The Adams boys were three floors above the Knights, according to Jamie-Lee Berry. Because of this, it wasn't hard for Rosalie, Ray, and Joanna to find them. Rosalie's hair was still wet by the time they climbed to the Adams floor. She almost expected her white-hot anger to turn all the water in her being into steam, but that just wasn't the case.
She checked her messages where Jamie had leaked Blake's room number, and together, she tracked down his door with Joanna looking over her shoulder. Ray knocked on it, a hand on her hip, and continued to knock until the lock came undone.
When the door opened, voices leaked out, and Blake's laughter came to a halt at the sight of their serious expressions waiting outside the door. Blake lowered his hand, a foot propping the door open as he took them all in and said, "Did... something happen?"
"Uh, yeah, the Eagles. Heard of them?" Joanna said, crossing her arms. She rose an eyebrow at him and the other Adams boy behind him. Jamie wasn't with them, considering he didn't exactly have a game to prep for.
"Oh! Yes, the Eagles. I'm friends with their captain on Instagram," Blake said, smiling.
"The guys or the girls captain?" Rosalie asked.
"The guys," he said with a wistful sigh. "So nice."
Rosalie spared herself a split second to address the curious look Blake's righthand man sent one of the other guys in the room. The other guy, reclined back on the pillows, raised a hand and shrugged. Meanwhile, Joanna looked .2 seconds away from tearing her hair out. Her fingers were already clasped to the damp, tangled strands of her half-dry hair.
"Our first match is against the Eagles," Blake said as Joanna stepped towards him, hand raised out with every intent of shaking her answers out of him. He smiled at her, head tipped to the side. "But... this isn't about the guys, is it?"
"It's about their snake of a captain," Joanna hissed, thumping her hand on his chest. "They know about Kaiserslautern."
Rosalie was sure she'd never witness the look on Blake's face again. His smile slipped instantly, and even that was enough to put his teammates on edge. The guy at his side put a hand to Blake's shoulder and said, "What's she talking about?"
Blake stared at Joanna unblinkingly before he shut his eyes and shook his head. "Everything?" he asked.
The one word pulled Rosalie's shoulders down, the breath escaping her. The inklings of something heavy and cold settled in, oozing around her heart where she thought she stood at Joanna's side. Joanna wanted her. Didn't Joanna trust her? Joanna had said so before, and everyone knew it: Blake Miles didn't keep secrets. What secret could Joanna have shared with Blake that she didn't with Rosalie?
Joanna shook her head at Blake, but Rosalie was already steeling her expression, teeth clenched tight. "Not everything, but it won't take long. If they get ahold of her, they'll have everything."
"You don't know that," Blake said, voice firm. He looked at his friend, brushing the guy's hand from his shoulder as he took a step towards the door. "I'll be back."
"Dude, Coach wants us in the lobby—" the guy started, but Blake silenced him with, "I'll meet you guys down there!"
Ray held a hand in front of Rosalie, pushing them both back as Blake pulled Joanna by the wrist as far as the hallway. He dropped her hand, looking both ways before Joanna tugged him towards the end of the hall. Doors were open, Adam High members were mingling about—no part about this was subtle or private. Rosalie stared at Ray, still within Blake's hotel room threshold.
Ray leant into her and whispered, "Do you know what they're talking about?"
Rosalie shook her head, "No clue."
At this, Joanna looked back and held a hand out to stop them. Rosalie halted, swaying to a stop with Ray at her back. Ray clutched a hand to Rosalie's arm as Joanna shook her head and said, "You guys go back to Bradshaw's floor. I'll meet you over there."
"But—" Rosalie started, only to be cut short by Joanna turning back to her, her finger raised as if to scold Rosalie and say, "Watch yourself."
Rosalie's shoulders slumped as she watched Joanna and Blake dodge Adam boys down the hall, and disappear into the far stairwell. Ray tugged on her arm, harshly, enough to spin Rosalie around and stagger down the hall. Rosalie had to jog to keep up with Ray.
"Where are we—" she started, but Ray shushed her as they passed an open Lions' room.
At the end of the hall, Ray pushed the elevator button, and together they waited for the doors to open. Rosalie's mind was in a tizzy, tension from the anxiety of not knowing building with every passing moment. What did Blake know that she didn't?
When the doors opened and they went inside, Ray pushed a number several floors up—the opposite of where the Bradshaw girls were. When Rosalie opened her mouth to object, Ray shushed her and said, "Joanna might go down the stairs to get to our floor."
Rosalie stared at Ray in the reflective elevator door. Ray's lips curved into a devious grin, and Rosalie gasped as she realized where this was going. She slapped Ray in the arm and cried, "You're insane! What if they hear us?"
"That's what makes it fun," she said, and together, they chased after Joanna and Blake to the stairwell, two floors between them.
When they arrived at the stairwell door, Ray gestured for Rosalie to stay silent. Ray slowly, carefully, lowered the door handle. Rosalie held her breath as Ray pushed the door forward and inch and lifted the handle back up. The gears clicked, quietly, but with Blake and Joanna's voices, the sound was drowned out on the noise resonating through the concrete stairwell. Ray ushered Rosalie through, and she went to stand on the edge of the stairs leading down, her back against the wall railing. She looked back as Ray crouched a little, easing the door shut.
"—have to know something," Joanna was saying, her voice strung tight to the point where it wavered, and made the crack at the end more obvious to Rosalie.
Joanna was begging.
Joanna didn't beg.
"I really don't, hun," Blake said. "They were recruited. Promised the captain position. I think the Mendozas hopped around a lot."
"Military?" Joanna asked. There was a long pause, and Joanna's voice came quietly again, and Rosalie almost missed it as Ray came to join her at the steps. "She has an accent of some kind."
"Kind of southern," Ray whispered into Rosalie's ear. Rosalie raised an eyebrow at her. Ray shrugged and said, "I mean, it's watered down a lot. My guess is that she grew up in the south and shed it when she moved."
"They," Rosalie corrected. Ray raised a hand in apology, but looked more annoyed than anything. Ray crossed her arms and scowled at the door.
Blake said, "You think Drew could find your ex?"
"Anything's fucking possible with that bitch," Joanna said through gritted teeth. "Drew and my ex both. Wouldn't be surprised, I mean."
"You don't know that. I mean, what are the chances they overlapped locations when your ex just moved to Georgia this semester," Blake said.
"Georgia's south," Ray whispered.
"That's too small of a timeframe," Rosalie insisted, as quietly as she could. She stepped forward, spurred on by the fact that Ray was now watching her, waiting for more. "If Drew was recruited for the captain position, then they'd need to be there for summer training. July at the latest, if—"
Joanna's voice broke through near the end of it, so Ray swatted her hand around to shut Rosalie up. "—Shortly after the Lieutenant was transferred, so I didn't hear about it."
"Your old coach wouldn't say anything, would she?" Blake asked.
"No, we were on good terms. I think she knew..." she started.
Rosalie waited for more. She wanted to know so terribly that her chest ached, and it probably showed on her face when she stared at Ray, and Ray stared back, eyes wide. Ray mouthed, "Knew what?"
"It doesn't matter. If Drew wanted to find my ex, it wouldn't take much. More than a weekend, though, so I think... we'll be fine. I'll be fine," Joanna said.
"I'll tell my boys to steer clear of the girls team. It couldn't have been any of those wonderful young ladies. None of my boys know about your close call with juvie," Blake said, and the comment was accompanied by the door opening. The sound reverberated up to them, and Rosalie jumped at the sound. "I won't spill anything about it, either!"
Joanna scoffed. "If it has to do with my good looks, spill away."
Blake laughed. "Well, in that case, I spill it everyday. They all know, sweetheart."
They listened to Blake's footsteps recede, and Joanna's rapid descent down the stairs. Rosalie glanced over the railing as Joanna paced away from her and Ray, and caught a glimpse of Joanna's hand along the railing down below, now three floors down.
When Ray grabbed Rosalie by the wrist, she wasn't expecting it. She jerked back, only to lurch forward when Ray shoved her towards the door. "Hurry! Hurry!" she hissed, and together, they escaped back out into the hallway.
As they ran down the patterned carpeting to the elevators, Ray whistled low and said, "Wow, I wish I knew what was happening."
"Don't feel bad. I don't know all that much either," Rosalie said, and couldn't help but pout as they waited for the elevator doors to open. She tried to push her hope down. Joanna didn't need to say anything, and nothing Rosalie could do would make her talk. It wouldn't feel right if it wasn't on Joanna's terms, and the circumstances did not mean it was the best time for Joanna to talk about it.
Rosalie swallowed hard. "If... something happened in Germany, what if it could get Joanna kicked off the team?" she said.
Ray stared at her, wide-eyed. She shook her head. "I don't know. I mean, it's definitely possible considering whatever it was could've put her in juvie. She beat Clemons to a pulp without a second thought. Who knows how many noses she's broken."
Rosalie opened her mouth to speak, but the elevator door was opening, and there were people waiting to get on. Their teammates were gathered across the hallway in a cacophony of noise, and when Ray and Rosalie snuck through it, lingering against the wall, Ray spied Joanna from over the crowd.
"There—I think she's looking for us," Ray whispered. Rosalie let out a breath of relief, and stood still against the wall near Joanna's hotel room. The door was open a crack, but it seemed only Lu was around, and even then she was in the restroom.
Despite Ray's observation that Joanna was on the hunt for them, when Joanna did find them, she looked more annoyed than anything. Rosalie watched as Joanna's eyes flitted down the hallway, avoiding her own.
"I don't want to talk about it. Let's just get the fuck out of here," Joanna said, letting out a sigh that shook her shoulders and reminded Rosalie of what this all meant. If Drew found out, Joanna would not only be kicked off the team and expelled—juvie awaited, and whatever sentence the price was for, Rosalie had no clue.
Rosalie shook her head. "We just want to help," she said.
"You can't help if Drew finds my ex," Joanna said, fist clenched against the open elevator door. "If they threaten me with it, I'll have to drop."
"Why," Rosalie said, voice dry. She knew it was stupid to ask, but she said it anyways. Joanna said nothing, and it was Rosalie's chance to drop it. She didn't. "Why?"
Joanna slapped her hands to her face before thrusting them out, shaking. "Because I can't... I just can't talk about it, alright?" she hissed, voice low. Rosalie blinked, every part of her seizing up at the word. It took a split second for her to even process it. Joanna clenched her fists and threw them down, stepping out of the elevator. "Step off, okay?"
"Then why did you tell Blake," Rosalie whispered. Her throat felt strained, and she saw from the corner of her eye as Ray stood beside her, arms over her head.
"Because none of it matter until fucking Georgia happened," Joanna said. Her bloodshot eyes were glassy now, moisture collecting on her bottom lashes. It took a severe amount of control to keep from screaming, especially when their hallway was full of Knights. Joanna shook her head, blinking it away. "No one knows about it. Except my old team. They used it against me, and now Drew, and I don't want..."
Joanna's voice lost her. She mouthed it, though, and it was enough for Rosalie to read. Rosalie shook her head immediately, throat tightening.
"No. Whatever it is, I won't use it against you. You said so yourself, Bradshaw isn't like Adams or Kaiserslautern. We don't work like that."
Joanna gasped out a shaky, "Jesus Christ," as she turned away, only to throw back with, "But you—!"
"Who do you think I am!" Rosalie shouted.
The volume of her voice reached her in an echo. She startled the same way Joanna stopped and stared, the way the hallway stilled. Rosalie glanced at Ray, as if to confirm that she had, in fact, screamed that. She clamped her mouth shut, straightened up, and cleared her throat. She'd never shouted at someone before, and she could still feel it on her tongue.
Horrified, Rosalie slapped a hand to her mouth and said, "Oh my God—I'm so sorry."
Ray whistled low and said, "Damn, Rosie."
Rosalie looked nervously between them. Joanna's expression hadn't changed, at least, not until a moment later when she stepped toward Rosalie. Rosalie took a step back, reaching back to the half-open hotel room door. It rattled as Ray cut between them.
Ray drew Joanna's attention away to say, "You know Rosalie's not a bad guy, right? She doesn't rat people out. That's my job."
Joanna scoffed, rolling her eyes as she pushed Ray's hand away. "I know that. It's why I'm going to hug the shit out of her," she said as she closed the gap between them, stopping mere inches from Rosalie with her arms out.
Rosalie was quick to nod. She closed her arms over Joanna's shoulders, her hands against the damp fabric there where Joanna's hair sat in tight waves. Joanna wrapped her arms around Rosalie's midsection, folding them together so that Rosalie could feel Joanna's closed fists through the fabric of her swimsuit.
Rosalie's breath was caught in her throat until several seconds later, when she started to wonder why her head felt heavy. She wanted to stay still so that she could feel Joanna breathing against her. Rosalie raised a hand up to Joanna's hair, feeling her fingers shake against it as she raised her eyes from the ground to look at Ray.
Ray stood there in mild shock, staring, eyes wide. When she met Rosalie's eyes, though, she jolted as if shocked and held both thumbs up. Rosalie huffed a little, reminded to breath, and managed to smile back.
a/n:
Also, for your amusement:
Me: "I think I know how Rosalie and Joanna's first kiss is gonna happen."
Sam, who helped me develop MMW: "How... how many chapters have gone by."
Me, a flaming aromantic asexual: "... about fifty..."
Sam: "THAT. THAT ISN'T EVEN SLOW BURN. IT'S NOT EVEN A BURN. THEY'RE UNDERWATER !!!"
Also Sam: "I like how you have to consult people about this. Like, how long is this courtship supposed to go on? Have they even held hands?"
Me, staring vacantly into the distance: "I don't... remember..."
Sam, horrified: "Have they HUGGED?"
Me: "YES, SOON."
Sam, throwing her arms in the air: "You're like, 'This will go on FOREVER! KEEP THE PDA IN YOUR OWN GAY NOVEL, SAM!!'"