Unknown Beginning

Part 53

The next morning Riley awoke to find herself covered in James. With Riley on her back, James had an arm and leg draped across Riley while her face was pressed close, forehead resting against the side of Riley's neck. Riley wasn't sure why she was awake so early but was grateful for these few moments of serenity prior to James' alarm sounding.

Now that James was awake, she squeezed Riley tighter and said "Morning".

Riley was about to answer when they heard a loud knocking at their door as Coach yelled "Time to get up ladies! Breakfast in five!"

Groaning, Riley rolled onto her side so that she was eye to eye with James.

"Ready to go back to pretending we are just teammates?" James asked.

Riley shook her head grumpily.

James tenderly brushed the hair from Riley's forehead and cheek and prompted "For the team?"

With a deep sigh, Riley nodded, causing James to smile and say "That's the spirit!" as she sat up.

Riley groaned again and rolled onto her stomach, pressing her face into a pillow. James laughed then helped pull Riley into a sitting position instead and said "Let's show 'em what we got" with fake enthusiasm. At which Riley threw herself backward onto the bed, covered her face with her arms, and groaned for a third time.

Given that Kenny inquired about how the night with James went on the bus home, Riley assumed that meant they had played their parts well during breakfast.

"How was it?" Was it terrible?" Kenny asked sympathetically.

"Meh" Riley shrugged. "It was ok. We didn't really interact much, just went to bed."

"Oh that's good. Best case scenario I guess. Plus at least you'll probably never have to share a room again this season since we won't have to stay overnight for next Saturday's championship final game so that's a bonus."

"Mhmmmm" Riley agreed halfheartedly. "Definitely a bonus."

And Kenny was right. Despite a week of sneaking touches in class and spending as much time together as possible before and after class, Riley and James didn't get another chance for privacy. Their last CCC Championship game on Saturday was close enough they'd ride the bus back to campus that night. And although the bus ride to the game was excited and optimistic at the prospect of winning the championship in this final game, the bus ride home was sullen following a loss by one point.

Coach V tried to raise their spirits by reinforcing that they played well and shifted their focus to the potential to win the NCAA titles as they had qualified for that tournament as well. She encouraged everyone to take the day off tomorrow and rest since they would be training hard for a game Wednesday then followed by a Saturday game if they won.

Riley knew she should be upset that they lost the CCC Champion title. Or excited for the NCAA potential but she couldn't focus on any of it when her thoughts were filled with James and the day they could stop hiding.