Football and Ballet - Jason Collins Page 0,15

focused on Lou as he caught up with the rest of the team on the field.

“Hunter Perry, it’s so nice to meet you,” a woman held out her hand for mine. “My name is Gretel Hanover, and I’m the Youth Center Director.”

“Nice to meet you, Gretel,” I said, shaking her hand. I didn’t want my surprise to show on my face, so I made sure to keep a smile plastered across my expression.

Gretel, huh?

I hadn’t been expecting Gretel.

Honestly, I hadn’t been expecting anyone who wasn’t Patrick. I’d shown up for our one-on-one lesson a few minutes ago, but I wasn’t the only person waiting in the room. Besides Gretel, Elana had been waiting for me, too, as she leaned against the barre in the corner.

Although, as soon as I walked into the studio, my sister snapped away from the corner and quickly made her way over to me. “Hunter! You finally made it.”

“Sorry. If I would’ve known that Ms. Hanover was expecting me—”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that.” Gretel shook her head. “I was just being nosy and dropping in. I could hardly believe it when they said an NFL player was taking one-on-ones with our Patrick.”

“Because most pro athletes work out at home?” I suggested.

Gretel chuckled in response. “No, because Patrick rarely does one-on-ones with any of his students. He’s kind, but he’s deadly serious about his dancing.”

“Yeah, as serious as a heart attack.” Elana playfully rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I just came to make sure everything was going well with your lessons. I know you didn’t want any more PR, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still stop by and see what’s going on, right?”

“I mean, sure, I guess.” I raised my shoulders. “Although, there’s not really anything exciting happening.”

“Well, exciting or not, I just wanted to be here to show support,” Elana said with a light smile on her face.

I returned her expression, grateful for a glimpse of my sister as my sister, and not as a PR agent.

Just then, Patrick entered the studio walking across the floor with a perplexed look on his face. “Gretel? Elana? What are you two doing here?”

“Patrick! Just the man I wanted to see.” Gretel grinned. “Why did you neglect to mention that we had a celebrity training on our grounds?”

“What celebrity?” Patrick looked over at me with a slow blink. “Are you talking about Hunter?”

“Of course, I’m talking about Hunter.”

“Oh. Right. Sure.” Patrick nodded as he moved his gaze away from me. “Sorry. I’m not super into football. I didn’t realize it was such a big deal.”

Bullshit.

I smiled to myself, amused by Patrick’s attempts to downplay my existence as his student. I didn’t know what was in his craw about me today, but I couldn’t wait to hear about another one of his imagined scenarios of me being some ultra-jock in high school. We hadn’t spoken to each other since we’d had dinner together, and I was starting to miss his sense of humor, even though it was filled with barbs at every turn.

“Well, either way, I’m happy Hunter’s training with us for now.” Gretel smiled. “Although, there was something else I wanted to speak with you about, Patrick. If you don’t mind joining me in my office—”

“Do we have to go to your office?” Patrick asked. “Because I’d rather get started with warm-ups, if that’s okay with you.”

“You’re sure it’s okay to discuss youth center business here?”

“Why not? Elana’s a friend of the center, and Hunter isn’t going to remember us in a week.”

“All right, as long as you’re sure…” Gretel murmured. “I just wanted to inform you that we didn’t receive the Annual Arts Grant for this cycle.”

“What?” Patrick seemed stunned by the news. “But we always get that grant.”

“I know, but it seems this year it wasn’t meant to be.” Gretel sighed. “Although, it appears no one received an Annual Arts Grant this year. Perhaps it had something to do with budget cuts.”

“But what are we supposed to do without that grant? It’s the main thing keeping the doors open.”

“I’m… not sure.” Gretel let out a heavy breath. “But I think as long as we approach this with cool heads, we might be able to come up with something—”

“I think I can help,” I chimed into the conversation.

“How so?” Elana raised an eyebrow over at me.

“What you guys need is basically a fundraiser, right?” I went on. “My team does those all the time. And if we’re doing one for a youth center? I bet