Chapter Thirty-Three
“CAN I KISS you?”
Sammie couldn’t focus on anything else around her. Not after Kieran asked his question. All the lights, all the people, it all faded to the background.
He was asking to break her one rule.
No kissing on camera.
The ball was in Sammie’s court now. She got to choose.
The man she’d thought herself in love with for the last decade was asking her to kiss him in front of more cameras than she’d ever seen in one room, after finally, finally telling her that she wasn’t alone.
That she wasn’t the only one who had felt something flare to life between them over the last two months.
Sammie had thought she’d loved Kieran at sixteen, when he’d first broken her heart.
She thought she had loved him at twenty-three, when he’d let her cry in a park on one of the worst days of her life.
She thought she had loved him at twenty-six, under the blinking fluorescent lights of a quiet diner.
And she thought she had loved him two weeks earlier, when she’d chosen to walk away before something in her broke beyond repair.
Sammie had never loved him more than she did in this moment, when he offered to break the rules for her.
“Yes,” she whispered, and that was all it took. Kieran’s mouth was on hers, and bulbs were flashing around them. Proof etched into countless pictures. Proof that all the years of waiting and hoping had been worth it, because they had all led to this.
Sammie kissed him back, smiling against his teeth, and he was smiling too.
Kieran laughed against her, hauling her up into the air.
Sammie wrapped her legs around his waist as he twirled them around and around.
She kissed his nose, his forehead, his cheeks, both of the small dimples just above the line of his beard.
There was nothing for them to hide behind. No screens, no tilted ball cap. No clever framing or carefully cropped angles.
It was just Sammie and Kieran, with the whole world watching them fall a little more in love.
The moment passed quickly, and before Sammie could fully pull herself back to reality the rest of the team was there, tugging at Kieran, pulling him away from her.
“I’ll find you after,” Kieran yelled back at her as Atticus bounced into view, slapping his captain on the back before pulling him into a crushing embrace.
Sammie watched as they broke apart, as her brother said something that had Kieran smiling bright through a fierce blush.
Then they were lifting Eric, who had indeed been named MVP, into the air, setting off another round of riotous cheers from on and off the court alike.
“Come on.” Kai was suddenly at her side, tugging on her sleeve. He was smiling softly as he watched the players gather round, as Eric hefted the trophy high into the air. “Let’s let our guys have their moment.”
Sammie laughed, hooking an arm around his shoulders. “They did good, didn’t they?”
Kai chuckled, the sound vibrating through her hold on him. “They did. Now they’ll just have to do it all again next season.”
As they left the court, heading toward where Ivy still stood close to the benches, now jumping up and down gleefully as she watched them approach, Sammie thought that maybe, just maybe, they were all only getting started.
Chicago Wildcats Group Chat
Bowen: Captain has a giiiiirlfriendddd
Aaron: And you still don’t.
Bowen: How dARE YOU
Kieran: :D:D
Eric: OH SHIT HE USES EMOJIS NOW
Atticus: Kieran, blink twice if you need help
Kieran: ;D;D
Atticus: Ew
Atticus: Never mind
Coach Rodriguez: The season is over, I *will* disable this chat in the interim, do not test me.
Ivy: hahaha yall are in trouble!
Coach Rodriguez: Not Kieran, since he delivered that contract I’ve been waiting for to my desk this morning.
Kieran: Sorry it took so long.
Bowen: CAP IS BACK NEXT YEAR CAN I GET A HELL YEAH
Eric: HELL
Aaron: Yeah.
Atticus: Brutal, good job A
Aaron: Gotta keep ‘em humble.
Bowen: I hate every single one of you
~
Ivy: so
Ivy: sooooooo
Ivy: SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Sammie: So what?
Ivy: SO HOW ARE THINGS
Ivy: I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU SINCE WE LEFT LA
Sammie: It’s been like
Sammie: Three days
Ivy: three days that a little birdie told me you’ve spent NOT in your own apartment
Sammie: Who’s been squeaking?
Ivy: nobody, i just figured, and you just confirmed it tee hee
Sammie: Oh
Sammie: Good one
Ivy: i know, right?
Ivy: SOOOOOOOOOO
Sammie: So have you DMed his cousin yet?
Ivy: wait
Ivy: what
Ivy: WHAT
Sammie: That player you’ve been crushing on, Kenna?
Sammie: She’s Kieran’s cousin
Ivy: well goddamn
Ivy: small world
Sammie: And the venn diagram of volleyball players and queers is slowly but surely turning into a circle
Ivy: hell yeah, love that for me
Ivy: does that mean she’ll be helping out at your place this weekend????????
Sammie: Sadly, no
Sammie: Kenna went back to Louisville a week ago
Sammie: You won’t get to see those muscles working up close yet
Ivy: TERRIBLE news
Sammie: You’re still coming though?
Ivy: of course!!! we all promised kieran we’d come help get that place whipped into shape for you!
Ivy: besides, i’ve got your back sammie
Ivy: forever and always :D
Sammie: Thanks girl
Sammie: I’d be lost without you
Ivy: you’d be fine
Ivy: probably
Ivy: maybe
Ivy: but i appreciate the sentiment :D
Ivy: see you saturday!