Page 10 of Quarterback Crush
I felt great pressure not to muck up and was relieved when Coach Foster called it a day. Oliver was quickly by my side, but because Savannah wasn’t here, I wondered why he needed to put on an act.
“Did you get my text?” he asked. “Sorry, I couldn’t meet you but I had a meeting with Coach that went way too long.”
I half-smiled and spoke through closed lips as if I was trialing for the ventriloquism club. “You know Savannah isn’t here today, so you don’t have to put on a show.”
Oliver shrugged and looked around as if he had only just noticed Savannah’s absence. While he did that, I pulled down on my bike shorts, trying to make them cover a little more of my legs.
“You guys looked good,” Oliver said, his smile melting me. It was possible I could spend the rest of my life staring into his warm brown eyes and those luscious lips. “Hey, I gotta go shower. Do you need a ride home?”
Had Oliver not heard what I said about Savannah? I would usually text Mom or Dad to pick me up if Mom wasn’t working late at school, and today she wasn’t.
“I’ll get Mom...” I started to say, but Oliver butted in with ease. “Do you know my car, it’s...”
“I know it,” I said, nodding. Of course I knew his silver sporty SUV, its license plate embedded in my brain.
“Meet me there,” he said, breaking into a run as he crossed the field ahead of me.
I gulped, uncertain as to why Oliver was taking the whole fake dating thing so seriously when Savannah wasn’t here to witness it. He’d already organized our first ‘date’ for Saturday, so it was surprising that he wanted to take me home now.
I forgot Sammy’s warning to be cautious and quickly grabbed my bag, texting Mom that I would be getting a ride. She’d assume it was with Rose because her father had dropped me home before.
I waited on the edge of the parking lot, trying to be invisible. Logic told me Oliver would come to his car eventually, but I couldn’t shake the thought that he’d stand me up again, just like at lunch break. Everything seemed surreal and I was waiting for someone to jump out and say I’d been pranked.
But within minutes, Oliver was striding through the parking lot and I stepped out from the shadows.
“For a second, I thought you’d left,” Oliver said.
I smiled, not wanting to admit my insecurity. The butterflies resurfaced and swirled in my stomach as he opened the passenger door for me, his smile and scent sending me lightheaded and dizzy.
“You know, I could have called Mom for a ride home,” I reiterated as I clicked up the seat belt and positioned my backpack at my feet.
“It’s no problem,” Oliver said, starting the car. “It’s the least I can do, considering the favor you’re doing for me.”
“It’s no problem,” I echoed with a shy grin.
I’d held imaginary conversations with Oliver regularly over the years of crushing on him, but now that I was sitting next tohim, my mind went blank. I focused my gaze on Oliver’s hands guiding the steering wheel.
“How did your training go?” he asked, turning down the volume of the car stereo.
“Really good,” I said. “Except Savannah wasn’t there, so we had to change a few routines.”
Oliver nodded, but didn’t mention her. “We had a good session. The team is pumped for St. Martin’s.”
“Yeah, so are we,” I said.
“Don’t forget our date on Saturday.”
“Okie-dokie!” I chirped enthusiastically, cringing as I realized I sounded like my Dad. That was his pet catchphrase, along with ‘super-duper’whenever he was in a cheery agreeable mood. Which was most of the time. Nothing fazed my Dad, ever.
Oliver gave me a rundown on the Owls’ past record against St. Martin’s, going right back to when his oldest brother played for the team. And though I followed football, the finer details of the rules and stats went over my head when he talked about passing yards and completion ratings and turnover differentials.
I kept smiling and nodding like I understood, determined I would make more of an effort in learning the sport because Oliver’s passion was obvious. All too soon, Oliver was driving down Cherry Lane and reminiscing over the neighborhood.
Do the Stuarts still live there? Is that a new fence? Wow, that tree is massive now!
As he slowed outside his old house, he looked up to his old bedroom window. “That’s where I hung my Owls flag,” he said. “You still have it, right?”
“Yeah, it’s on my bedroom wall,” I said.
