Page 23 of Full Court Love
Sasha might as well have steam coming out of her head now. To her credit, the smile is still there. But now, rather than any sort of charming, it is more akin to the smile of a shark before it rips your arm off–I would imagine. Thankfully, I’ve never found myself face-to-face with a shark.
Until this moment, apparently.
I pull Lucy toward the door and can’t help but turn back for one more delicious moment. “It was so nice to meet you,umm—” I snap my fingers like I’m trying to remember her name.
“Sasha.” She spits it at me this time.
“Gah, that’s right. Nice to meet you.”
We stroll down the sidewalk, my arm still over Lucy’s shoulders. When we get out of view of the store, Lucy stops abruptly and throws her arms around me, nuzzling her face into my neck. When she looks up at me, her doe eyes have tears threatening to make an appearance, but her expression is one of pure relief.
“I don’t know if I will ever be able to thank you enough for that.”
I just chuckle. “Please tell me she deserved that. ’Cause if not, I’m going to feel like a huge asshole. But also, I’ve heard enough about her, and the way she spoke to you…yeah, I wasn’t going to let that slide.”
We keep walking–or in Lucy’s case, floating. She chooses her words carefully as we crunch over the fallen leaves.
“In short, yes, it was pretty well-deserved. Sasha is…”
Shaking her head, she looks up at the sky. After a long pause, she explains.
“Sorry. It’s just … I don’t want to judge her unfairly. Or talk crap about her. Especially because you’re new and deserve to form your own opinions about people. Plus, she’s my teammate.”
I nod. “All of that is fair. But now tell me the truth.”
She gives me a sideways look and smirks. I know she’s holding out. “I will just say this: Sasha is the type of person to act insanely supportive or buddy-buddy in public. On social media or when we go out, you would guess that we are the best of friends. But behind closed doors… the tune changes drastically.”
I mull this over as we walk. There’s more to the story that she isn’t saying.
“So, what did she do to you?”
“Why do you assume she did something to me personally?”
Now I need to be careful with my words. “I know I don’t know you that well, but I’ve never seen you react to someone the way you reacted to her. It was like your fight-or-flight response was kicking in. I could almost feel how nervous you were to have her see us together.”
Glancing over to ensure my words landed okay, I see Lucy biting her lip. I know now isn’t the time, but damn if that isn’t super-hot. I want to run my finger over her lip and then bite it softly myself. My blood is pumping a little harder now, and only Lucy’s troubled tone snaps me out of my fantasy.
“We were roommates freshman year. I genuinely thought we were friends. I told her all about my dad dying and how difficult that whole time was.”
Her voice catches.
“But I was playing a lot, and she was riding the bench. I guess this was enough for her to turn on me. I was walking back to our room one day after class and I heard her talking to a couple of our teammates about how bad she felt for me. She said I was a huge suck-up and that’s the only reason I played, and it’s so embarrassing that I’m that desperate.”
A tear falls down her cheek. I realize my arm isn’t on her shoulders anymore, so I grab her hand and squeeze. She continues.
“She also blamed me for our losses, called me selfish…there was a lot. That’s when the passive-aggressive comments at practice began, too. I hadn’t had an anxiety attack since the months after my dad died, but they started happening again. I was terrified that if I messed up, the whole team would turn against me and I’d lose my scholarship. As a freshman, you don’t quite feel like you belong yet anyway.”
At this point, I feel Lucy’s hand shaking in mine. Or maybe I’m the one shaking. My jaw is clenched so hard, I might crack a tooth.
Who does Sasha think she is?
Lucy laughs bitterly. “I wish I was tougher and could let things like this just roll off my back. But when I walk into a room of my teammates and everyone abruptly goes silent, it’s hard not to start panicking.”
Damn, girls are brutal.
“I started meeting with a therapist and a sports psychologist. That was a game-changer for me. That experience set me on the path to pursue a degree in sports psychology. I want to help other athletes the way I was helped.” This thought finally helps her crack a small smile. “Since then, I’ve had teammates start sticking up for me. They’ve even offered to tell our coach, but I don’t want to be at the center of drama. I doubt my coach could even do anything anyway. I mean, you can’t bite the hand that feeds you.” She slaps her palm over her mouth. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Lucy, relax. I know she’s only on the team because her parents are donors. It’s like the school’s worst-kept secret.”