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“We’re playing Virginia. They’re a four. If we can beat a five, we can beat a four,” Shay suggested.
“Yeah,” Layne agreed. “Can I talk to you about something else?”
“Sure.”
“What are you going to do at the end of all this? The draft is, like, a week after the tournament ends.”
“Yeah, I am well aware of that fact.”
“And do you think it’s going to happen?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never exactly thought I’d go in the first round, you know? A few teams have been sniffing around, but I don’t know if that means anything, really.”
“You scored twenty-two points tonight on a five seed and averaged sixteen this season.”
“You checking out my stats, Stoll?” Shay teased.
“I always know your stats. You’re averaging four rebounds, five assists, two steals, and you’re playing a ridiculous number of minutes.”
“Well, all that matters is that they see me play and pick me, right?” Shay asked.
“And if they don’t?”
“Did my mom call you and ask you to get this info from me?”
Layne chuckled and said, “No. Why would your mom call me?”
“Because I told her all about you, obviously.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. You didn’t tell your mom about us?”
“A little, I guess. But she was sick, and then she was back at work and tired a lot, so I kind of just let her deal with getting better all the way. The first time I brought up that I had a girlfriend, she started talking about how she wanted to go back to cleaning houses – like, at the same time, same sentence and everything – so I’m not sure she actually heard me because then, I was yelling at her for suggesting the house thing again. And the next time I told her I had a girlfriend, she was interested in getting to know you, but I told her it would have to wait until the end of the season, at least. Then, we broke up, so it didn’t matter. What did you tell your mom about us?”
“That we were together. Things about you that I like; that kind of a thing.”
“What specifically?” Layne teased.
“Fishing for a compliment now?”
“I guess I hadn’t realized your mom knew all of that. Maybe that we were together, I guess.”
“You realize we dated for like a year, right?”
“Huh?”
“Not officially, obviously, but from the conference championship last year when I kissed you and you clearly kissed me back, until you got sick around the same time. That was about a year, Layne. And I know we didn’t call it what it was until we both got back to school, but it was a year.”
“Yeah, I guess it really was.”
“So, I told my mom, my dad, my sisters. I even sent those idiots pictures of you because they kept asking. Do you know that because of fucking COVID, we don’t even have any pictures of us together unless we’re in uniform and around other people?”
“God, I guess we don’t, do we?”
Shay shook her head and said, “We had most of our relationship with you in one room and me down the hall. Unless you count the times I screenshotted us on FaceTime with both of us in the picture, there’s not a single picture. Hell, we’ve only kissed once, but–” Shay stopped.
“What?”
