Take Me To Bed: Bedtime Quickies Collection

In a way though, it makes the victory a little bit sweeter.

“Have you seen him?” Jenna rushes into the locker room and beelines for me. Jenna’s one of the cheerleaders. She’s short, pretty, and a genius. She’s a little boy-crazy too.

“Seen who?” I ask, waiting for my friend to tell me the latest gossip. “We just got here.”

Realization dawns on her face. “Oh, right. How was the game?” she asks, but I can tell she doesn’t really want a long answer—or an answer at all for that matter. The excitement dancing in her eyes shows me she’s dying to tell me about the person I was supposed to see.

“We won all three sets, seeing their faces… the defeat, so glorious!” Raquel basically yells.

“That’s great,” Jenna replies, waving her off, and Raquel looks disappointed at her lack of excitement.

Jenna ignores Raquel, who just turns around and walks toward the showers. Turning to me, Jenna starts again, “So, you haven’t seen him, then?”

“I haven’t seen anyone but our coaches and the douchebags over at B-Prep,” I reply, taking off my t-shirt and volleyball shorts.

She sits down on the bench. I place my dirty clothes in my gym bag and pull out the clothes I’ll change in to after a shower. “Don’t you typically shower right after the game ends?” Jenna asks.

It’s true. When a team travels, they usually get to shower at the visitor locker room but, “B-Prep’s showers weren’t working.”

“Somehow, I doubt that’s true,” she responds knowingly. She too has her feud with B-Prep. I think everyone does.

I nod. “I bet they just shut off the water supply or something. But anyway, can you tell me about the guy I was supposed to see? I need to hit the showers before my brothers ditch me.”

“I’d offer to give you a ride, but you live waaaay too far,” Jenna replies with a playful smile.

I live farther from the school than most people, which is why I typically rely on my brother for transportation. I wouldn’t want to make anyone else take the trek. When they leave me behind though, I have no choice.

“Yeah, yeah. Now, speak or I’m hitting the shower and ignoring you!” I warn.

“There’s this guy. This new guy. I’m pretty sure he started school today. He is soooo good looking,” Jenna says and I laugh.

“You and guys,” I reply.

“Seriously. If you saw him, you’d say the same thing too.”

Somehow I doubt that. “You said he’s new? It’s kind of late to transfer in.”

“I don’t know who got it done, I’m just glad they did. He’s a babe. I mean, he definitely would look better if he ditched the sweater but still.”

Sweater. Suddenly, that word brings my mind back to the guy at the bleachers. He mentioned he was thinking about playing football. Could it be that he meant here?

“Is he playing any sports?” I ask.

Jenna shrugs. “I don’t know. How am I supposed to know? I didn’t talk to him. He looks too brooding to have a conversation with anyone. Just walked around from class to class with his hands in his sweater pocket. He had his hood up at first, but one of the teachers told him he needed to take that off per policy.”

Too many things are the same for this to be a coincidence. It has to be him. I decide to play it cool though. “Maybe I’ll see him around,” I tell Jenna.

“I’m sure you will. He goes to school here, Kaitlyn. This school may be big, but it’s not that big.”

I smile. “True that. I stink though, so let me hit the shower.”

“I’ve gotta go too. Gotta go tutor Draymond’s little brother.” Jenna is always doing a million things. Not only does she have cheer practice and keeps the highest grades in our year, but she’s decided to add tutoring to her list too.

“Have fun,” I tell her. I don’t know how she has the patience.

I take the fastest shower in the history of showers and find myself fully dressed and out the door in a matter of minutes. My mind is spinning, remembering all the details about the guy seated on the bleachers. It would be nice to call him something other than “guy,” but he never gave me his name, so that’s what I’m stuck with. For now. Because if he is a student here, then I’ll definitely know more.

He wanted to try out football. He was thinking about playing football. That’s why he was watching the team. I mean, it would only make sense that he’d be watching the team he knew he would join. It has to be him.