Dating: For the Block

by Stephanie Street

  T-I-L-L-M-A-N

  Oh, shit.

  Mia!

  “Dude, did you see who was here today?” I asked my best friend and teammate, Noah Jacobs. It was lunch and we sat at a table in the center of the cafeteria. Noah sat beside me at the round table and his new girlfriend, Tierney, sat on his other side. A couple of other guys from the team, Mateo, Will, and AJ, filled the rest of the chairs. Mateo had a Calculus book and worksheet spread around his lunch tray and earbuds blocking out everyone, while Will and AJ had turned their chairs around to talk to some girls at the table beside us.

  Noah turned his attention from Tierney to glance at me. Those two were disgustingly sweet these days. I tried to cut the guy some slack since it had taken him all of last semester to get the girl to give him the time of day, but now that they were together, it was nauseating. And that was saying something coming from me.

  “Who?” Noah asked, his brow lifted. Tierney picked up her phone and began reading. The girl always had her nose in a book on her phone or eReader.

  “Mia Tillman.” I was still in shock.

  Noah frowned. “Mia? Seriously? Is she visiting?”

  I shook my head. “No, man. She’s going to school here.”

  Noah’s eyes widened. “What? Since when?”

  I shrugged. “Since today.”

  “Wow.” Noah sat back, his hand around Tierney’s shoulder toying with a lock of her hair. “Wonder what that’s about?”

  “I don’t know.” I debated telling him about the incident earlier that morning. Noah was my best friend, but even he thought I was a player. The last thing I wanted was to reinforce the idea by admitting I’d gotten caught kissing Kylie by the coach’s daughter.

  Noah barked out a laugh and shook his head. “Dude. Mia.”

  Our conversation had caught Tierney’s attention. She glanced up at Noah, a worried frown creasing her forehead.

  “Who’s Mia?” she asked, studying Noah’s expression.

  Noah read the insecurity in her expression and leaned over to kiss her forehead before answering. “Mia is Coach Tillman’s daughter.”

  Tierney shot a glance at me. “I didn’t know Mr. Tillman had a daughter.”

  I nodded. “Yeah. She lives with her mom in California.”

  Noah put his elbow on the table, curling himself more securely around Tierney. “Or she used to. She must be living with her dad now if she’s going to school here, right?”

  “Hmm. I wonder what happened? It seems kinda strange that she would pick up and move across country to a new school in the middle of her senior year. Doesn’t it?” I said.

  Tierney’s face filled with sympathy for the girl she’d never met. “Oh, man. That must suck. Why would she do that?”

  Noah shrugged. “Who knows?” He shot me a glance I read all too well. “But, jeez, right?”

  I knew exactly what he meant. Mia Tillman might not have ever lived with her dad full-time or spent that much time in Indiana, but we all knew exactly who she was. The coach’s beautiful daughter had made a lasting impression. In fact, I was blown away I hadn’t recognized her right away this morning, but it had been almost two years since the last time I’d seen her. She’d been here a year ago at Christmas, but I’d been sick with strep throat and missed the Holiday Tourney. They guys had talked about her being there and I remembered being mad that I was sick, because, dang, it was Mia.

  Tierney scrunched up her nose, narrowing her gaze at Noah again. “What does that mean?”

  Red creeped up Noah’s neck, a sure sign he was feeling put on the spot by his girlfriend.

  I decided to help him out. “The whole team had a crush on her back in the day.”

  “Dude!” Noah exclaimed, his fist connecting solidly with my shoulder.

  I rubbed the spot he’d hit. “What? It’s true.”

  None of us had been immune to Mia’s California tan and short shorts that showed off long legs that had only gotten longer in the two years since I’d seen her, and that wasn’t even taking into consideration her beautiful brown eyes and kissable lips. The girl had it going on back then, but now? Now, she was downright gorgeous.

  Tierney rolled her eyes. “Where is this paragon?”

  Noah sat up and looked around the cafeteria. “Yeah, where is she?”

  “I don’t think she’s in here.” At least, I hadn’t seen her.

  “Where else would she be?” Tierney asked with a frown, her eyes darting around the large room even though she didn’t know who she was looking for.

  “I don’t know, but my guess would be her dad’s office.” She hadn’t seemed all that excited to be here this morning. It made sense that she’d hide out in the sports complex rather than brave the cafeteria on her own. The thought made me kind of sad and wish things hadn’t gone down the way they did this morning.

  “Who’s in her dad’s office?” Will asked as he and AJ checked back into the conversation at our table.

  “Mia.” Noah answered, making me want to hit him. Not that the other guys wouldn’t find out about Mia being at school, but for some reason I hated the idea of them talking about her.

  Will’s eyes widened as a huge grin spread across his face. AJ looked confused.

  “Dude, seriously? What’s she doing here?” Will asked, leaning toward us.

  “Mia?” AJ asked, still clueless.

  Will backhanded his chest with an annoyed look. “Tillman, man, keep up.”

  AJ’s forehead pinched for a second before smoothing and a grin just as wide as Will’s split his face. “Mia Tillman’s here? Where?” AJ, who would never be accused of being subtle, stood and turned in a circle, his eyes scanning the room.

  I yanked him down by his sleeve. “Sit down, you idiot. She’s not in here.”

  AJ frowned. “Then where is she? How do you know she’s here? Is she going to school?”

  Noah gestured at me with his thumb. “Prince Charming, here, saw her this morning.”

  We’d finally caught Mateo’s attention. He pulled out his earbuds and asked, “Saw who?”

  “Mia Tillman,” we all answered in unison and I saw Tierney shake her head from the corner of my eye. Whipped as he was, Noah smiled and brushed a kiss across her forehead.

  Mateo’s eyes widened as he whistled under his breath. “For real?”

  AJ’s hand clamped down on my shoulder. “Dude, I saw you making out with that girl this morning. What’s her name? She’s a junior.”

  Noah shot me a look. “Who were you making out with?”

  Heat creeped up the back of my neck. “Nobody.”

  AJ snapped his fingers and pointed at me. “Kylie!”

  “Dude, shut up.” I dead legged him, but he didn’t even react.

  “Oh, man. I saw that, too. And another girl with steam coming out of her ears.” AJ turned wide eyes toward me. “Was that Mia? She was pissed at you, bro. What did you do?”

  All eyes were on me. I had to give them something.

  I cleared my throat. “That was Mia. I guess I was blocking her locker.” Because I was kissing Kylie. My cheeks burned.

  “You were kissing some random in front of Mia Tillman’s locker?” Mateo’s face and voice registered his disbelief, echoing that of everyone else at the table. Except maybe Tierney.

  I scrubbed a hand over my face, my humiliation complete. “I didn’t know it was Mia’s locker. They’ve been empty all year.”

  “Dude,” four male voices chided at once and I’d officially had enough talk about Mia Tillman for the day.

  “Screw you guys.” I tossed back the last of my chocolate milk and crushed the empty carton in my fist before standing. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. She’s Coach’s daughter.”

  And any feelings that were anything other than brotherly toward the Coach’s daughter were just plain stupid.

  5

  Mia

  Brooke: Why haven’t you messaged!!

  My phone buzzed with a Snapchat from Brooke. I was hiding in my dad’s
office after school with earbuds in so didn’t have to listen to the constant squeak of shoes and basketballs bouncing on the wood floor in the gym.

  I debated whether or not I wanted to respond to her knowing she’d ask about my first day at Eastridge Heights and the hottie pool. If I told her I was hiding out in an office rather than sitting on the bleachers in the gym watching the guys practice she’d give me a hard time.

  Brooke: ???? I know school is over. You better respond, girl!

  Rolling my eyes, I snapped a quick reply back. It was the first day after the semester break and it felt like the teachers were making up for lost time. I had a chapter to read in Government, worksheets in Calculus, a packet for Physics, and a one page essay on the history of badminton for my dad because, yes, I had a PE class to makeup since the graduation requirements in California were different than the ones in Indiana.

  Brooke: Where are you?

  I sent her another selfie with a puppy filter, my dad’s office in the background.

  Brooke: Please tell me you can see hot athletes from there.

  Me: No windows.

  Brooke: SMH. You make no sense. Front row to the hottie show and you’re missing it!

  Me: Not interested.

  Brooke: Doesn’t hurt to look.

  Me: I’m good.

  Brooke: I can’t even. How are we friends?

  Giggling, I imagined Brooke sitting in the Library at my old school staring at her phone and shaking her head.

  Brooke: Okay. Whatever. No guys. How was the rest of your day?

  For the millionth time that day, I thought back to the morning and my encounter with Grayson and his little girlfriend or booty call or whoever she was, and cringed. That had not been a good start to my first day at a new school. Not only had I been insanely irritated to find my locker blocked by the lovebirds, I was annoyed at myself for feeling even a moment’s attraction to Grayson Levitt (yes, I’d noticed his name printed down the sleeve of his team sweatshirt). He was a player, and not just by the Urban Dictionary definition, but he was also a basketball player on my dad’s team, making him doubly off limits. Which was another reason I was hiding in the office rather than watching practice.

  Instead of telling her any of that, I gave her the run down of my day. Classes? Boring. Weather? Freezing. Teachers? The same at every school. Boys? Meh, encounter with Grayson notwithstanding. Any new friends? Not so easy to make friends with a resting bitch face and I knew I’d been wearing one all day.

  I wouldn’t be doing myself any favors taking my bad attitude to the cafeteria, so I’d eaten snacks out of the mini-fridge in my dad’s office while he asked me about the classes I’d been to that morning. I tried to give him a more upbeat report than the one I’d just shared with Brooke. She could handle the truth. Dad not so much.

  Brooke: Could be worse.

  Brooke: I know we aren’t talking about the jerk who shall not be named, but don’t let him ruin senior year. Maybe Mr. Right is in Indiana.

  Brooke: Gotta go. TTYL

  I sent one last Snapchat to Brooke and started my homework playlist again on shuffle. Dan and Shay’s song Tequila started playing. Calculus wasn’t going to finish itself.

  An hour later, Dad burst through the door with one of his players in tow.

  “Hey, sweetie, can you give us a minute?”

  I glanced up. “Oh, sure. Sorry.” Dad’s face was tense and the guy who’d followed him into the room wouldn’t meet my gaze. Rising from the chair, I left my stuff spread out on the desk. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Dad closed the door behind me. It was as good a time as any for a restroom break. The girls locker room was at the opposite end of the gym from the boys. If all the noise coming from the boys locker room was any indication, the gym should be empty. Without checking my theory, I shoved the gym door open.

  Five sets of male eyes snapping in my direction brought me up short.

  “Uh,” I stuttered, unable to get my feet moving as my cheeks flooded with embarrassment. Not that I had anything to be embarrassed about except maybe staring at them like they were a sideshow at the circus. It didn’t help that Grayson was with them, his smile the first to disappear when the guys spotted me and the only one not to return.

  I put my head down and walked along the baseline toward the door that led to the girls locker room.

  “Hey, wait!” one of them called.

  Wishing I could pretend I hadn’t heard him, I stopped.

  The one who’d spoken jogged a couple of steps toward me while the others trailed behind him more slowly.

  “You’re Mia, right?” the one in front asked. He had a friendly look and a nice smile. I recognized him from the last time I came to visit my dad but couldn’t remember which one he was. Also, he might have been in my last period Government class.

  I nodded because there was still a clog in my throat due to complete humiliation. I hated being put on the spot and that’s just what happened when I walked into the gym.

  “I’m Noah. I think we’ve met before but it’s been a while.” I half expected him to hold out his hand for me to shake but instead he held up his fist.

  Feeling all kinds of awkward, I gave him knuckles. “I remember.”

  Noah smiled. He was cute. I’d have to sneak a picture of him later to show Brooke. He was just her type. Athletic. Put together. Perfect.

  Sweeping my gaze over the other four who still hovered back a step, I forced a smile to my lips, but it felt more like a grimace by the time it reached Grayson.

  “Do you know the guys?” Noah asked, gesturing to his friends with his thumb over his shoulder.

  “Um.” I was sure I would recognize most of their names. Not only had I kept a program handy with a roster of their names and stats, but Dad had a tendency to talk about them whenever he called. That didn’t mean I would be able to put names with faces after all this time.

  Noah’s smile was friendly. “That’s okay. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

  “A year.” At least I knew the answer to that one.

  “Long enough, right?” Apparently Noah was the designated spokesperson. “So, this is Drew.” He pointed to the tallest guy in the group. He was the only one who didn’t look familiar, but I recognized his name. Dad had been talking about him a lot the last couple of months. He’d just moved to Indiana from Colorado this year and Dad said he was some hot shot basketball player that was going to make winning State a cakewalk. He was only a junior but he already had scouts looking at him from the top basketball schools in the country.

  “Nice to meet you,” Drew said with a head bob.

  “You, too. Dad’s been talking a lot about you.” My cheeks flushed as soon as the words were out, especially when the other guys turned to Drew, whistling and making catcalls.

  “Shut up,” he said frowning at them before turning to me with a smile.

  “Sorry,” I said, not believing I’d just embarrassed us both like that.

  But Drew just smiled making the ring in his lip jump. “Don’t worry. They’re just being douches.” Like Noah had done, Drew held out his fist.

  I tapped my knuckles to his. “Nice tattoos.” He had ink winding up both forearms. Between the lip ring and tattoos, Drew was the definition of delicious bad boy.

  “Thanks.”

  Noah’s hand dropped onto my shoulder making me jump a little. “So, after Drew we have Will, Luke, and Grayson.”

  I nodded to each of them in turn, even Grayson deciding not to make a scene in front of his friends even though he was a jerk and I didn’t really want to be nice to him no matter how hot he was.

  “So, are you here for good?” Noah asked, still acting as the official spokesperson for the group.

  “Yeah,” I replied and cleared my throat. “My mom got married. She and her new husband moved to Alaska.”

  As one the guys pulled back, making pained faces.

  “Yeah,” I agreed with a shrug. “So, here I am til graduation.”

&nb
sp; “Actually, I heard Alaska’s pretty dope,” the guy Noah called Will said.

  “Yeah, if you like bears and winter nine months out of the year,” Grayson inserted speaking up for the first time.

  “It’s not like Indiana’s much better, man.” Will punched Grayson in the shoulder. Grayson frowned and drew his fist back like he was going to retaliate, but caught himself just in time.

  “Don’t touch me,” Grayson growled.

  Will rolled his eyes. “Dude, calm down. What’s your problem, anyway?”

  “Nothing.” Grayson looked ready to kill someone.

  “Grayson wants to go hook up with his girlfriend,” Luke teased with a grin.

  “What girlfriend?” Noah asked looking completely in the dark. It was like they’d forgotten I was standing there.

  “He’s talking about Kylie,”Will piped in.

  Noah’s face cleared and he grinned.

  Grayson’s face turned an unhealthy shade of purple. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

  I’d been stewing all day about seeing Grayson with the little blonde earlier and hearing the girls in the bathroom calling him a player, which made me think about Jonathan who was the last person I wanted to be thinking about. That was the only excuse I could come up with for what I said next.

  “Oh, yeah? Does she know that?”

  Five sets of eyes snapped to me again, four filled with surprise and one glaring with irritation and probably a little anger.

  “Yes, she knows that,” Grayson bit out between clenched teeth, his eyes narrowed.

  Noah put his hands out. “Whoa, let’s just-”

  A loud voice calling my name from across the gym stopped everyone from moving or speaking.

  Dad.

  He stood, one foot in the gym and the other still in the hall. “Let’s go, pumpkin.”

  He would call me that in front of all of these guys. Guys who were watching me with cautious eyes after my outburst.

  I forced a grim smile to my lips. “Good talk.” Forget going to the bathroom. I could wait until I got home. Or Dad’s house. Or whatever.