Small Town Girl, Big City Dreams • Kate Martin

Chapter 16: Guessing Game

Inspiration Song: Trust by Brent Faiyaz

We were playing Seattle again tonight, which meant another tough game. The crowd was loud, and the game was neck and neck through the majority of it. I played a little and came away with a few assists and a steal. However, as we were nearing the end, Becky kept the starters in, trying to keep our small lead.

I had wanted to say that I was completely in the game, but my mind was running a thousand miles a minute. I hadn't heard from Jade at all today, and I was so in my head about it. Was she okay? Did she oversleep and get to work late? Was everything at work alright? Or, potentially worse, was I being ghosted? Had she only wanted to sleep with me? I wanted to believe with everything in me that that wasn't true, but my brain just wouldn't let it go. I wasn't one to overthink about a woman like this, but maybe that's because Jade wasn't just any woman. I had never felt this strongly about someone before, even in the short time I had known her.

I knew I was supposed to be focused on Becky's game plan when she called the timeout, but as my mind was wandering, I glanced up at the jumbotron to see that they were doing a player look-alike challenge, panning the camera through the crowd. They picked out women who looked like Jewel and Skylar and then they announced they were looking for Nika's lookalike. I was curious to see who they would pick as the person closest to her in appearance was back in Vegas. Now that Jade had pointed it out, I couldn't unsee it. It was super uncanny. From a distance, one would definitely assume they were twins.

I watched the camera scan through the crowd before landing on a brunette with her hair pulled into a ponytail. Her brown eyes were slightly lighter than Nika's, but if you asked me, she was prettier. The woman was standing next to a middle-aged lady with whom she shared a lot of facial features. I watched a blush creep over the girl's face when everyone cheered. When they zoomed out, the camera caught her jersey: Las Vegas #20. What was Jade doing in Seattle? I hadn't heard from her all day, but she was at my game. Was she trying to surprise me?

I felt my heart swell with excitement, and then deflate not many seconds later. While Jade had surprised me a few times at games, she had never gone full on no contact to do it. Something seemed off. Plus, Seattle was quite a trip from Las Vegas. Once the camera panned off of them, I tried to search for her in the crowd but couldn't locate her.

"You good, Kate?" KB asked, nudging my shoulder to bring me back to reality. The timeout was over, and our starters rushed back to the court.

"Yeah," I sighed. "Just out of it today, I guess. Travelling the day of a game threw me off."

"That's no lie," she agreed.

I tried to stay focused on the game, but I was doing a number on the skin around my nails. I had a terrible habit of chewing on that skin when I was anxious. I always told myself I'd work on it, but now was not the time. We did end up holding on to the lead to win, which was good. I wanted to be more excited about it, but I just couldn't find it in me. When Becky told me to go back out of the locker room for autographs, it took everything in me not to jog back to the court. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of Jade again.

I tried to look around quickly without making it too obvious, but I did not catch her in the crowd that still hung around. I signed autographs and took pictures, but I didn't have the usual enthusiasm I normally did when interacting with fans.

Eventually, security started clearing people out. I sighed, defeated. Maybe I had just imagined it was Jade. She was so engrained into my mind today; it wouldn't necessarily be a stretch to assume I saw what I wanted to see—especially with my lack of sleep. I turned to head back to the locker room.

"Going to leave without saying hi?" I heard a musical voice question. Jade. I turned around, and, sure enough, there she was in front of me.

"Hey," I greeted her, still confused. I wanted to be excited to see her, but my intuition kept telling me something was off.

"Good game today," she smiled, but she looked a little anxious. The middle-aged woman standing with her seemed to be assessing me.

"Thanks. I'm glad we pulled off the win."

"It was definitely an entertaining game for my first," the lady next to Jade spoke and approached the railing separating us, reaching out to extend her hand. I took it and shook it. "It's so nice to meet one of Jade's friends, finally."

"It's nice to meet you too," I said, cordially. The woman had the same brown eyes as her and wavy brown hair that was starting to grey. They also had the same smile. I wondered if this was her aunt. I glanced at Jade again to see that she looked on edge. Was she nervous for me to meet her?

"Seriously, I'm glad you've given Jade a reason to get out of the house. I was worried my darling was going to work her whole life away without having any fun. Now, if you can help her find a nice man to settle down with, I'd have to write you into my will."

I laughed uncomfortably, and I could see Jade's face growing red. I had so many questions, but I could tell now was not the right time to ask them. "Yeah...yeah, I'll work on that."

"Well—" Jade said, anxiously and clapped her hands together. "We better let you go so you can get back to the team. Great game, again, Kate. I'll text you, yeah?"

"Yeah, okay," I agreed. I gave her a look to let her know that I wanted to talk about this later. "Thanks for coming out and supporting. It was nice to meet you..."

"Oh, Mrs. Lauton, but you can call me, Christine."

"It was nice to meet you, Christine. Hopefully you enjoyed your first WNBA game," I managed to squeak out, trying to keep my voice even. Christine and Jade looked blood related, but that couldn't be if her last name was Lauton. She would've had to marry into the family...Between that fact and how Jade was acting, I could tell something was not right. I was missing out on some information somewhere. Granted, Jade hadn't really mentioned much of her home life—just that her parents had died and that her aunt and uncle had basically dubbed themselves as her "replacement" parents since then. Jade had been 19 when the accident had happened, so she hadn't needed guardians, but they still stepped in as moral support. It was really a sweet thing for them to do. Beyond that, I knew she was from Washington and that was it. Jade really only talked about the present or future in person. She didn't like reflecting on the past. "See you around, Jade."

"Kate," she pleaded silently with her chocolate eyes that I had come to adore. "Have a safe flight home. I'll text you when I can."

I didn't reply and walked back to the locker room. My head was reeling in a thousand different directions. Maybe it was just some weird thing that they looked that much alike. More than likely, I was just overthinking and overanalyzing from my lack of sleep.

When I got back to the locker room, everyone was chatting and joking. I quickly gathered up my stuff and grabbed my phone. I still didn't have a text from Jade, so I decided to break the ice.

Just Kate🏀:

It was really nice to meet your aunt today! I didn't know you were planning on coming to tonight's game. Hopefully you're getting to spend a few days with family? Thanks again for coming. 😊

Also, is everything okay? You seemed on edge.

After we got back to the hotel, I showered and settled in for the night. My body and mind were exhausted. I checked my phone again. No texts from Jade.

Just Kate🏀:

Hey babe, I hope everything is okay. I'm going to head to bed. Sleep well. 😊

I went to bed with a pit in my stomach and a thousand questions on my mind.

A/N: I'm sorry if this chapter sucks. I'm not gonna lie, I definitely rushed on it as I didn't want you guys sitting for a week without an update. Who knows, maybe I'll delete when I get back on Monday, and we can all collectively call it a fever dream, yeah? Deal.

Seriously though guys, I really appreciate all the love on this story. It's more than I could've imagined. Every comment and vote do not go unnoticed. <3

Anyways, Liberty vs. Aces...Y'all ready for it?