Page 21 of Olivia
“Hey, Marie!”
“Hi, Coach Jake! The kids wanted to tell you…”
“We won!” A chorus of voices erupted from the phone, all chattering at once. Olivia got curious and came around his back to catch a glimpse of his team. That sparked a whole new conversation.
“Who’s that?”
“Is that your girlfriend?”
“Is she gonna come see us play?”
Their joy was infectious. Olivia found herself smiling down at a screen full of kids, boys and girls all in mud-spattered green t-shirts that said “Dragon’s Pizza”.
“This is Olivia. Olivia, this is my team. Maybe I can convince her to come to your game next week.”
What sounded like ten singers of the Chipmunks all started to beg.
“We’ll see.” They were awfully cute. Watching Jake talk to them shed a new light on him. Olivia’s defenses were starting to waver.
Jake brought the phone call to a close. “I’ll see all of you for practice on Monday. Get some rest!” Olivia waved with him as he hung up the phone.
“Sorry about that. They’re always wound up after a game, but especially after a win.” He tucked the phone back in his pocket and gathered up their trash.
“You have girls that play?”
“Yeah! We don’t get many girls, but it’s not restricted to boys for intramural sports.” She tried to grab her trash, but he got to it first. “I got it. You bought lunch anyways.”
“It’s the least I can do since you’re driving down here for me.” She followed him back toward the car.
He opened the car door for her and waited till she got inside before he responded. “I went to the con for you, too.” Olivia’s eyebrows flew into her hairline as he shut her door. What was that supposed to mean?
Jake let her chew on that in silence. He probably shouldn’t have dropped that bombshell quite so soon, but the fake aspect of this relationship had been grating on his nerves. And he certainly had a history of saying the wrong thing when he was around Olivia, although texting her as Tuxedo Mask had cured him of most of that.
Lying bothered him. He wasn’t an actor, but that’s what Olivia needed right now. If they were really together, would she have brought him along? No, probably not. One date wasn’t enough to bring someone home to meet the family. But he was enjoying Olivia’s company, and he wanted to get closer. He’d wanted that since he first saw her, so he wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity.
The girls he attracted never wanted anything to do with his nerdy side. It was exhausting being seen as only a jock, and it was boring as hell. All those women ever wanted to do was go to movies and shop, maybe see a game if he was lucky. They watched shows likeReal HousewivesandThe Kardashians.Which were fine for a while but he lost interest quickly.He had far more in common with Olivia than he had with his previous dating pool, and he could tell that immediately just from the shirt she’d been wearing. As Olivia’s silence dragged on for miles, he realized she was putting walls up.
Jake took her hand in his while he drove. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have dropped that on you. It makes me sound like a stalker.”
She barked a sardonic laugh. “Just a little.” She stared at their hands.
“Is this okay? Or are you anti-PDA?”
“It’s … I mean … We’re not there yet. So we don’t have to pretend.”
“Okay.” He released her hand, but left his next to hers on the console. “I meant what I said. I only went to that convention specifically to get you to talk to me.”
“And you overheard Nadia and I discussing the costumes in the break room so that’s why you went as Tuxedo Mask.”
“Guilty.”
She jerked her hand back. “Are yousureyou’re not a stalker?”
He needed to salvage this. Fast. “Look, I’m not lying to you. I was interested in you at the picnic, but I fucked up and I wanted a chance to start over.”
“Butwhy?”
Jake licked his lips and gathered his thoughts. “You’re the first woman that’s interested me in a long time. I’m tired of hook-ups. Most women look at me and only see a football guy. They see the fame of being on television. These women just want me for what I can give them, they don’t actually want me. They find out I’m more than a cardboard cutout and run.” Straight into someone else’s arms.
