Her Offensive Line

Chapter 10

After wallowing for a few minutes to remember her first meeting Cole and their doomed hook-up, Katie had forced her mind back to schoolwork, refusing for the moment to think about the minutes, days, and months that had followed that aborted trip to second baes.

After eating lunch in the library café, Katie finished off her report and was back at Hillside just before four o'clock. The guys were still occupying her furniture, watching sports, and drinking beer. Thankfully, there weren't many empties littering the table, indicating they had been taking it slower than a nine a.m. start time would allude to.

Should she be suspicious of their good behavior? Is this what good behavior looks like? They acted like what Katie would call normal—no sneaky looks from one to the other. No overly cheerful, friendly greetings thrown her way when she walked in. They kind of glanced her way and then ignored her in favor of the Eagles pre-game analysis.

After dropping her bag in her room, Katie joined the guys in the living room, sitting in the empty spot on the opposite end of the couch from Nick. Dropping her cell phone onto the coffee table, she curled her feet up beneath her and propped her elbow on the arm rest, ready to watch kick-off.

During a commercial break early in the second quarter, Danny pulled out his phone. "I'm calling in the pizza order. What do we want? Katie, you first—what's your order?

"Uh, you're calling Nonna's?"

"Yeah."

"Whole wheat thin crust, mushrooms and peppers."

Katie rattled off her usual without looking away from the beer commercial on the screen. She observed the reaction out of her periphery. They all looked vaguely affronted. Finally, Wicks made a comment.

"We said we'd treat you to pizza."

"And I just told you what kind I want."

"Little Lansing, that's not a pizza order. I'm not sure what it is, except sad."

Katie turned to look Danny in the eye. "I've been watching my diet since before I hit puberty. I'm in a sport where I need to be both strong and small, and I'm at a higher risk for an eating disorder than most people. Please don't give me shit about my food decisions."

As she spoke, Katie felt a gentle touch on her foot that slid around to encircle her ankle. She broke eye contact with Danny to look over at Nick. The brush of his callused fingers against her skin sent a tingle up her leg that left goose bumps in its wake.

They made eye contact as his thumb brushed slowly, methodically against her ankle bone. Katie's heart pulsed hard in her chest as a slight smile creased the edges of Nick's hooded eyes.

There moment last only a second or two before Danny hooted and fell between them on the couch. Nick snatched his hand back before his fiend sat on it and Katie pulled her feet in closer to herself.

"You are sassy, Little Lansing," he said. "I like it."

Nick shoved at this shoulder. "Order the pizzas so they're here by the second half. Get the thin crust and our three usuals."

"You guys have three usual orders," Katie asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

"We're growing boys," Brady responded. "The four of us split three pies—a pepperoni, one with the works, and a chicken, bacon, and ranch.

Danny put in the order and just as half-time ended, the pizza arrived.

"Sit," Cooper ordered as Katie moved to get plates. "We'll get it." As Cooper and Brady collected plates and napkins, Brady called out from the kitchen.

"Katie, we're doing another round of beers, do you want some wine? Nick and Coop brought you a bottle of white."

She hesitated. "Ugh..."

"I know, you're watching your weight, but treat yourself to one. You won't derail your training."

"Okay," she gave in. I'll take one. Thirty minutes later Katie had polished off two slices of her pizza and most of her glass of wine. Her eyes were feeling heavy and she caught her heading bobbing forward as she tried to focus on the third-and-one playing out on the screen. She didn't drink often and had never had more than two drinks in a night; without fail she would get sleepy before even finishing her first drink. This time was no different.

"Here," Nick said as her head bobbed again; he shifted his position and patted his lap. "You can put your legs here." Katie bit her lip and let her eyes dart from Nick, to Brady, to Cooper and Wicks. Deciding they hadn't seen anything unusual or concerning in Nick's offer, she turned tentatively and stretched her legs out slowly. She shifted her weight side to side, inching herself into a semi-laying position. She found herself wide awake for the next few minutes, hyper-aware of every move Nick made, running his fingers through his hair, a light cough, a small shift in weight. Eventually, her full stomach and the wine worked their magic again and she drifted off to sleep.

The boys waited out most of the remaining minutes in the third quarter; they were afraid to move or make a noise that might wake her up. After she'd been out for ten minutes, Cooper slowly stood from his spot and crept toward the couch Katie and Nick were occupying. His eyes on Katie's face he reached down and plucked her phone from the table. He backed away slowly, handing the phone to Brady without looking.

They'd worked it out in advance that Brady, as Katie's flesh-and-blood, and already in knowledgeable of her frequently used passwords, would be the one to do the dirty work in taking their plan to the next level.

Nick, Cooper, and Danny observed as Brady typed a numerical code (his, and Katie's, birthday, reversed) into the phone. "Okay," he said. "Katie" he put his sister's name in air quotes, "and I will start with Instagram, Cooper's on Twitter, Danny's doing a Snapchat story, and Nick is going to post comments for now. He'll post a photo on Instagram later tonight."

While Brady double-fisted his and Katie's phones, the other guys went to work on their assignments. At one point they paused so Wicks could take a photo of Nick.

"Lift your chin, you had a weird fold. No, tilt your head a little left. The other left. My left, your right. Okay, no, smile a little. Yes, no, smile less. Do more. Now do less. No do more."

Cooper and Brady covered their mouths, trying to keep the laughter in. Nick looked irritated for a moment before throwing his head back and cracking a huge grin, silent laughter shaking his shoulders.

"That's the money shot!" Wicks went back to work on Snapchat.

Fifteen minutes later they were watching the last five minutes of the fourth quarter when Katie stirred. She twitched and sat up slowly, pulling her legs gingerly from Nick's lap, purposely avoid his eyes.

"What did I miss?"

Katie's grogginess from her impromptu nap kept her from dwelling on the short, quick reply of "nothing," from the group. 

Please comment and vote - I'll be on vacation starting 4/19 and won't be back until the beginning of May.  I'd like to post another chapter before I'm gone for almost two weeks. Give me some motivation :-)