Page 63 of Scoring Chance

“What if he doesn’t feel the same?” My voice came out with a tremble.

“Then you know and you can move on. But what if he feels the same and is just as scared as you?” He had a point. But it wasn’t as easy as he made it sound. “It’s the era of empowered women. Don’t sit around waiting for him to wise up. You take control.”

I couldn’t fight the smile on my lips. “You’re right.” If I wanted answers I needed to ask, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t still terrified.

His cocky grin appeared. “I know I am.”

I wanted to shove him out of the room, but I was cautious of hurting him. “Get out. Don’t you have a game to play?”

He jumped off the table with a laugh. “Don’t get mad at me for saying what you didn’t want to hear.”

Before I could respond he hurried out of the room, and I spun around to turn on the TV so I could watch the game.

My phone rang, and I checked the screen. No one would be coming in to see me until the game started, at the very soonest, so I answered and held the phone out so I could see myself in the small tile in the corner.

“Hi Amelia.” Yula’s smile greeted me, and I match it.

“Hi Yula. How are you feeling?” I felt horrible I hadn’t been able to visit her much, but she got an infection three weeks ago and her doctors limited visitors to her mom and Nikolay. Elena and I had to settle on video calls for now.

“I’m okay. A little tired.” I could see the purple under her eyes. She spent a lot of time sleeping, but never looked rested. It didn’t seem like she felt it either.

“Did you watch the movie I sent you?” I had to contain my laugh as her eyes lit up.

“Yes. I made Nikolay watch it with me like you said. He hated it.” Her quiet laughter sparked joy in my heart. She’d asked me for romance movies in English so she could keep practicing, and I told her to ask her brother to watch them with her. There was no way he could turn her down, and we both knew how much he hated the cheesy movies. So far, he hadn’t caught on to our evil plan, but it was a matter of time.

He said he had too many sisters, but I doubt he thought we’d ever combine our efforts to drive him crazy.

“Oh good. I’m sending a musical with him this weekend. Make sure to watch it a few times.”

Her eyes gleamed and not an ounce of me felt guilty for torturing Nikolay. Not when it made Yula so happy. Not only did it give her an excuse to spend time with him, but it was a great distraction. I made it my mission to find ways to make her laugh, and so far, this was working better than I imagined.

“Oh, I love musicals. We watched The Sound of Music growing up on repeat. Even Nikolay had every word memorized, and me and Mama make him play all of the boy parts.”

“Please tell me you have photos or videos of that?”

She giggled and shook her head. “He would never let us.”

“Smart man.” I giggled with her, wishing there was more I could do. Traveling with the team meant I had even less opportunity to visit her once she was cleared by her doctors. I had to find a way to make it up to her.

“Elena said you’re gone a lot with the basketball team.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m traveling with them now.”

“Do you like them?”

“I do. I really like working with professional athletes. They take their bodies and their health seriously.”

Her eyes lit up. “Oh! One of the doctors told me a good joke.”

“Alright, let me have it.”

“Where does the boat go when it’s sick?”

I pretended to think it about it before giving up.

“To the dock!”

I let out a giggle and nodded. “That’s a pretty good one.”