Chapter Ten
Leah
I was deep into an article for one of my marketing classes when Mags and Gemma walked into the apartment.
Predictably, Mags and I had brushed off our spat and kept acting like it hadn’t happened. I got back from my sleepover at Soph’s, and things had been pretty much back to normal since then—meaning I was silently fuming and Mags was oblivious.
I still hadn’t been able to bring myself to speak to my parents, but Mags hadn’t been riding my ass about it, which I appreciated.
She usually kept to herself during basketball season; she was so busy dealing with her team and practices and travel games that she didn’t have the time to be my parents’ mouthpiece.
“The whole thing is bullshit,” Mags said.
I heard her and Gemma dropping their things near the front door, just out of view of where I was sitting.
“They’re just ragging on us because we’re an easy target.
And the person who wrote the article went to one of the schools in our conference, so it’s definitely just a smear piece. It’s whatever.”
“Yeah. I feel bad GJ got thrown under the bus.”
My ears perked up at the mention of GJ’s name, and I immediately tuned in. I couldn’t help it; it was like when I said the word walk around my childhood dog. Despite insisting to Soph that there was nothing going on, I’d been in a total GJ haze since the last time I saw her.
It was entirely casual, though, and in a very cool way. It was the side effect of having unbelievable sex and someone I could reliably text to get it whenever I wanted. That was all it was.
Obviously.
As they rounded the corner and walked into the kitchen, Mags brushed the comment off with her hand. “That’s part of being a captain. She knew what she signed up for. And it’ll only get worse if she gets signed to a team; she’ll have to get used to this level of attention.”
Gemma shrugged. “Doesn’t mean it wasn’t mean.”
“Wait, what happened?” I asked, looking at them from my spot on the couch.
Mags rolled her eyes. “It’s some article in Sports Illustrated. It kind of threw GJ under the bus for us not meeting expectations or whatever. Everyone’s disappointed in us. Everyone misses Theo. Whatever.”
Gemma and I exchanged a small smile. I’d always liked Gemma—she was the quieter half of the duo, and a lot more palatable.
I didn’t know much about her outside of basketball because she didn’t really talk.
Despite being pretty much Mags’s only friend, I found it hard to dislike Gemma purely by association.
She seemed actually really nice. Mags’s high school team was a lot more insufferable comparatively.
I thought back to GJ’s comment about Gemma and Mags having something going on between them.
As I watched them move effortlessly through the kitchen, prepping dinner together in a fluid dance, I could see where she was coming from.
They did spend a lot of time together, too.
But then again, Soph and I were basically obsessed with each other and had sleepovers all the time, and that was earnestly platonic.
But mostly, I just found it hard to believe my sister could ever have romantic feelings for anyone. Or that someone would want her.
Gross.
“So weird how it always comes back to Theo,” I said and Mags threw a look back in my direction that told me I was playing with fire. I put my hands up in surrender. “What else did the article say?”
It was my best attempt at asking what the writer had said about GJ without really asking. Even though there was no reason for either of them to believe I was asking for anything other than gossip, I was nervous that it would be written all over me.
Mags had made it clear she didn’t really care about me or my feelings or my thoughts on anything, but I knew her well enough to guess her Protective Sister radar would immediately go off. She might not want to hear about my dating life, but she was too up my ass to stay away completely.
I was still annoyed with her for the times she used to grill me about her old teammates growing up, always assuming I wanted them because I said their name a little differently one day.
To be fair, some of her teammates had been really cute, and I’d kind of hoped something would line up with one of them eventually. It’d only taken most of my life, but the wait had been worth it; none of the other girls would’ve held a candle to GJ.
“The writer mentioned Anna being our last hope, basically. She said we were good, but it was obvious we were missing something. But the likelihood of all of us getting drafted was low, especially compared to Point Brook. She mentioned most of us by name, but GJ made it into the headline,” Gemma explained.
My stomach knotted with sympathy. “That must be hard.”
“No one brought it up during practice, so I have no idea. I don’t think anyone knew what to say about it.
And GJ and Coach Darlene don’t get along nearly as well as Coach Darlene and Theo got along.
I just know Coach was pissed when she realized GJ was the natural next pick for captain,” Mags said bitterly.
I resisted rolling my eyes. As if Mags had ever been a team player once in her life.
She was the kind of person who would only do well as a captain for a blood-hungry, every-man-for-himself team.
She couldn’t give an uplifting speech to save her life.
GJ was definitely less serious than Theo or Mags, but she was at least charismatic and had a good heart.
I weighed my options, wondering if I should text GJ and check in.
Unwelcome doubts swirled, all sorts of little reminders of the times I’d tried to connect with hookups in the past and completely fallen flat.
The ignored texts, the coldness, the sudden disappearance when they perceived me as trying to make things into something serious.
It didn’t help that basketball season was long. If GJ blew me off now, I couldn’t promise that my feelings wouldn’t be at least a little hurt. And Soph had been right about how badly it would suck to have to see GJ at games if things went south.
But then again, it was casual. This wasn’t anything at all.
There were no promises about the future, no talks about what we could be.
I could text her, and it would be fine. Rejection hurt no matter what, but it didn’t have to be the end of the world.
And if anything, it was probably for the best if things did get cut off—the more time we spent together, the more likely it was that Mags would figure out what was going on.
Fuck it. I wasn’t going to spend my entire life paralyzed in fear over texting someone I wanted to talk to. If GJ didn’t respond, that was her prerogative.
I picked up my phone and drafted out a text. And then deleted it and tried again. And again.
As Gemma and Mags wandered out of the kitchen to head back to her room, I was still staring at the screen.
I bit my lip, reading it over and over. I tried to read it through GJ’s eyes, wondering how she would feel about it, how she would read it.
I rewrote it and then went back to the original version, hoping it sounded casual enough.
Leah
I heard about the article…you okay?
After staring at my phone for what had to have been at least ten minutes, I half-closed my eyes and then finally hit send. After doing it, I tossed my phone across the couch.
I tried to focus on my textbook, but it was useless. I kept looking over, waiting for my phone to vibrate. Waiting for the screen to light up. Anything at all.
And then it did.
GJ
I haven’t been able to bring myself to read it
I brushed off the relief at not only seeing a response from her, but that the typing bubble was still up on my screen.
GJ
Have you read it?
Leah
No, Mags and Gemma were talking about it.
GJ
I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it sooner. It’s making the rounds on social media.
Leah
I had an exam today that took up all of my attention, regrettably couldn’t spend the entire day thinking about basketball
GJ
Not even thinking about me playing basketball?
I put my fingers to my lips that were turned up in a soft smile. The nerves evaporated instantaneously, everything feeling so natural between us. I suddenly felt like an idiot for even having to steel myself—of course, GJ wasn’t going to be an asshole.
Leah
I always have time for that. I even wrote your name down and drew a little heart around it at the top of the paper
GJ
I tend to have that effect
As I was thinking about how to respond, my phone vibrated again.
GJ
Would it be pathetic of me to ask for you to keep me company tonight?
My heart fluttered. If that was a booty call text, it had to be the most vulnerable, sweetest one I’d ever received.
I knew my standards weren’t great to begin with, but even Soph would have to agree—not that I was going to tell her about this.
I’d just have to let her guess I was over there based on where my Find My Friends would be tonight.
Leah
No, never
I’ll be over in a few
As I quickly threw together a bag of my things I’d need for class tomorrow, I’d never been so grateful that I spent at least one night a week at Soph’s so Mags wouldn’t think anything of me slipping out in the late evening.
I was also grateful that GJ happened to live in one of the larger apartment complexes on campus, so I could’ve been seeing anyone if Mags happened to check my location and see I wasn’t with Soph.
Before exiting my bedroom, I stopped in front of my full-length mirror to make sure I looked okay. My outfit wasn’t much, just a blue matching sweat set. My hair wasn’t done, and I had no makeup on. But GJ hadn’t seemed to have an issue with it when she saw me barefaced before.
So for the first time ever, I opted out of putting makeup on to go see someone I was most likely going to have sex with. I still made sure I was wearing cute underwear, though.