Page 47 of The Transfer
“Gotta do whatever it takes to impress you.” She laughs as I take the chance to put my arms around her for a hug as well.
“Those fifteen points were nice, but the ten assists and no turnovers…” She does a little chef’s kiss, bringing her fingers in, and all I can think in the moment is how I’d like to kiss her lips.No, you don’t. You can’t.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spy Drew Cole walking up to us. I brace myself, not knowing what he will say. He had more than a few comments directed at me during the game to try to get under my skin. It didn’t work.
“Hart. You played an incredible game, man.” Drew pushes his hand out to shake mine.
“You too, Cole,” I say to him, shaking his hand and letting my body relax. Coach calls for me, and I run off to catch up with my teammates.
Looking over my shoulder, I see her and Cole embrace, and I quickly turn away, instead focusing on my team and our win.
The guys continue celebrating in our locker room, dumping water bottles on Coach and dancing around to “All I Do is Win,” our anthem after each victory. It takes a few minutes, but he finally quiets everyone down.
“This was an incredible performance, men. You showed grit, and you trusted each other. I couldn’t be prouder. I want to give the game ball to one of you. This person has sparked our offense and sharpened our defense. Player of the game…”
The entire team shouts, “HART,” and I am baffled. I know I played well, but to get a game ball for beating a rival is huge! I’m honored. Water is dumped on me from my teammates, and I soak it all in.
“Thank y’all. We did it together, and we are just getting started!” The team erupts in cheers, and the music cranks back up as we shower and change quickly.
I’m lacing my shoes when Williams sits down next to me. “Man, you played a heck of a game tonight. Shut down Cole for the most part,too. I can’t stand Drew.” He gets up and walks away, having said more words in that one exchange than in the entire time I’ve known him.I always knew I liked that guy.
A few minutes later, I walk onto the bus and see Reagan waiting, with an empty seat next to her. I slide in, and she instantly smiles before returning to her Kindle.
“What are you reading tonight, Sunshine?”
One thing I love about Reagan is that she is unapologetically herself, at least with me. “Oh, this is a good one about two enemy families in a war college whose kids fall in love. It has dragons and magic.”
“I’ll have to add that to my TBR,” I say to her, and it gets the surprised reaction that I was hoping for.
“You know what a TBR is?” She’s laughing like she doesn’t believe me.
“I may have had to google it, but yes, To Be Read is in my vocabulary now. You talk about books all the time, so I had to check out all the bookish things.”
Her mouth opens at that statement, and I give myself a mental high five.
“You surprise me, Point Guard. I’m impressed.”
Trying to smoothly change the subject, I blurt out what I’ve been wanting to ask for a while now. “So what’s going on with you and Drew?”
She stills for just a second before answering. “I ended things with Drew a few weeks ago. I wanted to talk to you about it, but we haven’t had a lot of time to ourselves lately, and it felt like a conversation to have in person.”
“Really? Why?” I don’t know what I am trying to achieve by asking this, just curious, and maybe a little bit of a masochist.
She gives a little laugh before giving me words I have been hoping tohear. “I think my feelings for him were just left over from high school. He isn’t who I want to be with now.”
“Is that so?” I give her a cocky grin. But something deep down reminds me that even if she wants to be with me, I’m not sure I can be with her. Not right now.
I don’t get to finish the conversation because the bus comes to a stop, and everyone jumps off, screaming and celebrating with the fans who greet us in the parking lot.
HOOP SQUAD
Carter
I have names to submit for our group chat.
Williams
I thought I deleted this…
