Playing the Game (Providence University #6) - Ali Parker Page 0,11
line again, this time with a different pair of partners, and things went a lot better. I didn’t drop the ball, and neither did they, but one of the other groups did. It was Motor who was overconfident, but Carver didn’t say shit to him.
“Fuckin’ pussy,” I mumbled.
“Yeah,” said Paul. “No shit. He’s gunning for your spot in case you didn’t know. I think he’s the one who said something to Coach about you and Avery.”
“Makes sense.” I spat on the field and wiped my sweat on my shirt. I used the moment to glance over at Avery, who was running passes of her own. She did it perfectly, and when she was down the line, she threw a glance over in my direction.
“One more time,” said the coach. “Other direction.” He blew the whistle and moved aside as we began, and once again, Motor dropped the ball, and he too blamed the miss on the thrower.
As Coach dealt with them, Motor’s face turned red, and when he caught me looking, I smiled.
Coach Carr wasn’t cutting him any slack, either. “Do you see what happens when you spend your time worrying about someone else’s business? You start to forget your place and your duties. Do you see what happens?”
“Yes, sir!”
“And you, Seth. This is your team. You need to encourage them better. Let’s get over here. You and Montgomery can run passes together. Work on his left lateral passes first. That’s his weak point.”
Motor didn’t look like he enjoyed hearing he had any weaknesses, and I sure didn’t like being dragged back into it with him. I was just trying to get through practice and often wondered why he’d wanted me to be the captain of the team in the first place.
All through practice, I stole glances, and when the girls let out twenty minutes before us, I didn’t think Avery would wait on me.
She hadn’t wanted to talk the night before, so I didn’t think she really wanted to give me the time of day. I shouldn’t have given her the brush off when she told me she wanted to talk. I should have listened to what she had to say. With the coach in my head, it was just hard to choose.
I didn’t want to let either of them down.
When I walked out to the Jeep, she was leaned against the bumper. Motor and Carver were standing on the other side of the lot, watching as I walked up and greeted her. “Hey,” I said. “I didn’t expect you still wanted to talk to me.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t expect a text last night.”
“You must have been busy.”
“I was.”
She had probably moved on to someone else and wanted to be the first to tell me. “I see. Well, it’s cool. I mean, Coach wants me to focus on the game, and I don’t have time for much else.”
“Oh, well, I was just studying for a big test, but the good news is, I think I passed it.”
I immediately took back my words. “Cool, that’s good news. I thought you like moved on or something since I didn’t handle yesterday so good.”
“No, I’m not really that sought after,” she said with a giggle.
I heard an engine roar and glanced over to see Carver speeding away with Motor beside him.
“What’s their problem?” she asked.
“Just locker-room bullshit. Don’t worry about it.” I could handle those two, but I didn’t want her to worry about me. “Do you want to go out later?”
“I can’t. I have plans with Abi.”
“Abigail, huh?” I wasn’t sure if she was really going to hang out with her friend or if maybe she had a date. “I’d like to see you. Can’t you tell her you’d rather go with me?”
“I promised. I’m sorry. Another time?”
I couldn’t help but be disappointed. “Yeah, sure. I’ve got to keep my head in the game anyway. I’ll catch you later.” I walked to get in the Jeep, and she went around to her own car as I got in mine.
I didn’t bother looking her way, no matter how hard it was. I waited for her to drive away, and I punched the steering wheel so many times I’m surprised the airbags didn’t go off. I hated being told no, especially after I had put everything on the line to even talk to her. At least when Motor and his minion Carver went and told Coach I was seeing Avery, I could give him an honest answer—and just the one he wanted to