Three's Company

54

Coach Kennadi: Alright, girls! On the line! If everybody makes it, we're going home.

Coach Kennadi set the shot clock to 30 seconds and blew the whistle. The girls took off running.

Coach Kennadi: Let's get it!

Nuri has been playing basketball since she was four years old. It was time for summer ball again and she had gotten back with her Nike team. They loved it because she had Black female coach, who was a former college player at Texas A&M.

The girls finished their suicide. "Good job, ladies! Bring it in!" She led the clap and chant. "We had a great first practice today. We got some work to do but we have a lot of talent. Next practice, I have a trainer friend coming in and to work with us. She's gonna go through some dribbling and shooting drills." A lady dressed in Nike warm-ups stood up from the bleachers and walked over to mid-court. This is Justice Young. She played basketball at North Carolina and is on staff at UTA. She's going to be working with us all summer and may even travel to a few tournaments with us.

"Hey ladies! I'm excited to work with y'all this summer. We'll get some workouts in and hopefully ball out!"

Jayden marveled at how fine Justice was. She was lightskinned with long curly hair, about 6'0" super lanky. She had colorful detailed tattoo sleeves down her arms, green eyes, and a beautiful smile. Jayden was lusting. Hard.

"Raiders on three! 1-2-3!" "RAIDERS!" "Parents, quick meeting. Justice is gonna get the team gear to the players. Jayden could you assist?" "Sure." This would be her second season over the mom club. She was in charge of collecting player fees, sizes, and organizing snacks and travel plans.

Jayden got up with her clipboard and headed to the equipment room with Justice. "Hi, I'm Jayden Taylor, Nuri's mom." "Nice to meet you."

Jayden: So I have the sizes here for the jerseys, warm-ups, and shoes.

They worked together handing out gear and chatted. Jayden added Justice to the team group message. After all of the players left the equipment room, they gathered all of the plastic and boxes off the floor and tables to take out the trash. Jayden's phone buzzed. "🦄" (Cam 12:20pm) Jayden's face turned bright red.

Jayden: Oh my God...

Justice: What is it?

Jayden: It's nothing.

Justice: So did you hoop?

Jayden: Yeah. Both me and my husband did.

Justice: Oh...husband.

Jayden: Yeah...

Jayden was taken aback by that statement. She sensed some disappointment in her voice, but wasn't sure if she should force the conversation.

Justice: I didn't know you were married.

Jayden: Yeah.

She held up her left hand.

Jayden: I took my wedding rings off to put lotion on and we were rushing and I forgot to grab them before we left the house.

Justice: Got it.

It got awkwardly quiet in the room.

Justice: Well...uhh. Looks like we're done, in here. We should probably see what's going on out there.

Jayden: Uh...Yeah.

They walked out of the equipment room. The team was just dispersing. Nuri gathered her things and Cam helped her carry them to the car. They all got into Cam's car and headed home. Nuri put her AirPods in and started jamming to her own music and playing around on her phone.