GAME ON

9. Date Night

"What if he kidnaps you?" Carson says and I rolled my eyes.

"Shut up Carson" Jamie said and she looks at me. "Everything is going to be fine, he seems like a nice guy" Jamie added. Then coach texted me saying he's here. I freak out one more time then left and went downstairs. Coach smiles when he sees me.

"Hi" he says.

"Hey"

"You look really nice Vanessa" he said and I smile.

"Thank you" I said and he opens the door for me and I get in then he gets in. "Where we going?" I asked.

"Well I hope you don't mind if we go back to my house and let me cook you dinner"

"That sounds nice" I said smiling. We drive back to his house and went inside. I took my shoes off at the front door and went into the kitchen and he already started cooking. I go over to the stove and look in the pot. "Smells really good" I said and a big bouquet of flowers appear in front of me.

"These are for you" I hear Derek say behind me. Flowers? For me? I've never had a guy get me flowers before. Other than my dad and that was at my high school graduation. What do flowers mean? I smile and take the flowers and turn around and smile at him.

"Thank you" I say smiling. He smirks and leans forward laying his lips on mine, once again. He must have been feeling himself because he puts his hand on my thigh. Nervous as hell and knowing my coach is actually touching my thigh I ended up backing up too close to the stove. "Ow" I said looking at my arm. I had back up on the hot pot on the stove and burned the back of my arm. I turn my arm around and stared at my burnt skin. "Great."

"I'm sorry"

"No, it's fine"

"Here, run some cold water on it and I'll go get you a band-aid" he says walking away. I go to the sink and rinse my arm and it stings for a minute. "Come over here Vanessa" he said. I turn the water off and walk over to the couch in the living room and sat down next to him. He softly grabs my arm and turns it over and rubs some burn cream on it and it stings and I flinch. "You are such a big baby" he jokes.

"No I'm not" I said laughing and he smiles then puts my Band-Aid on. "You are not doing so good proving you like me" I said and he smirks.

"Give me a chance, why won't ya?" he says and I smile. He stares at me then looks away. "So... marketing?" he says and I look at him confused. "That's what you're majoring in, right?"

"You pull my file or something?"

"Something like that" he laughs. "Basketball to business where did that come from?"

"If I was being honest... my dad pushed me into sports. I love basketball don't get me wrong, but I don't want to go pro. And let's be honest... WNBA?" I say staring at him.

"What's wrong with the WNBA?"

"Do you watch WNBA? Do you know the teams? The players?" I asked and he stares at me. "My point exactly. Women basketball is not as hyped at men's."

"But if you love the sport and it's something you want to do, don't you think you should do that?"

"I want to do marketing, that's what I'm sticking to. How about you? With your dad being The OSU coach, why did his basketball son not go pro?" I asked. He smirks and looks away.

"I messed up my knee"

"I'm sorry"

"Nah, don't be... I went through rehab so it's better now" he says getting up and walking over to the kitchen. "Food is ready" he said turning off the oven. Derek made chicken and noodles with biscuits on the side. He's hot and he knows how to cook? I'm in-love. We sit at the table and started eating.

"This is really good" I said eating.

"Thank you" I look up and Derek was looking down at his food stuffing his face. I stare at him then put my fork down.

"So... back to your knee? You went through rehab, right? Couldn't you still have got drafted?" I asked. Derek's eyes walk up to meet mine and he sits back in his seat. "I'm sorry... if it's personal. You don't have to tell me" I said beginning to eat again. Vanessa you are so annoying.

"I could have still got drafted, yes" he says and I look at him.

"Why didn't you?" I asked and he takes a pause and lets out a breath.

"Hilary got pregnant" he says and I stare at him. He has a kid? No. I mean he could. "We had our own personal dreams but I love her so much, so I stop chasing mine. I couldn't just get up and leave and join a NBA team and have her follow me with a baby. We had to settle down and I needed to start working right away" he said. I swear I didn't see or hear anything about a baby. "And I guess wrong. Hillary was so set on being a model and said a baby would ruin not only her career but her body" he said scratching his chin. "She had an abortion without even telling me. So everything sort of fell apart for me."

"Coach, I am so sorry" I said grabbing his hand. I knew she was a bitch.

"It's fine. We worked it out and decided to follow our dreams. A little too late for me, but she still models. My dad had surgery so I got qualified to fill in for him while he's out so it's not all bad. You done?" he asked pointing to my plate.

"Yea, food was so yummy, thank you" I said and he laughs taking our plates to the sink. I text Jamie and Carson in the group message telling them things were all good.

"I actually have Love & Basketball if you want to watch it?" he said and I drop my mouth open.

"That's my favorite movie, yes please let's watch it" I said and went to sit down on the couch and he puts the movie in and played it. He walks over to sit next to me and I moved closer to him. We sit and he plays the movie and we watch it. After the movie ended I was in no rush to go back to my dorm. It was about 4pm and we were watching some Nicholas Sparks movie. The only Nicholas Sparks I like and will ever like is The Notebook. I'm not too big on the love stuff. I guess I ended up falling asleep because when my eyes opened it was already dark outside. I look at the time and it was eighty forty. I was laying on Derek's lap and his arm was wrapped around me and he was sleeping with his head leaned back. I sat slowly up and fixed my hair. I look over at him and rub his leg repeatedly until he woke. His eyes slowly opens and he looks at me. "I think I should get back."

"Oh yea" he said and looks back at the TV. "Looks like we both don't like Nicholas Sparks movies" he says and I laugh. I go get my shoes and Derek helps me put them on. Like he literally helps me put them on. Then I grab my bouquet of rose and walked to the door.

"This was nice" I said and he looks at me and smiles. I step up to him and started kissing him and he lets me. He wraps his arms around me then smiles. He opens the door and we walk to his car and he helped me in and we drove back to my dorm. When we arrive I leaned over to kiss him one more time then got out. "Thank you for today."

"You're welcome, did I prove myself?" he asked.

"You did alright" I said laughing then closed the door and walked to my dorm. That night I told Jamie about all that happened and we freaked. My sexy ass coach likes me. That's all I could think about.