For the Win by Rochelle Allison & Angel Lawson

Author:Rochelle Allison & Angel Lawson [Allison, Rochelle & Lawson, Angel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B01H175I4W
Published: 2016-07-31T23:00:00+00:00

*

We’ve got five days between training and heading to Brazil. I spend two of them driving Sally from Colorado to Atlanta, and two sleeping, packing and being smothered by my mother. Allie and I train lightly, running together in the mornings. On our final night, the whole community throws us a party at the local YMCA. It’s a little overwhelming at first, but everyone is so excited and so proud that I warm up into it. I see faces I haven’t seen in years. The part of me that lived alone for so long forgets, sometimes, how it used to be, when I was constantly surrounded by friends. Tonight feels like old times, especially when Melina slips in the door. She and Allie are immediately inseparable, and while it stings that there’s been distance between us, I’m relieved we’re back to how we used to be.

Well, kind of. Back to how we used to be—minus the physical stuff.

I’m changing for a useless three hours of sleep when I remember I left my notebook in the van. Worried I’ll leave it before our early flight, I head down the flight of stairs, yawning.

It’s after midnight, so when I open the door quietly and see someone lying on my mattress in the dark I nearly jump out of my skin.

“Holy—Melina?”

“Hey.” She stares at the ceiling, barely glancing in my direction.

“Everything okay?”

“I just needed some quiet, you know?” Now she looks at me, eyes skirting from my face to my bare chest...and then lower. For once there’s no hate or regret in her eyes—just a sort of sleepy wistfulness.

I nod, yawning again. “It’s been a busy day and tomorrow will be worse.”

Crickets and cicadas fill the night air with their noise, while trucks barrel down the nearby highway. I lean against the doorframe, unsure of what to do. I’m about to leave her when she says, “Lay down with me?”

She scoots over, leaving me space on my foam mattress and, despite my reservations and the comfort of a real bed upstairs, I crawl in.

This space is small for one person, so there’s no way for our bodies not to press against one another. Melina remains still, facing the ceiling and I do the same.

“So what’s going on?” I ask her.

Her sigh rattles her chest. “I’m excited. And nervous. And anxious.”

“Nerv-cited? Or N-anxious?”

“Shut up.” Her hand slaps my chest, warm and familiar. She moves it quickly, but I snatch it out of the air, linking her fingers with mine. It’s impulsive, but it feels right.

“You’re going to be great.”

“I’m worried about Allie.”

I shift to look at her. “Yeah?”

“Her Achilles’. I don’t know. Never tell her I said this, but I’m surprised they’ve kept her on the team. She’s struggling. I doubt she’ll get to play. It almost seems weird that they’d bring her.”

My chest tightens. “Maybe it’s not as bad as it seems? The PT is clearing her for play, right?”

“Yeah. I can just tell, I guess. We’ve played together for so long. She’s off.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.