Page 8 of Friend Zoned

“Coach just cock-blocked me,” the idiot yells. I ignore him, but from the corner of my eye, I see him dancing inappropriately with Colt Chastain’s mother. In fact, I notice Jeannie’s mom dancing with Jarvis Jones. I guess his tattoos must not offend her too much.

Jeannie picks up the pace of her dancing, and I do the same.

“What you gonna do now, Coach?” she asks.

“I’m gonna back it up.” I turn and start to shake my ass. She moves close, but not close enough to touch.

“Back it up, Coach,” she yells. I hear cheers, and when I look up, it’s the team cheering me on and recording my dancing. I always keep it professional, even distant, and I know these immature idiots are never going to let me forget this. Now they’ll even have the video to prove it. I wouldn’t be surprised if this ends up on someone’s social media. Even Chastain, who is the most mature of the teammates, is recording me.

Four songs later, she drags me to the bar, both of us panting and breathless.

“What are you drinking?” I ask while I flag the bartender.

“Champagne. Only champagne and only the best.” She gestures for me to come closer with her index finger. I lean down and she whispers close to my ear, “I’ll have you know that last New Year’s Eve, I bought two bottles of champagne that cost fifteen dollars.”

I let out a loud whistle. When the bartender finally approaches, I order two glasses of champagne and two waters. “Is that fifteen dollars each or total?” I ask, doing my best to appear fascinated by the conversation.

“Each.”

“Get out of here,” I say.

“Plus tax.” I put both hands on my cheeks. “It’s obvious who the real baller is.”

“Big spender.” I take both glasses from the bartender and offer her one. We clink. She finishes her drink in two gulps. I hand her the water glass. “And where did you drink those very expensive bottles of champagne last New Year’s Eve?” I want to know every last detail about her.

“If I told you that, you’d be jealous,” she teases.

“No doubt but try me.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I worked that day, then picked up the champagne and went to my parents’ house. I was living there at the time. I drank an entire bottle and fell asleep on the couch around ten o’clock. I woke up in the middle of the night with a blanket thrown on top of me. I told you you’d be jealous.” She holds up the water glass and waits. I clink mine with hers. “I’m getting even wilder this year. I’m considering ordering pizza.”

We have a home game on Christmas this year, and I promised my sister I’d be home for dinner. We’ll be on the road a couple of days after Christmas until a few days into the new year. Pizza at home is suddenly sounding really good right now.

“Don’t get arrested,” is all I can think to say.

“I just might.” She downs the water, and I get her another. Once she’s drinking it, I pull out her card from my pocket.

“Put your cell phone number here.” I hand her a pen. “Just in case you need me to bail you out. I don’t answer strange numbers.” I watch as she writes it down. She adds a smiley face and hands me back the card. I pull out my phone and call her. “Now you have mine.” I hang up once I get her voicemail and put my phone back in my pocket.

“Where did you spend last New Year's Eve?” she asks.

“Oh, well if I told you,you’dbe jealous.”

“Yeah right. It can’t be any better than mine.”

I inch closer to her. “I spent it in a hotel room because we had a game that day. I don’t even remember where I was. After a while, all the cities and hotel rooms all become a blur.”

She does an exaggerated grimace. “Mine was definitely better than yours. At least I had champagne.”

There’s loud laughter behind us. The bride and groom are in the middle of the dance floor, and Chastain is copying my moves.

“He can’t back it up as good as me,” I tell Jeannie.

“Coach, Jeannie, come on.” Chastain and his wife wave us over. “Dance off.”

I put down my drink and offer Jeannie my arm. “I’m not going easy on them just because this is their wedding. They’re going down, Greenwich. Get ready.”

The song changes while I lead her to the dance floor. “I only have one question for you. Can you wobble, baby?”

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