Bus Home

The girls were in high spirits as we boarded the bus. It felt weird following them. I felt like an interloper. Usually, I drove myself to their away games. Kaylee had pulled some strings with Mrs. Hardy to allow me to come along with the team. A signed permission slip was the key that unlocked the gate. Noticeably, I was one of two boys surrounded by girls. The other was James Harper, the team's new manager. Meeting him for the first time was a bit upsetting. He had a similar build to me, and his glasses made him look twice as nerdy. As far as I knew, none of the girls had any complaints about him, which made me wonder why they made such a fuss with me. When I asked Kaylee about it, she showed me his preference profile. A perfect five-star rating with over twenty different individuals. Apparently, that had been enough for the team to approve him.

James’ presence didn’t bother me though. Nor was being one of two guys on the bus. I found it was easy to ignore them when I had Kaylee by my side. Dating was new ground for both of us. Towards the beginning, worry that things would get awkward or change gnawed at me. Those fears were mostly unfounded. Surprisingly little changed in the day-to-day. It was everything we did in the past as friends, only better. It was little things that changed. She sat closer to me. She smiled more when our eyes met. It seemed like she always had an excuse to touch me. A hand on my shoulder. An arm around my waist. Her head resting against my arm.

Then there was the kissing.

Kaylee might have believed I had no sex drive, but kissing was always on the table. It seemed she took every excuse to kiss me. A peck on the cheek here. A brush of the lips there. Full-on make-out session in her car… Life was great.

Great, but not perfect.

Kaylee was still sleeping with Sean on a regular basis and had a fling with another guy. I knew because she’d told me. No. Telling wasn’t the right term. She’d asked me. After all, we were dating. That’s how things worked. A healthy relationship involved communication after all. Being single, I’d always been suspicious about how things worked in a relationship. Now that I was on the inside, I found it was all bullshit. A woman asked her boyfriend or husband, but it wasn’t asking for permission. Not really. It was more a statement of fact. It was like asking someone, “How’s it going?” as you pass them in the hallway. The only acceptable answer to that was, “Good,” or maybe, “Fine.” They don’t actually care how your day is going. It was all a polite dance. At least she hadn’t asked me to watch again. I wasn’t sure what I’d do in that situation. If it never came up again, so much the better.

Her hand brought my attention to her as she weaved her fingers between mine. With a small squeeze, I gave her a smile. “Tired?”

“Exhausted,” she said, resting her head against my shoulder. There was still the faint smell of sweat and deodorant, but nothing overpowering. I watched as some of the younger teammates glanced at us as they passed. Their faces were unreadable. They were probably jealous. Regardless of my ranking in their mind, Kaylee was still in an actual relationship. Not all girls got that.

“We going for shakes when we get back?”

“Of course.” She suddenly looked nervous. “Scott, do you think Zoe could—”

A loud cheer went out as Zoe got on the bus. She did a few bows and some weird dance number before Mrs. Hardy slapped her gently on the head and told her to stop holding up the line. The noise level spiked as everyone started chatting at once. Everyone was in high spirits, settling into seats. Door closing, the driver waited a few seconds before setting off. There was a shrill whistle and the noise dropped as everyone looked to the source. Abby was standing up in her seat.

“Now that we are all settled in, it’s time for the honored tradition of game MVP. I nominate Zoe!”

“Seconded!” Kaylee shouted out with a laugh. It was unanimous. Silently, I watched with curiosity as they went through the motions. This was the first time I’d been on the bus with them. The last game had been at home.

Standing up, Zoe took a few more bows. Mrs. Hardy seemed to be ignoring everything, her face lit up by her phone screen at the front of the bus. “Thank you, thank you. I know I’m awesome.”

“Uh-oh. Might need a second bus to fit her ego in,” someone called out. Everyone laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world. Might? I’d known that for a long time.

“Don’t be jealous of my talent. But I do know where credit is due. Without Kaylee facing off against her evil cousin, we would have gotten stomped. So let’s give Kaylee a round of applause.”

This time, I joined in, having released her hand. She waved everything away, an embarrassed smile on her face. Damn right Kaylee deserved credit. Kayla would have steamrolled them. Besides, it had been Kaylee who had sent everything into motion that allowed Zoe to make the shot in the first place.

“And since I’m so nice, I’ll give Kaylee first crack at the manager.” That wiped the smile off my face as I looked to Kaylee. She was facing away from me, having turned to look at Zoe. She was laughing, waving her hands in front of her.

“MVP gets that honor,” she said.

“And as MVP, I say you can go first.”

Biting her lower lip, she looked down the aisle to where James was. He seemed oddly calm considering the girls were eyeing him like a piece of meat. Then again, I could see the advantages of being in that situation. The basketball team had a lot of hot girls in it, and this was the reason for the manager.

“I am kinda horny,” she said.

That got laughs and cheers. I think it was Ellie who cried out that everyone was. Still, I could tell a lot of people were interested in what was about to happen as eyes went towards us. Girlfriends slept with other guys all the time, but not many did it so brazenly in front of their boyfriend.

Turning to face me, she smiled sweetly. My breath froze in my chest as I realized what she was about to ask. “You mind if I get a quickie? Promise it won’t take long.” In her eyes, I could already see she knew the answer.