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“Yes, Coach,” they all said in unison, as was their practice.
“So… Pajamas, huh?” Layne asked, looking over at Shay.
“No.” Shay glared at her playfully. “Later.”
“Fine. Fine.”
They all changed out of their uniforms, and it took everything in Shay not to look over at Layne. She’d seen her in her sports bra and those boy shorts Layne always wore hundreds of times now, but this was the first game where they’d changed in the locker room together after becoming a couple, so she’d resisted looking when Layne had changed into her uniform. Shay was determined not to look as she changed back into her street clothes. When she saw Layne in her underwear again, she wanted it to be because they were alone and not because of basketball.
“I want to kiss you,” Layne whispered as they left the locker room.
“Soon, babe,” she whispered back. “But…”
“But what?” Layne asked and stopped walking down the tunnel that would lead them out to the parking lot.
Shay stopped walking and leaned against one side of the wall, indicating that Layne should lean against the other side. They let everyone walk by them, and Shay smiled at her through her mask, knowing Layne could tell.
“What are you not saying?”
“I need to focus on basketball, Layne.”
“I know.”
“I was worried about you not playing tonight, and I lost the ball. It cost us two points. Tonight, it didn’t matter, but in a tight game, it will.”
“Why were you thinking about that? Shay, I don’t need to play. I just want us to win. I trust Coach.”
“I know. So do I. I just had a moment where I was thinking about how hard you’ve been working.”
“Shay…” Layne looked down the tunnel, where two security guards were walking toward them. “Let’s talk when we get back, okay? I don’t want you to worry about me like that. I want you to have the best chance to get drafted. Coach has been right so far, hasn’t she?”
“Yeah, she has.”
“Okay. Then, we’ll trust her. If she thinks the best way for us to win is for me to be out there, I’m out there. If not, I’m on the bench. And that’s okay for me because more wins for us means you could get noticed. That’s what we both want, right?”
Shay nodded as the guards walked by them.
“You weren’t thinking about… breaking up with me, were you?” Layne asked, looking very worried.
“What? No.” Shay took a step toward Layne before remembering that they would be too close and stepped back. “Fuck! I hate this. I want to touch you.”
“We just need to make it through the season. Then, we don’t have to worry about it as much. We can be smart but be together.”
“I know. I just… I want to–”
“Kiss me long and slow?” Layne asked.
Shay nodded and said, “I will, you know? One day. I’m not breaking up with you, Layne. I want this.”
“Okay. Me too. That’s all that matters. Let’s get back to the dorm. We can fall asleep watching something.”
“Yeah,” Shay agreed. “Best we can do, right?”
CHAPTER 24
It was their fourth game, and they were two and one, which was to be expected because the number fifteen team in the country was in their conference, and that had been their third game of the season. Dunbar had only lost by four, so Layne considered that not to be bad. The previous season, they’d lost to them by nine, and the year before, it had been by fourteen. Before that, it had been by fifteen, and her freshman year, they’d lost by twenty-two. So, if they only lost by four this season, that meant they had a chance of winning if they ended up playing them in the conference championship, which they’d avoided last year due to how the brackets had shaken out and a surprising loss by that team to another team in the conference.
Of course, if Dunbar beat them next season, it wouldn’t be with Layne on the bench and Shay on the court anymore, but it would still matter. In this game, they were already in the third quarter. Shay had played really well so far and had scored sixteen. By Layne’s count, she had two rebounds and four assists, along with one steal. Those were solid numbers, and Dunbar was winning by three against a tough team with two very experienced guards and a huge center that was at least three inches taller than Hilton’s five-eleven. Layne’s stat sheet said that the woman was six-two, but she seemed a lot taller than that to Layne from her spot on the bench.
