Page 46 of Full Court Crush

Keira walked over to the few picture frames on the mantle. Picking one up, she asked, “Is this your family?”

Amelia sighed. It was an old family photo from a rare trip to the beach, when she and her sister were tweenagers.

“Yeah. That’s them.”

“You and your sister were cute kids,” Keira stated softly.

“Yeah, we were,” Amelia replied, then she left the room towards the kitchen. “Wine?” she shouted.

“What, on a school night?” Keira said with mock shock.

“Like that’s the worst thing we’ve done today.” Amelia scoffed, and then immediately winced, regretting how her words sounded.

“Ouch.”

“That’s not what I meant.” She quickly returned to the living room, carrying two small glasses of red wine. “I just meant, of the two, I think our… earlier activities, would be more scandalous than a small glass of wine. Especially after losing that game.”

“Iamsorry about that.”

Amelia waved off her words, then sat down at one end of the large three-seater sofa, with her back to the armrest and her legs stretched out.

“It wasn’t just you. None of us were playing well. None of us were working as a team.”

Keira sat at the other end of the sofa, sipping her wine before carefully placing it on a coaster.

“I’m sorry things are rough with your parents,” Keira said softly.

Amelia sighed.

“They just…have high expectations.”

Keira slid further towards Amelia on the couch, picking up her socked feet as she did so and resting them on her lap. Amelia froze at the intimate nature of the action, unsure how to react. If Keira noticed, she didn’t let on. Instead, she started massaging Amelia’s feet.

“Oh, my god, that is heavenly.” Amelia rested her head back on the arm of the sofa.

“I figured between basketball and being on your feet all day, you might need it.” Keira laughed, applying particular pressure to the arch of Amelia’s foot.

“Mm-hmm.” Amelia groaned as the tension in her feet eased. She could get used to this.

“So, it’s your family’s fault you’re pathologically perfectionist?” Keira continued.

“Ha, yeah, you could say that. My parents are both doctors, pressured myself and my sister to follow in their footsteps; anything less than the top grade was never enough. You get the gist.”

“So, your sister’s a doctor, too?”

“No,” Amelia said bluntly. Tightness filled her chest as she thought about her sister. The tightness quickly changed into a sharp pain, and a rogue tear escaped.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” Keira stopped her ministrations and placed a comforting hand on Amelia’s lower leg. Amelia sniffed and wiped away the salty tear.

“Sorry, I just don’t usually talk about it. I don’t even know why I’m talking to you about it. You’re just… easy to talk to.” Amelia admitted, her cheeks burning.

Keira comfortingly squeezed her leg, but didn’t say anything else.

“My older sister, Clara, did not cope well with the pressure my parents put on us, and to be honest, I’ve never forgiven them for that. It makes me so angry that my parents were able to drive that wedge between us. They would always hold me up on a pedestal to compare her to, and she resented me for it.”

She sighed. Memories of her and her sister as teenagers, before she started her high school exams, before her grades started slipping, filled her mind. She would tell their parents she was taking Amelia to the library, when instead they’d ride their bikes to the local reservoir and skip stones or build forts. Whenever anyone had a problem with shy Amelia in school, Clara stepped in, and that problem soon went away. But when Amelia, only one academic year behind, started getting better exam grades, something shifted. Her sister didn’t take her out anymore. She barely left her room, other than when she snuck out the window.

A loud rumble brought Amelia back from her reverie, and she realised it was her own stomach.