Emma pulled her suit on with the customary wiggle to get the tight garment into place, and shrugged on some sweats over it. She was feeling a bit more nervous than usual, since she hadn't been to practice in a few weeks, but she knew she would probably get back in the swing of things within the first few minutes. The whole drive over, she couldn't help but get the feeling that something was going to be different at this practice, but as she parked the car outside the pool, Emma tried to shake the feeling. She gathered her bag from the back seat and marched into the building, pulling her long blonde tresses up into a messy ponytail as she did.
On deck, Emma stripped out of her sweats and hung around, chatting with the other players as they stalled jumping into the cold water. Like most days, Emma was one of the first to hop in, doing a quick few laps before the others joined her. When she felt warm, she grabbed a ball and motioned for Mary Margaret to join her passing. They exchanged their normal idle conversation as they continued warming up, and Emma smiled when they were both tossed the same color caps. She always preferred when she and her friend were on the same team. Emma looked around, trying to see who else she would be playing with, and there were a few she recognized – David, Robin, Jefferson. August was on the other team, with Ruby, Regina, and Leroy. There were a few people whose names she didn't know, and a few more she hadn't seen before, but that was nothing new. In the five months she'd been on the team, there had yet to be a practice where she had known every single person.
The scrimmage passed uneventfully, though one of the new guys was a capital J jackass to Emma, trying to tell her how to play, giving her basic advice like she hadn't been playing water polo for seven years. She may not be the best player, but she still knew what she was doing, and she definitely didn't deserve to be talked to that way. Still, she brushed it off and made a mental note to give that new guy an "accidental" sucker punch the next time they were on opposing teams, no matter how cute he was.
The gossip was firing up in the locker room by the time Emma joined the other girls with her towel and clothes. Normally, she didn't pay attention to such things, but something caught her attention.
"Yeah, he just came back from Hungary," Mary Margaret said to the others. "With everything that's going on there right now, they've stopped issuing visas, so Killian couldn't keep playing once his was up."
"That really sucks," Ruby replied, rubbing her hair dry with the towel, and paying little attention to whether or not the towel was covering anything else.
"Oh please," Regina scoffed. "It must be so tough for him, having been a professional athlete in Europe. He must really be struggling now."
"It's not like you make a ton of money paying water polo anywhere," Ruby countered, looking defensive. "Though I'm sure he doesn't have any trouble with the ladies. God, professional athletes are so hot."
Emma rolled her eyes at the other woman, who was always going on and on about some guy or another. It made sense then, the guy who yelled at her must have been Killian. She could hardly blame a former pro player for getting frustrated at the meager talents of a former college club player. It didn't quite excuse his behavior, but she understood. She'd be sure to steer clear of him and his curly brown locks in the future.