Well, here we are with another story. This one isn't related to the previous one mostly because I don't think I would able to remember enough to connect more than one story. This is based on an idea I had a few years back. It's a little out there but it was fun to write so my hope is that it will be fun to read as well. Enjoy
- glambo
Saturday, November 6th
Running late really shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone.
It was kind of her thing. She was always fashionably late and anybody who knew her for more than five minutes could tell you that. Sure, she had her strengths, it just so happened that time management wasn't very far up that list.
Jill glanced hesitatingly toward the passenger seat. Kelly had worked with her for the past three years, they'd briefly been roommates, and she was one her best friends in the whole, wide world. You'd think she would know that better than anyone.
So really, if she was so worried about getting home on time she wouldn't have agreed to running errands this afternoon with her in the first place.
It was her own fault, Jill decided.
"Oh, come on, Kelly." She sighed, fixing an apologetic smile on her face. "I said I was sorry."
Kelly sent a sideways glance her way. "You're not sorry." She said flatly.
Jill's smile widened despite herself. Though she was sorry about not being able to drive Kelly home by 8:00 like they'd agreed to earlier, seeing her sulk was always funny. And seeing her with the girls later would be even funnier. "No, I am!" she insisted. "But, practice is only till 9:00. No later than that. You'll be home by 9:30, I promise."
"You promised we'd be done shopping in time for me to go home and watch Mary Tyler Moore."
"Well, you saw how many people there were." Jill sighed. "If I drove you all the way home, there's no way I would have made it to the school on time and the girls would have been locked out and God knows what they would have gotten up to and then I'd have moms and dads jumping down my throat and I still need to set up the gym for them-"
"I could have taken the bus, you know." Kelly chimed in.
"There's not a bus stop near the school, the closest one is by-"
"Or called a cab." Kelly went on, counting on her fingers as she did. "Or called Bri to come get me. Or walked."
Jill looked at her friend like she was insane. "Walked? All the way home from the mall? By yourself? You can't do that."
"Oh, and I've never had to walk anywhere by myself." Kelly deadpanned. "Please, I used to walk farther than that to school every day. And I was eight."
Jill gave up with a huff. "Oh, stop. Besides, they'll repeat it later."
Kelly let her head thump sullenly back against the headrest in response.
"I'll take you to dinner after practice. Anywhere you want." Jill offered.
Dinner in exchange for a couple of hours with the eight to ten year old members of the junior league girls' basketball team she coached three nights a week seemed a fair trade to Jill. As expected, Kelly perked up a bit.
"Anywhere?" She chanced after a moment.
Jill fought the urge to groan. Maybe she should have clarified. "Anywhere. But I've only got ten bucks on me-" She added quickly. "-so let's try to be reasonable."
Ten dollars must have seemed reasonable to Kelly. "Fine." She muttered after a beat. "Like I have a choice anyway."
"Exactly."
"That's what I thought." Kelly sighed. "Let's go practice, coach."
Jill giggled. "It won't be that bad, I swear it. You like kids! And they're good kids, they'll like you too. Kids always like you." She took one hand off of the steering wheel and reached over into the back seat. After a second of rooting around, she produced a yellow baseball cap, which she tossed into Kelly's lap.
Her eyes went back to the road, but she heard Kelly's slight laugh. She'd given Kelly one of her extra hats. "Coach" it said on the hat's front, in big red letters.
"Oh, I'm the coach too now?" She heard her say with definite amusement in her voice. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kelly gamely pop the cap onto her head. "That's all it takes, huh?"
"Every grown up is Coach." Jill explained patiently. "Even you." She released the wheel again to give Kelly a playful shove. "They don't know any better."
Kelly laughed. "It all starts at the top, doesn't it?" Resigned now to spending the evening coaching a basketball team's worth of pre-teen girls, Kelly finally relaxed. "I like this hat." She said after a moment. Jill heard her pulling her mirror out of her purse to admire it.
"Thanks. I had it made. You can keep that one." Jill laughed. "And thanks for coming with me. You saved me a lot of hassle." She reached over and sincerely patted Kelly's hand, hoping her friend could see just how incredibly grateful and heartfelt she was being right now. "Really, Kell. I owe you big time. Thank you."
"I didn't have a choice." Kelly pointed out again, effectively ruining the moment as only she could do.
Goddammit, Kelly. Jill rolled her eyes and withdrew her hand. "I know, but you also didn't make me stop and drop you off on the side of the road and yell at me. So again: thank you, sourpuss."
"Thank you, Coach Sourpuss." Kelly corrected, adjusting her hat in the mirror. "I have a hat now, remember?"
Jill had to laugh. "Yeah, you do. And who knows? You might even like it. Give those kids one day and I'll bet you'll be asking me to bring you back."
Kelly smirked. "I've seen you play cards. I know you're a better gambler than that."
"Better than you think." Jill said airily. They'd arrived at the school with fifteen minutes to spare. As they pulled into the mostly empty parking lot, the entrance to the school gym came into view. There were already a handful of girls milling about the locked doors, some sitting, some standing, some messing around with a basketball they'd brought from home. One of them caught sight of Jill's car as it approached and popped to her feet to wave enthusiastically at them. By the time Jill had pulled into the closest spot to the building, the entire group was waving at them, chattering excitedly and grabbing up their things. She chanced a glance at Kelly and was a bit surprised to see how nervous she looked.
"We're done at 9:00, right?" Kelly muttered, doubtfully surveying the excited kids.
Jill playfully batted the bill of her hat. "Yes, I promise. Now, hurry up, Coach Sourpuss. I have to introduce you to your team."
"There you go! Get your knees up!"
Jill turned and grinned at the sight of her best friend standing on the sidelines, helpfully calling out pointers as the girls ran drills. The kids scuttled by, dribbling haphazardly, their little faces scrunched up in concentration.
She listened to Kelly shout out a few more tips before shaking her head fondly and filling up the last of the paper cups with water. It looked like Kelly had everything under control for the moment. For someone who had earlier balked at the idea of tagging along during their practice, Kelly seemed right at home on the court.
The girls had really taken to her too, it seemed. They'd bombarded her with questions at first, as Jill had expected. But, apparently Kelly had made a good enough impression on them. They hung on her every word, doing exactly as she said, eager to please though they'd only just met her.
Jill finished the last cup and plugged up the water cooler, fighting the urge to laugh as she caught sight of Kelly, almost caught off guard by a basketball tossed her way by one of the girls. She didn't really catch it, Jill noted, she couldn't give her that much credit. It bounced against her shoulder and all Kelly had done was keep it from hitting the ground.
At least she could do that much.
One wouldn't know it by watching her, but Kelly- though very athletic in her own right - had zero skills in the way of the great game of basketball. Jill had played enough leisurely games of horse with her to know that throwing the ball towards the hoop was the extent of her knowledge.
But as usual, Kelly could fake her way through most anything and the girls were neither old enough nor experienced enough to know any different. Her hat said "Coach" on it after all.
Jill slid her whistle between her teeth and gave three short blasts, delighting in the fact that it made Kelly jump and drop the ball she'd been holding against her hip. The dribbling gradually came to a stop and the girls came trotting towards her, chattering excitedly.
Kelly glanced over her shoulder and figured out what was going on.
"Okay, ladies! Coach Jill says it's time for a water break!"
The girls cheered their approval and mobbed the table where Jill had set up the cups.
"Whoa! Careful!" Jill scolded gently. "You can't drink the water if you spill it everywhere, ya goobers."
"Sorry, Coach Jill." One of the girls said out of obligation. She was one of the smaller girls, with light brown hair tied back into a ponytail and freckles all over the bridge of her nose. They were even more prominent now with her cheeks so flushed from running. Jill had seen her following Kelly around like a little puppy. "Can I ask you a question, Coach Jill?"
Jill grinned playfully. "You already did, Susan." She teased.
Susan groaned. "No, a real question!" She insisted. "Is Coach Kelly coming to our first game next Saturday?"
The other kids had been emitting a dull roar of sound, yet somehow Susan's question managed to pierce through the din.
"Yes! You should come!" Another of the girls cried happily, sloshing water out of her cup as she hurried over to Kelly's side. "You have to come see us play!"
Kelly looked helplessly toward her for rescue, but Jill only laughed. "I don't know, Coach Kelly. Do you want to come to our game next Saturday?" She asked innocently.
"Uh-" Kelly started. More girls followed, surrounding poor Kelly, tugging on her arms and her shirt. "Please come, you have to come!" they cried at her. "Please, please, please!"
Kelly finally relented. "Well, since you invited me…." She said, deliberately fixing her with a dead eyed stare. Jill was sure Kelly wanted to throttle her, but seeing her so awkward was worth it. "Sure, I'd love to come to your game next Saturday."
A cheer went up from the crowd of girls and Jill burst into laughter at the look on Kelly's face when they began jumping up and down and bombarding her with sweaty hugs. She nearly lost her balance but somehow managed to stay on her feet.
"Okay, okay, break it up. You guys are gonna suffocate her. " Jill called, finally deciding to come to her aid. "You've got three more minutes for your break, go finish your water." She blew her whistle again and, giggling and squealing, the little girls released Kelly and scurried off.
Kelly waited, still smiling, until the kids were out of ear shot. "You did that on purpose, Coach Jill." She accused gently.
Jill gasped in mock indignation. "What?! Me?! Never!"
"Uh-huh."
"Oh, get over it. You're not busy anyway." Jill teased.
Kelly raised a brow at her. "And how do you know that?"
"Because you never go anywhere unless me or Bri make you and it's Saturday night and you're with me, cause God knows you won't date anyone which should leave you with plenty of pent up energy that needs burning off." Jill answered her bluntly, eliciting a surprised laugh from her friend. "Besides-" She went on, with a smile. "They're hard to say no to, aren't they?"
A high pitched shriek went up from the crowd of girls and both Jill and Kelly turned towards it. They might have been alarmed, but squeals of laughter and a chorus of hoots and hollers immediately followed it. One of them had spilled their water all over themselves. They weren't the most coordinated bunch, Jill knew, but still…
Kelly shook her head, but she was still smiling. "Yeah, yeah they are."
"You'll have fun." Jill insisted, clapping her friend on the back. She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe we'll have to see about getting you a whistle too."
Kelly laughed. "Oh, a whistle? Hmm, no turning back now."
"Nope. At least not until after next Saturday." Jill said happily. She couldn't help herself. "I told you you'd be back. Looks like I win that bet after all." She added smugly.
Before she could give Kelly a chance to say anything back, she popped the whistle in her mouth and gave a short blast before jogging off, leaving her friend standing by the water cooler.