My face warmed in the most pleasant way. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
We drove in silence to my class. It wasn’t that long of a drive, and when I went to unbuckle my seatbelt, Brock put a hand on my knee. I froze, his body turning toward me with wild eyes. Oh, hot damn. “I didn’t have the best intentions when I demanded to drive you.”
“Oh? Why’s that?” I gulped, my heart picking up as he slowly closed the distance between our mouths. I held my breath, suddenlyneedinghim to kiss me.
“Want to get ice cream after class? I won’t lie and come up with something. We can talk about the training part, meal plans, or why you own weird socks.”
I snorted. “I do not own weird socks.”
“Yes, you do. They had gold balls on them.”
“They are snitches. From Harry Potter.” I tilted my head, looking at him like he spoke another language. “You’ve read them, right? If you say no, I’ll quit.”
“Shit. Uh,” He paused, running his hand through his hair with a grimace. “No. I haven’t.”
“Good lord. You had a shitty childhood.”
“I played football. I didn’t read,” he said, like that explained everything.
“That is not an excuse, Brock. You’re missing out on an entire generation. I can’t have my boss not understand my references. Nope. I’m officially angry,” I joked, seeing his brows come together with worry. I left the car, giving him one more wave. “Brock, you look worried. I’m just joking with you.”
“Will you curse me with a magic wand if I don’t read them?” he had the gall to ask with a cocky smile.
“Asshole. Bye, Brock.” I laughed. He might annoy me, but he could really make me laugh. Damn him.
Chapter Sixteen
“Grace, come up here for a minute.”My professor greeted me without a frown. That had to be a good sign, right? I shoved my phone in my pocket, making the short walk up to the podium.
“Please tell me you received the completed project. If not, I might throw up.”
“I did. Don’t worry.” He laughed, shuffling some papers on the stand. “It was a hell of a project. You seem to be doing incredibly well working at the stadium. You’re halfway done there. How is it working out for you so far?”
My thoughts immediately went to Brock, but I didn’t think a college professor would appreciate that answer. “It has been amazing. Really helping me narrow down what I want to do.”
“Have you contemplated teaching?” He raised a brow, chuckling at my bemused expression.
“Uh, no.” I looked at the ground, holding back a cackle. “What makes you say that?”
“Your presentation was phenomenal, and clearly you’re passionate about the subject. It was just something I thought of. My sister is the athletic trainer for a high school in Ohio. She does everything you do at the internship, but she also gets to teach classes to kids interested in the field.”
“Yeah, I took a sports med class in high school. I liked it. But, teaching?” I scrunched my nose. “I never thought about it.”
“Don’t stress yourself out. I thought I’d ask. I could see you doing quite well there. I have a contact at the high school in the area if you want to check it out. You would just need to get an emergency certification. Let me know.” He patted the podium, ending our conversation, and I went to sit at my normal seat right in the front. I was a nerd like that, but now my mind was bouncing all over the place.
Teaching?
High schoolers?
Gilly always talked about the stress of teaching little ones, and I never thought of myself asteachery—if that was even a word. There wasn’t a lot of money in it, but then again, you had to make it to the best of the best schools to get a good salary as a trainer, and that wouldn’t happen for years. Ugh. More questions about the future, just what I needed.
Thankfully, the lecture was interesting enough to capture my attention. I took notes, made a list of homework to complete that night at the coffee shop, and before I knew it, class was over.
A new bubble floated through my stomach, pure nerves about seeing Anderson. I shoved my notebook into my backpack and went to leave the class when my professor shouted at me, “Think about it, Grace!”
Brock texted me he was parked in Lot B. I groaned. Lot B was on the other end of the quad and not at all close to where I was.
