I want to cup a hand around my mother’s mouth. This is not the time or the place to talk about that. Amber looks from her to me, her smile uneasy. “Torres told you about that?”
“He did and for the record, I don’t think what happened was fair. If I were you, I would have ripped that sneaky bitch a new one.” Mamá winks and grins at her.
Amber laughs and I notice her shoulders relax.
“Who are you here with, Lakes?” I ask, steering the subject.
“Oh—I came with Kendall and Janine.” She looks around. “They just got in line for some ride that makes you dizzy, but the line is way too long, and I got hungry so…here I am.” She shrugs. “Getting dizzy isn’t my thing anyway.”
I nod. “Cool.”
“Well, it’s so nice to meet you,” Mamá says to Amber. “And don’t take shit from anybody!”
Amber giggles. “I won’t, Mrs. Torres. Thank you for the popcorn.”
“Of course. Joaquin, is that everything?” Mamá asks, looking around the stand and then at me. She didn’t bring much. Only thing she has to grab is her purse and she can go. The cooler we’ll keep in here until tomorrow.
“That’s it, Mamá. Go on home. I’ll lock it up.”
“Gracias, hijo.” She leans on her toes to kiss me on the cheek. I take off the key for the stand from her keychain, hand her keys to her, and when she’s out the door, I turn to look at Amber, who is now munching on the popcorn.
“Do you guys have drinks to sell too?” Amber asks.
“We had water and orange Fanta’s in the cooler, but they got sold out pretty quickly. Some people couldn’t handle the spice.”
“Oh. Well, I definitely need to find something to drink with this. This popcorn really has a kick too it.” Amber smiles, revealing straight white teeth. “I’ll catch you later, Coach.”
She spins around, looking for her next concession stand. I almost start to call her name, tell her to stop and wait up—that I’ll buy her drink for her—but I don’t. What would it look like for me to buy her a drink? It would be highly inappropriate. Not to mention there are other track students out here tonight and the last thing I need is rumors spreading about me with a student.
I sigh, closing the gate on the stand and locking it. I head through the door and go around the tent. My car is parked on the other side of the lot. Unfortunately, I have to pass by the Ferris Wheel—one of the main attractions—just to get there.
Hungry as hell, I stop for a hot dog at one of the stands nearby, and as I wait for my order, I hear a girl giggling.
My eyes swing over to one of the game stands, and low and behold, that quarterback Amber likes so much is standing right there with some girl.
This girl is a brunette with skin that is way too tanned. She looks like the sorority type. I narrow my eyes as the quarterback picks up one of the baseballs and says, “I’m going to win that ugly fucking bear for you. Watch.”
The girl giggles again and watches as the quarterback reels his arm back before throwing the ball at one of the empty glass bottles. He misses and curses beneath his breath. For a quarterback, he sure is shitty at throwing tonight. Maybe he’s drunk.
When my hot dog is ready, I pick it up, and as I put mustard and ketchup on it, I catch someone walk by me, hair billowing, a bag of popcorn in her hand. She stops only mere steps away, and I freeze a moment, watching her as she watches the quarterback trying to win a prize for another girl.
Amber. It doesn’t take a genius to know she’s upset. I can’t even count on my hands how many times I’ve seen her hand-in-hand with him, kissing him. Flirting with him. It worked me up to see it. In fact, I couldn’t stand it. It almost felt like a slap in the face, which is ridiculous because we don’t share any kind of relationship other than coach and student. And now she’s feeling what I felt when I saw her with him, along with what I can only assume is betrayal.
Her eyes are narrowed with confusion, her grip tight on the bag of popcorn. Her bottom lip begins to tremble, but to spare herself the tears, she turns away. But when she turns away, her eyes catch mine, and fuck…her hurt is clear.
“Amber,” I call softly. What the hell do I even say?
Our eyes connect. She doesn’t pull away for what feels like forever, but when she finally does, she turns and runs the opposite direction of me and that shit-head quarterback.
TWENTY-ONE
I’m a fucking idiot!