Chapter Twenty-One
Despite the rush ofthe morning and the excitement of the day, Misty still found herself awake at one a.m.Had her nap on the plane thrown her sleep schedule offthatbadly?She doubted it, so what the hell was going on?
She turned over and tried to figure it out.The bed was big and comfortable with clean sheets.The pillows were a little thinner than she preferred, but it was nothing stacking two of them couldn’t fix.
“You okay?”Tish’s voice came out clear from the next bed.
Misty stiffened.“Shit.Sorry.Did I wake you up?”
“You can’t have when I wasn’t fully asleep.Is it just me, or is it too quiet?”
“Yeah, but what can we do about it?”Spencer had made it sound like the quiet would be a relaxing experience, but Misty hadn’t realized how essential city background noise was to her sleep cycle.If they didn’t get to sleep soon, they’d be screwed tomorrow.
Tish got out her phone.“Got it.Eight hours of white noise on Spotify.”
“Let’s try it.”
Tish pushed play, and the sound filled the room to send Misty to sleep.But all too soon, the track was interrupted by the sound of Tish’s phone alarm.Misty groaned and buried her head between her pillows.She hadn’t spent a night with Tish in months and had forgotten how early her best friend liked to get up.
“You do know we’re starting the day with a workout, right?”she asked from her pillow shield.“You don’t have to get up for your run.”
“You’re right, I don’t have to.”Tish sounded all too coherent for this hour.“I want to clear my head, be ready for this, and make a good impression on the coaches.”
Tish ducked into the bathroom to get dressed, only turning on the light once the door was closed behind her.Nevertheless, Misty felt resigned to getting up for the day.She might as well get up and check out the breakfast buffet.She turned on the big light, pushed herself out of bed, and got dressed.
Downstairs, she grabbed a banana and ate it as she passed Angela, who was on a FaceTime call with a chubby-cheeked little girl, and surveyed a room that brought back college dining hall memories.A small line had formed by an omelet station, but the waffle irons called her name louder.Because she wasn’t made of stone, she poured a cup of batter into a machine after gathering some training diet-approved items.
“Keep an eye on that one,” a melodious voice said.“It took its time to heat up, and then I smelled something burning sooner than I expected.”
Misty turned to thank the speaker, musing that that was another daunting thing about the combine.At a time when most elementary school best friendships might have petered out, the bond between her and Tish had strengthened as they’d hit growth spurts around the same time and spent middle and high school as the tallest girls in their class.Here, it was a little disorienting to be able to look most of the other women directly in the eye, or even to have to look up at some of them.
Like this one.Misty’s breath caught as she looked up and their eyes met.Between her French braid, petal pink lipstick, and creatively cut navy blue workout set, the pretty blonde looked more like a fitness model than an athlete.And yet, her muscular shoulders and arms indicated that she was there for the same reason as Misty.
“I didn’t see you on the way in, did I?”Misty had a hunch she would have remembered if she had.
“No, I’d made other arrangements and arrived later.”The blonde extended a hand.“My name is Tallulah Bellemont.It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Misty Kaufman.Likewise.”Yes, as the strength of her grip and the calluses on her palm showed, this girl was stronger than she looked.The timer went off, and she opened the waffle iron to reveal a perfectly browned breakfast.Misty piled her waffle high with fruit and a drizzle of chocolate syrup, and added a generous side of bacon.
