Page 53 of On Merit Alone
“Um, an accident?” I said sarcastically.
They all looked at me knowingly, Rogers hiding his smile in hishand as he sat the furthest away, silent but not quiet in his expressions.
“Whatever,” I grumbled, lowering my voice and turning my head. Merit may have been deep in conversation with Ryan and oblivious to our conversation across the table, but her teammates weren’t. They were all either uninterestedly tapping away on their phones, talking to each other, or staring at me. “She’s already sitting next to somebody, so.”
“You really need to get that green monster checked out, man,” Troy said. “She’s talking to heragent.”
“Whatever!” I said again, giving him a glare but ultimately returning my eyes to Merit’s profile. Her beautiful brown skin was glowing in the light of the room, her shoulders relaxed and comfortable as she talked to the man beside her, her eyes sharp and intense like they always were. Never one to be caught with her guard down, that one.
As if she felt me staring at her, Merit flicked her eyes over and caught my own. Her words paused for just a second as she registered me, and I didn’t imagine the blow to my ego as I realized she was just now noticing I was here. Tipping my chin up in acknowledgment, I waited only until she dipped hers in the same before looking away “casually.” There was nothing casual about the way I was drumming my fingers against my thighs. Annoyed and anxious to know what was so important about her little conversation over there.
Good thing my friends' ridiculous asses were there to distract me as they made their amusement over my “smooth moves” known. I glared at them, but my heart wasn’t in it as my eyes slipped back to Merit in my periphery, seeing that she was now turned more toward Ryan in a more serious conversation. A conversation that had me reading the words “why” and “him” on her lips.
Just great.
The door to the meeting room swung open and in walked a team of women dressed in business casual with portfolios in their hands. Ryan got up and greeted them with handshakes. The handshakes continued as they were distributed to the respective head coaches and other officials in the room. Across the table, I could feel Merit’s eyes on me, but by the time I moved mine to find her again, she was looking over her shoulder as her teammates whispered in her ear.
Seconds later, our attention was grasped by one of the women up front.
“Welcome, players! I want to thank you guys very much for taking the time to meet with us today. We know you all are busy, so we won’t take up too much of your time,” she started. “My name is Gloria, and I am a liaison with the HHYW Foundation. That’s Help How You Want, a nonprofit events organization that specializes in fundraisers, charity events, and other philanthropic organizing to bring awareness and funding to causes of our client's choosing. The Mountaineer Stadium directors have brought us onboard to work on a small charity series here to raise some money for a worthy cause. Your coaches and support staff have nominated you all as good candidates to participate in an event like this, but obviously none of it is mandatory. We will be passing around consent forms later, and once we go over the agenda, you can decide if this is something you want to be a part of. Deal?”
A series of varied grunts and hums of agreement went around the room, mine being one of them.
“Right, so.” The woman clapped animatedly as if to say, ‘let’s get this show on the road.’“The event series we had in mind is a simple one. Two large events with tons of exposure and awareness. This meanswetake care of the organization and you all take care of showing up and doing what you do best. Being basketball players. The two events we’re interested in are a friendly charity game and a gala to either precede or follow it. And the winner of the game getsto choose what foundation the proceeds of these events go to. It’s honestly as simple as that. Any additional participation, like posting to social media and outside fundraising, is encouraged but not required, of course.”
I felt my bottom lip poke out as I nodded. That wasn’t anything too taxing, and if it was for a greater cause, then I was down to support it. Glancing around the room it seemed like just about everyone agreed. And if they didn’t, they’d probably wait until after the meeting to say so.
“Okay, I see some nods around the room, so that’s great!” she said. “Obviously, you guys are welcome to choose your own teams. We just need that information ahead of time. I think it would be fun to choose a team coach for each side as well. Um, let’s see. The date of the game will be late summer, near when the women have a break in their schedules. And speaking of our ladies! We’ll have you girls commentating while the boys are playing.”
Again, heads nodded all around the room. Or at least half of the room. On the other side, full heads of hair whipped around to look at one another in confusion, all turning to Merit as they whispered something down the line at her.
A throat cleared and I wasn’t surprised to hear it was Merit’s. “Um, excuse me for interrupting, but why exactly isn’t my team playing?”
“Um?” Gloria looked confused, like she had no answer. “Because the men’s team is.”
Merit flipped a look to her teammates and back to the woman in front of us. “Yes, but we’reallbasketball players. Don’t you think we shouldallplay in the charitybasketballgame?”
“You want to have two basketball games?” Gloria chirped, obviously not getting it.
I visibly saw Merit become rigid. Her jaw tightened, and her face hardened, all accompanied by the fact that she only answered in a clipped, “No.”
“Then what? I don’t get it.”
I could just tell by the large breath Merit took in that whatever she was going to say wasn’t going to be good. Without thinking, I leaned forward, tapping my hand on the table in front of us gently. Hoping to stall her while silently letting her know I was going to interrupt. “I think what she means is, we should all play. Since we’re all players, you know?”
The room descended into silence for a few seconds before more noise than ever ensued.
“You want us to play a bunch of girls?”
“That’s a recipe for disaster!”
“Someone will get hurt.”
“Who would pay to watch that?”
And much more.
To my guys, I shot a warning glare that I hoped said something along the lines of‘please stop being so ignorant.’Across the room, Merit just leaned back in her chair, her arms crossing her chest as she doubled down on her stance. She wanted to play. With us, against us—whatever it took, she was down for the challenge.
