Coach's Daughter

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

When I woke up, I was back in my own bed and for a moment thought that maybe I had dreamt it all. Maybe that was some strangely vivid dream where my parents walked in on Kade and me and happened to know everything... Maybe I didn't really just embarrassingly spill my guts to Kade and then have him walk out on me. Maybe Jesse didn't really know that I'd been going behind her back for the past few months...

Maybe...

I slowly sat up in bed, looking around the room. The window was open, the breeze smelled like freshly mown grass and crushed leaves, the crisp smell of early November.

I carefully pushed the covers back and stood up from the bed. Nothing looked out of the ordinary... My soccer bag was spilling over the carpet, disrupted from my desperate search for icy hot yesterday when my calf cramped up in the middle of my shower. There was a clean basket of laundry that needed to be folded and put away.

My laptop was still open on my desk.

This didn't look like the room of someone who had just been through a disaster, right?

I followed the voices down the hall, my stomach sinking when I saw my mom and Jesse sitting on the couch while my dad made coffee in the kitchen.

"Hey!" My mom's face was filled with concern as she half got up from the couch before seeming to decide that was too eager. "How are you?"

I took a deep breath, wondering how to answer that. Considering I didn't even really know what happened, I decided to take the easy way out.

"Um, fine?" I shrugged, glancing in the kitchen. "Do we have avocados? I'd kill for some toast right now."

Jesse and my mom exchanged looks as I wandered into the kitchen.

My dad did a double take before stepping out of my way as I walked to the fridge.

"Smells gross." I grimaced, glancing at the coffee maker.

"Big day ahead of me." My dad replied. "We've got a game after school today and I'm down an assistant coach."

I watched his face twist into instant regret as he said that and my mom's head popped around the corner, looking in with wide eyes.

"I can help." I offered, turning my attention to the fridge so that my parents and Jesse could make whatever faces they needed at each other behind my back.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I was thinking we could just have a movie marathon?" Jesse offered. "My mom's not coming back until tomorrow and it's not like anyone would mind if we played hooky for a day."

I pulled a smoothie bottle out of the fridge. "I'm all for skipping school." I shrugged, turning to face her. "But I'd still love to help out with soccer. As long as dad doesn't go completely psycho." I teased.

My parents exchanged looks again and I set the smoothie bottle down on the counter with a sigh.

"Alright, here's the deal. Yeah, I liked Kade, yeah it's kind of shitty that he left so suddenly but he has a life, I have a life, it's not the end of the world. I probably passed out last night because it was incredibly overwhelming discussing my future with you guys like that and just a lot of stuff was going on at once." I said seriously before opening up the bottle.

I took a long sip, getting more and more annoyed at how nervous and silent everyone was.

"Jesse, wanna go to the deli downtown with me and get avocado toast?" I asked, putting the top back on the smoothie. "Because I'm going now."