“I want to go out with her again and not get drunk so that I can remember it,” I said. Daniel looked at me with a confused expression. “Oh, she got into a fight with one of her teammates, so I took her for a drink to calm down. One drink turned into fifty, and that turned into me waking up in her bed. You know the story.”
“So, you don’t have her number, but can you go to her next game like you normally would?” Daniel asked.
I thought about it, but Quinn’s next qualifier wasn’t until the following week. She’d have practice on Friday, but even that felt too far away, and I didn’t want to catch her by surprise while she was practicing and preparing for a qualifier game. That’s when I remembered that she said she was going to work. I’d seen on the website that she worked at MontRec.
“I could go see her at work.” I sighed.
“Yes! And bring her flowers and chocolate or something. Chicks love stuff like that. I brought that girl I dated last month a bouquet of lilies that they were going to get rid of at work, and she wanted to sleep together for the next, like, ten days in a row. I let her, too.”
I winced at Daniel. “What happened to her? I just ran a guy off.”
He shrugged. “Blake was pretty boring, anyway, and I ghosted Hannah. I don’t remember why.”
“And people say you aren’t romantic,” I replied. I knew the truth, though. Daniel was still hopelessly chasing his first true love. “Besides, Quinn’s not that, I don’t know, frilly. I mean, I’m sure she would like that stuff, but I’d rather find something that she’d really be into.” My mind was already generating some ideas.
“Okay, so store first, then visiting Quinn at work.” Daniel clapped his hands ironically. “You’ve got a great plan.”
“Except, I don’t have my car.”
“What? Where’s your car?”
I flipped a hand through the air. “Back at the bar. We got a little too drunk, so I left it overnight.”
“I’ll drive you to all the places, but only if you take a shower because this”—he motioned to me—“is offensive.”
“I’ll need to borrow some clothes, too,” I replied.
Daniel let out a dramatic scoff. “Oh my god. Would you also like me to cook breakfast for you, sir?”
I raised an eyebrow as I got up off the couch. “Actually, yeah. I didn’t really eat anything yesterday.”
Daniel stared back at me, deadpanning for a few moments before finally getting up and trudging off toward the kitchen.
I laughed and shouted, “Thanks!” before making my way back toward the bathroom.
19
Quinn
I couldn’t get my smile off my face as I walked into MontRec. Things were already bustling, and everyone was well into the morning programming when I fumbled through the front doors. Instead of finding the receptionist, who was normally sitting at the front desk, I saw my boss, Christine. Thank god my alarm went off that morning. Otherwise, I would probably still be curled up against Zeke. I managed to get a text out to her, asking if she could fill in for me for a few hours and saying I would explain when I got in. I very rarely missed work for any reason, so she was willing to help. When I approached her at the desk, where she’d opted to sit on the desk itself rather than behind it, I groaned at her.
“Thanks for coming in on such short notice. I’m embarrassed to admit that I got a little drunk after my loss last night. I appreciate it.”
Her light brown eyes looked me down and back up, and then took another pass down and back up. When she locked eyes with me, she grinned broadly. “A little drunk, and it looks like a little laid, too.”
My cheeks instantly started to burn. “Shh, oh my god. How do you know that?”
She laughed. “You’re wearing it! This stupid grin, your glow—he must have been good.”
I motioned her with a hand back toward my office, and she immediately hopped off the desk and followed me back. We walked in, and I closed my door behind her. “Okay, yes. I ended up getting a drink with this guy I’ve been…seeing? But, like, just seeing, with my eyeholes. He keeps showing up, and I see him.”
She clapped her hands with a giggle. “And here I thought the only thing you could be attached to was football.”
I walked over to my desk, and my backpack was sitting in my chair. On top of it was a post-it note with a winking smiley face on it, signed with a simple, “—C3.” I moved it onto the floor and sunk into it myself. I looked over at Christine. “You’re not the first person who has said that about me.”
She crossed her arms. “Well? I came all the way here for you, so I at least deserve some details.”
Christine was the owner of MontRec’s daughter. She was technically in the hierarchy between him and me, but she was mostly hands-off. We were fairly close in age, though she had about four years on me, so it shouldn’t shock me that she would take a bit of juicy gossip in exchange for waking up at seven in the morning on a day she wasn’t planning to.
“Unfortunately, I don’t remember much.” I frowned, disappointed that I couldn’t. “What I can remember, though…” I started, and my frown turned into a smile. “Oh my god.”
She squealed. “So, when are you going out again? Hopefully, you will drink less.”
I shrugged and shook my head. “I don’t know. He said, ‘See you soon,’ when he left, but I don’t know that he’s actually into me like that. Really, until about a week ago, you couldn’t have convinced me that I didn’t hate him. We have more in common than I thought. He interfered so that I wouldn’t kill Lila yesterday, so I guess he cares a little, at least.”
“That girl is crazy,” Christine replied. She didn’t have much to do with MontRec, but her dad forced her to be involved with the establishment of the football team as a larger facet of MontRec’s programming. She’d met all of the girls on the team a handful of times and had seen a few games.
“She’s not,” I responded. “Yesterday, she was acting really weird, though. Something was up. I just wish I knew what. Anyway, I’m sure this guy will think about it more and think it was just a drunken mistake.”
She poked out her bottom lip. “I hope not.”
“Knock, knock.” I looked around Christine, and none other than Wright Johnson was standing in the frame of my office door. “Hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Not at all, come in.” I waved him in, and Christine stood to one side as he slid in. “Mr. Johnson, this is my boss, Christine. Christine, this is the commissioner of the Idaho Athletic Board, Wright Johnson. He’s overseeing our application for semi-pro status.” I bowed my head. “And probably here to yell at me for Lila’s performance yesterday.”
He laughed, and his eyes lit up. “Yell at you? Why would I do that? Lila’s trending on Twitter! I sold two hundred tickets to your final showdown against the Vipers in one hour this morning.”
Wright’s penchant for popularity and sales made me more than a little uncomfortable. I didn’t like that he seemed okay with the sacrifice Lila had forced on us simply because it got him more views on a social media platform. “With all due respect, sir, that’s not the kind of team I want to run.”