She leans her forehead against the back of her hands resting on the steering wheel of her pink car, putting pressure against her own body, she tries to ignore the shame burning on her body, Yuki hates fighting with anyone, especially if that person is Hannah, not that they have a special relationship, she is sure that the other girl is not even thinking about their fight, probably already doing one hour of yoga and then studying a little more about basketball.

She looks behind her, the wrapped store bought cake sitting on the backseat, she was planning on taking the other girl to see the city, not that she knows where to go, she never spent more than four days in Washington, and she hopes to not spend a single day more.

She sits up, forcing herself to blink, “Actually, this is fine. Just realized that everything is okay, and I will listen to some music and everything is going to be great. Everything is great!”

After lying to herself, she turns the radio of her car on, it immediately connects to her phone and the thunderous sounds of the song “Happy Birthday” behind blasting through, she is startled, just like one little girl that walked outside of the car. She fumbles as she reaches for her phone, letting it drop just under her seat, her ears ringing from the sound until the song stops. But before she can feel relieved, the sound is replaced by her ringtone in the same volume.

The desperation quicking in, tears in her eyes as she  almost throws herself in the seat, using all of her 7 '9 wingspan for something useful, grabbing her phone and turning off her bluetooth. With a sigh, she looks at the caller, and as soon as she reads the name “StatPad” she feels her mood fall even further down.

Taking the call, she immediately says, forcing her tone to be a lot higher than normal, “Hi honey!!! Oh my god! I miss you!!! How’s my little baby? My love, my air and my solar system?”

The voice of her boyfriend answers back, without any humor behind it, “Alright, we’re not in public there’s no need for all that, are you still in Washington? I need some pictures.”

Rolling her eyes, she answers, “Sorry, gonna have to do that without me little Paul, there’s no way I’m flying all the way to LA for you.”

“You never do anything for anyone.” He whispers, not bothering to take away the phone from his ear.

“Could you chill? I just don’t wanna waste 4 hours of my life to take a picture. Use one we already took or something,” She replies.

“This contract was your idea, and you can't even follow it, do you know how ma—” She doesn’t hear the rest of his words, simply hanging up on Paul and turning off the notifications on her phone.

She wonders if she should head back there and apologize, she’s always the one doing it, but never actually finishing the apology, deciding against it, she holds her right wrist, tensing as the pain runs throughout her body, afraid that Hannah may be right, she decides to go to her hotel and wait for the announcement with her hand on an ice bath, she is going to destroy Hannah in their next match.

For the next week, Yuki only receives bad news, first, she got drafted with Hannah, as the second pick, which doesn’t really matter because there is only one expansion team, but she still feels bad about it, then, she spent five days searching for a way to sell her house, unfortunately meeting with Paul in the way, since she had to go to LA to do it, and lastly she hates the hotel, everybody there looks at her like she is some kind of freak.

But she would rather do all of that again, if that meant avoiding the meeting she is going to attend in a few seconds.

Technically it has already started, Laura and Gabriel invited her to The Perezoso

café, a diner close to their arena, the place is small but comfortable, best described as cozy, with a lot of memorabilia surrounding the heritage of Santa Fe, including the signature of a descendent of Diego de Vargas. But she has a habit of getting places earlier, unfortunately for her, Hannah had the same idea, somehow getting there first, already sitting on a table, reading a big menu that covers most of her head.

Knowing that it’s impossible to keep running from the other girl, she simply moves to the same table as her, getting her attention as soon as she pulls one chair closer to her body, their eyes meet for the first time in weeks, and Yuki imagined that Hannah’s gaze would be one of regret, anger, maybe even sadness. But there’s nothing, she doesn’t even seem bothered. Which leaves the taller girl even angrier.

“Hi Yuki, nice to see you.” She says with a polite smile and a small nod.|

“Hey, didn’t think I could make it because you thought I would’ve hurt myself on the plane here?”

Hannah rolls her eyes, already used to the petty ways of her friend, she loses her perfect posture, not bothering to be professional since their superiors have yet to arrive, “How’s the hand by the way?”

“Great! How’s the height?”

“Still taller than a middle schooler…” She answers back with a wry smile, a small joke that would normally get at least a chuckle from Yuki, but the other girl is trying to keep the anger alive, so she just scoffs looking down at the menu.

Hannah sits up, after letting out a sigh she takes Yuki’s hand on her own, the other basically stops working, all of the anger being replaced by confusion and expectations, eyes wide, a slightly open mouth and a heart filled with expectations, she was not expecting for the proposal to happen in a random restaurant in a new city, but she’s delighted regardless.

“You do actually deserve an apology, that was not fair of me, and even if it was, it would be a complete lie, you literally have a better career than I.” Yuki can’t hold her face and there’s a glimpse of a scowl for just a moment before she smiles again.

“That’s tru—” She begins, but in the middle of it, a realization dawns on her, Yuki grips Hannah’s hand while narrowing her eyes, “You’re just apologizing because we are teammates?”

Hannah decides to lie, but when she opens her mouth the truth is already sheepishly leaving her body, “Yeah… But what I said is still true! It’s just that it’s better for the team’s synergy if we’re on good terms.”

“I feel like if you thought we would play better if we lived together you would pay my mortgage the same second…” Yuki says with a smug smile, already forgetting about why she was angry.

“I would even cook your stupid thirteen meals a day so you can still be an asset in the team.”

“Did you just call me an asset? That’s like, the biggest compliment you’ve ever given me, or anyone else, I– I think I’m gonna cry”

It’s Hannah’s turn to roll her eyes, she is about to bicker back, when she sees Gabriel and Laura entering the establishment, she cuts their physical contact, sitting up straight, her eyes narrow and the relaxed demeanor vanishes in a second, she needs to make a good impression.

Laura, a white woman in her mid forties, black hair styled in a voluminous bob, big round glasses and a gray suit with a light purple undershirt, she is about 6’1 with broad shoulders and defined body, walking side by side with her, a black man in his twenties, way shorter, about 5’3, wearing a black jacket with some light blue details over a black shirt and ripped jeans, they both approach with a welcoming attitude.

“Nice to see that there’s already a friendship here,” Laura says, sitting down at the vacant chair beside Hannah.

Gabriel sits on the last open spot, “I always assumed you two didn’t like each other.”

Yuki explains, “Well, we have been friends for years, it’s just the first time we can play together, and Hannah hates taking pictures.”

“It was always entertaining when you fought in the arena though, you two met in college right?” Gabriel asks, sitting in the last open spot.

They stop for a moment looking at each other, both remembering two different instances, Hannah met Yuki in their freshman year of high school, in a game between schools, Yuki was 6 '1, Hannah was 5' 4. The former destroyed the latter’s team without breaking a sweat and Hannah vowed to be better than her. 

Yuki met Hannah four years later, after already facing each other more than a handful of times, at the first game of their first season in college, Hannah humiliated Yuki, just short of 60 points with 58, and without a single laugh she garnered the attention of all the teams, she never reached close to that number again in her college days falling to the fortieth pick, but to Yuki, that was the moment she fell in love, she never felt so seen, every movement she did the other girl was already expecting, every though had already been studied, that was the worst game of her career while being the best moment of her life.

Filled with confidence, their answers come at the same time.

“Yes!”

“No.”

Both of them say at the same time, confused looks are exchanged between all of the people at the table, Yuki leans forward, a little annoyed that the girl she loves doesn’t even remember her, “Yes we did, we played against each other, you had your 58 points, after the game I went to talk to you and you said I played like I was eleven and then said you could teach me and then I gave you my number, it’s literally all they talk about when we play against each other.”

“We met literally four years before that. When I beat you so bad you cried, was when I became a full individual and not some afterthought but before that, we met in Austin Texas, at Progress and Prayers High School, in which we had a match, you dropped 62 on my head and when I went to talk to you about the game you said you didn’t care about basketball and showed me why Jessie was a hero in Breaking Bad,” Hannah explains.

The silence that falls on the table is soon cut by Gabriel, “Breaking Bad is indeed a very good show.”

Hannah and Laura let out a small laugh, not accompanied by Yuki, who was too focused on trying to remember that conversation. As the laughter dies down, their coach begins to analyze the table.

The two players sitting with her are going to make or break the season, two stars, possibly fighting to reach the title of superstar. Without both of them playing at the best of their game the team falls apart, Laura is a little surprised that the two of them are comfortable with each other, their last interaction in the media made it seem like they hated each other, as Gabriel asks for a portion of taquitos for the table, Laura lets out a deep sigh, she is not really the best at this side of coaching.

The three people around her stop talking, a comfortable silence as they wait for one another to talk, aware that she is the one in the position of power, Laura is the first one to speak, “I understand if there’s still some kind of animosity between you two, that game seven was certainly something, but even if there is, it’s over as soon as you step on our court, alright?”

Yuki grimaces, “Yeah, sorry about the…” She makes a quick gesture pointing at her own face, “...you know”

“Nothing to worry about, still got all of my teeth, so we’re fine.”

Hannah doesn’t laugh, but Gabriel does, that fight is the main reason he wanted to coach these two. What better story than getting a championship with two players that made each other bleed not even six months ago. An arrogant smile shows up on Laura’s face, “That’s great, now let me actually introduce ourselves.”

She points at the man sitting in front of her, “He’s Gabriel, our assistant coach, he is the best at intersecting with people, if there’s any problems within the chemistry of our team, talk to him, he’s gonna tell me but he’s probably gonna be the one solving it, but don’t get me wrong, he knows a lot of ball.”

He shakes his head as Yuki laughs at the expression, Hannah simply raises an eyebrow, not really believing in the usefulness that this man can give the team, thankfully, Laura continues, “I’m Laura, I played for thirteen years and I am mostly focused on strategies, offense and hard work. I think it’s bullshit that people don’t believe in us, all of us, they call you, Yuki, a lazy liability, they call you Hannah an annoying dwarf with only hands, they Gabriel a failed prospect and they call me a glorified roleplayer, but we are gonna shut their mouths, people think we are a tanking team, that we can’t even make the playoffs, we will prove them wrong, and for that, I need you two at the top of your game, is that understood?”

Yuki, is conflicted, she is not much of a competitor, she hates the pressure, but before she can voice any of those doubts, she meets Hannah’s eyes, and she sees the same thing she saw 11 years ago, the same fire, the same love for the game, and just like when they fight and she apologizes first, just like when she wants to confess, she can’t say what she really means, because that would mean disappointing Hannah, and she could never do that.

So she does something she is already used to, she lies, she buries her feelings, her worries and her love deep down, and she says, “Fine, let’s turn this league into our playground.”