Page 29 of The Baller

“Say ‘hi’.”

Parker rolled his eyes at Tanner. “No wonder you’re single.”

“You’re single too!” he snapped back. “No wonder Scout’s boyfriend got there first.”

Ace’s whistle deafened us again; my hands were too late to cover my ears.

“Stop doing that! Jesus.”

“Keep it brief, ask her what she’s doing,” pressed Ace.

I took my cell from him and turned it over in my hand, sliding the metal and glass between my fingers as I tried to figure out what to write. For someone who never normally had an issue with the English language, I was blanking.

For fifteen minutes I typed out words and deleted them. For fifteen minutes I ignored three sets of eyes on me and the exasperated huffs and tuts until I found a sentence which might work… though I had yet to decide what I wanted it to do.

“What do you think of this?”

I placed my phone on the island, and the three of them leaned in to read it.

“Yeah,” Ace nodded, followed by the other two. “Perfect.

“Yeah?”

“Send it.”

I hit the button before I could I have second thoughts. Here goes nothing.

Lux: So I guess you really didn’t need saving then…

SEVEN

RADLEY

“How’s thisweek been for you, Radley?”

I shuffled around in my chair, trying and failing to get comfortable.

This happened last time.

The problem was the screen on my desk – it was so large that it felt like Doctor Jessops was in the room with me, but twice as big as she normally was, her blue eyes bluer as she peered down the camera, more earnest than usual.

I kind of wished I was back in her office with the large woven basket by the chair I always sat in, filled with beads, stress balls, blankets, and huge pillows – the type people clasped to their chest and cried into.

I should have set it up better. I’d do it now, but she’d only call it out as an avoidance technique while she waitedin silence – that really annoying silence that increased the pressure until I gave her an answer she was looking for. I wondered if I could use the entire hour to shuffle furniture.

I stopped wriggling and hugged my knees to my chest instead.

“It was okay.”

“Just okay?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Doctor Jessops’ eyebrows rose slightly over the thick black rims of her glasses. “How are you coping with the fraternity activities?”

I shrugged, something I did a lot of in these sessions. “A few frat boys found themselves at the Secret Service H.Q., but mostly it’s been manageable. It’ll be over soon, right?”

Rhetorical questions – also a habit of mine.

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