Page 116 of Honey Undone
I usually just goofed around.
“What are some of your favorite pre-game snacks?” One of the social media girls asked Louis who looked at Josh confused. Sometimes the girls still talked too fast for him to understand, and his sad, puppy dog face always made me laugh.
I turned to him, explaining what she meant in French and he clued in quickly.
“What about you?” She asked me next, leaning in close.
“Chicken wings.” I said without hesitation, but my mind was between Adeline’s thighs. Most of the time these junkets were full of either extremely serious questions or goofy ones that were almost harder to answer. Anything to do with routines, food, or favorites. It was for socials so the answers they were looking for were funny, buzz things that made people interested in the sport because of the player.
I was generally better at answering the stupid questions over the serious ones.
“And you Josh?” She asked.
“A sandwich and a banana.” He answered dryly with a smug smile on his face. For a man so beloved by the female crowd you’d think he’d have more suave with them off the field.
“Fun,” she said, trying to add something more to his answer that wasn’t boring. Once she moved on from our table, Josh grumbled something under his breath making me laugh.
“Relax,” I whispered to him. “They just want to make you seem human.”
Josh turned his death glare on me, “How much longer do we have to do this?”
“We’ve got at least two hours,” I told him and he swore. There was a reason we were sat at the same table, if anyone could make Josh seem personable it was me.
“This is your last season with the Hornets, today is your last game. Any feelings about that?” Another short, chubby man asked, practically stepping on the girl.
“Careful,” I said and he looked to his left, finally noticing her. There were far too many in this room today. “Pride,” I answered him, popping the small paper ball in my mouth. “It’s been a long five years with these guys, and a lot of us are done with the team this year. We want to make it count today.”
“And after?” The female reporter asked. “There’s rumors you signed with a team in San Francisco.”
“Something like that,” I smiled at her before flicking the wet ball at Van and hitting him in the forearm with a small wet tick.
He looked down at it with a disgusted look and flipped me off secretly as he continued to answer the question he was asked. Eventually the room died downand the reporters dwindled leaving us all sitting there, staring at each other burnt out for the morning but ready to play that evening. The air was tight, almost buzzing with energy as Coach shooed us all back up to the Nest for lunch.
Drew, Clementine and Mrs. Shore had put together a massive lunch for us, that half of us picked at because of the nerves but it was nice to sit around the table one more time. After lunch I dragged Adeline up the stairs to find a quiet place to kiss her silly.
“I’ve never been in here without Todd watching us like a hawk,” Adeline giggled, curled around me in my bed. It would be one of the last times I’d be in this room and I couldn’t help but feel a little sad about it. “I always thought it was weird you didn’t just live at home with how close it is to the stadium.”
I laughed, pressing my face into her hair, “I didn’t originally. Mom had to convince me that it would be good. I was happy to live at home.” I huffed, “She was right though. It was good. Living here is different, the Nest makes everyone family.”
“Yeah,” Adeline hummed. “Are you nervous about today?” She asked.
“No.” I shook my head. “Games like this, like today. They’re my favorite.”
She shifted in bed, resting against my chest so she could look at me with her judgmental hazel eyes, “are you sure?” She asked, checking a little more thoroughly that time. It wasn’t about the game though, she was asking how I felt about everything else.
“It’s going to be hard, not just on me but everyone too. Today means a lot of different things to everyone. It’s a once in a lifetime win for some, it’s a chance to be draft eligible for others, for some of us it’s a goodbye.”
Adeline swallowed tightly.
“A happy goodbye, Belle. Not a sad one.” I cupped her face. “I can’t stay in this room forever, eventually I have to grow up and I’m grateful I get to do it with you.”
Before she could say anything else her name was hollered through the house by Zoey interrupting what little alone time, we were getting that day.
“Hey!” She popped her head in the door, “There you are. I’m doing Ella’s hair, do you want me to do yours?” She asked her as Adeline gently looked back over her shoulder.
“Do I get ribbons too?” Adeline asked with a bright smile.
“I thought you’d never ask!” Zoey squealed and put her hand out, “Come with me!”
