AllFreeNovel
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“I’m a fan of fresh air, and I don’t get a lot of that in a stuffy hotel room with windows that don’t open.”
Shay chuckled and said, “Yeah, I can understand that. It’s probably also nice to get away from a roommate, huh?”
“Roy’s fine. But, yeah. She talks on the phone a lot and doesn’t go into the hallway like someone I know.” Layne smiled over at Shay.
“I should have just made my roommate put on some headphones or something.”
“I won’t tell anyone, you know? I meant that.”
“I know. It’s the downside of traveling with a team: you hardly get any privacy. You’re either practicing, watching film, having team meals, and doing team study hours, or you’re in your room that you share with someone else. I tend to like some alone time every so often, so long trips like this one aren’t easy for me.”
“You do? You don’t strike me as someone who–”
“What? Likes peace and quiet?” Shay laughed. “I have three sisters. When I was younger, we had a small three-bedroom house, so I shared a room with one of them. The other two had their room, too, but we shared a wall, so even if things were quiet in my room, I could still hear them if they were being annoyingly loud.”
“Three sisters?”
“Yup.”
“Where are you in that?”
“I am the youngest, so I’m the one they all picked on.” Shay laughed again. “My dad got a few promotions while we were younger, and eventually, we all moved into a bigger house. My oldest sister was in college then, so she got the cool bedroom in the basement. The rest of us finally got our own rooms, though. That was important because my other two sisters both had boyfriends, and sometimes, they wanted alone time with those boyfriends when my parents weren’t home. Thank God, they had their own rooms, and I could go into the basement one whenever my oldest sister was away at school.”
“Oh, wow. They were…”
“Yup.” Shay nodded. “Gross, right?”
“Sex?” Layne asked with a higher-pitched voice than she’d planned on using.
“My sisters having it,” Shay clarified as she laughed. “Sex is just fine. I guess it is kind of gross in general, though, if you think about it. A whole lot of fluids.” She glanced over at Layne, who probably had the look of shock on her face. “Sorry. Too much? I’ve only ever been with girls. So, while I can say that it’s still messy – from what I’ve heard from my friends and sisters, it’s like a different kind of messy when you’re with a dude. Sorry. Why are we talking about this again?”
“I have no idea,” Layne answered.
“Anyway, you weren’t at our little room party earlier.”
“No, I was in my own room, taking a shower and trying to get some studying in.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Four years, Layne.”
“What?”
“We’ve been on this team together for four years. We lived down the hall from each other the previous three years and across the hall from one another this year, and I know next to nothing about you. I guess I’m wondering why that is.”
“Oh,” Layne uttered. “I don’t know. I guess I don’t talk much.”
“And the other players on this team don’t know when to shut up?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“It’s what I meant,” Shay replied.
Layne laughed softly and said, “I don’t have a lot to say most of the time. I guess I’m more of a listener and a rule follower, as everyone likes to point out. It doesn’t mean that I don’t want us to win.”
“I didn’t say that.”
