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Aspen disappeared into the bathroom then, so Kendra moved to the bed that she knew was Aspen’s. Aspen had mentioned to her that DJ liked to sleep closer to the bathroom because she got up a lot in the middle of the night, so Aspen got the bed closer to the window when they shared a room. Kendra sat down on the end of it and waited. When Aspen came out, she was wearing a pair of gray sweats and a pink tank top with nothing under it, and Kendra knew that for a fact because she could see her damn nipples. Aspen’s hair was wet and down, and she was running a brush through it.

“So? Food?”

“Sure. Maybe something healthier for you than pizza.”

“I’ll get a salad from wherever we order from. If I’m lucky, they’ll add chicken to it for me.” She sat down next to Kendra on the bed after placing her hairbrush on the desk in front of them. “Want to watch something?”

“On the TV?”

“Or my laptop.”

They hadn’t done that yet, but Kendra suspected they were about to lie down on Aspen’s bed and put the laptop somewhere between them, which would mean they’d have to get extra close together so they could both see.

“I’ll order the food. You set it up,” she said, wanting that closeness.

“How was work?” Aspen asked and stood to pull her computer out of her bag.

“You were there for most of it.”

“You interviewed us for, like, two minutes,” Aspen noted. “I’m assuming that’s not your whole workday.”

“It was fine,” Kendra said. “I had a remote meeting with the HR department about what happened with that producer. They want us to go through more training, even though we didn’t do anything, and he did.”

“The guy that had that affair?” Aspen asked and set her laptop down on the bed.

Kendra moved back to the pillows and leaned against them as she located a close pizza place on her app.

“Yes. The network is being sued. It’s out, too, so if you haven’t seen the news yet, you will soon.”

“Shit.”

“I agree.”

“Hey, um…” Aspen moved to sit down on the side of the bed, facing half toward Kendra and half away from her. “Are there any rules I should know about?”

“Rules?”

“Just, like, with players and stuff.”

Kendra smiled because she knew where Aspen was going with this.

“Like, you as a sideline reporter and players,” Aspen continued to ramble nervously. “You’re not a producer, and the players don’t work for the network.”

“No, there are no overt rules about sideline reporters and athletes since those athletes aren’t employed by the network, like you said. So, while there might be some light gray areas – not even average or dark-gray, because I could end up interviewing someone… I’m dating, maybe, and I’m supposed to be unbiased in my sports reporting – it’s not something that can get me fired.”

Aspen nodded and turned to her fully.

“I was just curious. Did you order the food yet?”

“In the six seconds since I opened the app?” Kendra laughed.

“What? I’m hungry,” Aspen replied and moved to lean back against her own set of pillows before she put the computer on her lap to turn on.

“I’m getting you breadsticks or something. No fatty grease on those. You need something more than a salad.”

“Actually, breadsticks with marinara sound really good right now. Do they have drink options?”

“They have sparkling water. I’ll get you one.”