Dating: For the Block

by Stephanie Street

  Ugh.

  As fast as my feet would carry me, I retraced my steps to the door where Dad waited, keeping my eyes carefully trained on the shiny wood floor in front of me until I was close enough to duck under his arm.

  “I’ll hurry and pack up my stuff.”

  Dad followed me back into his office. “Everything okay out there?”

  “Uh, yeah. Just meeting the guys, that’s all.” And making a fool of myself. You know, the usual.

  Dad didn’t say much on the way home and I was struck by the difference between my two parents. Mom would have peppered me with non-stop questions about my first day at a new school, pushing until she’d dragged out every last feeling I was experiencing and then she’d dissect each of them before giving me an in-depth analysis as to why I was feeling them.

  Dad was nothing like that. I’d learned over the years he cared just as much as Mom did; he just assumed everything was okay until someone told him differently. That difference might have had something to do with why they’d split up. Mom was a communicator. Dad enjoyed being oblivious.

  As their child, I could see the good in both methods. Mom pushed me to talk things out and Dad gave me my space. Of course, the opposite was also true. Sometimes, I needed space from Mom and a heart to heart from Dad, but we couldn’t have everything, now could we?

  That first day set the standard for life living with my dad and going to school at Eastridge Heights. During the week, we went to school and then practice. In the evenings, we worked together to make dinner or warm up leftovers. Friday and Saturday nights were filled with basketball games. Dad roped me into helping with equipment and water since I was going to at practice anyway, effectively killing any ideas I had about hiding in his office after school every day.

  That meant I was essentially forced into getting to know the guys on the team. I realized I didn’t mind. They were quickly turning into the brothers I’d never had. It was fun joking around with them. They instantly took me under their collective wings, introducing me to their friends and girlfriends. I decided boyfriends might be overrated but boy friends were alright and if I was being honest, downright entertaining.

  Drew really was a superstar on the basketball court and the team was undefeated so far this season. His girlfriend, Piper, was awesome. Apparently, she’d had some serious issues with bullies earlier in the school year which meant Drew hardly left her side if he could help it. The way he was so protective of her was sweet. It wasn’t hard to understand why Piper fell for him. That perfect mix of good and bad made Drew almost irresistible. Good thing he was already taken or I’d be tempted.

  Noah was just as whipped over his girlfriend, Tierney. She was a cheerleader and bookworm who’d moved to EH at the beginning of junior year. She’d given Noah a run for his money last semester, but they’d worked things out according to Piper and her friend, Dannika. I’d been sitting with them behind the bench during the boys games. They were a great source of information and seemed to feel comfortable enough around me, even after such a short amount of time, to share all the gossip going around the school.

  “Ugh, Danni stop it,” Piper grumbled, a disgusted expression on her pretty face.

  “What,” Dannika asked, lifting her shoulders.

  I knew enough about these two already to know what Piper was teasing her friend about and I started laughing despite myself.

  “Stop drooling over my brother. It’s disturbing.” Piper shuddered.

  Dannika rolled her eyes. “I can’t help it, Pipe. Your brother’s hot.”

  Piper shuddered again and this time it was accompanied by a gag. It made me giggle.

  “Danni’s right, Piper. Luke is a hottie.” Not my type, but he was cute.

  Both girls turned to stare at me.

  Heat flooded my cheeks. “What?” I asked defensively. That was the first time I’d ever said anything like that in front of Piper and Dannika and their reaction was making me feel insecure. I thought we were friends like that.

  “You think my brother’s cute?” Piper asked, her voice really loud.

  “Hey!” I shushed her. Glancing around, I was glad to see all the players were still shooting around for their pre-game warm-up. The girls had already won their game and the boys game was about to start. But the last thing I needed was word getting around that I had a thing for Luke Hines. “Don’t say that so loud, for goodness sake, Piper!”

  “Sorry, but jeez, give a girl some warning next time.” Piper fanned her red face with her hands making me worried that she was going to throw up.

  “What a minute.” Dannika sat up and grabbed my arm with both hands. “You like Luke? What about Grayson?”

  I blinked. “Say what?”

  “I didn’t know you liked Luke. I thought you liked Gray.” Dannika said the words so clearly, but to me they sounded like a foreign language. What the heck was she talking about? I couldn’t stand Grayson. The rumors I’d heard about him had only been reinforced by his actions. Grayson was never without female companionship and rarely the same female twice. I pitied the girls at this school. They really didn’t stand a chance against that smile. It was deadly. Add to that his rocking body and warm eyes? It was a wonder the nurses station wasn’t full of swooning girls.

  “Yeah, me too,” Piper interjected around a mouthful of concession stand popcorn bringing me back to the conversation. “And for the record, I really don’t like my friends having crushes on my brother.”

  “I don’t have a crush on your brother!” I practically shouted. How had this conversation gotten so out of control?

  Dannika’s brows knit together. “But you just said-”

  I held my hand up between us. “I said Luke was good looking. I never said anything about crushing on him. Besides, Danni, you like Luke. I would never go after a guy you like. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

  Dannika nodded, both doubt and relief in her eyes.

  “Whew, that was a close one, girls,” I teased, widening my eyes comically. They both laughed, but I could tell Dannika needed a bit more reassurance that I wasn’t trying to move in on her man. I took her hand and said, “Seriously, I don’t want Luke.”

  The truth of my words sunk in and Danni’s shoulders relaxed, but just as quickly, they tensed again and she laughed. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not like I have some kind of claim on him. He’s just my best friend’s brother. That’s it.”

  On the other side of Dannika, Piper frowned. “That’s not true. Luke’s your friend, too.”

  Danni’s eyes rolled so hard they fluttered. “Whatever. All I’m saying is I don’t have any right to say who can and can’t like Luke.”

  “Well, I don’t like Luke. At least, not like that. So, we’re good.” We needed a subject change, stat.

  “But you do like Gray, right?” Piper asked, making me choke on the sip of water I’d just taken. We needed a subject change, just not that one.

  “Ohmigosh, no!” I coughed.

  “Really?” Piper asked, perplexed.

  “Really!” I said through gritted teeth. The boys were making their way back to the bench and the last thing I wanted was to have any of them overhear anything we’d been saying.

  “Coulda fooled me,” Dannika said out of the side of her mouth.

  “What are you talking about? I can’t stand him!” I whispered.

  Dannika shot me a knowing look. “Uh-huh.”

  “Oh, whatever.” I sat back and crossed my arms over my chest.

  “You might not like him, but he can’t keep his eyes off you,” Piper said as softly as she could in the loud gymnasium and still be heard.

  “That’s just because I’m one of the only girls at this school that doesn’t fall all over him,” I scoffed. It was kind of disgusting. Even girls with boyfriends couldn’t get enough of Grayson. He was friends with everyone. Everyone but me.

  “I don’t know, Mia. I’ve never seen Gray look at a girl the way he looks at you and I’ve known him most of my life,” Danni
ka said.

  I shrugged but didn’t answer. It didn’t matter. I wanted absolutely nothing to do with Grayson Levitt.

  6

  Grayson

  Mia Tillman had her evil eye perfected and it was almost always directed at me. I had no idea what I’d done to make the girl hate me, but there was no doubt in my mind she loathed the very sight of me. All I had to do was walk in a room, pass her in the hall at school, probably just the mention of my name in her vicinity, and any smiles she wore quickly turned into sneers, her pretty lip curling with unconcealed hatred.

  It was troubling.

  I’d never experienced anything like it before. Everyone loved me. It was my thing, my identity. Grayson Levitt, friend to all. I couldn’t name a single enemy. Even when I was being annoying people liked me. I almost never got in trouble for anything and even when I did, it never stuck. The ladies in the front office loved me. Teachers. The grouchy old lady who lived in the apartment next to us. Granted it had taken years of carrying in her groceries on Saturday mornings for her to warm up to me, but now that she had I knew I could count on a batch of fresh chocolate chip cookies every Sunday afternoon. I just had a knack for people.

  Effortless charm. That’s what my mom had called it once when I was younger, this power I seemed to have to win people over. Just like my dad, she told me. Not what I wanted to hear. The last thing I wanted was to be compared to that jerk.

  I wondered if he’d won her over with his effortless charm. Won her over and then left her. Left us.

  Yeah, I didn’t want anything to do with being charming back then.

  So, I worked on being a jerk for a while. It went against my nature. And for a time, I pushed my friends away with my bad attitude. Of course, my mom realized something was off and forced me spill my guts. I finally confessed the fear I had of turning out like him.

  The sadness in her eyes when I said that has haunted me for years.

  But then she told me something that helped. She told me life was about choices and I had to make one about the kind of person I wanted to be. I could be a jerk and use my ability to make people like me to my own advantage. Or, I could chose to use my gift to be kind, to get to know people, and recognize ways to help them. She told me that as long as I was aware of and careful with the feelings of others, I could be a force for good and I’ve never forgotten it. That was back in middle school.

  I knew girls liked me. I knew there were guys out there, true players, that would get girls to like them, get what they wanted, and leave. My dad had done it, probably more than once. But I didn’t have to be that way. I decided getting into a relationship was too risky. I wasn’t mature enough. Dating was fine. Flirting, sure. Learning what made girls tick, even better. But I had to be sure I was going to use that knowledge for good and not for my own gratification. And I made a choice since that day talking to my mom to be a good guy and to always treat others with respect.

  That’s why it irritated me so much that Mia hated me. It was so tempting to see if I could win her over. But I vowed not to try. It was her right to dislike me even if it rankled. Besides, the effort it would require to charm her into liking me would only be worth it if I was interested in a relationship and I wasn’t. If we were going to be friends, she would just have to figure out on her own the kind of person I was and decide for herself if that was what she wanted.

  “Where are we going?” I asked my mom. It was Saturday evening and she didn’t have to work. She’d been asleep most of the day while I worked my way through the new Kingdom Hearts video game after having an away game at noon. She woke about an hour ago, telling me to take a shower and change out of my stinky gym clothes because we were going out.

  “Coach Tillman invited us over for dinner,” she replied, her words hitting me like a sucker punch to the gut. What the heck?

  It wasn’t the first time we’d gone to Coach’s house for a meal. A lot of the guys thought he was a jerk most of the time, but he’d always been nice to me. I figured it was because he knew I didn’t have a father figure in my life and he missed having his own kid around all the time. Regardless of his motivations, there had been a couple of times he’d gone above and beyond his role as basketball coach, like taking me driving for an hour after practice when he realized I was struggling with the stick shift in the Subaru and teaching me how to change the car’s oil so we wouldn’t have to pay for it anymore at the auto shop. It was when he taught me how to change the oil that he’d suggested I invite my mom over and he’d buy some pizza for dinner.

  So, it wasn’t all that out of the blue, going to dinner at Coach Tillman’s, but this was the first time going over there I’d be faced with Mia.

  Mia who hated me.

  I groaned. “Why?”

  Mom frowned without taking her eyes off the road. “What do you mean? Why not?”

  I hadn’t told my mom about the awkwardness with Mia. She had enough to worry about without me dropping my drama on her, too. Telling her now would just make this evening worse, so I kept my mouth shut about it.

  “Nothing, it’s just kinda weird, right? We haven’t been over there for a long time.”

  Her hands tensed on the steering wheel for just a fraction of a second. I wouldn’t have noticed but her skin on the faux leather made a creaking sound.

  Drawing my chin back with a frown, I studied her profile, noticing faint lines around her eyes and her lips compressed in a flat line. But just as quickly, her expression smoothed and she glanced at me with a smile.

  “I know. He’s just being nice. I ran into him at the grocery store the other day and he invited us over.” She shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. And it wouldn’t have been if it was just going to be us and Coach like always, but this time his daughter would be there and I found myself wishing I had a good enough excuse to get out of going.

  Maybe my stomach was upset. Come to think of it, I really wasn’t feeling that great. Mom would never buy it, though. It wasn’t easy passing anxiety off for sickness when your mom was a nurse. Although, the closer we got to Coach’s house the more real my symptoms became.

  My stomach churned and I felt overheated to the point sweat trickled down my spine.

  It didn’t help that Mia was gorgeous and exactly the kind of girl I would want to date if I was into relationships. Someday, I hoped I’d find another girl just like her, when I was sure I was ready.

  By the time Mom pulled the car into Coach’s driveway and we made our way to the front door only to have Mia open it in response to Mom’s knock, I almost lost an afternoon’s worth of junk food on her shoes.

  “Hi!” Mom’s voice sounded overly cheerful. “You must be Mia.”

  “Hi,” Mia’s voice broke as she stood frozen framed by the empty doorway, her surprised gaze shifting from Mom to me. All the blood drained from her face.

  “Hey, Mia,” I sighed, wondering for the millionth time what I’d done to make her dislike me so much.

  Mia opened her mouth, but before she could respond, Coach appeared over her shoulder, a welcoming smile tipping his lips. “Michelle. Grayson. So good to see you both.” With his hands on both of her shoulders, Coach shifted Mia out of the doorway and gestured for us to enter the house. “Come on in. Sorry about Mia. She’s been sleeping on the sofa and I didn’t have a chance to tell her you guys were coming.”

  Well that explained part of her reaction. Whatever. Mia Tillman could hate me all she wanted as long as she was nice to my mom. Miss Bad Attitude had my protective hackles rising. Mess with me, that was one thing. Mess with my mom, that was another entirely.

  Mom followed close behind Coach as he led us into his spacious living room. Mia trailed behind me. I should have checked her for weapons before showing her my back.

  I’d been to Coach’s house a handful of times and it always surprised me how spotless it was for a bachelor living alone for the last decade. And big. Three times the size of our apartment, at least.

  Mia rushed past, her shoulder brushin
g mine on her way to the sofa where she picked up a tangled blanket and folded it before throwing it over the back cushions. We all watched as she snatched a pair of pink Converse sneakers off the carpet.

  “Sorry, I’ll go put these away and be right back.” She quickly disappeared into the hall. I heard a door open and the sound of her shoes tumbling to the floor. Mia reappeared seconds later, her face flushed, her eyes glued to the ground.

  “Mia, you already know Grayson.” Coach reached out to put an arm around her shoulder, either completely oblivious to her obvious discomfort or choosing to ignore it. “And this is his mother, Michelle.”

  Mom smiled and offered her hand to Mia. Mia’s smile was tentative but appeared genuine and a small part of me relaxed. I didn’t really think Mia was mean. In fact, she seemed to have made friends easily enough at school and she’d gotten tight with Piper and Dannika right away. Piper was cautious around new people but appeared to like Mia just fine. And the guys on the team couldn’t get enough of her. The traitors.

  “Nice to meet you, Ms. Levitt,” Mia said, stepping into her dad’s side after shaking Mom’s hand.

  I tried not to flinch at the sound of that name in association with her. Mom flashed me a look and gave Mia a tight smile. Things had still been going well between my parents when I was born even though they weren’t married and I’d been given my father’s last name rather than Mom’s maiden name. “My name’s Anderson. Grayson has his dad’s last name. But, please, call me Michelle.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry-” Mia started to say, her face blushing a brighter red.

  “Don’t be. It’s an easy assumption to make. Modern American families, right?” Mom smiled and crossed her eyes making a silly face designed to ease the tension. And it worked. Mia laughed and Coach smiled seemingly pleased that they were getting along.

  Suddenly, I got a prickling feeling I didn’t like and this little get together didn’t feel so innocent as my coach inviting a player and his mom for dinner. I remembered the texts Mom had been getting more frequently and the smile that curved her lips when she read them.