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Football Dreams

Chapter 5: Going for It

Summary:

Jonathan tries his best to talk with the new girl. His efforts are met with varied results.

Notes:

Wow! Thank you all so much for the huge response to the last chapter. I know it's Monday, but I was really appreciative and wanted to get this next chapter out for you guys to show my thanks :)

Happy reading!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

“Hey Marcus, thanks for saving me a seat,” the girl said, a pretty smile filling her face. She set her purse on the floor and tossed her hair back before sitting next to him.  

 

Clearly and unfortunately she was off limits.

 

But damn, a girl hadn’t made his heart race like this in years. He hadn’t even said a word to her, yet he was picturing a future with her.

 

Should he go for it anyway?

 

“Of course, you know I’d do anything for you,” Marcus said, putting his hand around her shoulder once again. The look on her face was one of pure love and adoration. As an afterthought Marcus glanced over at Jon. “Oh, right, Jon, this is Charlotte. Char, this is Jon Kent, the new football coach.”

 

For the first time, the girl, who apparently was named Charlotte, made eye contact with Jon. And although it seemed impossible, when their eyes connected, it was like the reuniting of old friends. Or like they had met in another life and had just found each other again.

 

Jon had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. If he continued that line of thinking too much longer he might as well throw on a pair of fake glasses and call himself Jordan. The brunette twin was so sappy these days, being totally in love with his girlfriend and all. Most of the time it was nauseating (which Jon pointed out regularly). But deep down, he was genuinely happy for his brother and secretly a little jealous.

 

But that did NOT mean he was allowing himself to follow in his emotional and dorky brother's footsteps.

 

Jonathan Kent was cool, calm, and collected.

 

“Hi I’m Jont.” Seriously? Jont? He was so lame. “I mean I’m Kon.” Jon had never wanted to disappear so badly in his entire life. “Sorry, I’m Jon Kent,” he said, finally getting the words correct after putting some distinct space between his first and last name.

 

Charlotte chuckled.

 

Once again, Jon wanted more than anything to disappear. His big chance to say something suave and cool and he had totally blown it. And now she was laughing at him.

 

“Yes, I know who you are. Marcus just introduced you, remember?”

 

“Right.” Jon knew his face must have been beet red with embarrassment.

 

“It is nice to meet you, though,” Charlotte said, offering a kind smile. When she extended her hand, Jon knew it was out of pity. He had made a fool of himself and she was just trying to be nice.

 

But when Jon took her hand for what he assumed would have been a casual handshake, the electricity between them was indescribable.

 

Charlotte quickly pulled her hand away, completely avoiding eye contact with Jon, meaning she too felt the connection between them.

 

It was time to think.

 

Marcus was clearly a good guy and could possibly even become a friend. But this girl, Charlotte, was the girl of his dreams. Was he a total jerk if he didn’t back down?

 

“So, um, Marcus did you guys order yet,” Charlotte asked, hastily trying to cover the awkward moment.

 

“We did. I ordered your favorite. I’m assuming that’s okay?”

 

She finally relaxed. “Yeah. Thanks, you’re the best.”

 

Alright. So Marcus knew her favorite food. As smaller conversations started up around the table, Jon knew it was time to step up his game.

 

“So Marcus said I’m the new football coach, but what he didn’t mention was that I’m actually the head football coach.”

 

“Oh that’s nice.”

 

“Actually, I’m probably the youngest head coach in the history of the school which means that I’m–” 

 

“No offense, but the fact that you are the head football coach really isn’t that impressive to me.”

 

“It’s not?” Jon deflated. That had been his whole goal. “Well then, what is interesting to you. What’s your job?”

 

“I work in a foster care office. You know, making sure kids are placed in good homes. Important work.”

 

“Well I–”

 

“So Marcus, how is teaching going? What are the new students like.”

 

Quickly and effectively Charlotte had cut Jon out of the conversation. Jon leaned back in his chair. If she wanted to talk about foster care, Jon could have held up his end of the conversation. His mom had done a major story on the problems with foster care in Metropolis a few years back and Jon had helped her with a lot of the research. But Charlotte had dismissed him and no longer assumed he would have anything of substance to say.

 

The rest of the night kind of went the same way. Jon would try to work his way into a conversation with her, but every time she shut him down rather quickly. But oddly, Jon wasn’t deterred. It only made her more interesting to him and he became determined to win her over. As the evening went on, she ignored all of Jon’s efforts until he had struck out so many times that he was surprised Marcus didn’t write FAIL across his forehead.

 

The night slowly wound down and various members of the group made excuses why they needed to leave. Ray didn’t want to keep his pregnant wife out too late and twenty minutes later Ryan had recorded a football game he wanted to watch. But as long as Charlotte was still there, Jon wasn’t going to go anywhere. Soon, it was just Marcus, Jon and Charlotte.

 

Jon had been trying to think of strategies on how to take advantage of the small group when Marcus stepped away to take a phone call. Perfect.

 

“You know, it was really nice to meet you tonight,” Jon began, hoping he could still give off some level of confidence or sophistication. Plus, he knew girls loved compliments.

 

“Yeah, you too,” she answered, not quite meeting his eyes. “Sorry I’m not more into football. You sound very excited though. I’m sure it will be a wonderful opportunity. It must be exciting,” she continued, reverting back to small talk. It was almost like she felt bad about shunning him all night. Jon would take it!

 

“Thanks,” he said with a smile. The comment may have been rhetorical, but it made Jon's heart beat faster just the same. “I am excited for sure, but I’m also worried about–”

 

“Hey guys, bad news. A friend from work is having car problems so I have to go help him out,” Marcus explained, putting on his coat.

 

“But Emmy dropped me off. I thought you were going to take me home,” Charlotte protested.

 

“Well I would, but it’s on the other side of town…Hey Jon, would it be too much trouble for you to take Char home?”

 

“Uh, sure, no problem,” he quickly answered, hoping he didn’t sound too eager.

 

“Great. Thanks. See you at school tomorrow Jon. Bye Char.” Marcus quickly planted a kiss on Charlotte’s head and rushed out the door.

 

Jon looked over at Charlotte, sensing how uncomfortable she was. He may have wanted to get to know her a little better, but getting thrown together like this was not really what he had in mind. But Jon had been raised a gentleman, which is how he would handle the situation.

 

“Well, should we go? I’m sure you want to get home.” 

 

Realizing she didn’t have much of a choice, Charlotte grabbed her purse and jacket and followed Jon outside.

 

Since it had gotten late, there weren’t too many cars in the parking lot and it was easy to see the few that were left. Charlotte hoped Jon would walk towards the nice, dependable looking sedan and was sadly disappointed when his goal seemed to be a vehicle that was the opposite.

 

“This is what you drive? Seriously?” Charlotte usually tried to be a kind person, but she couldn’t hold back judgment when she noticed Jon’s vehicle. It was a large, gaudy, black truck. The cab was so high off the ground that she would need to use the step to get into it.

 

“Yeah, I guess so,” Jon commented. The truck had been his for years and so he didn’t usually think about what it looked like from other people’s perspectives. “I didn’t pick it out or anything, it was a gift.”

 

“You got a truck this expensive as a gift ?” The disbelief in Charlotte’s voice was obvious. “How am I even supposed to get in this thing?”

 

Jon couldn’t help but sigh. Once again, things were not going the way he planned. He reached over and opened the passenger door. Charlotte tried using the handle and step, but she didn’t quite have the height needed. Jon stepped closer to her and on instinct put his hand on her waist.

 

“I’ve got it,” she snapped, clearly not wanting Jon to be any closer than necessary.

 

Afterwards, neither could say exactly what happened. Either Charlotte slipped, or just didn’t have a good grip on the handle, it was hard to say, it just happened so fast. Before either could blink Charlotte had fallen off and Jon had caught her. He was carrying her bridal style and she had one hand wrapped around his neck, the other on his chest. It was a full moon so Jon could see her face perfectly. Instantly he noticed the fine, gentle contour of her face and her delicate cheekbones. Her hair was windswept and framed her face so she looked like an angel. And her eyes were the purest blue, like an ocean. The electricity between them was just as charged as before. So without even thinking Jon leaned closer, desperate for a kiss.

 

“What are you doing,” Charlotte asked in a horrified whisper before he got too close. “Put me down.”

 

“Sorry,” Jon answered, his voice husky. He set her up by the truck and this time did help her inside despite her protests because they did not need a repeat of what just happened. Jon shut the passenger door and walked around to the driver’s side, his mind racing.

 

Was he crazy, or was there actually something between them? And if he pursued it, despite her relationship with Marcus, how much of a jerk did that make him?

 

Jon got into the driver’s seat, much more agile than Charlotte had been. To his credit, he was also more used to the movement required. When he shut the door, he immediately pulled out his phone to set it off to the side. First, he checked his notifications. Basically everything could wait until later, except he wanted to check the text messages from Jordan, as there were several.

 

6:05 PM  How was practice?

 

6:45 I can come over. Do you want to grab some food and tell me how it went?

 

6:47 Never mind. Forest fire. Details later.

 

8:15 Sorry, that took a while. Then there was the tsunami in Japan... All good though. I’m guessing that’s a no on supper. I can still come over though. I want to hear about practice.

 

8:40 Dude . Did I piss you off or something?

 

Jon glanced at the time: 9:10. Crap. No wonder Jordan was upset. Jon had completely ignored him all night. It wasn’t intentional but his mind had been focused on… other things. He quickly texted back: Glad everything’s okay. Thanks for the info. Sorry for the radio silence, I went out for dinner with some people and my phone was on silent. Catch up later in the week?

 

“Um, do you mind? I’d like to get home before midnight,” Charlotte said, pulling Jon out of the conversation.

 

“Sorry, I was just answering a text, since I’m not going to respond while I’m driving,” Jon clarified, before setting his phone aside and turning on the car.

 

“Oh. Well that’s good. Sorry,” she answered, clearly feeling bad for making a hasty judgment. Wanting to cover the awkward moment (how many had that been between them? Fifty?) Charlotte gave Jon the address to her apartment, which wasn’t hard to find and would only be a short drive.

 

Needing to fill the silence, Charlotte decided to try small talk one more time. “Before Marcus left, you were saying that you were worried about something?” The question was sure to get him talking and was something she was genuinely curious about, even though she didn’t want to be.

 

“Oh, Right. I was just going to say I’m worried how the other coaches will respond to me as we go forward with the season. They were pretty hostile today.”

 

“And you want them to like you?”

 

“I mean, that would be nice, but more so, I’m just worried about the players.”

 

“The players?” That had been the last thing Charlotte had expected he would say.

 

“Yeah, if the coaching staff isn’t unified that could have a negative impact on their season. And they don’t deserve that, you know? They’re really great kids and my goal is to help them in any way I can. So if the other coaches can’t get on board I’m just worried that the kids are the ones who will suffer. Sorry, I rambled a bit there.” 

 

“No, it’s okay,” Charlotte said, absently waving her hand. She barely registered that Jon had turned onto her street. “So you’re saying that it’s not really even about football? You’re more worried about the players than yourself or your reputation?”

 

“Well yeah, of course. I’ve always loved football, but getting to coach and actually make a difference in kids’ lives has been incredibly rewarding.” He parked in front of Charlotte’s apartment complex. She unbuckled the seatbelt, but couldn’t take her eyes off Jon.

 

“I didn’t think…I mean I didn’t know that you cared that much.”

 

“Well sure, helping the players is the best part of the job. Whether it’s specifically football related, or just building their confidence my goal is do everything I can to–”

 

She kissed him. There were no other words for it. Charlotte cut off Jon’s explanation by crushing her lips to his. At first he was taken aback, but a moment later it didn’t matter. The power and intensity of the kiss had completely overtaken him. Jon ran a hand through her blonde hair, it was even softer than he had imagined. She put her hands around his neck, drawing him even closer.

 

Eventually Jon registered what was happening and gently pushed her back. “What are you doing,” Jon asked, echoing her earlier sentiment.

 

Charlotte looked away shyly. “Well, I’m not usually so forward, but honestly, I was drawn to you immediately and then after you tried to kiss me, I realized you were attracted to me too. And just now when you were being so sensitive and concerned about your players, I just couldn’t help myself,” she answered, reaching over to take Jon’s hand. He pulled it back. 

 

“But aren’t you forgetting Marcus?”

 

“What about Marcus?”

 

“I mean, if you two are together I don’t want to come between you. I mean I thought about it, sure, but I don’t think I could actually go through with it.”

 

“Hold up, you stopped kissing me because you thought I was dating Marcus?”

 

“Well yeah, he saved you a seat, knew your order, he hugged you.”

 

Charlotte chuckled. She was falling for this boy more and more every second. Realizing what was going on, Charlotte wrapped her hands around Jon’s neck and interlocked her fingers so he couldn’t pull away. “Marcus is my brother.”

 

Jon’s eyes widened as he took in the new information. How had he so completely misread the situation?

 

“Hot damn,” he whispered. This time, Jon pulled her in for the kiss.

Notes:

Yes...some of you were right. Charlotte was always Marcus' sister :)

Thanks again for reading!!