The shot she didn't take

Locker room

I swung the door of the locker room open, creating a loud bang when the metal handle crashed into the wall. I flounced over to the bench that was positioned in between two rows of lockers and I sat down fast as my knees gave way from beneath me. My head dropped and I stared at the floor, my breathing began to grow heavy and uncontrollable. I brought my hands up to my face then brushed them up and ran my fingers through my hair.

My mind was racing running over multiple thoughts at once, but it was stuck on one thing. Kate. There was two things that I couldn't stop thinking about, one of them being why was I holding back in the fight. I knew I could have beat her but I didn't, but why. The other... the other being, well I'm not all that sure of what the other thing was, and it was bugging me.

I slammed my hands onto the bench either side of me and pushed my self to stand up. I dragged myself over to my locker and put in a code to unlock it. The lock clicked and popped open, I lifted the handle and swung the locker door open, this time careful not to slam it. I reached in and pulled out a bottle of shower gel, shampoo and conditioner, followed by a towel. I quickly shut the door and made my way over to the showers, flinging the towel over my shoulder.

I gasped for air when the ice cold water hit my skin. I forget the hot water in the locker showers takes a few seconds to kick in. When it turned hot I let out a sigh of relief, and I relaxed my muscles. I closed my eyes, trying to close my mind as I did so, and trying to get Kate off my mind. I let the water run down onto my face for a short while, I didn't hear the door open due to the water flowing over my ears. I snapped back into reality and washed my hair and body.

Stepping out of the shower, I rubbed my hair with the small towel, attempting to get out as much water as possible, then i stopped and let my wet hair drape over my shoulders. I re-wrapped the now damp towel around my body, and walked back over to my locker where I left a fresh pile of clothes. As I turned the corner, I noticed Kate was sat facing away from me on the bench... the same bench my clothes were on. I quietly walked over and picked up my bra and shirt.

"How long have you been sat there?" I asked, a small smirk grew on my face when she jumped in surprise.

She spun around, her eyes widened as she saw me, "oh- I uh- Like arou- about 10 minutes" she stuttered, standing up still facing me. Her eyes wandered over my body.

"See something you like Bishop?" I chuckled, watching her eyes snap back up to mine.

"I- uh... I mean I" she said trying to find the words.

"Hey I'm just messing with you" I laughed

She laughed along with me, it was more of an awkward laugh than a laugh laugh, then she walked over to the lockers and rested her back against it. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and began scrolling through her socials. I walked over to the other end of the same row of lockers and turned around, my back facing Kate. I removed the towel off the top half of my body and wrapped it tight around my waist. Kate looked up from her phone, her eyes yet again found them selves fixed on me. I could feel her gaze, her eyes trailing over my bare back. She watched me fiddle around with my bra, but I think she was doing it unconsciously. I could always feel when she watched me, almost as if we were connected.

"You're staring again" I said, looking at her through the corner of my eye, a slight giggle in my voice.

"Wha- uh I- no. No I wasn't" she said looking straight back at her phone.

I laughed, putting my bra on, followed by my shirt.

Once I was dressed, I threw my stuff back into my locker and locked it back up. I looked at Kate who was already looking at me, " hey you wanna do something?" I asked her.

" yeah sure. What do you wanna do?" She replied

"How about lunch. Just you and me, I know the perfect place!"

"Okay! But I'm bringing lucky, he needs walking."

"Yeah he's been cooped up all day, let's go!" I said.

We grabbed our things then headed out.