Page 15 of Playing to Win
Chapter 6
Kyle had no clue what he was doing. It was Friday afternoon and he had finished practice two hours ago. He wasn’t supposed to meet Callie at her apartment until five o’clock to go to her dad’s house, but he couldn’t help it. His car seemed to have a mind of its own, because when he got behind the wheel, it immediately headed to the University of Oklahoma’s campus in Norman. Which is where he now found himself, sitting in his car outside Gaylord College, OU’s journalism and broadcasting school, debating the wisdom of going inside to wait for Callie.
He didn’t believe it was going to be possible, but it seemed like Curly was warming up to him. When he called her yesterday after practice to wish her luck on her test, she didn’t even have a snarky comeback for him.
“Thanks, Kelly,” she said, her smile coming to him over the phone line. “I really appreciate your help. You really are a smartie pants.”
And damnit, if he didn’t like making that girl smile. She was turning him into a pussy. He knew he would probably make her mad if he did get out and go wait outside her classroom for her, because chances are, a million people would ask him for his autograph and it would put her unwillingly in the spotlight. But considering she danced for the Thunder on an almost nightly basis, he figured she was somewhat used to that spotlight.
“Time to bite the bullet, Kelly,” he said to himself. “Let’s see how much you like this girl. And if she really is warming up to you.”
Kyle got out of his car, pressed the lock button on his key fob, and walked up the steps. He stopped the nearest student and asked him, “Hey man, can you tell me where the Mass Communication Law class meets?”
“Yeah,” the kid said, his eyes still looking down at his phone. “Just go up these steps, turn right at the first hallway, and it’s the third door on your—”
The kid finally looked up from his phone at Kyle. His eyes almost popped out of his head and his phone slipped from his fingers and crashed to the concrete with a thud.
“Holy shit! You’re Kyle Kelly. I’m here. Talking to Kyle Kelly. Wait. What are you doing here? Why am I talking to you? This is nuts! You’re Kyle Kelly!”
“Yeah, yeah, kid, I know who I am,” Kyle said, even though he smiled internally at his words. He referred to this kid as “kid,” even though he was probably only a few years younger than Kyle himself. It’s strange what being a professional athlete did to his thought processes. He was twenty-six but going on fifty. Since he probably only had about ten good years left to play, and that was only if he didn’t get hurt, Kyle felt light-years older than what any other twenty-six-year-old should. It was a small price to pay, though. He played basketball for a living.
“Do you want a picture?”
“Really? You’d do that?”
“Yeah, I’d do that. Just don’t post it on social media and give all your contacts directions to where I am, okay? I’d like to get out of here without having to sign something for every student on campus. We have a deal?”
“Oh, yeah, man. Total deal.”
Kyle stood behind the kid, who picked his phone up and held it up so he could see both their faces on the screen. He was lucky the kid was pretty tall.
“You ever play basketball, man? You’re pretty tall. I don’t fit in most pictures people take themselves without getting on my knees.”
“Yeah,” the kid said with a laugh. “In high school. I made all-state.”
“Congrats, man. That’s awesome.”
“Yeah, wasn’t good enough to take it to the next level, though.”
“Not many do. I was one of the lucky ones. I thank God every day for it.”
“Man, thanks, Kyle, for doing this. I always wondered if you were as cool as you seem on TV.”
With a laugh, Kyle pulled a card out from his wallet. “Well, just for the flattery, I’ll tell you what. This is the card of my agent. I’m going to put in a call to him to let him know you’ll be calling him. Call him tomorrow and he’ll have you all set up with some tickets to a couple of games. How many do you want? Would you like box seats or would you prefer the floor? Sometimes Toby Keith likes to sit on the floor, if you’re a country music fan.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah, why not?”
“That’s so awesome. Umm, can I ask for four? Would that be too many? That way me and my roommate could take our girlfriends.”
“Want me to get you guys on the kissing cam, too?”
“No way, you can do that?”
“I’ve never tried,” Kyle laughed. “But there’s a first time for everything. Hey before you go, I didn’t catch your name.”
“It’s Ryan. Ryan Adams.”
