Page 18 of Friend Zoned

Katherine: Come play with me, little brother

I’ve only gotten three texts from Jeannie all week, and those were all one or two word responses to my texts. I’m not sure what happened, but Sunday backfired on me.

I think back to every moment, every word, and I can’t imagine what I said that could have turned her off. She wants me. I can tell by her body language and the way she looks at me. I also realize, she doesn’t want to want me. My phone vibrates, so I pull it out.

Me: Go away, stalker

After texting my sister, I text Jeannie.

Me: Are you watching

My phone vibrates again a minute later, and I hope and pray it’s not Katherine.

Jeannie: Nope

Me: Turn on your television

Jeannie: Fine

She adds an eye roll emoji, but at least she agrees. Our team wins by five points, and the air in the locker room is electric. When I walk in, Wakowski sees me, runs in front of me, and starts shaking his ass.

“Back it up,” he says. I lift my foot and shove him away. He falls on Harris, who puts him in a headlock before he tosses him to the floor.

After taking a few questions from the press, I give the team a brief pep talk. As I prepare to board the bus for the airport, I spot Chastain outside speaking on the phone and approach him.

“I’ll see you soon, queen. I don’t love you either,” he says before hanging up the phone. “Sup, Coach?” I grab his elbow and pull him to a private corner.

“How’s your wife doing?” I ask him. He misses a step when he hears my question. I never ask such personal questions of my team. I keep it professional always.

“My wife is great. I give this marriage thing a ten out of ten. You should try it sometime.”

I clear my throat, lower my voice, and say, “When you first met her, were there any obstacles or—” I leave the question dangling.

“Or?” Chastain asks.

I let out a deep sigh. “You were single, and then you had her at all your games. How did you meet her?”

“Her sister introduced us.”

“As a setup?”

“No. We were all at the same place. It wasn’t a setup.”

“So, it was an immediate connection? You two fell hard or whatever?”

Chastain lets out a loud bark of laughter. “I felt a connection right away, but have you met my wife? No, it wasn’t like that at all. I had to work hard to get her. Really hard. I had to use every ounce of my Chastain charm.”

I pull him further away when a couple of the guys walk past us. “And what were her objections?” I whisper. All these guys have to do to get a woman’s attention is leave the house. Unlike most of these guys, Chastain is mature and not just into getting a woman into bed, but I can’t say I’m not surprised that he had to work hard to get a woman’s attention.

“Oh, everything. My career, my celebrity.” He puts celebrity in air quotes. “She didn’t want to date a guy with a kid, and the whole white boy from Alabama thang didn’t help either.”

Damn. I’m not famous like the players. I’m just a coach, happy to be in the background, and I have no children, but the white guy thing is something I can’t change.

“Was it more the white guy part or the Alabama part?”

“Who knows, but it was all a smokescreen. She objected to everything about me, but she was afraid. I’m not going to get into it because those are her personal things, but I just wouldn’t go away.” He inches closer. “Is this about Jeannie?” he whispers.

This is why Chastain is my favorite player. Had this been one of the other guys, they would announce it for the entire parking lot to hear, but I know this will stay between me and him.

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