“I mean, we all had our suspicions. But tell me about this girl you kissed.”
I groan. “It was Eloise. I left practice after Lawson reamed me out and she followed to make sure I was doing okay. And it all happened so fast, but she put hands on my face, and I just—looked up at her, wanting to kiss her… and I did.”
“Eloise?” she shouts so loudly I jerk the phone away from my ear. “You mean the brand new teammateyou hated so much that I had to learn about her exclusively through your rants? The one who fucked up your knee that you held a grudge against? That Eloise?” Her voice is a weird pitch I have to ignore.
“Yeah,” I groan. “And she’s obviously going to tell Coach and they’re going to fire me for sexual assault.”
She tuts. “Well, we can cross that bridge when we get to it. Did you talk to her after the kiss?”
“No. But she moaned when we were kissing,” I say, the memory latching onto my brain. I think I’m going to remember it forever.
“She’s not the first girl you kissed, right?” Lucy asks.
My forehead scrunches up at the thought. “Well, I mean, yeah. I didn’t know I was, I guess bi, until last night.”
The silence on the line is palpable. I think I could get pregnant from how tense this line feels. Then the phone clicks.
I have to look at my screen to make sure that I’m not going insane. She hung up on me.Thatbitch.
I call her back immediately, which she promptly declines. So I call again.
“No. I’m not talking to you. You’re such anidiot,” she says the last part sharply, loud enough for me to feel it scratching into my skin.
“What did I do wrong? I wanted to test the theory.”
“As you should,on a stranger!” she shouts the second half of the sentence, and oh that makes so much sense. “Not the teammate who you’ve had a hate-on for at least two years.”
I let out an awkward chuckle. “I mean…”
“No. You’re ridiculous. Go talk to Eloise before I do it for you.”
I gulp. “She’s still at practice.”
Lucy groans again. “You left practice early? Shit, you are going to get fired. Mom and Dad coddled you too much.”
“We’re the same age.”
“And yet somehow we are very different, you big baby.” I let her teasing tone hang in the airwaves. “Despite the idiotic way you went about it, I’m glad you’re learning this about yourself. And thank you for sharing with me. I just wish you had done it differently.” There’s a fondness to her tone that makes my stomach warm in the comfort of it.
“Me too,” I say. “Do you think Mom and Dad—?”
“You know they don’t care as long as we’re happy.”
“But I thought that they wanted us all married and straight and having children.”
Lucy snorts. “Do you remember anything about when we were still living with Mom and Dad. How they told us they only expected furry grandbabies?”
“No.”
“Well, don’t you worry about that. I need you to figure out what the fuck you’re doing, because it seems like Eloise is a person you just blew your life up for.”
I nod, slowly, finger trailing across my bottom lip in remembrance of the kiss. “I guess I did. Thanks, Luce.”
“You got it, babes. Now, don’t be a stranger and call me more regularly, after work hours, because now I have no time to eat my lunch before I'm back at my desk.”
I wince. “Sorry.”
“Eh, feel bad for my coworkers because they’re going to have to deal with me hangry.”
