Jennie
An hour later, the professional cheerleaders had made it to the side of the field, where they would usually stand for their performance, and were doing so for the girls gathered in the stands, watching in awe. An hour after that, I approached Jimin to ask him if he was tiring of offense and wanted to switch but I got blindsided by a very frazzled Jeon Somi before I could.
"Jennie, thank goodness, there you are!" She exclaimed as though I hadn't been standing on the same side of the fifty yard line for two hours now. "Something's come up with the pre-season uniforms and I've got to get back to the office. Watch my girls, will you? I can't have no one liable for them."
"Oh, Somi, I-"
"Thanks darling, you're a peach!" She bustled off toward the parking lot, digging through her bag for her keys as she did. I shook my head angrily and stomped off toward Jimin to explain the situation. As I leaned in to tell him what had just occurred, I heard the smack of a football being caught just to my left and jumped to see a teenage boy slowing his momentum, ball in hand. My eyes snapped to who had thrown it to see Lisa Manoban smirking my way.
"Whoops, sorry man," Lisa called out to the boy. "Don't know my own strength." The boy laughed and jogged the ball back to her. The boy didn't seem to notice the wink the quarterback shot in my direction.
"You sure you don't want me to take care of the cheerleaders?" Jimin asked, eyebrow raised. "That way you and Ms. Absolutely Delicious Manoban can continue... whatever this is?"
I gave him a playful swat on the arm and ignoring his chuckling as I headed over to the cheerleaders who were now counting out their next routine. After which, they finally took a break, grabbing some water and fanning themselves in the heat. A few of them remained at the fence, snapping selfies with girls in little cheerleader uniforms and speaking kindly to them.
"You're the player relations lady, yeah?" One of them, a busty blonde with plump lips and thick mascara asked me as she took a sip of her Evian. I nodded.
"Player relations," another girl with beautiful olive skin and almond shaped eyes repeated as she propped her leg out in a stretch. "Not cheerleader relations."
"No," I admitted.
"Where's Somi?" A petite redhead piped up from behind me.
"Oh, uh, she said she had to deal with a uniform emergency back at the office."
"Typical," the blonde said, rolling her eyes.
"Bet the only emergency she's taking care of is that twenty something boy toy of hers," olive skin replied and the three of them burst out laughing.
"I'm Lizzie," the blonde told me, sticking out a hand to shake. I did.
"Rochelle," olive skinned said.
"Willow," redhead added.
"It's nice to meet you all. I'm Jennie. But you can call me player relations lady if you prefer." They laughed again.
"We meant no disrespect," Lizzie promised.
"Just the opposite, actually," Rochelle said. "We hear you're pretty smart. Took the job from that old creep Ji-hoon, at least. Didn't know you'd have yourself a body too." She raised a brow and I laughed outright.
"No, we mean it. If the whole boss lady thing doesn't work out, we can make some room in our ranks," Willow spoke. I practically choked on my own disbelief.
"Me?" I asked, stunned. "A cheerleader?"
"Why not?" Lizzie asked. "You look the type. You have the right form. Have you ever danced before?"
"In college a bit," I confessed.
"There you go. You're already experienced," Lizzie said. "We could get you a uniform if you'd like."
I opened my mouth to answer but someone did it for me.
"I'd like that very much."
The girl's eyes widened in surprise and I knew the voice before I even turned around. Lisa Manoban was standing behind me, a smile on her face as she looked me over. "Though I don't mind the jeans and the team polo either," she added, arching a brow as her eyes grazed every inch of me. I heard a few giggles at my back and crossed my arms.
"You truly don't understand the concept of friendship, do you?" I hissed. She chuckled as the girls wandered away to give us our privacy. I wish they wouldn't. The way her eyes kept straying to my unbuttoned collar or the tight denim over my thighs was making my skin burn.
"Jennie!" Someone else called suddenly and I looked up to see a familiar reporter coming my way, huge smile on his face as he straightened his tie and his cameraman followed dutifully after him. Lisa's smile turned to a grimace as Taehyung stopped in front of us. "Great to see you, as always. I hope you're packed for your flight tonight. I think we're on the same one."
"Flight?" Lisa turned to me.
"Oh, nothing to concern you, Ms. Star Quarterback," Taehyung joked, though Lisa was in no way laughing. "It's just a silly media relations conference. I'm the media, she's the relations. We're all learning how to work together. Should be a fun week though, right?" Taehyung was looking at me. I opened my mouth to answer but Lisa beat me to it once again.
"A week?" Lisa asked. She seemed truly disappointed. It caught me off guard.
"A week in NYC", Taehyung said. "You ever been to NYC, Jennie?"
"Uh, yeah," I told him.
"Really? Well, maybe you can show me around."
Lisa's fist clenched at her side and I rushed to her, placing a hand on her shoulder and leading her back to the field, as it was my job.
"Maybe, Taehyung. I'll see you later, okay? I'm swamped right now," I offered as I pushed Lisa forward. She walked willingly with me, away from the anchor, and expelled an agitated breath when we were a few yards away.
"Him? Really?" Lisa asked angrily when we were out of the reporter's earshot. She ran a hand through her hair and took a breath to calm herself. When she spoke again, the fury had faded and was replaced with something like hurt. "Jennie, please don't-"
"Lisa!" A familiar voice called and Bambam jogged over to us, smiling. His grin faltered slightly when he took in the tension of the moment but he maintained his composure and nodded in my direction in greeting. "Sorry to interrupt, Miss Kim but we need you to help us run some routes with the kids Lisa, do you mind?"
The quarterback looked my way one last time before turning away and heading back to the group of awaiting, enamoured kids. I watched her go, trying to ignore the tightening in my chest at seeing her so hurt. And worst of all, it was me who had hurt her. As if on cue, my phone let out a shrill ring and I looked down at the alarm I had set. 7 pm. With a sigh, I tapped Mino's contact and waited. Three rings later, he picked up.
"Hey Jen," he mumbled and I could tell he was eating.
"You're here, right?" I snapped quickly, crossing the field toward the parking lot as quickly as I could.
"Where?"
I stopped, mouth dropping open, stomping my foot into the field, ready to scream.
"Mino-"
"Relax. I'm kidding. I've been here for half an hour. Got you a sandwich. You coming?"
I breathed a sigh of relief, unable to help the way my eyes strayed to the centre of the field where Lisa had just thrown a ball to a young receiver. As the kid leapt into the air to catch it, the quarterback caught my eye. She frowned. I turned away, feeling an odd stinging sensation in the corner of my eye as I answered Mino, "Yeah. I'm coming."
