The Football Boys (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter Thirty One : Kissing Booth

I slipped on my shoes, not bothering to untie them beforehand and walked out the front door. The morning chill made my body tremble as I began the treacherous walk to school. I watched in the corner of my eye as Dakota walked across the street, staring at the concrete below him before slowly turning his head to look my way. I averted my eyes, staring straight ahead of me, pretending I wasn't just staring at him.

"Hey." I could tell by the sound of his voice he was walking behind me, trying to catch up to match my pace.

"Hey." I said, not looking at him.

We walked in complete silence, but I wasn't angry. It was more of a comfortable quietness having him beside me. It had been so long that I'd almost forgotten we used to do this every morning. It wasn't clear about what we were but when was it ever? Our friendship was all over the place, a thought I tend not to linger on. Whatever happened, would happen. That's the kind of friendship we've always had, sweep it under the rug and all is forgotten.

We made it to school with twenty minutes to spare before class.

"See ya." Dakota smiled at me as we headed into different directions. I gave him a half smile before going to my locker. Even though we weren't exactly talking, I felt that things were going to only get better between us, I had hope for it.

"Luka." I turned around, coming face to face with Michael. I chuckled nervously before taking a step back.

"Hey, sorry about that night."

"No, it's fine. I actually wanted to talk to you about that."

"I like you, but I know you're uh.. distracted. So whatever is going on between you and Dakota, I hope it turns out."

"Thanks." I nodded, knowing what he meant by that and I couldn't help but feel bad.

"We're still friends right?" Michael asked, looking up at me.

"Of course."

"Alright, well.. see ya." He said as he walked away from me with a somber smile. I'd only ever seen Michael as a friend and seeing him hurt made this feeling at the bottom of my stomach worse for not being able to like him the way he liked me. But at the same time I knew it wasn't my fault, it was the way it was meant to be.

"I'm excited." Gemma said as she sat beside me on the bleachers.

"For?"
"The fundraiser."

"What fundraiser?"
"For the football team, didn't coach tell you?"

"Not a word." I said, exasperating a sigh of annoyance before digging into my lunch.

"Mind if I join?" I looked up to find Dakota standing in front of me with a smile on his face, squinting his eyes slightly to block out the sun.

"No." I shook my head one too many times as I moved over for him.

"I'm gonna-" Gemma trailed off before tailing it across the field. The tension in the air only grew thicker after her departure, making it uncomfortably silent. I twiddled with my thumbs, looking anywhere else except at Dakota who I could feel was staring at me.

"Coach is having some sort of fundraiser." Dakota said as I looked up at him.  

"Yeah, Gemma told me."