Not His

10. I'm Not Your Girl

*Griffin's POV*

"Griffin!" our head coach, Mr. Craft, yelled at me through narrow eyes. "You're playing too deep, what did we just talk about?" he yelled again.

I shook my head a little as I tried to focus on our scrimmage game before practice ended. I took in a deep breath, feeling the late afternoon air fill my lungs, as I repositioned myself before the ball was hiked.

The next thing I knew, practice was over and half the team was already off the field and getting ready to leave. Coach had a brief stern talk with me before I left, but it honestly was all a blur with some vague head nods and apologies on my part.

But I couldn't help it, I was preoccupied with other -dare I say more important, even than football- things.

Haley.

I couldn't get her off my mind, let alone decipher what was wrong. I so badly wanted to talk to her and make sure she's ok, but between her leaving class so quickly and then practice I just never got a chance. I tried to find her after Advanced Algebra (which made me late to the field, another reason Coach had to keep from chewing my head off), but she was already gone before I could even think. I was about to go to her house, but Luke found me first and dragged me to practice.

Now that leaves me with my current dilemma - what about our date tonight?

Did something happen where she can't go?

Does she even want to go with me tonight?

My mind kept racing with questions. By the time I made it home I figured she never called to cancel, so I might as well shower and get ready. At this point all I could do was hope everything was ok.

I glanced over my dashboard before shutting my car's engine off. It was about 4:30, so I had a good half an hour to get ready - not that I needed that much time, though I still wanted to make sure I looked nice for Haley.

***

By the time I pulled up Haley's driveway, it was a few minutes after 5. I was ready earlier, but I had spent a sufficient amount of time pacing my driveway wondering if I should call her first. But that was before I realized I was gonna be late if I didn't leave now, and I definitely didn't want her to think she was being stood up.

I could feel slight moisture beginning to form on my temple and on my palms as I quietly walked to her door. Ringing the doorbell, I was a little taken aback when her mother opened the door. Judging by her distasteful expression, she didn't seem too thrilled to see me either.

"Hi," I said slightly awkwardly before putting on my signature smile as I regained my cool. "Nice to see you again Mrs. Parker."

"Hello," she replied in a polite, if not slightly forced, tone. "Griffin, was it?" At least she remembered me...Though knowing the circumstances of our first encounter, perhaps that's not a good thing.