Page 38

THEO

My parents had never met anyone I’d dated before, mostly because I’d never had a girlfriend.

There was always basketball to worry about.

If I didn’t have time to make it to parties, I definitely didn’t have the time to maintain any kind of stable, consistent relationship.

And more than anything, I didn’t really want to.

There was no point in them meeting anyone if I didn’t like them enough to make the time for them between practices and games.

But because the universe had a sick sense of humor, they were meeting the girl I was in a super unclear, very public, not-quite-relationship with.

“Hey,” I said, stepping away from Maya. It took me a second to even process that they were here.

The embarrassment of feeling like I was just caught fooling around with someone by my parents came first; then, came the realization that they were standing in front of me.

I walked over to them, pulling both of my parents into a family hug.

They were both about my height, so it was easy to pull them together.

“What are you guys doing here? When did you get here? ”

“We flew in last night. We weren’t going to miss you breaking your record,” Mom said.

“We’re hands off with you, but not that hands off,” Dad joked.

My parents had always struggled a little bit with finding the sweet spot between supporting me and being there for me, and giving me the independence I liked.

I’d always been someone capable of figuring most of my own shit out.

I kept myself motivated when it came to playing, and kept up my grades so I would never have to sit out.

My parents didn’t have to do much with me.

If anything, they probably wished I would do less.

“We wanted to surprise you but I guess you also have a surprise for us.” Mom glanced over at Maya, who was talking to Iris and looking just about anywhere but my family.

“It’s…”

“You didn’t want to tell us you had a girlfriend?” Mom asked, dropping her voice so she didn’t completely embarrass me.

I scratched my neck. “Um.”

She shook her head, her round cheeks lifting with her smile. “Always keeping us on our toes. Do we get to meet her, or are you going to insist on keeping her a secret from us from ten feet away?”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” I said, the gentlest way I could think of to say no to them.

I was not emotionally prepared for anything of that sort.

If anything, I was still trying to catch up from the fact that I’d very publicly kissed Maya on the cheek without thinking about how there were literally thousands of people around us.

“Oh, is this one of those, like, situation-things. You know?” Dad looked at my mom for help. “Like, the casual…I can’t remember the name. Seeing each other but not putting a label on it. The kids are doing it these days. No one wants to be serious.”

“I’m going to be sick,” I said.

“She’s pretty,” Mom said.

“She is,” I agreed.

Mom stood in place for a moment before leaning forward and pulling me into another hug. “I missed you, sweetie.”

“I missed you, too,” I said.

She stepped away again. “Can we catch you at some point tonight? We’ll buy you a drink to celebrate your record.”

“Yeah, that sounds great. I gotta meet up with the team and shower but I’ll find you before we have our team dinner.”

“Okay,” Mom said and looked over at Maya. “It was nice to meet you.”

Maya waved back, her cheeks red. I wanted to dig myself a hole and hide in it. This was the exact opposite of cool and casual. I couldn’t think of a faster way to scare off someone who didn’t do commitment like a run-in with parents.

“I’ll find you in a little bit,” I said to my parents and then hurried to meet my team, who were all waiting for me.

Fortunately, they were being patient with me, most likely because of the new record.

They’d also been celebrating just as hard as I had, every success of mine feeling like a success for the entire team .

I glanced back at Maya before walking through the tunnel and mouthed, Sorry . Maya smiled: It’s okay .

As GJ threw her arm around my neck, pulling me into a tight hug that felt more like a chokehold, all I could think about was that I hoped everything with Maya really would be fine.

As excited as I was to go out with my parents that night, I felt torn in two directions—wanting to be with my team and Maya, and wanting to be with them while I had them.

We went over all of the usual things, like how retirement was treating them, how the old widow across the street was doing, how my classes were. It all felt so grown-up, like I’d suddenly transformed into not being a child overnight.

It also made me realize I craved their time and having them around more than I missed actually hanging out with them, which was one of the more bittersweet parts of growing up.

There was only so much I could talk to my parents about and joke around with them about before it skirted the line of making things weird.

After long hugs and promises that I would see them when I played in Michigan, my parents headed upstairs to their room from the hotel bar and I Ubered back to my hotel.

“You should let Maya know that we’re going out,” GJ said when I got back. We had a small window between now and hotel curfew and everyone was planning on taking full advantage of it .

“Do you think everyone would be cool with that?” I asked. “Since it’s usually just the team.”

“It’s only ever just the team because everyone else is single,” GJ said. “It’ll be totally fine. I think everyone’s curious to meet her. She’s like the first lady of Lakeside Green women’s basketball right now.”

“I don’t know if I’d say that.”

“Like, no one on the team dates, but especially not you. It’s a big moment for all of us,” GJ said.

“I was starting to think I’d be attending your wedding once we were both a million years old.

Or you’d be one of those famous people who fall off the face of the earth after a historic run in sports history.

The recluse who never gets married and just watches basketball highlights from her mega mansion in the middle of nowhere. ”

“I don’t think I like the expectations you have of my future, actually.” I buttoned up the bottom few buttons of my shirt and smoothed down my hair.

“Text her,” GJ said, cupping her hands to her mouth like she was speaking into a megaphone.

“Okay, okay,” I said.

I pulled out my phone and pulled up Maya’s contact.

Our last interaction had been from last night in a moment of vulnerability.

I felt the tiniest bit embarrassed by it— oh, it’s so weird that you’re here but I can’t see you, I’m a pathetic loser who can’t stop thinking about you —but after how the game had gone, I didn’t know how to feel anymore.

And honestly, she’d been the one to kiss me first. We might’ve not talked about it, but it wasn’t completely out of line for me to think there was a chance—even if it was slight.

We’re going out tonight if you and Iris want to join us.

No bars because pretty much the whole team is underage, but you’re welcome to come , I wrote.

I sent it immediately, knowing that GJ was hovering nearby and the last thing I needed was her teasing me over how many times I redrafted texts to Maya.

Maya responded quickly. We’re in.

See you in the lobby in fifteen .

“She’s coming,” I said, and put my phone in my pocket. I smoothed out my clothes and cleared my throat. The nerves I’d felt around texting Maya were turning into adrenaline instead. I wanted to see her, and the sooner I could see her, the better.

We checked to make sure we had our wallets on us, and GJ got a last-minute charge on her phone that was somehow on fourteen percent.

When we were only a few minutes out from our designated meeting time in the lobby, we headed downstairs.

We jogged the steps from the fourth floor, racing each other down.

As we pushed open the stairwell door and started our walk to the lobby, we were breathless and laughing.

But when I saw that Mags was standing with Maya and Iris, my laughter cut out immediately.

I walked over to them. GJ trailed behind, and I already knew I was going to get an earful of teasing from her tonight.

But it was worth it—I wasn’t letting Mags anywhere near Maya.

“Hey,” I greeted them.

“I can’t believe you’ve been hiding Maya from us,” Mags said. I could see in her body language that she was intrigued.

“I haven’t been hiding her,” I said and stepped protectively next to Maya. I resisted the urge to put my arm around her.

“I’d keep her away from us, too,” Mags admitted with an upturned smile, specifically in my direction.

I resisted rolling my eyes. I’d gotten used to putting up with Mags’ shit over the years we’d played together, but I didn’t like that she was pulling Maya into the middle of it.

Maya wasn’t someone for us to compete over; I actually liked her.

I didn’t return her smile. “I think Gemma was looking for you.”

“Right.” Mags looked between us. Iris and GJ had stepped to the side and were looking over curiously. “Nice to meet you, Maya.”

When Mags walked away, my blood pressure leveled out, and embarrassment replaced the annoyance and possessiveness I’d been feeling. But before I could explain myself to Maya, GJ started herding everyone to the front door of the hotel.

“Alright, everyone’s here. Let’s get going. The place is basically across the street,” GJ said. “Walk with a buddy, hold hands—”

“Thanks, Mom,” Nia said from the back. Nia and GJ had always worked well together. I had a feeling Nia—as the other person on the team who was patient with GJ—was going to replace me as GJ’s right hand when I graduated.

“We all know it’s daddy, but whatever,” GJ said, and I snorted.