I Get A Kick Out of You

Chapter 1

Her coffee was cold by now, but she was used to it. Whenever she goes to the café in the morning, she hardly ever finishes the drinks she buys. It's not because she doesn't like them, but it's because she's simply too busy to even remember having the coffee. Her name was in high demand in the writing industry and she had a deadline for her next highly anticipated book. Cassie Edgerton was deemed 'the female Stephen King' and even Stephen King himself approved of that.

At the moment, though, she wasn't focused on deadlines and didn't care about her cold coffee. There was something in her life that was much more important than her books and money and pretty great labels. That something was running towards her with a wide grin just a few minutes after the school bell rang. That something was her eleven year old son, Ethan.

"Hi, mom!" He shouted as he ran over to her. "Hey, troublemaker," she said as he hugged her. "How was school?" Just as she opened the car door for him, he backed up a bit with a shy look on his face. Cassie sighed and put her hands on her hips. "What?" She asked.

"Don't be mad," he told her, "but I kind of forgot that basketball tryouts were today..." Cassie sighed with a smile and shook her head. "Let me guess," she said, "you don't have your shorts, shirt or a basketball?" The smile he gave her was one he's given her a million times. "I'll go get them and meet you in the gym."

He happily jumped and thanked her, before running to the gym. She made her way home and found his basketball attire in a few minutes. She was back at the school in no time and made her way into the gym where the boys were talking and practicing shooting the ball. Thankfully, the actual tryouts hadn't started yet. Ethan got his stuff from her and ran to go change.

There were very few parents in the gym, which made Cassie a bit sad. It was probably because she was so involved with her son and his activities and interests that she couldn't imagine not being there to support him. So, she found a spot on in the bleachers and pulled out a book she smartly grabbed on the way out.

By the time Ethan was done changing and handed his school clothes over to his mom, tryouts were starting. Every once in a while, Cassie would look up and see Ethan being the natural athlete he is. He was great at every sport and made it look easy to play. There hasn't been a single team who's denied him. They'd be stupid to.

About half an hour into the tryouts, the gym doors opened loudly and disrupted Cassie from her reading. She looked to see a man guiding his scared looking son inside. The kid kept shaking his head and was making the dad basically push him. They eventually got to the bleachers and Cassie could hear the man say in a British accent, "This will be good for you. Go out there and have some fun, alright? I love you."

He kissed his son's head, then tied the boy's shoes before watching him go out on the court. Cassie averted her eyes back to her book and got into the story again, but then felt like someone was looking at her. She glanced over to see the man slowly making his way over to her. "Um, hi," he shyly said. "Sorry, I don't mean to disrupt your reading. You just seem like the only approachable parent here."

Cassie looked to the few other parents who were either engrossed in their phones or looked like they really could not be bothered. "You're not disrupting," she kindly told him. "My son forgot to tell me tryouts were today and this is all I could think of that might entertain me. I'm Cassie." She held out her hand and he gently took it as he sat down next to her.

"Benedict, but please call me Ben," he introduced. "I'm in a similar situation with my son. He forgot to tell me that this was today because he didn't want me to find out. We just moved here from London and he's been having a difficult time making friends. The wife and I agreed he should join sports to change that."