AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I look like I’m about to tell you that this is a stickup and to give me your wallet,” Shay said.
“You’d need sunglasses and a hat to really pull that off,” Layne suggested. “What do I look like?”
Well, that was a loaded question for Shay to answer because even with that blue bandana around half of her face, Layne still looked good. Shay also knew the real reason she was here. After their impromptu team meeting, she’d gone into her own room and had planned to stay there all night or until Coach gave them further instructions about their next meeting or practice. They’d been told pizza would be on the way since the cafeteria couldn’t prepare enough trays or boxes for everyone and serve what they’d already prepared, and Shay expected to eat her pizza alone in her room. Only that hadn’t happened.
She’d eaten a slice of her pizza and had then begun looking Layne up on the internet. All these years of knowing each other, and she hardly knew anything about the woman. She supposed that she used to know some of Layne’s high school basketball stats, but once it became clear that she and Layne wouldn’t be best friends or, really, vying for the same position, she’d promptly forgotten them. Layne didn’t have much of anything on social media. She had an old Facebook page that hadn’t been updated in a long time and no Twitter or Instagram that Shay could find, anyway. She did, however, have a LinkedIn page already, which was adorable and made Shay realize that she might need one of those soon, too. Then, she’d wanted to see Layne in person and not just on her phone screen, so she’d closed the pizza box to deal with later and walked down the hall. She’d completely forgotten about Coach’s rules until Layne had mentioned them, but she wasn’t worried. She and Layne both felt fine and would be okay.
“What kind of pizza did you get?” Shay asked her, changing the subject.
“I asked for cheese, but I got one with pepperoni and sausage on it, so I’m not super thrilled. One of the reasons I haven’t eaten it. I can just pick them off, though.”
Shay laughed and said, “Hold on.” She stood up, walked down the hall to her own room, grabbed the pizza on her bed, and walked back into Layne’s room. “Here.”
“Your pizza?”
“I ordered pepperoni and sausage, but I got cheese. I just thought Coach got us all cheese.” She set it on the desk and walked over to the bed to sit back down. “I did eat a piece already, though. Want to eat one from mine to even the score?”
“No,” Layne replied with a little chuckle.
“Are you sure? We don’t know if we’re going to be able to go to the cafeteria for breakfast, lunch, or dinner tomorrow.”
“I have snacks here I can live off of until they figure out what they want us to do.”
“I don’t. I ate everything I had before we left. I was going to go to the campus store tomorrow, but I don’t know if Coach wants us shopping right now. I have a bag of white chocolate-covered pretzels I bought at the airport this morning, I guess.”
“You can steal something from here if you want. I bought a Costco membership when I got to Dunbar. Silly for a college student, maybe, but I thought it was smart. I pay for the membership once but get good discounts on stuff all the time. I’d just gone shopping before the conference tournament. I got a whole case of ramen. Well, two cases. They’re in the closet. I have chicken and beef, if you want something. Plus, I got chips and stuff like that, too. Saves me money in the end.”
Shay was getting the impression that money was kind of an issue for Layne, but she didn’t know how to bring it up or if she should.
“Hey, your mom; what does she do for work?”
“Gas station.”
“She…”
“Works at a gas station, yes,” Layne said. “Has for about ten years now.”
“Wow! I don’t know that I know anyone who works at a gas station.”
“She got the job when my dad got sick, and it helped pay some of the bills. Before that, my dad worked, and she mostly stayed home and did some house cleaning part-time whenever we needed the money. She still does that, too. She has a few regular houses that she cleans and picks up others when she can.”
“Your dad?” Shay asked.
“He died when I was fourteen,” Layne replied. “Pancreatic cancer. He was fine. Then, he was suddenly sick. He held on for a couple of years there, but he was in a lot of pain at the end.”
“So, it’s just you and your mom, then?”
“Yup. Against the world,” Layne said with a nod.
“I’m sorry, Layne.”
“I miss him. He’d be really proud of me. My mom is, too, obviously, but my dad was the person who taught me how to play. He coached me as a kid up until he couldn’t anymore, and then I was in high school. I got into other schools, too, but I came here hoping to get a scholarship. Financial aid only covered so much, so I would’ve had to take out a loan wherever I went. Dunbar was a little cheaper than some other schools, and I thought I might have a chance to make the team. Not all of us were heavily recruited.”
“Is there a smirk under that bandana, Layne Stoll?”
“Yes,” Layne admitted with another chuckle.
“Well, it worked out. You got that scholarship.”
