Caitlin's P.O.V
"Careful." My voice leaves my mouth before I even register that I'm speaking, moving towards Alyssa to pull out the girl's chair. She nods her head in thanks to me as she sits down, fumbling with her crutches a bit to get to them successfully lay underneath the table.
"For me to have had to use crutches many, many times in my life, I don't know why I'm struggling so much this time."
I shrug, moving across the table to sit at my own seat, eyes glancing towards the back of Kate's head who was standing in line before returning to the athlete in front of me, a smirk playing on the black-haired girls lips.
"Can't keep your eyes off your prize huh, Clark?" Her brown eyes glint as she says the words in a low tone, making sure that Kate didn't hear the comment from where we sat.
"If I had something to throw at you right now, I would." I shoot back, leaning back in my chair while crossing my arms, slightly glaring at the girl in front of me who just throws her head back in a laugh.
"Why don't you shoot your shot CeCe?" The girl asks, taking a sip of the fountain drink I had gotten for her earlier before resuming, "We KNOW she likes girls so it's not like you're questioning if your trying to make a move on a straight girl."
I let my eyes drift back to the blonde in line, "Yeah but..." I sigh, sitting up in my chair before leaning onto the table with my arms. "She's literally my best friend-"
I hear Alyssa give a fake gasp of shock, causing me to one again glare at her.
"One of my best friends." I correct, causing a playful grin to show on the others face, I roll my eyes at the switch up. "I don't want to make anything awkward between us or risk losing the bond we already have because of my feelings." I continue, putting my head down onto my arms.
Alyssa glances over my shoulder, making sure Kate was still a good amount of space away from us before talking to me, "I get that. But you also need to give Kate way more credit, you confess and she returns the feelings? You two live happily ever after," I snort at that. "You confess and she doesn't? You two are adults, and you're right, she IS your best friend and if she truly cares she won't let something like that come between you guys, ever."
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, I knew Alyssa was right but that still didn't stop the nerves I had every time I thought of telling Kate how I felt about her, or even the butterflies I felt whenever she smiled, laughed or even hugged me.
I open my mouth to say something else, only to stop as I saw three Jersey Mike bags get placed on the table.
"Two combos for the pretty athletes." Kate jokes, moving to sit down, "An a good ol' sandwhich for myself."
"Thank you Kate," Alyssa's hand takes her bag as I reach out for my own.
"Yeah, thanks Martin." My eyes drift to hers as she grins at me, quickly looking away to take a bit out of my own food, hoping the blush rising to my face goes unnoticed.
"You're feeling alright, right?" Kate nods towards Alyssa, the unsaying question about her foot hanging in the air. Alyssa shrugs.
"Pride's more wounded than anything right now." She jokes, getting a chuckle out of myself and the attractive blonde sitting on my side.
"Well, if you're still joking I know your fine. Did you take anything for the pain today yet?" She nods, finishing the food in her mouth before responding.
"Yeah, I took something after breakfast, before I went to the basketball practice with Maia earlier."
Kate hums, shifting in her seat before she glances over at me, a smirk on her face before turning back to Alyssa.
What is she about to do...
"So..." Kate starts, Alyssa tilting her hand at her. "You and Nika?"
I choke on my own drink as I started to laugh mid-swallow, hitting my chest a few times as my halve coughs, halve laughs escape me, I feel a hand make its way to my back as I do so, rubbing in circles.
"First CeCe and now you?" Alyssa groans out, her face starting to turn a bright red. Kate laughs, still rubbing my back as my coughing fit subsides, even when it finishes, she keeps her palm against the top of my back, those same butterflies I had thought about when I talked to Alyssa returning. I use the distraction of Alyssa's secret, but not so secret crush, to take my attention off the warm and comforting feeling.
"I mean..." Kate starts with a laugh at the freshman's embarrassed expression, "It's sort of obvious Knight."
Alyssa grumbles something towards the senior, and I crack a smile at the laughing Kate. Alyssa taking another bite of her food before wrapping the rest up, focusing her attention at the conversation on hand.
"There's nothing to talk about."
"Oh that's a lie and you know it." I speak up at her comment, making her glare at me and Kate laugh louder, I throw a grin back. "Nika literally looked like she was about to jump over every person in the stands the other day to make sure you were alright."
"According to her, you and Maia were the same way."
"One, you've been friends with Maia for thirteen years, that's family. Two, we used to date, and even with we didn't I've been friends with you for seven. You're my family. Nika? You guys have known each other a little over a month? Bit of a strong reaction for a friend, huh?" I end, a mischievous grin playing on my lips as Alyssa starts messing with the strings on her hoodie.
Got her.
"Like I told you before Clark... and now you too Kate, I honestly don't know. I DON'T know if she likes girls." She emphasizes the don't by looking at me as I just scoff, "And even if she does, why would she like me? She treats me like everyone else."
"Do you see her carrying anyone else's stuff when they're hurt? Or learning ways to calm down other peoples anxiety?" I retort, shutting Alyssa up at that point. "Listen... just don't let your fear stop you from something that could be a really, really great experience okay? You deserve it."
"You're one to talk." She bites back, her eyes flicking from me to Kate, and I've never been more thankful for the blonde checking her phone at the time as she was then. I bite my lip, rolling my eyes.
"Whatever Knight. I just want to see you happy, and I see how happy you are around Nika. Just, give it a try you know?"
"Mmm." Is all Alyssa responds, still playing with the strings of her hoodie as I laugh softly, moving to swat her hands away from it.
"You still have that same nervous tick, stop before you ruin them."
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Alyssa's P.O.V
"What did we just walk into?" I blink as Caitlin uses my keys to open the apartment door, her and Kate entering first as I hobble in behind them.
"There was a TikTok comment asking which twin could hold a handstand the longest... So here we are." Maia says, phone out and recording as both Nika and Paige were in the living room, shirts falling over their stomachs as both were in a hand stand.
Caitlin walks past me, putting her hand on my chin to close my jaw. I blush in embarrassment, taking my eyes away from Nika's abs before going towards the kitchen with my crutches, putting my food in the fridge.
"Fuck!" A crash comes from the living room, followed by a laugh as I peer around the corner wall, seeing Paige on the floor as Nika walks herself won from her hand stand, sitting on her knees before flexing.
"I'd like to dedicate this win, to little me who used to be in gymnastics." Nika uses her own phone as a fake mic, left arm pointing to Maia's phone as the recorder chuckles, ending the video before posting it on TikTok.
"That's so ass! How am I supposed to compete against that, you guys probably did that for like half of your practices as kids." Paige pants, red faced from the amount of time she held the form as she laid on the ground. Nika laughs, standing up, face slightly flushed but no where near Paige's amount. The Croatian patting Paige's stomach, snickering as the blonde swats away her hand before walking towards me, fixing her clothes.
"Hey."
"Hi Nika." I smile back.
"How's the ankle feeling?"
"Better, I haven't really been anywhere without my crutches today though, and I also took painkillers earlier during your guys practice so I'm not sure if it's really getting better or if it's just the lack of use and drugs." I chuckle and Nika's husky laugh returns, the girl grabbing a bottle of water from our fridge before leaning next to me on the counter. The scene in front of us consisting of a laughing Maia and Kate, and Paige who is trying to convince Caitlin to go against her next in a handstand competition.
"I'm going to go with saying it's a bit of both." Nika's laughter quiets some a she comments on my answer from before, following my eyes to the sight in front of us that I was watching with a small smile. "How was the hang out with Clark and Martin?" She inquired.
My mind thinks back to the words both had said about Nika and I, before answering. "It was fun, it's been way too long since I've seen them. Able to hang out with them like this. With us all being athletes, D1 at that and in different states, it's extremely rare we can visit each other. Thus why I haven't seen them in like 3 years."
Nika hums, taking a drink of her water before wiping some of the liquid that had dropped down her chin. My eyes followed the droplet from her mouth, to her chin, back to her mouth before snapping my gaze back to her eyes, hoping that no one saw it.
How the fuck am I thirsty when I'm literally drinking water.
"I'm glad." Nika's voice pulls me out of my thoughts, the Croatian's eyes wrinkled as she smiled. I return the same expression, glancing at the clock which read 7:35PM before looking back at Nika, her gaze returning to hold my own, I'm assuming as she had looked at the clock as well.
"Are you guys staying over tonight?" I ask, hoping the older athlete says yes. The UConn twin glances over to Paige, who was still trying to convince Caitlin, before looking back at me, shrugging.
"I don't know, Paige doesn't seem to be making any move to leave anytime soon though." She states before smirking and leaning towards me slightly, "Why? Want us to stay?"
"Paige can do whatever she wants, but I do remember that you still owe me some criminal mind episodes." I state, as Friday night, the night before my game when she was helping calm me down, the foreigner and I had settled on watching the show on my laptop until we had both passed out.
Nika's noise wrinkles in an adorable way as she smiles at me, "I guess I do huh? Well guess I have no choice but to stay." She shrugs again, her tone and words showing that she didn't have any intention on leaving whether Paige stayed or not anymore. I laugh and shuffle towards her, making sure to keep pressure off my ankle as I lean my head on the girl's shoulder. I feel her tense slightly before quickly relaxing, a arm snaking around my waist to steady me.
"Criminal minds here we come." I mumble, as Nika laughs at me, the action making the shoulder below me vibrate slightly. I close my eyes at the comfortable feeling.
"Criminal minds here we come." She echoes me.