Coach's Daughter

36.

Chapter 36.

I couldn't believe how oblivious that I had been to something that was directly in front of me. Everything was starting to click in my head, all of the pieces of the puzzle were fitting into place, and as they did, I felt stupid.

Kelsey being Dylan's younger sister made so many questions in my head, but had also answered some. When he gave Kelsey and I ride home from school I'd thought they seemed to have known each other, and he did know where Kelsey lived without asking. Plus at the football game on my birthday, it explained why the two of them were talking. My stomach twisted at the thought of how I told Madison and Cassie I thought they were dating. It was embarrassing.

My friends all knew that they were siblings and not one of them bothered to tell me. They let me make of fool of myself by saying things like accusing them of dating. Why hadn't they just told me?

I inhaled deeply, my eyes fixated on the sleeve of my shirt. "Why didn't anyone tell me?" I finally asked, not feeling brave enough to actually make eye contact with him. "I'm such an idiot."

He remained silent for several moments. His pause made me feel like he was trying to think of an excuse that wouldn't make it seem like they kept it from me like "It just never came up" or "We thought you knew".

But when he moved from the chair in the corner of my room and took a seat next to me on the bed, I was hopeful he would just tell me the truth. "Honestly?" He asked.

I could feel his eyes were on me, waiting for me to actually look at him. I bit down on my lip. "I want the truth Luke."

It was clearly something that I had missed, but I'd notice the many similarities between Luke and Dylan. Since I first met Dylan I'd sensed there was more to their rivalry than football, it'd seemed more personal. And it was. It made sense that the rivalry between them seemed to have had a friendlier undertone. The one thing that didn't make sense to me however is why no one, even though they'd been straight up asked countless times, had told me the truth.

"I can't tell you as to why, since I honestly don't know, but Dylan and Kelsey had asked not just me, but your whole friend group not to say." His tone seemed genuine, I'll admit, but it didn't make any sense. Why would they want to keep them being siblings a secret?

"Why?" I asked, looking up from my shirt to meet Luke's eyes. His lips curved into a small smile from my decision to actually look at him. An apologetic glint remained in his eyes as my eyes narrowed. "Why wouldn't they want me to know?"

"I don't know, you'd have to ask them."

I frowned. 'I don't know' was a phrase I was learning to hate. "Why did you listen? Why let it go on for so long?"

Luke looked away, breaking our eye contact. "They are my cousins," he said simply. A soft chuckle left his lips as he looked back to me. Grinning he added, "Plus I was curious how long it would take for you to find out. It's cute when you make assumptions, like when you first found out Kelsey was my cousin."

My cheeks went red. Was he referring to when I accused Kelsey of liking him? Had she told him?

"Oh gosh." I looked back down at my hands, too embarrassed to look at Luke. "You know about that?"

Luke grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers. It brought peace to me, making me relax and feel like it didn't matter how oblivious to everything I was. "I'm sorry for not coming clean."

My heart. No matter what I tried to tell myself, I couldn't help but falling for this boy. He always seemed to say the right things and it didn't matter what mood I was in, he made me smile.