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Chapter Three
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Ariana bursted through the doors to the PTC, jogging past a startled Kelly as she rummaged through the drawers and counters of medical supplies in her office. She picked out some sterilizing numbing agent, a thin role of gauze and washed her hands. She then raided the ice tray in the freezer of the break room and zipped them into a plastic baggie, wrapping a towel around it to avoid freeze-burn.
"Uhm, who's dying?" Kelly shouted as Ariana ran past her out the door.
"It's nothing, just a little roughing around!"
The girls had resumed practice with Nika sulking on a chair to the side. Geno had hoped for the Croatian to lead defensive drills, but he had changed the course of his game. Now they were practicing offensive drills, with Paige sinking 3s as their top scorer easily.
Ariana kneeled before Nika. She had her elbows on her knees as she watched, so Ariana was at eye level with the older on her knees.
She unscrewed the lid to the numbing agent, dipping her right ring finger into the ointment before gradually moving it up towards her nose. "Nika, I want you to focus on me," she said, eyes holding Nika's hollow brown ones. Her body language absolutely rejected Ariana's presence in her personal space, even a blind person could see the distance she was trying to create. "Focus on my eyes. This might sting a little, but I want you to try and not look away from me, okay?"
The Croatian remained silent. Not a hum, not a nod. She does as told, making sure her attention didn't tear away from Ariana's eyes. She watched as her gaze zagged between her nose and the ointment, subconsciously glossy parted lips shining under the fluorescent lights. Her head hurt, but she could hear the heartbeat in her temple quicken every time she leant just a bit closer. She prayed for this to be over.
Ariana screwed the lid back on, cutting a small piece of gauze and sticking it over the cut of her nose gently. "No reaction to pain... I'm impressed, Nika."
The moment she stood up, Nika pushed past her to sprint back onto court. Geno barked out a few different calls, changing the game in a way Nika could insert herself in to play.
"I haven't cleared you yet," Ariana called out, then turned into a mutter at the end. She rolled her eyes at the brunette's attitude, picking her things up. She glanced at the ice pack, strutting over to Geno and handing it to him. "Tell Nika to ice this every time she doesn't have a ball in her hands."
The man mumbled a lousy confirmation.
"No, Azzi, I barely finished gauzing her nose and she literally left without a single word. I mean, it's bad enough she was trying to pull away while I was trying to help but that was just straight up rude!" Ariana huffed, eyebrows knit tight together and subtle pout gracing her lips. The taller hummed. It had been twenty minutes since Ariana started ranting about that five minute interaction with Nika, and she was rather bored with the repetitive argument.
