Page 79 of Guess Again
The long game had been in the works for some time, and Lindsay believed she had played it perfectly. A light mist began to fall. It smattered her windshield and blurred the headlights of oncoming cars, allowing her mind to wander back to the fateful day it all began.
Ever since they’d slept together he’d been distant. She wondered if this was how all men acted after sex. But hers was a unique situation, wasn’t it? It had to be. Blake Cordis was the hot history teacher and new volleyball coach all the girls had a crush on, but he had chosen her. They had flirted at practice until one day he offered to drive her home after she stayed late relining the courts on the gymnasium floor. But instead of taking her home, they had ended up at his apartment.
Lindsay was nervous when they went into his bedroom. She would never forget the moment he unclasped the button on her jeans. She knew then that there was no turning back, and she did her best to hide that it was her first time. She was happy it had not been with a random boy on prom night, or a friend after too many drinks. It had been with Blake Cordis, a man she was in love with.
But the things Lindsay expected to happen after that night never transpired. There was no budding romance. There was no courtship. There was no secret rendezvous where a forbidden love was too electric to ignore. Instead, Coach Cordis ghosted her. He told her it had been a mistake to get involved with one of his players and that they needed to end things and go back to a strictly player-coach relationship.
Lindsay was heartbroken and not ready to give up on them. She decided to talk to him in his office Saturday morning after practice. It would ultimately become the Saturday Callie Jones went missing, although Lindsay didn’t know that at the time.
She gave no warning. Lindsay simply waited until practice was over and her teammates were gone. Then, she walked to his office.
“Hey, Lindsay,” Blake said after she knocked on the doorframe. “What’s going on?”
“We need to talk.”
“Okay. Does this have something to do with the team?”
“We need to talk about us.”
Blake stood from behind his desk and glanced over her shoulder, looking out into the hallway. His voice was lower when he spoke again. “I thought we agreed to keep our relationship straight up. I’m your coach, you’re my player. Remember?”
“I actually don’t remember, because that was never my plan.”
It was his, and he expected her to go along with it and ask no questions and make no trouble. He expected to take her virginity and never talk to her again.
“Look, Lindsay. We could both get in a lot of trouble for what happened.”
“It’s not fair. What you did,” she said as she walked into his office.
“Coach?”
Blake looked to the doorway and saw Curt McGee, Cherryview’s athletic director, standing in the hallway.
“Hey Lindsay,” Curt said.
Lindsay smiled. “Mr. McGee.”
Curt looked at Blake and cocked his head. “We’re supposed to go over the budget. Meeting’s getting started now upstairs.”
“Yeah, of course,” Blake said. “Lindsay and I were just talking shop.”
Blake turned and pointed at Lindsay.
“Great job today at practice. I’ll see you Monday?”
Lindsay forced a smile and nodded. “See you then.”
Blake walked out with the athletic director and left Lindsay standing alone in his office. When he was gone, tears came to her eyes. Her soft sobs were interrupted by a chirping noise. It was the muffled sound of a cell phone ringing. Lindsay listened for a moment and then walked to Blake’s desk. She pulled the top drawer open and saw a Samsung flip phone lighted up with a recent text message.
She looked briefly at the open door to Blake’s office, and then reached for the phone. A name glowed across the caller ID screen.
Callie
She opened the phone and read the text message.
I’m going to a party out on The Crest tonight. But I want to see you. I’ll call you when I leave.
I love you.
