Despite myself, I laughed. “Nah, Coach, it’s not drugs.”
Coach straightens up, hands on his hips. The beer belly that has been growing steadily over the last few semesters hangs over his belt, but even with his graying hair and wrinkled face, he’s still an intimidating guy.
“Is it a girl?” he asked. I must hesitate for a split second too long because he clicked his tongue in disappointment and shook his head. “Damn women,” he muttered. “Life would be better off without them.”
“I’m sure that’s not true, Coach.” I pat his shoulder and wink. “After all, someone had to give birth to your best team in years, right?”
Coach mumbled something that sounded like profanities, then crossed his arms over his flabby chest. “Keep your head in the game, Jake. Your scholarship won’t hold up if you can’t perform.”
Then thank God it’s my last year here because the only performances I’ll be doing soon involve Renee Lyon.
He clapped me on the shoulder and then waddled away, stiff from age, anger, and high school memories.
Back in the locker room, I jump into the shower to wash away the grime and sweat, wishing I didn’t already have a hard-on thinking of Renee. Since our hook-up the night at her house, I hadn’t been able to think of anything but her, and it was becoming a severe problem.
Not enough of a problem that I would stop pursuing her, of course, but enough of one.
After dressing for class, I gather my bookbag from my locker and start across the field towards the lecture hall. As I swing open the door to step inside, I almost step smack-dab into Jami, Renee’s roommate, on her way out of the building.
“Oh, God, sorry,” she gasps as her pack falls to the ground, scattering papers. I kneel down to help her pick them up, shaking my head.
“It was my fault. No worries.”
She looked up at me then, and a flicker of recognition flashed across her features. “Jake,” she said. “Hi. Sorry. It was me, I swear. Not looking where I was going.”
“No harm, no foul.” I straighten her stack of papers and hand them over to her with a grin, and Jami shoves them back into her bag, eyes still firmly on me. Jami is cute, it was evidently clear, and if I didn’t have such a hard-on for Renee, I’d consider getting to know Jami better. Everyone in this school assumed I was some asshole, shallow womanizer, but it was basically bullshit.
I like all girls.
“So, um, how is your friend doing?” I asked and then wanted to kick myself for acting so uncool.
“What friend?” Jami asked innocently, but I knew she was calling me on my shit.
“How is Renee?”
“She was fine, I guess.” Jami shrugged a bit, and I could tell she was ready to leave, and I didn’t want to draw this out longer than necessary.
“Oh, uh ... she didn’t tell you about the other night?” I hesitated because I had no idea what Renee had disclosed to her friend and what she hadn’t, and I didn’t want to start running my big mouth.
“She kind of told me ...” Jami said, trailing off. The redness in her cheeks grew until it was nearly consuming her face, and I didn’t have to push her to figure out if she knew about the hookup or not. It was pretty clear. “Sorry,” she mumbled, dropping her eyes to the ground. “I better go.” As she turned to hurry away, I reached out to stop her.
“Wait, Jami?”
“Yeah?” She looked hesitant to talk to me like she was afraid she’d say something she was not supposed to.
“Look,” I squared up to her, one hand resting gently on her upper arm. “I really like Renee, okay? Like, a lot. More than I ever thought possible. I just want her to know that.”
“Oh, I think you’ve made that abundantly clear,” Jami giggled. “All of you have, though, haven’t you?”
“All of us?”
“You, Matt, and Aaron.”
“Oh, right.” I frown, and Jami must see the hurt in my face because her voice becomes gentler.
“She’s allowed to date who she wants to, you know,” she tells me. “Renee isn’t required to choose one man to be with if she doesn’t want to.”
“So, what, she thinks she was free to date all three of us at once?”
