Pushing Forward (Sequel to An Unlikely Duo)

Chapter 4: Flirtatious Strangers

Thank you so much to @nebula_21 for the amazing new cover! I love it!

Wattpad is acting up so I had to post this using my phone so hopefully the format isn't as bad as last time. So many computer issues. Thanks for your patience! Enjoy!
Kayla's POV

"Paige bathroom now" I grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the bathrooms while the kids ate their snack.

"Ouch my arm misses its socket right about now. What is wrong?" Paige pulled her arm out of my grip and rubbed her shoulder.

"He's here. Damn it all I wanted was to come home and spend the summer with my friends and my family. I just wanted to teach little kids volleyball, and then who the hell shows up? Jake freaking Mitchells. Why can't I just get away from him? He screws with my sanity and then expects me to be able to work with him. No way" I started pacing back and forth feeling the sudden urge to punch a wall.

"Woah woah woah. Kayla breath. He probably didn't know you were going to be here just like you didn't know he was going to be here" Paige grabbed my shoulders to stop me from pacing.

"That doesn't make this any easier. I saw him, and I completely froze. I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe, let alone form words. Do you think I like the fact that he does that to me? No I absolutely hate that. I told myself I would never be that girl who's a mess because some silly boy broke her heart, but here I am being that girl" I slumped against the wall.

"And you think that makes you weak don't you?" Paige was the one pacing now.

"Of course it does. Do you see me right now?" I slid down to the floor.

"Kayla Ryans get it together. You are not weak. You are a kick ass college student who is going to graduate at the top of her class next year even though Jake Mitchells broke your heart. You are going to go to med school even though Jake Mitchells broke your heart. You are going to be an unbelievable surgeon even though Jake Mitchells broke your heart. You are going to have an insanely fun summer even though Jake Mitchells broke your heart. You are going to have bundles of fun teaching little kids how to play volleyball even though Jake Mitchells broke your heart" Paige pulled me up off the floor.

"You think I'm going to be a good surgeon?" I grinned sheepishly.

"Kayla that is beside the point. Now you are going to walk out there and pretend like him being here doesn't bother you at all. You are going to pretend like he didn't break your heart. Ready?" Paige grabbed my hand and opened the door.

"I'm ready, but I swear if you ever tell anyone that he broke my heart, I'll be in jail for killing my best friend" I whispered pointedly on my way out.

"Typical Kayla" Paige mumbled under her breath, but I heard her anyway.

I walked back over to my court without even looking in Jake's direction. It wasn't the fact that he broke my heart that made me so angry, it's the way he did it.

I started up a fun underhand serving game with my team of munchkins.

There was one little boy named Billy with unruly blonde curls that seemed to have the personality of a teenager stuck inside his 10 year old body.

"Hey Ms. Kayla does blondie have a boyfriend?" he walked up to me and asked.

"Who's blondie?" I looked over toward one of the little girls on my team with blonde hair assuming it was her.

"Your friend, the one with the blue coach shirt like yours" Billy pointed to a court nearby. Paige's court.

"You want to know if Ms. Paige is single? Why?" I tried to hold back a laugh as he cockily raised one eyebrow at me.

"She's my type" he stated blatantly as if this conversation made any sense.

"She may be your type, but she's twice your age and she does have a boyfriend. Sorry big guy" I figured he would get bummed out and drop the whole thing, but the boy was persistent.

"Well how serious is the boyfriend. Maybe she's looking for something more serious with someone who's more of a man" Billy puffed out his chest as if that would make up for the fact that he only reached Paige's waist.

"I'm sure you'd be a great boy, I mean man for Paige, but she is in a very serious relationship, and I don't think that is going to change anytime soon" I tried to let him down easy. I was used to cocky and persistent guys asking about my best friend, but normally they were a bit taller.

"Well there's plenty of fish in the sea. Her loss not mine" he shrugged and sauntered back over to where the rest of his team was.

I was still laughing to myself as I got up and turned around. Of course I turned so Jake was right in my line of sight at the same moment he was looking right at me.

We both just stood there for a second, staring at each other. He looked away first. I sighed and returned to my kids.

Each day of camp we would practice with our teams and then have some short games at the end before all the kids were picked up.

Thankfully today I wasn't playing Jake's team, though I knew I would have to eventually.

Paige's team came over to our court and we attempted to assemble our charges into some sort of rotation.

I finally gave up and let the kids just run everywhere after the ball. The skills would come later, at this age we were teaching them to have fun and love the sport. After playing for nine years it was nice to be reminded of how much fun volleyball could be when you didn't take it so seriously.

"Miss Kayla" I felt someone tug on the hem of my shirt. I looked down to see a familiar mop of blonde curls.

"Billy I told you Paige has a boyfriend. You have to let this go" I sighed.

"No, that's not it. This is my brother Blake. He wanted to meet you" Billy pointed to the tall guy walking up behind him. He had the same blonde hair as Billy, but without the afro. He was built, tall, and definitely attractive. I subconsciously tightened my pony tail and straightened my baseball cap.

"Hey gorgeous has my brother driven you completely crazy yet?" Blake flashed me a grin and ruffled Billy's hair. Billy scowled and crossed his arms.

"Billy's very... enthusiastic. I'm sure we'll have a great summer together right Billy?" I looked down at the frowning kid and barely caught his curt nod.

"I have to say I'm jealous of my little brother. Any chance you want to help all of the Jones brothers have fun and let me take you out to dinner?" Blake asked. He gave me a clear once over and didn't even try to be subtle about it. I had a bad feeling about this guy, I knew his type, but then I caught movement over his right shoulder.

Jake was watching while raking the sand on the courts rather violently.

"I'm sorry it's the beginning of summer and I'm crazy busy right now. It's just not a good time, but thanks for asking" I tried to let him down easy. It wasn't him, okay maybe he did give off jerk vibes, but it was mainly that I just wasn't looking for a relationship.

"How about next Saturday?" He asked as if he hadn't heard me.

"I'm sorry I just don't think it's a good idea" I could tell he wasn't used to taking no for an answer.

"We'll talk about it again later this week babe" he leaned down and kissed my cheek before walking toward the parking lot with his little brother in tow.

What just happened? I say no, and he decides that's a maybe later and kisses my cheek like I'm some weird relative? I definitely was not looking forward to seeing him again.

I looked up to pull myself out of my confused daze and saw Jake staring right at me. He was putting all the balls away close enough where he must have heard the whole conversation.

I was the first to look away this time.

The last thing I needed was Jake Mitchells realizing how much he hurt me or thinking he had a chance to fix things after all this time. The damage was done. I just wanted a fun summer back home, but it looked like Jake and Blake weren't going to make that easy or possible.

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