I'm So Into You

Shotgun

"Brett! You made it! Sorry you had to talk to this guy," Josiah said, gesturing nudging Remi, teasingly. "I can't apologize enough," he finished as Remi lightly shoved his shoulder and wandered over to the racks of balls to begin his practice . "What's your plan?"

"Can I just watch you for a bit?" Brett asked, gently twisting the gold ring in her ear, flustered by Josiah's body, dripping sweat, so near to hers. She'd forgotten how the extra 16 inches he had on her towered over her and the way his deep brown eyes so intensely connected with hers.

"I'd love to get an idea of what you do and then interview your trainer about it and find out I actually had no idea what you were doing," she laughed and he laughed with her. Josiah thought to himself how much he liked the way their laughs sounded together.

"Is that okay with you?" Brett asked. "Marin said I have clearance to talk with everyone today, so hopefully it is."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Then maybe you and I can ride back to the city together in my car. You can ask me some of those question you got written down there," Josiah answered, gesturing to her clipboard with the couple dozen questions and notes that Deane had given to Brett. She blushed, hoping that Josiah hadn't seen the question about his recent breakup and single life in the city. Deane had insisted on Brett asking, despite her protestations.

"Oh, I actually drove a rental up," she answered him, hoping the burning she felt in her cheeks wasn't as visible as she was sure it was. "When I come check out the team practice later this week, I'll catch an Uber and then I can take you up on that for sure."

"No worries at all," Josiah shrugged. "I'll send my driver home and then catch a ride back with you."

Before Brett could protest, Josiah had whipped his cell phone out of his bag on the sidelines and fired off a text. Brett thought about being alone with Josiah in a closed space for upwards of an hour — probably more with rush hour traffic. Before Brett could untangle the the thoughts racing through her head regarding being alone in a confined space with Josiah, he clapped her on the shoulder and grinning almost tauntingly and said, "It's done! We gonna stretch?"

____________

"My calves are killing me!" Brett yelped as she massaged the sorest spot, right underneath her knee. "I thought stretching was supposed to make your muscles feel better!" Josiah's easy laugh filled the space in the Mitsubishi RVR Brett had rented that morning and she smiled hearing it. She'd spent the afternoon watching Josiah and his trainer go through strength training, plyometrics, pilates, and a long stretching session that he'd demanded she participate in. He had corrected her posture in the gentlest way possible by moving her hand lower down her leg while they were in a side bend and gave her a reassuring pat on the back afterwards that disoriented her and made her whole body run warm. "Stop laughing at my misery, Smythe!"

"Woah, one day in the practice facility and you're calling me Smythe now?" Josiah said, raising his eyebrows in faux surprise. "Next thing you know, you'll know what a double dribble is!"

"Wow, girls are just too dumb to get sports I guess, point taken," Brett said, trying to make her voice sound as steely and serious as possible, biting her lips to fight the corners of her mouth trying to fly up into a mischievous smile.

Josiah's hands flew up in front of him, his jaw dropped, and his eyes widened. "No, that's not what I was saying at all. Seriously, I was just kidding around and busting your ass — you were saying yesterday how you don't really know that much about basketball and I thought we were having fun—"

Brett's explosion of laughter cut off his rapid-fire backtracking and he put his head in his hands. "You're an evil woman, Brett Winter!" he yelled from between his fingers. "I'm on the record right now, you know! Stop trying to sink my career!" As he pulled his face up, she could see his cheeks were just the slightest bit pink and he was laughing as he shook his head.

Josiah looks so cute all flustered, Brett thought, her heart swelling with tenderness for him as he fiddled with the dials, muttering something or other about the bass levels being off for the Joey Bada$$ song he was trying to play her. She smiled to herself as she thought about Josiah very gingerly and politely trying to tuck his legs into her rental, one that she'd picked out without thinking about whether it could accommodate the limbs of a nearly seven foot tall basketball player. The corners of her mouth must have been turning up as she recalled him having to nearly fold himself in half to get in the door because he asked, "And just what are you smiling about?" over the gentle vibrating of the speakers.

"Don't worry about it," she responded back with the slightest chuckle and shake of her head.

"Oh I see how it is," Josiah smirked. "I have to spill everything for you and your little magazine, but you get to keep your thoughts to yourself. I'm going to remember this when you start asking me questions!"

"Hey, speaking of which! Can you grab the clipboard I tossed in the back? Since I can't exactly read and drive, maybe we can go through some of those questions together?"

"Oh, so now you want me to interview myself?! It's not enough that you're out here trying to set me up as being sexist, you're laughing at me and being secretive AND I have to do your job for you?"

Brett loved how playful he was, even though he had a game the next night and a lot riding on his shoulders. The Knicks had given up a lot for him, as she'd found out during her research last night, and they were really counting on him to be worth it. She had watched him concentrating at practice today, she knew he must have felt that pressure. Brett was glad that Josiah could still be lighthearted and hoped it wasn't just for show.

"Well are you gonna get started interviewing yourself or what?!" she asked with faux impatience and the smile he gave her back in return told her that the fun he was having was, indeed, genuine.