Page 23 of Not that Impressed
Playing hard to get. Yeah, you probably have to turn everyone down at first. It’s all about the visual right. Let’s plan on something next month.
@Ellie.Bennet.IRL
My schedule is full. Best wishes!
@Mr.Colin
I’m not worried. We’ll get this worked out soon!
CHAPTER 11
WILL
I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to just go for it with Ellie.
It could be the high that I’m on that we held the Rays to only three points the whole game when they’ve been averaging over twenty. It could be that we beat them twenty-eight to three.
Ellie intrigues me, she challenges me, and maybe it would blow up in my face, but I think giving it a shot could be really fun.
I might even strut a little as we leave practice Monday night. “Ask me to do anything, Baldwin,” I tell Charlie as we head for our cars. “I’d say yes.”
He laughs and shoves my shoulders. “You deserve that big head of yours right now. Keep playing like you did yesterday and MVP is in the bag.”
“Championship has to be in the bag first. That takes the whole team, bro. Rising tide and all that.” I hold out a fist for him to bump, and he knocks his against mine with a grin. “I’m just saying, if you wanted to invite the Bennet sisters over for a dinner re-do, I wouldn’t even argue with you.”
He shakes his head. “Janelle’s feeling better, but we’re going to hang out at her apartment tonight. Low-key. Maybe watch a movie.”
I swallow disappointment. That wasn’t an invitation to join. “You’ll just have Ellie as your third wheel?” My fishing for information about Ellie is obvious, but that’s how much I don’t care right now.
Charlie shakes his head. “Nope. She’s filming at their parents’ house. Janelle got out of it since she’s still pretty tired. Ellie said she was going to make sure no one tried to push to get Janelle back.”
It doesn’t surprise me to hear that Ellie’s covering so her sister gets all the recovery time she needs or that she’s helping Janelle and Charlie have alone time. She’d do anything for her sister. That much is already clear, especially the way she looked out for Janelle by making sure no one saw her car at Charlie’s overnight.
“That’s cool of her.”
“She’s not all bad. In fact she isn’t anything like how people portray her online.” Charlie’s voice holds censure, which means I wasn’t as obvious in fishing for information as I thought. All the better.
“Okay, okay.” I hold up my hands. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“See you.” His grin returns and he hops into his truck, clearly eager to get to Janelle.
I get my chance to see Ellie the next day. I know from her Instagram account that today is a rare occasion when Ellie will be at the Pumas service project. It’s a flag football camp she’s organized for girls ages eight to sixteen, and the Pumas players will be helping teach the skills.
TheBeing the Bennetscamera crews will also be there, but now I recognize that as Ellie leveraging her fame for a good cause. Usually I skip the service projects that are featured on the show, but I make an exception today.
I keep to the background as much as possible anyway, and not just to avoid the cameras. The less I put my foot in my mouth around Ellie, the better chance she’ll hear me out when I ask her to dinner. It’s just a bonus that I enjoy showing one of the groups of girls some of my defensive drills that keep me quick on my feet.
One thing is disheartening though. Despite how good some of these girls are, despite how fast or how strong, their intelligence on the field, whatever—the pro football leagues for women aren’t the same as the recognition that comes for the men. Most people don’t even know those leagues exist. I’ve believed all my life if I hustled hard enough, put in the work, did the reps, that I could achieve my goals. They can do all of that and never see the kind of success I have. It sucks.
I help with the clean up as much as I can while staying in the crowd so I don’t attract the camera crew’s attention. Once people start to leave, I head to my Expedition and wait there like a stalker for Ellie to leave as well.
She’s one of the last. Everyone from my team has gone, and, as far as I can tell, not a camera left in sight, which I’m grateful for. She’s talking to a woman who works in the front office for the Pumas, but then they split up and head to their cars. I slip out of my SUV and hurry toward Ellie.
“Ellie!” I call out as she starts up the sidewalk toward her car.
She turns to see who called out to her, and I’m close enough that I catch her tensing. Her expression turns to a scowl.
That’s not a great sign.
