Inspiration Song: Prove It by 21 Savage & Summer Walker
***One Month Later (July 9th)***
"Soooo," Jade drew out the word, locking eyes with me from across the counter at Sinsations.
"Soooo," I copied her, stuffing my mouth with a bite of salad.
Basketball had been keeping me busy lately, and business was really picking up at Sinsations for Jade. She was finalizing product orders and working out the logistics to turn her coffee shop into a bar at night. It was exciting to see her business take flight the way it was, but I could tell the stress was wearing on her. The dark circles under her eyes indicated that she hadn't been sleeping the best, though she always told me that she had slept great. I wanted to try and get her to talk about it, but she always insisted that nothing was wrong. She just kept reiterating that she was stressed with all the changes coming for Sinsations. I really couldn't blame her—I couldn't imagine owning a business in a place like Vegas.
We had been finding time whenever possible to see each other besides at my games. I didn't feel like that should be classified as spending quality time with her even though it still meant the world to me that she was there when possible. So, today, after practice, I had decided to grab lunch from Panera for the both of us.
"Have you been on Tiktok lately?" she asked, her face calm with her brown eyes boring into mine.
"Not too much, honestly," I replied. "Basketball has really been my main focus. I've really only been on Insta, and I'm not even on that all the time. Why? What's up?"
I watched her cheeks begin to redden, "Oh, I don't know."
"No, c'mon, tell me," I urged her. "Is there some crazy trend going on right now or what?"
"Oh, it's a trend for sure," she blushed harder, but smiled. "I wouldn't call it crazy though. I mean, I totally understand it."
"What is it?" I asked, genuinely curious now.
"It's you," she said simply, taking a bite of her sandwich.
"It's me? What do you mean?" I watched her swallow her food and slowly take a sip of her smoothie.
"Like, you're all over Tiktok," she stated plainly.
"Oh," I said simply, not really sure what to say. "Like highlight reels?"
"Highlights of your attractiveness, maybe."
"Whatever," I rolled my eyes, but her face remained neutral.
"I'm serious," she replied. "Women everywhere are going nuts for you."
"I'm sure it'll pass," I shrugged, going back to eating.
"I doubt it."
"Are you sure it's not just you being obsessed and seeing like one or two people making edits?" I tried joking with her.
"First, I'm not obsessed," she said, sticking out her tongue at me. "Second, if I'm obsessed, so are the other thousands of people who are liking these edits."
I shrugged again. "People got a little crazy with the edits after we made the Elite Eight in March. I figured it was just a temporary thing that people would grow out of."
"I don't think people are growing out of it," she joked. "Everyone loves you, Kate."
"It's just the Rookie fad or because I'm Caitlin's best friend. Trust me, it'll die down," I tried to reassure her.
"Oh, I'm not worried about it," she said, grabbing my hand. "I quite enjoy them actually. Do you want to see a few?"
"Err," I started, my face suddenly growing warm. "I don't know about that. Wouldn't that be weird?"
YOU ARE READING
Small Town Girl, Big City Dreams • Kate Martin
Romance"You're not slick, Martin. I hope you're much smoother on the court," she chuckled. "Not really," I admitted with a smile. "This isn't just the alcohol talking right now, is it? Cause if that's the case, I'd rather we not," she admitted. "I know I...
