Page 13 of Love on the Sidelines

Movement close to me causes me to turn, and it's not our typical yellow and white attire, but Charlie in a pair of khakis and a black t-shirt. I don't know if the tight-fitting shirt accentuates his muscles a lot more or if he's just grown Hulk muscles overnight, but it's very distracting. So I shut down those thoughts the best way I can and focus on the case of sports drinks in his grasp.

"Parents and fans are supposed to sit on the opposite side of the field," I say, adjusting my sunglasses and following the play.

He nods. "Yeah, I didn't get here in time to drop these off for the team."

"Thank you, but next time, check with Whitney. She's in charge of assigning team snacks."

He nods and says, "Sounds good."

With that, he turns and walks away. He's not even going to fight me on this? I don't know why I think of him like that. Probably because we’ve done a lot of verbal sparring in the past.

I turn my focus back to the game, nearly losing my voice from yelling at the girls to get into position several times throughout the game. It was a close one, but we lost by one.

Our next game is only two hours later. The girls have small snacks they brought with them, but Whitney walks over with an enormous grin on her face, two large bags in her hand from the nearest sandwich shop.

I frown, trying to figure out what this is for. We rarely have enough money to cover team accommodations, let alone getting the team food.

"Here's some lunch, ladies," Whitney says in a singsong voice.

"Why did you do this?" I ask, whispering to Whitney.

"We just figured the girls deserved it," she says, grinning at me again. “You always tell them nothing heavy, like burgers and milkshakes. Sandwiches are perfect.”

I turn to look at the group of parents who are seated a little way off in the shade and make eye contact with Charlie. He had to be behind this.

Whitney continues to pass the sandwiches out, and I stomp over to Charlie. "Did you pay for the sandwiches?"

"I don't know what you're talking about?" he says, trying to hide a grin.

"The ones Whitney is handing out." I point behind me and wait for his response.

"I’m not familiar with the restaurants around here," he says, tucking his hands into the pockets of his shorts and it makes his muscles flex again. Oh, have mercy.

Now is not the time for my body to be buzzing because I’m attracted to the guy. What happened to the red flags that usually go off for me? Sirens? Something would be great.

I can't stay next to him anymore. The guy is almost like my ex with his throwing around money wherever he can. I'll just have to wait and see if Charlie will accuse me of being a gold digger later. Yeah, that would be like repeating every part of my explosive relationship.

I'm focusing on the notepad I use to write thoughts throughout the game. It helps me know what to work on for upcoming games, how to instruct players, as well as what to focus on in practice.

It's then that Charlie approaches and sits down next to me on the grass, bringing with him a light scent of sandalwood.

Don't take another sniff.I never thought I’d have to tell myself that.

"How's it going?" Charlie asks.

"It's going," I say, keeping my focus on the notebook in front of me.

"Do you take all your notes in that notebook?" he asks, reaching over to turn a page back to read it. I swat his hand away before my manners come out.

"Sorry. I rarely let people read this," I say, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.

"So you're saying you'd let me read it?" Charlie asks.

"No. It helps me prepare for games."

"There are these things called phones. They have apps that will let you take notes and then you don't have to carry around an extra notebook."

I shake my head. "I've never found one that worked for everything I needed it to."

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