Page 17 of Running Home to You
“You know what that means?” T.K. strutted in, swinging her makeup bag.
“What?” Jill asked from the locker next to Kate’s.
“That you can lift me.” T.K. raised an eyebrow at Abby. “Want to try?”
The team snorted and Abby shook her head. “Does that line actually work?”
“On half the basketball team so far,” Jill said.
“What do you think about the dating scene here anyway?” T.K. asked. “I bet it sucks compared to L.A.”
Abby shrugged, her eyes catching Kate’s once more. “I don’t know. The only guy I’ve talked to invited me to church.”
Kate’s brow hardened at the reminder of Blake and Abby’s scoff at his invitation.
“Well, I’d go to church and get on my knees for some of those CAC boys,” T.K. said.
“We don’t actually kneel,” Kate said.
“We knowyoudon’t,” Courtney Seaborn said to a roar of laughter that left Kate bright red.
Jill leaned in to whisper, “She means…”
“Yeah.” Kate cleared her throat. “I get it now.”
She was used to being the last one to understand a dirty joke or sexual innuendo, sometimes looking it up later, and while she often covered with an embarrassed, hollow chuckle, she couldn’t this time. Not with Abby quietly squinting at her as though she’d actually seen her naked in the locker room. In fact, Abby not joining their teammates’ laughter made Kate more mortified than if she had.
“Are you even allowed to be within a hundred feet of a church, Court?” Abby asked dryly. “I thought they had a rule against hooves.”
Courtney chucked her dirty socks at Abby’s head, which she easily dodged.
“The church is fine,” Mick said. “It’s the holy water she has to avoid.”
Kate slung her backpack over her shoulder and strode quickly for the exit. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
“Oh, come on. It was a joke, Hutch!” Courtney called after her as the door slammed shut.
The night before their Gender and the Law final, the last before winter break, Kate teetered on the edge of breaking. She couldn’t stand the stares and the scoffs or her own conflicting push and pull, in which she swung wildly between longing to help Abby and then just as quickly needing to escape her. That’s why she invited her to the blue house, for the buffer of their teammates in case she snapped. And she did, while they sat at the rickety kitchen table, Abby rolling her eyes as Kate aced every term on the color-coded study guide she made for them.
“Did I do something to you?” Kate asked.
“No.” Abby narrowed her brow. “Why?”
“Because it seems like you hate me.”
Jill, who sat with them, glanced up from her accounting homework. Mick ate popcorn on the sofa while she iced her knees and peered over the cushions.
“I don’t hate you,” Abby said.
“Then what’s with the silent treatment?”
Abby lowered her chin to her chest. “It’s embarrassing to be babysat by you,” she mumbled so quietly that Kate barely heard her.
Her mouth slackened. “It’s okay to need help.”
“Well, I think I liked it better when you ignored me.” Abby returned to the study guide with a scowl.
“This wasn’t my choice.”
