Chapter 5 #2
“Good choice.” Beth pulled a ticket from the case, then reached to remove an actual red lollipop from a stand on the counter. “Here,” she said, handing them both directly to Jess, their fingers brushing. Beth held Jess’s eyes for a moment. “On the house. For luck.”
“Oh, thanks,” Jess said. She stared back at Beth, whose mouth was curling in a smile. Jess’s cheeks flushed as she smiled back. Beth was very pretty. There was no way she was flirting … was there?
She gave Jess the total and fluttered her eyelashes. “Do you want a bag?”
“No, I’m good, thanks.” Jess paid with cash and fumbled trying to put the change back into her wallet.
Beth waited patiently while Jess loaded her purchases into her tote. “You have a great day,” she said, eyes flicking over Jess’s cleavage, then back to her face.
“You too,” Jess stammered, fairly certain that it was flirting.
She left the store with a backward glance at Beth, who was still smiling at her. Jess’s cheeks heated further.
Vivienne had just finished cleaning her windshield. She snapped the wipers back in place and threw out a paper towel. “What?” she said when she saw Jess’s face.
“Nothing.” Jess got into the front seat, coffees carefully balanced, one on top of the other. She busied herself putting the cups in the holders and passing Vivienne her Gatorade, gum, and scratch ticket, willing the flush in her face to fade.
“All right, if you say so.…” Vivienne opened her Gatorade, took a long swallow—Jess braced herself for a complaint about the flavor that didn’t come—and put it in the cupholder in her door. She tucked the gum and ticket in the console, and started the car. “You got that banana bread?”
“Yeah.” Jess handed her a slice from the bundle in her tote.
“Thanks.” She took a bite, then put the car into gear. “It’s yummy.”
“I like to bake.”
They pulled back onto the freeway. “See? This. This is what I’m talking about,” Vivienne mumbled through her next bite, glaring at a semi. “I passed this guy twenty minutes ago.”
“So, pass him again.” Jess took a sip of her French vanilla. As expected, it was both awful and delicious.
“That’s not the point.” Vivienne passed the semi but then groaned when she saw another slowdown ahead. She rested her elbow on the windowsill, head to palm.
Jess got a text from Tania. You surviving?
Jess tilted her phone away from Vivienne, just in case. I suppose. I think I just got hit on.
By Vivienne?
What??? No! Gross. By a hot cashier at the gas station.
Nice! Did you get her number?
Have you ever known me to get anyone’s number?
“Where are they at?” Vivienne interrupted, nodding at Jess’s phone.
“Who?”
“The bus. Isn’t that Tania?”
Tania sent back the wonky-faced emoji.
Jess narrowed her eyes. “Why do you assume I’m texting with Tania? I have other friends. I could have a girlfriend.”
Vivienne hit the brakes as a big, obnoxious pickup truck tried to force its way in front of her. “What the fuck! Merge at the sign, ass.…” She shook her head and took a sip of her coffee. “Do you?”
“Do I what?”
Vivienne sighed like a long-suffering high school English teacher. “Have a girlfriend?”
Jess took a sip of her own, pissed at herself for even bringing it up. “No.”
“So…” The smile was evident in her voice. “Where’s the bus at?”
Jess scowled. “I’ll ask.” Where are you guys?
Just passed Pacific Glade, Tania reported. Traffic is brutal.
Jess relayed the information to Vivienne.
“Ugh. Great.” Vivienne took another swig of coffee. “This is painful.”
Hard agree. “Aren’t you going to have to pee in, like, half an hour after all those liquids?”
Vivienne quirked her eyebrow, then downed another mouthful. “I have a strong bladder.”
“Good for you.” Jess pulled her own piece of banana bread out, careful to eat it over her bag so no crumbs ended up loose in the car. She took only the smallest sip of coffee with it. If she had to pee again before Vivienne, she might be forced to go in her empty cup.
A song that Jess detested came on the radio.
“Ugh, I hate this song.” Vivienne hit a button and switched to the eighties station. “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips filled the air. Vivienne immediately started singing along. She had a lovely voice—gentle and in tune.
Jess kind of wanted to sing too, but she was a terrible singer. She tapped the beat on her thigh instead.
“Sorry, I can’t resist singing this song,” Vivienne explained during a musical interlude. “It’s on the eighties station every ten minutes but I’m not mad about it.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty good,” Jess said in a bored voice, not wanting to admit she also loved it.
The song ended right as they came to a complete stop on the highway. Vivienne made a frustrated noise. “God, at this rate we’re barely going to have time to warm up. Lee and I have the early game.”
Jess held back an eye roll. “Couple minutes of pepper and I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you can still beat everyone without a proper warm-up.”
Vivienne gave her a side-eye. “We need a good warm-up.”
Jess let out a humorless huff. “Not like it even matters if you win or not. You have a six-point cushion.”
“Eight. And it matters.” Vivienne’s voice was crisp.
“It does?”
“Of course it does. Performing our best every match matters.” She said it like she was explaining to a five-year-old.
Jess fiddled with her Gatorade lid. “Well, I’m fucked then.”
There were a few beats of silence, then Vivienne responded. “Your wins will come. You’re just on a cold streak. I really think you—”
“I didn’t ask,” Jess snapped. The words flew out of her. She actually would throw herself from a moving car before she’d listen to Vivienne’s opinion on her losing streak.
“Jesus. Fine.” A car honked behind them. “Asshole,” Vivienne muttered.
Jess thought about apologizing for snapping at her, but the words would not leave her lips.
Even the simplest conversation with Vivienne seemed to go wrong.
So instead, she balled up her sweatshirt against the window again, closed her eyes, breathed in the vanilla, and pretended to sleep for the rest of the trip.