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“I’m tired, Eliza. I got no sleep last night and none on the plane. I need to take a nap, maybe shower after, and then, eat. I’ve also got game film to watch and actual studying to do.” Shay then turned her head and noticed Layne standing there.
Her expression was unreadable. Or, maybe it was, but Layne just couldn’t read Shay yet. Eliza was pretty. That much was obvious. She was wearing a dress, and Layne could see that she was holding a flower in one of her hands at her side. It looked like a daisy. Were daisies Shay’s favorite flower? Layne had no clue and, likely, never would, so she gave Shay a straight-lined smile, took in those blue eyes for a quick moment, and unlocked her door.
“Just come inside. I don’t want to do this in the hallway,” Shay said.
Layne made her way into her room, closed the door, locked it, and pressed herself against it, closing her eyes and breathing in deeply. Shay’s ex was probably about to apologize to her. Shay would likely take her back, and they could be having sex in Shay’s room within the next five minutes.
Layne tossed her bag to the floor to deal with later, took off her sweats and hoodie, and fell into her bed in her boy shorts and T-shirt. She was exhausted. She pulled the blanket over her body and tried to fall asleep, thanking God that they didn’t have practice or any team activities for the rest of the day. Rolling over, she remembered to grab her phone and put it on the charger. Just as she closed her eyes, she got a text message and grunted.
Roy: Hey, we’re going to all hang out later, around four, and watch film, if you want to join. Not mandatory. It was Martin’s idea. Downstairs in the multi-purpose room. She reserved it for us.
Layne knew she should go. Not only did she want the team to win, but she also wanted to play as well as she could to help them do that, and watching film had always been the best way for her to break down her own play as well as the other team’s.
Layne: I’ll be there.
Roy: Great. We’re grabbing dinner after that. Not a team dinner, but just us all having dinner together.
Layne had just agreed to watch film, which meant that she had to agree to go to dinner with everyone after. She’d already missed so much with the team, and that had really hit her the previous night when they’d all gone into Martin’s room for a party, and she’d, yet again, hadn’t gone to hang out with her teammates. It was all almost over, and for the first time in her life, Layne was worried that she might have missed out on something that could’ve been good for her. She texted Roy back that she’d be there, too, and closed her eyes again, trying to get a little sleep before she’d shower and go to watch film while she wondered if Shay would need to shower after sex with her now not ex-girlfriend.
CHAPTER 9
“Do you have to check that now?” Eliza asked.
“It’s a text from Martin.”
Eliza sat on Shay’s bed and said, “Martin, who is on the team you can’t seem to get away from for even a second to talk to me.”
Shay read the text and replied that she’d be there to watch film later and that she’d be there for the dinner as well. Then, she sent a second message to be sure.
Shay: Make sure to invite Layne. Don’t be a dick, Martin.
She saw the three bubbles and waited.
Martin: I asked Roy to invite her to both. So, chill.
Shay looked up from her phone and saw Eliza staring at her.
“I’m here. Sorry, it’s team stuff.” She set her phone down on the small table next to her bed.
“I know. It’s always team stuff, Shay. When is it not going to be team stuff? I thought… Honestly, I thought you’d lose that last game. Then, I thought you’d lose this tournament thing, and you didn’t. So now, you’re in another, even bigger one, and it’s just a lot.”
“A lot for who? You? Did you join the team, and I didn’t know, Eliza?”
“Don’t be an asshole, Shay.” Eliza coughed and added, “I thought we’d have more time together before graduation. But with you being in this new thing, you could be gone for a couple of weeks or more, right?”
“If we win a few games, yes.”
“And then it’s what, middle of April? Our finals are mid-May.”
“So, you dumped me over the phone after being together for over a year because we might only have a month together after the tournament before we graduate?”
“I didn’t plan on dumping you, Shay. We were talking. You wanted me to come to a game, but I didn’t want to. I’m sorry. Maybe that makes me a bad girlfriend, but I’m not a big sports person. You knew that when we started dating.”
“You don’t have to be into basketball to watch your girlfriend play in a very important game that could’ve been the last one she ever played in. You know how unlikely it is that I’m going to make the pros, Eliza. And you know how much I love this game. All I asked was for you to be there for me, not for the game itself. My parents… They’re great, but they don’t show up to my games. They don’t want me to make it into the WNBA. They’d much rather I be like my sisters and choose a stable career with a major that goes with it; you know that. And you knew that I wanted you there, but you didn’t show up for me. What am I supposed to do with that?”
“Shay, you know I want to stay here. I’m probably going to find a job, like, twenty minutes away from this campus. I want to be near my family. My brother is about to be a dad. My little sister is only fifteen. I don’t want to move to wherever you get drafted, if you do, and then, maybe, have to move again when you get traded. I just… I don’t think I’m meant to be a pro athlete’s wife. I came here because I wanted to apologize to you.”
“For what?”
