Page 38 of Full Court Crush

“I’m not an invalid, and I don’t need a babysitter,” he said, voice filled with exasperation.

“But—”

“No buts. I’m a grown man, Keira. You needn’t fret so much. Surely you have better things to do.”

She sighed.

“I just worry.”

“I know, sweetheart, but I’ll be fine. I promise I’ll tell you if I need help, okay?”

“Okay,” she said, resigned to being forced to the sidelines. She had tried to give him more space, but it clearly hadn’t been enough.

“You should be out there, enjoying your life, not stuck in here with me. Go to some wild parties or a club crawl, or whatever you kids do these days.”

“I’m not twenty-one anymore, Dad. Bit old for that sort of thing.”

Her father scoffed and waved his hand towards the board. She put the bishop, now hanging in mid-air, back down on it's original square. She couldn’t remember where on the board she had planned to put it. Her dad wasn’t due any appointments soon since his last round of treatment had concluded recently. He’d had a blood test a few days ago. Was that it? Was there something else wrong? The oncologist would call if it was cancer related, though, not the GP, surely?

“Earth to Keira?” Her dad once again waved at the board.

“Sorry,” she said, trying to see where she’d planned to put the bishop. Eventually, she just had to guess and placed it down, threatening his queen. He moved his queen out of the line of fire and used it to put her into check.

“Oh,” she said simply. Her father chuckled.

A few moves later, her father had successfully pinned her king near the corner and checkmated her.

“Want to go again?” He spun the board around and began setting up the pieces. Keira checked the time on her phone and saw a few notifications from Amelia.

“I can’t, sorry, I’ve got to leave for the game soon.”

“Of course. I’ll happily beat you another time.” He grinned, continuing to place his pawns in a row.

“Whatever, old man. I’ll get you when you least expect it.” Keira said, chuckled, and stood up, trying to remember where she’d left her basketball bag.

“I’d like to see you try!” he called to her retreating back as she entered the hallway.

She walked up the stairs, checking her phone as she did so. Amelia had sent her a couple of funny basketball memes. This was new, since the team trip to Winter Wonderland. They’d texted before, but usually about training times or game plans or team meetings. This casual communication outside of basketball was bittersweet. Keira was happy Amelia thought of her, but each text reminded her Amelia was off-limits. That didn’t stop her replying though. She found the perfect GIF to send in response.

Her bag was on the desk chair, probably still full of smelly kit she forgot to wash. She grabbed a clean change of clothes from her drawers and shoved them in the bag, along with the towel off the back of the chair. She then rummaged around a pile of dirty washing for her Blizzards hoodie and put it on. She’d need the extra layers before stepping out into the bracing cold. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she sat down on the bed to check it.

I forgot to send you this the other day.

A picture message came through; the selfie they had taken at the Winter Wonderland. Keira could still feel the warmth of Amelia’s body pressed against her on the Ferris wheel. Her whole body had felt like it was vibrating any time she went anywhere near Amelia after that, like something interfering with a radio transmission. She could have sworn, more than once, she caught Amelia watching her out of the corner of her eye, with an expression something like wistfulness.

Her dad sneezed downstairs, making her jump and drawing her back to the present. What if his phone call had been a prelude to bad news? The knot in her chest tightened, and she mentally kicked herself. How had she allowed herself to get distracted by someone off-limits when her dad was in the biggest fight of his life? A fightforhis life? By the time she’d run through a few dozen worst-case scenarios, she was running late for the game.

Bounding down the stairs two at a time, bag on her shoulder, she shoved her feet into her trainers and gave her dad a hurried half-hug.

“I’m off, bye!” she said.

Her dad chuckled when, a few seconds later, she crashed back into the house to grab her keys and her water bottle, which had stood forgotten on the top of the bookcase turned shoe rack.

Amelia

Amelia kept glancing at the clock in between her warmup shots. There were currently only ten players on the court, and she was starting to worry. Keira had replied to Amelia’s texts that morning, so she couldn’t have fallen off the face of the earth. She did have a history of cutting it fine, time-wise. But she’d never actually beenlate. Especially on game day. Amelia just hoped she got here before the official player introductions. With Evie still injured, they couldn’t afford for Keira to not turn up.

The doors to the sports hall burst open and Keira came tumbling through, hair slightly messy and bag clinging on to her shoulder for dear life. She muttered some quick apologies to Coach Grant and TJ, dumped her bag by the bench, and grabbed a ball. She dribbled to the same side of the basket as Amelia. Amelia tried to catch her eye, but Keira kept looking away.Or maybe you’re just imagining things. Determined to focus, she put up another shot.