“He crushed her, man,” Devon snips. He is like a nephew to Kate and Benny, and I would bet he feels the same way I do about the guy that broke Kate’s heart. He and I had to endure a vegan baking class for a weekend because Benny was out oftown. I sure as hell wasn’t going to go alone, so I bribed him with a week of hall passes so he’d go with us. It was equally the most ridiculous and intriguing thing I ever did.Baking. Who would have thought there was so much math that went into vegan cinnamon rolls?
“Will they let it go?” Daniels leans over the table to ask me. The guy can already tell these kids are resilient.
I eye him, making my answer clear.No, they will not.
“Should you just tell them?” he attempts to whisper, but the rest of the table has silenced themselves to listen to us. Just when I was starting to like Daniels, he goes and spouts my business off like he can’t control himself. I make a mental note to try to pay someone off to accidentally stumble into him at the scrimmage tomorrow.
“Dude, just tell us, and we’ll leave you alone,” Ethan pipes in.
“No, you won’t.” I scratch my chin with both hands before interlocking my fingers at the base of my neck, tense pressure spreading down into my shoulders. The impending gossip that’s sure to follow if I reveal what’s going on will get me found out. There’s no way these guys can keep something like this to themselves.
“We won’t tell,” Garrett says like he just read my mind. He’s been really good at reading a room since meeting with Ellie regularly. Damn that woman.
The rest of the table nods in agreement, gesturing their fingers across their lips like a zipper, or holding a finger over their mouth. Silent. They’re trying to promise me they will keep it silent. But I know them, too well, and even when something as small as,‘I’m buying her a new clock for her classroom,’ was shared, it spread like wildfire.
If I admit my unrequited love for my best friend to this table of goons, I’m basically lighting the match myself.
“Maybe we can help,” Devon offers.
“Yeah, maybe they can,” Daniels adds, as if he knows us all well enough to confidently say yeah, let these hormonally crazed teenagers help you with your love life.
“How about no?” I say flatly.
More whispers and speculation occur.
They’re never going to leave this table. I’m never going to get a moment’s peace. The only chance I have to get out of this conversation is if I make a break for it.
I shove myself out from the table, almost tripping over Travis’s feet in the process. Protests follow me as I grab my room key and mug.
“Hey, guys!” Kate’s voice stuns my senses, a ricocheting ball of fire moving down my throat and into my chest. My shoulders tense, and my gaze whips to Daniels, who has made himself practically invisible as he slides so far down into his chair he blends in with the kids.
“Hey, Coach!” Charlie blurts it out unnaturally and high-pitched. It’s a miracle Kate doesn’t stop dead in her tracks. The table looks visibly uncomfortable, giving small waves.
She eyes them, suspiciously, before turning to me. “Good morning,” she speaks like there is no one else around. Or maybe that’s how I hear it. Sure. Either way, I want nothing more than to wrap her up in my arms and take her upstairs with me.
I give her a nod when she’s beckoned by the group of girls standing in the doorway to the dining room. She waves at them before waving bye to the table. “See you guys this afternoon!”
Her smile is bright and unfaltering when she looks at the guys, and they all look like they’ve seen a ghost, staring wildly at her with mouths forced into creepy smiles and hands still held up in frozen waves. “Okayyyyyyy,” she says, clearly unsure how to take the scene. I can’t blame her. They look like they’re accomplices to a crime. Turning to me, her eyes soften as they move all over me, the corner of her mouth twitching up as she gives meher secret smile. “I’ll see you guys later,” she says again, still watching me. Gripping my forearm with a double squeeze, she lingers there for a solitary moment before retreating down the hall with the girls.
I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding and feel my cheeks burn as I stare at the empty space she just left.
“Dayuuuuuuuuuum,” Ethan laughs, drawing my attention to the peanut gallery.
“Geer has the hots for Stanley.” Travis gives a sly smirk, and I immediately regret letting him come to camp.
“Atta boy, Geer!” Charlie claps.
Dread fills my gut as I reluctantly sit back down. They’ll just hunt me down if I try to retreat upstairs.
“Dude, how long has this been going on?” Devon asks. His tone is calm amidst the rowdy whispers moving around the table.
“Does she—”
“No. She doesn't know,” I interrupt Garrett and moan into my hands. “And I’d like to keep it that way.” They all protest, typical moans and groans threatening to overpower my own thoughts. “At least until I figure out what I’m going to do,” I whisper more to myself than to them.
“Dude, this is sick. First, Mr. Divata and Ms. B. Now, you guys.” Charlie’s excitement is comparable to a child at Christmas, which is expected. The kid is always meddling in people’s love lives. I swear he was the one who sent Margaret flowers to light a fire under Bill’s tail. “What are we gonna do about Sanders?” he asks the group.
“We could slash—”
