't have to be in a car alone with Clayton. He seems nice, but he also seems to be interested in me and those feelings are not reciprocated.

"So," Clayton says from beside me in the backseat of my dad's car, "You're studying to be a physical therapist?"

How did he know that?

"Yep," I respond dryly.

"Cool. I'm actually majoring in mechanical engineering-"

God this is why I hate men I think to myself as he rambles on about boring stuff. What the heck even is mechanical engineering?

I get a text from Caitlin saying she's excited for tomorrow.

Me: Me too

Caitlin: How are you and Romeo enjoying the wedding?

Me: Not there yet but he's already annoying me. Do you know what mechanical engineering is?

Caitlin: It's like people that make machines like computers and car engines and stuff.

Me: Oh. That's boring.

Caitlin: You're cute

I feel heat rise to my cheeks and the corners of my mouth upturn.

"What are you smiling about?" Clayton asks from beside me, making the smile fall from my face. Why is he so fucking nosey?

Not having the energy to come up with a reply, I ignore him and fish my AirPods out of my purse, putting them in. I don't even play any music, I just need an excuse to not have to talk to this guy.

Me: Shut up

Caitlin starts typing then the bubbles go away. I was just joking. I hope I didn't hurt her feelings. Speaking of hurting feelings, I get a text from my mom.

Mom: Talk to Clayton. You're going to hurt his feelings.

I sigh in exasperation. I don't want to hurt his feelings, but dear god, what are we going to talk about? That's when I get an idea.

"Hey. Do you like basketball?" I ask the now quiet boy beside me. His face lights up at my speaking to him.

"Yeah! Do you?"

"I love it," I tell him and I catch my dad's suspicious eyes in the rear view mirror.

"Who's your favorite player of all time? Mines LeBron."

Oh yeah. Men's basketball. I forget that exists.

"Probably one of my dad's players," I shrugs nonchalantly and meet his narrowed eyes in the rear view mirror again. I smile at him sweetly. I then get a new notification on my phone, a text from Caitlin.