Page 68 of Spin Serve

“I haven’t seen you in over a week,” Aspen said. “I thought we could catch up.”

“What’s to catch up on? I talked to you every day you were gone.” Kendra smiled. “And I know all about this.” She motioned with a hand toward Aspen’s ankle. “When is your doctor’s appointment?”

“Tomorrow in the morning. Don’t worry, I’ll have my mom drive me or something. Or, DJ can, if my mom can’t.”

“Or, I can,” Kendra offered.

“Don’t you have to work?”

“I can take the morning,” she replied. “I’m not flying anywhere this week.”

“I don’t want you to have to–”

“Aspen, it’s okay. I’d rather be there, honestly; in the room with you and the doctor, if you let me, because I have a feeling that even if he told you that you were about to lose a toe, you’d just tell me that everything is fine.”

Aspen smiled and shook her head.

“No, I wouldn’t. I don’t lie to you, Kendra. I didn’t lie about my ankle the first time, either. It was fine, or I wouldn’t have played. I should’ve stopped in the final, I know that, but I thought we had a chance to beat them, honestly, even with me hurt, and we almost did. That would’ve meant that we’d basically qualified, even if not automatically.”

“Aspen, you risked it when you didn’t have to.”

“I know. I’d take it back if I could. That doctor sent my scans to the doc here, though, and he reviewed them for me yesterday while I was still there and said that I was going to be fine. I’m going tomorrow just to make sure, and then I’ll go back in a week and again if I need to later, but the swelling is gone already. They gave me meds, which have helped, and it doesn’t even really hurt anymore.”

“It didn’t the last time, either.” Kendra pulled up her food ordering app. “What do you want for dinner?”

When Aspen didn’t answer, Kendra looked over at her expectantly. Aspen’s face was mostly unreadable, but it did show a small smile.

“Whatever is fine with me. I’m not picky.”

“You say that a lot, you know?” Kendra teased and rubbed Aspen’s leg with her free hand again.

“That feels nice,” Aspen said.

“Is your leg hurting, too?” she asked, worried.

“No.”

Kendra smiled and looked back down at her phone.

“Burgers? Pizza?”

“Something healthy?” Aspen suggested instead.

“Fine,” Kendra replied with a little laugh. “There’s the sandwich place. They do a grilled chicken sandwich on pita bread, if you want that.”

“Yeah, that’s good,” Aspen told her, and she sounded different, so Kendra looked up again.

Aspen’s eyes were closed. Kendra just watched her for a minute as she continued to rub her leg over her sweats. She knew Aspen was hungry and that she should order them something to eat, but she didn’t want to wake her when the food got there. She placed their order and did her best to slowly move herself out from under Aspen, who stirred but didn’t wake. Then, Kendra quietly carried Aspen’s bags into her bedroom. She didn’t feel comfortable unpacking them for her, but she went about setting up Aspen’s made bed with a pillow for her ankle, and after she finished, she went outside the back door and around the front to wait for the delivery driver because she didn’t want them to ring the bell or knock and wake Aspen up.

After getting the food, Kendra put it on a tray that she found in a kitchen cabinet, got Aspen some sparkling water, and carried all that into Aspen’s bedroom, placing the tray on her bedside table. Then, she went back into the living room, knelt down beside Aspen, and pushed her hair away from her face.

“Aspen?”

“Hmm,” she mumbled.

“Food is here. I’ve got it ready for you. Do you want me to just put it in the fridge so you can sleep, though?”

“No,” Aspen replied and opened her eyes. “Hi.” She smiled softly at Kendra.

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