Page 20 of Full Court Crush
“Do you wish there was?” he asked, raising an eyebrow in her direction. His lack of surprise suggested Evie had discussed her incorrect romantic deductions with him.
“No, of course not,” Amelia replied, maybe a little too quickly. “And even if I did…I’m her captain, it wouldn’t be appropriate.” She tried for as neutral and calm tone as possible.
“Sounds like excuses to me,” TJ said, looking over the top of his drink as he sucked on the paper straw. Amelia glared at him.
“So you do want there to be something, but you think you can’t,” Evie said ruminatively, as if Amelia’s love life was some puzzle only she could solve.
“That’s not what I said.” Amelia exhaled frustratedly. “There isn’t anything there.”
“And that’s not what I saw at the meal. You were almost jittery.”
“Maybe you’re imagining things.”
“Mum saw it, too, when she came to rescue you when you got locked in.”
Amelia almost dropped her drink.
“She said you two looked very cosy when she arrived,” Evie added.
Fear engulfed Amelia like a cornered animal. Michelle had seen them? Her stomach sank. There hadn’t been anything to see, had there? They were just teammates supporting each other. An image of Keira flashed into her mind. How vulnerable she’d looked when talking about her dad. How warm her hand had felt on Amelia’s back. Amelia’s body shook with a shiver.
She ran her entire life by rules and schedules, jam-packed, so she didn’t have time to think, or sleep, or eat sometimes. It kept her anxiety at bay, though her therapist had said it wasn’t the healthiest coping mechanism, and helped her feel in control. She was always in control of everything. Except this.
She looked up, and Evie and TJ were watching her expectantly.
“Can we talk about something else? How do you guys think Sienna is settling in?” Amelia almost gave herself whiplash from the change of topic. Evie leant back in her chair with a huff.
The conversation flowed from Sienna to rookies in general, to Amelia asking TJ about the rookie prospects on his men’s team. She let his excited monologue wash over her, and stubbornly avoided Evie’s perceptive gaze. Before long, TJ had drained his drink and run out of steam, and excused himself to the bathroom. He was barely out of earshot when Evie leant forward again.
“You’re kidding yourself if you don’t think there is something there,” she said quietly. Amelia didn’t meet her eyes. Her best friend was nothing if not perceptive. And persistent.
“Maybe I find her novelty…distracting,” Amelia offered, leaning back with a sigh. “Maybe…I just need to get laid.”
“You never just ‘get laid’.” Evie scoffed. “Have you ever even had a one-night stand?”
Amelia blushed. “No.”
“That’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I’m just saying, that’s probably not the solution.”
“I know.”
But, the problem was, she had no idea what the solution actually was. The more time she spent with Keira, the more her body and mind responded. Just her presence distracted Amelia from basketball and her duties as captain, and there was seemingly nothing she could do about it.
“Nothing can happen,” Amelia stated, sitting back up and picking up her iced tea. Taking a sip, the cold liquid steeled her resolve. She put it back down like a judge’s gavel.
“If you say so.” Evie rolled her eyes again. “Other people have done it, though. Dated teammates. It can work.”
“It can also explode in your face,” Amelia countered. “The team has worked too hard to get to this point for me to risk that.” Amelia thought once more of how Keira was depending on the team. Asha, too, relied on the income. She couldn’t put her own desires before their basic needs.
Evie held up her hands, palms out, and gave a dip of her head, seeming to concede the point.
The pair sat and drank in silence for a few moments. Amelia didn’t dare to speak more on the subject, in case words and feelings that she didn’t intend to share came tumbling out.
“I’m just saying, when you said you’d bumped into an attractive woman on your run—“
“Don’t,” Amelia warned, glaring.
Arriving back at the table, TJ looked between her and Evie the way a referee might look between two fencers in a bout. Amelia dropped her eyes to her cake.