Coach's Daughter

12.

Chapter 12.

I was awoken by my phone ringing the next morning. My dad hadn't been waiting up for me when I got home, so as far as I knew, I wasn't in trouble. My guess is that he fell asleep early, assuming Luke would be responsible enough to get me home safe. Guess Luke had fooled us both.

Removing the covers from my warm body, I swung my feet off my bed, my toes touching the cold wooden floor. I let out a long yawn and stretched my arms back. I hadn't fallen asleep until about 3:00--I had been too worked up to sleep after Luke had ditched me and the car ride with Evan.

I reached over and answered my phone, wondering who would be calling me this early. "Hello?" I asked.

"I need details," squealed an entirely too chipper voice. Only Tae would be that excited early in the morning.

"About?"

"Evan! What's the deal? You two were all over each other at the party. Are you a thing?"

I hesitated, not quite knowing how to define our relationship--if there even was one. "No? Well--I guess--maybe..."

Before I could explain myself further, the doorbell rang. Great. "Hang on a second," I told Tae.

I grabbed my extra large hoodie off the back of my door and jogged downstairs, pulling the hoodie over my head to cover up my messy bed head. As I headed downstairs, the doorbell rang again, and I wondered why Dad hadn't answered it.

As I was about to open the door, the doorbell rang again. Seriously? A third time? What could possibly be so important. Holding back the urge to roll my eyes, I put on a semi-fake smile and opened the door.

Kelsey was standing there, and I resisted the urge to close the door right back in her face. I was a little upset with her about yesterday, since she had completely bailed on me at the party. When I had needed her most, she had been nowhere to be found, and she hadn't so much as offered an explanation. I mean, sure, everything had worked out okay, but what if Evan hadn't given me a ride home? I would have been stranded at the party with no friends and no choice but to call my dad and get in trouble. Best friends didn't treat each other like that. End of story.

"Can I come in?" Kelsey asked timidly.

I stared her down for a minute, then shrugged. "Whatever," I said, stepping aside to let her in. "Tae, Kelsey just showed up. I'm going to put you on speaker phone, okay?"

"Sure," Tae said cheerfully. "It'll save you from telling the story twice."

"I heard about what happened with Luke," Kelsey said quietly. "That was pretty brutal. Are you okay?"

I exhaled hard. "Where did you disappear to?" I asked, ignoring the question. "I needed you, and you were nowhere to be found."

Kelsey reached over and grabbed my arm, and I could tell she felt really bad about abandoning me. "While you were dancing with Luke, Austin came over and asked me to dance. You know I've been crushing on him forever, so of course I went and danced with him. We were really hitting it off, you know, but then I had a family emergency, and I needed to get home quick. Austin gave me a ride. I was going to tell you I was leaving, but you looked so happy with Luke, I didn't want to interrupt. I swear, I had no idea he was going to ditch you."

"A family emergency?" Tae asked. "Is everything okay?"

Kelsey shrugged. "Yeah, it's fine. It's just my mom's in town and her sitter bailed last minute, so she needed me to fill in. Austin kept me company. It was no big deal."

"So are you and Austin official, then?" I asked.

Kelsey nodded happily. "Finally. I've been drooling over him for so long. I thought maybe he liked me, but then he never really made a move or anything, so I wasn't sure."