Page 32 of Catch
I laughed nervously. “We are. And since this park turned out to be kind of a bust, let me salvage the rest of this date by taking you somewhere less buggy and humid.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“My dad made cookies and said we can hang out over there. I’m sure there’s a good movie we can watch. I know it’s not the best first date, but it’s private.” She helped me pack up the food and raised her eyebrows at me when she saw the blanket in the back of my car. I shrugged sheepishly. “I had visions of a nice picnic by the lake before today’s downpour.”
“It was a great idea,” she said.
“I’m sorry the weather ruined our date,” I mumbled and closed the trunk. I stopped when she put her hand on mine.
“It’s not ruined at all. Plus, the dates that don’t go according to plan are always the most memorable.”
I didn’t think it was possible for me to fall harder for Parker, but in that moment, with the sun setting behind her and the soft chirp of crickets beating around us, her words weaved inside and squeezed my heart. She was fine doing whatever as long as we were together. I crawled into the driver’s seat hoping the five-mile drive home would be quick. Being this close to Parker was driving me wild. I didn’t know what was acceptable first date behavior. I wanted to hold her hand again, but was that okay?
When we pulled up at my house, my dad was out front weeding the garden beds. “You girls go on in. Fresh cookies are cooling in the kitchen.”
“Thanks, Mr. McCoy.”
Parker didn’t seem nervous around my dad, whereas I was a hot mess. I brought home a girl. My first date. My dad winked at me as we walked by and I blushed. I was equally proud and mortified.
“What kind of movie are you in the mood for?” I asked and pointed to the living room.
“Sutton McCoy. Are you not going to give me a tour of your house? Look at this kitchen. It’s beautiful.” Parker ran her hand over the granite countertop. “I love this kitchen and the color.”
“My mom picked the scheme.”
“It’s perfect.”
I looked closely at the blue flecks in the granite. “Your eyes are this color.” I pointed and looked at her.
“Your eyes are blue, too.”
“No. Yours are prettier.” I didn’t know who moved, but suddenly we were in each other’s space. I wanted to kiss her. I had been kissed once before, but it was a long time ago, and the kiss was with a girl who didn’t care about me. The girl who stood in front of me now made my knees weak. I’d been dreaming of kissing Parker since I saw her in the office on the first day of school. I didn’t know the first thing about making a move. Did I ask first? It would be so easy to just lean down and press my lips against hers. She was doing that thing where she bit her bottom lip and looked at my mouth.“Can I—” I never finished because she threw her arms around my neck and kissed me. My hands automatically snaked around her waist. I had to hold her for fear that I would float away. When I felt her tongue gently stroke my lip, my knees threatened to buckle. I put one hand on the counter to brace myself. When she pulled away, I felt disoriented and completely invigorated. It felt like my blood was bouncing in my veins and a new energy spinning inside me. “Uh, that was nice.”
“That was really nice.” Parker took a step back. She took my hand but looked down at the tile as though shy or embarrassed. “And the first time I kissed a girl.”
I felt a little cocky and a little empowered by her confession. She touched my jawline slowly and brushed my cheek with her thumb.
“I like the way you kiss,” she said.
“Come on. Let’s go find a movie.” We snuggled under a blanket and watched a movie I’d seen a million times, but the only thing I could think about was how wonderful it was to finally kiss her and what it meant to be hungry for another person.
Chapter Fourteen—The Same Team
Present
“Coach, we need to talk.”
I looked up to find Anthony standing in my doorway. I looked at the time. He should be out on the field practicing. Something was wrong. I stood. “What’s going on?”
He looked down at his cleats and put his hands on his hips. I waited for him to drop whatever horrible news he had. “Moats is drunk.”
“What?” It wasn’t even ten in the morning. I was still processing our game with the Bills. It was our first loss of the season so I was in a horrible mood. It wasn’t just a loss. We were annihilated 37-14. I refused to stop taking notes about what went so wrong. Three wins and one loss was still a good start, everyone assured me. But they didn’t have anything to prove. I did.
“I don’t think everyone knows, but I wanted to tell you before it got out.” He ran his hand back and forth over his buzzed head out of nervousness.
“You did the right thing by telling me. Let’s get him in my office. Does Jamal know?”
“He told me to get you.”
