When Melanie looked at Noah, she was surprised to see the expression on his face. Gone was the easy-going smile and the light-hearted happiness from the night, instead it was replaced with a pinched look of annoyance as he stared at his coach.
"DidMeltell you that?"
"Girl," Abigail murmured in her ear, and Melanie felt her own heart beat rapidly in her chest. Coach Benson looked startled by Noah's words before a stern expression appeared on his face. Melanie needed to fix this situation before it got any worse. But first, she had to make a choice.
Go to dinner with Pushy Benson or hang out with Noah. Well, there wasn't much of a choice then, was it.
"Sorry, Todd," Melanie said with a sickeningly sweet voice that even sounded fake to her own ears. "I promised Noah that if he won the game tonight, we would celebrate."
That was a total fucking lie, and everyone knew it but Coach Benson. But there was no need for him to know that. Sue her. She didn't want to go on a date with him, and honestly, she didn't appreciate this slightly aggressive side of him either.
The disappointment in Coach Benson's face was evident, and for a second, Melanie felt bad. Luckily, they did not have to linger long in the state of awkwardness before someone called Coach Benson's name. Coach Benson stiffly walked away without a word, and Melanie breathed a sigh of relief before she hit Noah's arm.
"What was that for?" Noah asked with no bite as he rubbed his arm as if that hurt.
"You shouldn't talk back to your coach like that and stop calling me Melanie. It's Professor Bryant to you."
"Whatever, Mel," Noah said, waving her off dismissively. Just before she could tell him she wasn't playing, one of her other students, Dale, walked over to them, a massive smile on his face even with the deep cut on his cheek from the fall he had taken earlier during the game.
"The party is at Dex's place. You know they have a huge fucking…" Dale's voice trailed off as he looked at her. "Oh. Hey, Professor Bryant. Sorry about that. Shit, I didn't mean to curse—"
"It's fine," Melanie said, stopping Dale before he got into his long-winded apologies. He did it very often, and this was why she sometimes avoided calling his name in class. Dale could prattle on all day if you let him.
"The party is at Dex's house?" Noah repeated with a grin. This Dex person must have been known for having the best college parties judging from the looks on their faces.
"Yep, it's going to be crazy. I got to tell everyone," Dale said before he raced off, going to the next group of people.
"It's going to be sick," Noah said. "You're both coming, right?"
"No."
"Yes."
Melanie looked at Abigail, alarmed. Did she just hear her right?
"There is no way in hell I'm going to a college party," Melanie said, folding her arms on top of each other. "And you aren't either."
"What?" Abigail exclaimed. "It's sounds like it'll be fun."
"We're not college students anymore," Melanie said. She had already done her fair share of partying, and she definitely didn't want to go to a party where, more than likely, some of her students would be. How would she be able to save face once the weekend was over during class? Besides, they might mistake her as the chaperone.
"Yeah, but we're not grandmas either. Come on, Mel. Let's live a little."
It's official. Her best friend was a toddler.
"I'm not going," Melanie said with finality as both Noah and Abigail grinned at each other.
CHAPTER
20
MELANIE
M
ELANIE COULD NOT BELIEVE SHE LET NOAH AND ABIGAIL DRAG HER TO A FREAKING COLLEGE PARTY. Everywhere around her, people at least seven years her junior, walked around, chugging down liquor like it was water, dancing, if you could call it that, it looked more like sex to her, and yelling and screaming, waving heat about in the air. Now, it wasn't just a few years ago that Melanie had been at college parties. Hell, she had been a part of a sorority. But the problem was that it was years ago. And also, the biggest problem, other than her age, was that she taught and would teach some of these kids. It was humiliating.
But for Abigail, it wasn't at all.
