Scoring The Coach ✔️

chapter nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

The afternoon before Risa's annual Christmas party, I was at Jared's. It was the Saturday morning after finals week and the first real day of winter break. I was wearing his pajamas, my cheek pressed against his shoulder. It was snowing outside, white flakes dancing down from the sky. He had turned on the TV with the intent for us to watch it, but we were practically asleep as we laid there on his couch.

"You're beautiful," he said.

"You tell me that too often. You're going to get bored of saying it."

"Never," he insisted. "That's just ridiculous."

I sat up a little, our faces now level. "So Risa is having a holiday party tonight. I was wondering if you wanted to come."

"You want me to come with you?" He frowned. "What if someone we know is there?"

"It's usually just a family and friends sort of deal. You and I can just act like we're only friends. No one will know any better. I just want to have you there with me."

He thought it over for a second, his hand tracing slowly up and down my back. "If it means that much to you, I'd love to go."

I kissed him on the mouth, my excitement hardly containable. "Thank you!"

With a squeeze of my waist, he chuckled. "I have to agree to things more often if they get you this excited."

"Yes, you should!" I exclaimed.

We stayed on his couch for a good part of the afternoon before getting up to actually get ready. I was wearing some jeans I'd borrowed from Risa and a navy sweater. I hadn't bothered with makeup, but Jared still gawked at me anyway.

He held the door open for me when I got in the passenger seat and buckled my seatbelt. When his hand lingered beside my hip, I knotted my fingers in the collar of his shirt and kissed him.

"We have to go," he reminded me. "Stop that before I take you up to my room and make us late."

I grinned, taunting him. "I'm sure Risa will understand. We're only a back seat away."

"I'm not a back seat guy. Not unless I'm in a hurry." He winked, setting off warmth in my stomach.

The drive to Risa's was relatively short, but between the traffic and stop lights, we argued about the silliest thing—whether or not to listen to Christmas music.

"It's all the same!" he argued playfully. "Blah blah blah, fa-la-la mistletoe, fa-la-la Frosty the snowman."

"Okay, Scrooge." I scoffed. "It's after Thanksgiving, 'tis the season."

"Fine, but only because you're cute." He made a show of changing from a generic pop station to one that was blasting Christmas carols, the frown leaving him when he saw the way my face lit up.

We arrived a little earlier, giving him time to properly introduce himself to Risa's dads. Both of them seemed excited to meet him, happy for us as a couple. Neither of them cared that he had been my coach. They'd always been pretty incredible about that. I'd never met two people who were so open-minded.

The only people we had to worry about were Shea and Gen, who brought their respective families along. Because of that, there was no way we could be too close. PDA was off the table, at least until summer.

Throughout the night, we socialized, stealing glances at one another from across the room. It was hard not to imagine a future where we might be able to walk around holding hands, unafraid of others knowing.