Page 67 of Catch and Cradle
Yet another way in which I messed up and made Kala feel like a burden.
“Only if you’re comfortable with that,” I tell her. “I’d love for you to meet her, but it’s totally up to you.”
She grins. “I’d like that too. It’s pretty nice to see you interested in something other than lacrosse, to be honest. She must have really nice boobs or something.”
I laugh and then tip my head back to rest on the top of the couch. “Ugh, she does. So nice. I can’t mess this up, Kala.”
She pats me on the knee. “You won’t. Just get through this game, and take it from there.”
16
Hope
“Okay, lax rats!” Coach Jamal paces in front of the team. He has us all lined up at the end of practice, braced for one of his impromptu speeches. “We’re just a few days out from our Montreal match. We’re looking good. We’re moving fast. We have everything we need to win and beat McGill so hard they won’t even know what hit them. There is only room for one red jersey team in the league, after all!”
I thump the end of my stick on the ground and whoop along with everyone else. I shiver a little as a gust of wind sweeps over the field and hits the dried sweat stuck to my body. We’re into the first week of October now, and morning practices are getting fresh as fuck. The tips of my ears are burning from running around in the chilly air.
The temperature doesn’t stop me from getting fired up by the speech. Everyone is jumping around and cheering as CJ keeps stalking up and down in front of us, his aviators sitting on the bridge of his nose and his hands clasped behind his back.
“I need you all to keep your focus. We haven’t won the battle yet. Get some sleep this week. Eat well. We all need to be in top condition, especially with a long journey ahead of us. When we get off that bus in Montreal, I want the ground to shake. I want everyone in the city to stop what they’re doing and realize something has changed. Maybe they won’t know what. Maybe they won’t know why, but they’ll know. They’ll feel our power, and they will quake before us!”
His voice grows into a hoarse bellow as he raises one fist in the air. Sometimes I can’t tell if he’s trolling us or not. He does keep a straight face as we all lift our sticks in a salute.
I touch mine to Jane’s beside me, and we laugh as the team splits up and heads for the edge of the field or down the path to the locker room.
“You ready for this?” she shouts, doing her best impression of a testosterone-fueled football player.
I flip my stick over and grip it with both hands before hoisting it in the air. “SO READY!”
I hear someone chuckle behind me, and I glance over my shoulder to find Becca grinning at me. She’s talking to Coach, and he smiles at me too before waving for me to come join them.
“I’m being summoned,” I tell Jane before jogging over.
I should probably be more subtle about it, but I’m sure my face is stretched in the biggest dork smile ever as I get closer to her. It’s been over a week since the night I went to her place, and I still haven’t fully come down from the high. The way she sounded, the way she felt, the way she came on my tongue—it’s hard to imagine a day when that won’t play in my head in a constant loop.
We haven’t had much time together outside of practice since then, but we text most days, and we’ve grabbed coffee from the Lobster Trap once. She told me she wants to take things slow, especially with the big trip to Montreal coming up, and that’s fine with me.
I don’t even know what we’re doing, but for now, I’ve decided not to care. I just like being with her, and if it takes some time for us to figure out how to do more of that, then so be it. I do wish I could kiss her more. We haven’t even held hands since that night, but I understand why she wants to keep things on the down low. I’m trying my best to stop myself from spinning out and taking it as a sign something’s wrong.
“What’s up, C—I mean, Coach Jamal?”
I see Becca’s lips twitch as she tries to hide a smirk. Being near her makes it hard to remember a lot of important things, like the fact that I’m not supposed to call Coach ‘CJ’ to his face.
He might actually like it. It’s hard to tell with him. He is pretty insistent that we always call him Coach.
“I’m running an idea past Becca, and I thought we could include you too,” he answers. “Your picks for the new recruits have worked out great. I really took your suggestions to heart, and it paid off in that first game. I think there are a couple newbies who could use a little more work on the basics, however. Just to get them up to speed with the rest of the team.”
I nod. “Makes sense.”
“I was just asking Becca if she’d be okay facilitating an extra hour of practice for them before we head to Montreal, and I think you two should run it together.”
I glance between the two of them. “Uh, really?”
They both bob their heads.
“You’re great with leading drills, especially for the newer players,” Becca says. “What they really need is confidence, and you’re so good at bringing it out in them. I bet you could run the whole practice yourself, but I told Coach that would be a lot to spring on you last minute.” She gives him the side-eye. “I guess he was fine springing it on me last minute.”
He lifts his hands in surrender. “I only had the idea today! We only need to do it if you two can fit it in. I can send an email to the girls and find a time that works and all that. My household has only just found its rhythm as a well-oiled baby schedule machine, and I’m already throwing it off with the Montreal trip, so I’m unfortunately not able to be here for it myself.”