"Are you fricking kidding me right now, Alex?" Steve is absolutely livid. His short, sparse hair appears to be standing on end as if he has been subjected to the electric chair.
Alex doesn't jump, shirk back or really react at all; he holds steady and looks his colleague in the face.
Meanwhile, I've been transported in space from the bed to the wood chair without conscious movement of my limbs. Should I flee from the room?
"Do you realize how inappropriate this is?" Steve bellows. He launches into a scathing diatribe, and I suddenly feel very foolish for believing we would get away with sneaking around, as well as quite selfish for compromising both Alex's coaching job and reputation.
Alex absorbs the entire speech without interrupting or becoming defensive.
"I know," he tells Steve quietly. "It was really stupid, I'm sorry. I like her. We like each other. And Natalia's in college, and I've been respectful."
Steve takes several long, labored breaths, pressing his index fingers to his temples.
"That may be the case, but this is certainly not the time or place. You are here this weekend in a coaching capacity." His voice is much calmer. Steve addresses me for the first time. "Natalia, I have to ask how and when this began."
I glance at Alex in a panic. His eyes, grey-blue in this particular lighting, reflect the calm of a placid lake surface.
"Just tell him the truth," he coaxes.
"Alex gave me rides home on Fridays the last few weeks of the season because my mom couldn't pick me up; we talked and got to know each other during that time. Nothing ever happened beyond a couple hugs."
Steve's facial expression is eerily neutral.
"Okay. Natalia, I want you to return to your cabin so I can talk this over more with Alex."
Without a word to either of them, because I am petrified and mortified and every other excessive adjective in the English language, I wobble out of the room. My numb legs are quaking so badly they barely manage to carry me back to my lodgings.
Returning to a room void of other teenage girls, I praise my good fortune and collapse onto my bed to compose myself in private. I guess the deer wasn't an omen of good luck, after all. But then, there is no woodland creature or guidance from the universe that can protect against outright stupidity. What were we thinking, meeting up in those circumstances?
We have to join Steve for team bonding time in forty-five minutes. The idea of having to look him in the eye makes my stomach churn with shame. To avoid thinking about it, I begin texting Isla a long update on the developments with Alex. I haven't talked to her at all since arriving at Lake Tahoe.
When I'm halfway through relaying the scavenger hunt episode, Alex texts.
Hermosa, ¿estás bien?
The term of endearment makes my heart spiral.
No but yes. Are you?
How could you make a joke in that moment??? I accuse, with three crying faces and three laughing with tears emojis. Oh deer??? I throw in a face palm emoji.
He sends me back the leaping deer image.
I was saying "Oh dear" not "Oh deer."
Despite the lingering mortification, I flop back onto my pillow giggling. The mixed emotions leak out as tears that stream therapeutically down my cheeks.
You're incorrigible, I claim.
I feel horrible. Are you getting fired? Will something worse happen to you?
YOU ARE READING
A New Reflection
Teen FictionNatalia Stevens is smart, nice and shy-and this is exactly how everyone sees her. Even day-to-day conversations with friends and classmates are difficult, and guys certainly don't pay her any attention. During her senior year, Nati begins to notice...
