Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Chapter Seventeen
♱
"Cheers, to Nika coming in clutch so we're going—where are we going?" Paige shrieked, holding a hand beside her ear as the team screamed. "Final Fours!" The blonde held up her cup of champagne, "I love you, buddy. Iowa's gonna eat dust when we get there, but we couldn't have done it without you." She turned towards her best friend, who sat to her right. "And to Mickey, who slapped some sense into Nika just in time for us to win. That's the best I've ever seen a doctor fix someone." She held her glass up high, holding a hand out, an invitation for her to stand before shaking her in a tight side-hug. "To Mickey and Nika!"
The team cheered, clinking glasses and downing their drinks. Mickey grimaced at the bitter aftertaste marinating on her tongue, feeling Azzi and some others pat her back.
"Speech, speech, speech, speech," KK began chanting, the team gradually joining her as Paige propped the woman up easily.
Ariana held up her hands, silencing the antsy bunch. "Alright, alright. I came on this trip to have a mini vacay in LA," the joke earned her a few chuckles from the table, "But I'm glad I have the chance to be with this amazing team, and I'll give any of you pep talks any day 'cuz you're all going to the Final Fours, baby!"
The table went berserk at the statement, thumping tables and letting out victory cries.
Paige slung an arm over Nika, who had her eyes trained dead on Ariana. The violent shakes from the blonde didn't seem to tear her gaze away when their eyes met, but the loud rumble of demands for a speech from her did. She heard Ariana's sweet chuckle at the team's affection, standing up upon Paige smacking her ass.
"Ya'll are fuckin' animals," she had her beer bottle in hand, fingers clamping the rim of the tip, "That was a tough game. We fumbled, y'know, I wasn't off to a great start and I'm sorry I was doing such a shitty job at the beginning." She glanced two chairs to her right, a tiny grin beaming back at her from the face she couldn't seem to stay away from. She raised her bottle, toasting to her, "I owe you everything. I guess you're not half bad at your job, doc. Cheers."
The team toasted once again, the room filling with exasperated cheers and lighthearted laughter. It had been a while since everybody was occupied with anything but basketball.
Nobody stayed in their seat for dinner, moving across the room back and forth for silly games or pictures. It was a private room Geno had booked in case the team had won, he thanked heavens he hadn't wasted the money he had pre-paid for it. Paige, the one Ariana had chosen to sit next to at the beginning of dinner seemed to have wormed her way over to play black jack with a deck of cards Q had brought, leaning over Azzi's shoulder with a scrunch of concentration on her face. Ariana found herself sitting alone, listening to whatever story Ayanna was telling. She'd lost focus long ago, occasionally chuckling along with the few surrounding her.
