Toni would like to be able to say that she hasn't given a second thought about the gorgeous blonde she met three nights ago. Unfortunately, if she did say that, she'd be a liar, and she really hates liars, so she turns her annoyance at not being able to get those haunting green eyes out of her mind into aggression on the court, which honestly, isn't such a new occurrence, not that Toni likes to acknowledge her painfully short temper.
She's been working on that, recently. With a therapist, which Toni is more than a little embarrassed about, but Coach threatened to bench her if she couldn't get control over herself on the court and cool it with the fouling. Which flashed Toni back to similar warnings she got from other coaches she's had, who have followed through on those threats. Somehow, Toni was even more aggressive back in high school and college. She's lucky to have been drafted into the WNBA at all, actually, with the amount of various fouls she'd gotten called for throughout her college career. It was the scoring records that she broke that made her questionable conduct worth it, apparently.
That didn't stop her from being bounced around from team to team for her first three years playing professionally. She was drafted third overall by the Connecticut Sun in 2015, which was pretty fucking dope. Unfortunately, though she played a great season scoring-wise, she also picked up what the coach considered enough fouls to make her a liability, and she was traded to the Atlanta Dream in the offseason. She didn't fit in well with her teammates on the Dream, having played with and against a few of them in college and she'd apparently pissed them off enough to get her shipped away from there after a subpar season because her teammates hesitated to pass her the fucking ball at all. She had asked to be traded to the Minnesota Lynx, her hometown team, so she could be closer to Martha and MJ, but the Lynx didn't want her, and she was traded to the Seattle Storm, where she played a pretty decent season, but once again didn't quite mesh with her teammates —or the dreary Seattle weather— and for the first time, she considered retiring altogether when the coach told her they wouldn't be renewing her contract for another season.
Her luck changed when the Dallas Wings picked her up in the break before the 2018 season began. Coach Young took a chance on her, she knew then and she knows now. She finally felt like she had a team (and coach) that didn't hold a grudge against her. It helped that she made fast friends with Rachel, who had been on the team since being picked in the 2016 college draft. She and Rachel had been assigned as roommates for nearly all of their away games that season, and their chemistry on the court quickly became all that people talked about in relation to the team. That energy carried on for the 2019 season, and Toni played her best basketball maybe ever. The Wings managed to reach the final for the first time ever, but lost to the Washington Mystics. She was named to the All-WNBA First Team that season, as well as named the Wings' season MVP.
Toni has been going to therapy consistently since about midway through the 2018 season, when Coach Young first pulled her aside after an especially violent game from her and gently suggested that she get in touch with a professional to help her curb her anger problems before she began to negatively impact the team. She didn't want to, at all. She honestly thought therapy was pretty stupid, but she wanted to prove to her coaches, and herself that she deserved to remain with the Wings for more than one season. The first psychologist she saw made her want to tear heads off more than ever before, and she quickly ditched Dr. Faber for a slew of others until she finally came across someone who wasn't a condescending asshole. Dr. Harris —Audrey, she insisted Toni call her— was no-nonsense and didn't tolerate Toni's bullshit, but she wasn't unkind and she clearly wanted to help Toni help herself.
So Toni goes to therapy once a week like clockwork, even managing to do virtual appointments during long stretches of away games. She's been doing pretty well at not getting enough fouls to get her suspended or benched or fined, which is a win.
Except she absolutely tears down one of her teammates during a scrimmage during practice, throwing the poor woman to the floor with a brutal yank to her arm. Because she's mad that Dot's stupidly gorgeous friend's face hasn't left her mind in days .
She feels bad right away, offering a hand to help her teammate up, and she even mumbles a "sorry" that she actually means.
The teammate in question is Susan Huang, a woman a few years older than Toni. She accepts Toni's help up, giving her a look that Toni thinks might be pity as Coach Young calls out for Toni to get her ass to the bench until she's ready to stop sabotaging her own damn teammates. And honestly, Toni deserves the jab, doesn't even argue as she plops down onto the bench next to Rachel, who offers her a bottle of orange Gatorade.
Toni ignores the way Rachel is eyeing her warily, because she really doesn't want to get into the reason for her shitty sportsmanship today.
"Nora's coming to my place for dinner tonight," Rachel tells her instead of commenting on Toni's actions. "Wanna help me scrounge together something edible?"
"Can't we just take her to Dot's ?"
"Only if you admit that you've gone there the past three nights in hopes of running into Shelby again," Rachel smirks.
Toni visibly recoils at the accusation. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
Rachel raises an eyebrow in challenge. Unlike most people, she isn't even the slightest bit scared of Toni.
"Sure, she was hot," Toni concedes grumpily. "But I haven't been staking out the diner trying to see her again. I've just been too lazy to go grocery shopping yet this week. My kitchen is empty."
"Mmhmm," Rachel rolls her eyes.
"Count me out for tonight," Toni decides. She's not really in the mood to deal with other people, even her own friends. She needs to find a way to blow off some steam so she doesn't lose control at practice tomorrow like she had today.
"Going to Dot's ?" Rachel guesses with a smirk.
Toni clenches her jaw in order to not snarl angry words at Rachel, who is really only just teasing lightheartedly. "Dana's, actually."
Rachel crinkles her nose in disgust. "I thought you were done hooking up with her?"
Toni shrugs.
She had been done hooking up with Dana. Until three nights ago when she got back to her apartment and couldn't get Dot's hot blonde friend out of her head. And it just so happens that Dana called her right when she decided she needed a distraction. So, even though she knew it would cause more trouble for herself in the long-run, Toni drove over to Dana's place and fucked the woman for hours, until the sweet Southern drawl of the blonde she had just met faded out of her mind. And knowing Dana, the other woman wouldn't mind a repeat event tonight.
"You see, this type of shit is why I have my 'one and done' rule in place. Hooking up with a girl more than once makes things messy. And I don't do messy."
"Got it," Toni says, plastering on a taunting grin that she knows warns Rachel that the next thing out of her mouth is going to be annoying as fuck. "If I ever hear you mention the same girl twice I'll start planning the wedding."
"We could make it a double wedding for you and Shelby, too," Rachel shoots back in the effortless way of hers that makes Toni slightly jealous but mostly annoyed.
"You've mentioned Shelby an awful lot, Rach. Maybe it's you who has the hots for her," Toni smirks, fully confident that her facial expression does nothing to give away the unsettling feeling that thought puts in the pit of her stomach.
Rachel just laughs, and when Toni frowns, she laughs some more. And Toni is confident she'd keep on laughing if they weren't both called out back onto the court.
A couple of hours later, Toni finds herself wandering the aisles of her favorite grocery store instead of tangled up in the sheets of Dana's bed. She isn't quite sure when exactly she decided to scrap her hook-up plans for the night, but it probably had something to do with the knowing looks Rachel kept shooting her way throughout the remainder of practice. Toni doesn't like feeling judged, especially by people whose opinions she values.
So she stands in the produce section for way too long, debating how much fresh food she should buy when she'll be leaving for an almost two-week span of away games in three days. She should've just fucking gone to Dana's. Or Dot's, at the very least.
Toni eventually pushes her cart towards the cereal aisle after just grabbing a bag of apples. If they're the green ones, they count as vegetables, right?
She remembers now why she only ever goes grocery shopping with Martha or Leah, because they're the only two people she knows who actually know what the fuck they're doing when buying food.
The only other person in the cereal aisle is some kid who has his head down comparing two boxes with extreme scrutiny. Toni can't really see the kid's face on account of his shaggy hair that obscures his features, but something about his posture seems familiar.
It's only when Toni accidentally knocks over a box of Lucky Charms and hisses a quiet "fucking hell!" that the kid even realizes there's another person around.
"Those are bad words," The kid says, looking up and over at Toni, who freezes when she finally sees his face.
Because she met this kid three days ago. And judging by the way his eyes light up, he remembers that too.
"You're Toni!" He grins brightly.
Toni gives an awkward smile in return. "Um, yup. That's me. Sorry for swearing, kid."
"I won't tell anyone," Gil, she remembers his name, says conspiratorially.
"Uh, cool. Yeah, thanks," Toni's brain is racing, because if Gil is here in this store, his mom probably is too. And Toni is in team-issued sweats and her hair is still damp from the shower she took after practice and it's down because her hair elastic broke in the locker room after everyone else had already cleared out and taken any spares they had with them. She looks like a mess and she really didn't expect to run into anyone she knows here. Especially someone as attractive as Shelby .
"Does your team make you wear those?" Gil asks, clearly not picking up on Toni's inner turmoil. He's pointing at her sweatpants and zip-up hoodie, which proudly boast the team's logo and her number.
"Um," Toni looks down at herself as if noticing what she's wearing for the first time. "Only on game days."
"Is it a game day?" Gil tilts his head with doubt.
"No," Toni says. "I did just come from practice, though."
"Me too!" Gil grins again. "Well, my basketball camp. Did you make a lot of baskets today?"
Toni shifts awkwardly, because she kind of had a shit practice today. "Some, yeah," she shrugs. Then, because Gil looks a bit dejected, "what did you do at camp today?"
He brightens. "I got to be the point guard today!" He says excitedly. "We don't keep track of scores but I made most of my shots!"
"Nice," Toni gives what she hopes is an encouraging smile.
"Gil? Have you picked out your cereal yet?" A voice that Toni doesn't recognize calls out, drawing two sets of eyes to the end of the aisle, where a curly-haired brunette is turning a full cart into the aisle.
Toni is a little disappointed that Gil isn't here with his mom, and then she's even more disappointed because who is this woman who goes grocery shopping with Gil? That seems… domestic.
Gil looks down at the two boxes in his hands that he's all but forgotten about. Quickly, he shoves one back on the shelf in front of him. "Sorry. I got distracted."
The woman laughs affectionately in a way that to Toni seems like it means she's very used to this type of thing happening. Then, blue eyes meet her own, and Toni can practically see the cogs turning in the woman's head. "Who's this, Gil?" She sounds a little concerned, and Toni can understand it's probably weird to see a stranger standing only a few feet away from your kid in an empty store aisle.
"This is Toni! She plays in the WNBA!" Gil announces proudly.
"Okay?" The woman says, her guard still clearly up. Toni actually wishes right now that Shelby was the one here, because then at least she wouldn't have to explain that she knows Gil and that she's not some creep who goes up to random kids in the grocery store to start conversations.
And apparently, that thought was all it took, because only a moment of awkward silence later, Shelby rounds the corner and nearly crashes right into the woman who Toni still doesn't know the name of.
"Oof!" Shelby squeaks, stumbling a bit. Toni watches as she rests her free hand on the mystery woman's waist to stabilize herself, leaning to gently add whatever is in her hand into the cart.
Only then does she look up and notice Toni, eyes widening.
"Oh… hi!"
"Hi," Toni mumbles. "Um. I was just getting cereal and then Gil and I recognized each other and we were just talking about basketball."
"Okay," Shelby says, much less accusatory than her shorter counterpart.
"Toni just came from practice, too!" Gil informs his mom happily. "She's her team's point guard, remember, Mama?"
"I do," Shelby agrees.
Gil swivels back to face Toni. "MJ told me that you take him to your practices sometimes."
Toni had almost forgotten these two also know Martha and MJ, which is complicated in and of itself. "Sometimes, yeah."
"That's so cool ," Gil gushes. "When's your next game? Will it be on TV?"
"We play again on Friday. It's an away game, but yeah, it should be on TV," Toni says.
"Mama, can MJ sleep over on Friday so we can watch Toni's game together?" Gil gives his mom a hopeful look, and Toni doesn't know how Shelby could ever say no to those puppy-dog eyes.
"Maybe," Shelby says carefully. "I'll talk to Martha about it, okay?"
Gil nods. "I can't wait to go to your game in a few weeks, Toni."
And Toni doesn't know if it's Gil's big, green eyes staring up at her, or the still-suspicious blue gaze from the end of the aisle, but she speaks before she thinks. "After the game I can have security bring you and MJ out onto the court so you can shoot some baskets, how about that?"
Gil's eyes widen almost comically large, and he nods frantically. "Yes! Yes, that would be so cool! Mama, please?"
Toni glances up at Shelby guiltily, not having thought through her offer, and not wanting to put Shelby in an awkward position.
Shelby gives Gil a smile, though, looking spectacularly unfazed. "Sure, if that's not against the rules," she eyes Toni.
"I bring MJ down after the game whenever he and Martha are there," Toni assures her. "It's no problem, really. The team loves it."
"Okay, then," Shelby says. "We've gotta get goin' now, Gil. But we'll see Toni again soon, okay?"
Gil pouts, but nods. "Good luck in your game on Friday, Toni," he grins again, finally heading over to his mom and the still-unnamed brunette.
"Thank you, Gil," Toni smiles in return. "It was nice to run into you guys again, and um, nice to meet you…" she waits for the brunette to supply her name, and hopefully shed some light on who she is to Shelby. And Gil, of course.
"Becca," the woman offers. After a beat, "Gil's aunt."
Toni feels more relieved at the information than she has any right to be. "Nice to meet you, Becca. Sorry for distracting Gil from his quest to get cereal," she winks at Gil, because now she feels light enough to be teasing.
"S'alright," Shelby is the one who answers. "See ya 'round, Toni."
"Hopefully," Toni wants to smack herself for saying that out loud, but it gets a little grin from Shelby before the trio leaves the aisle, so Toni doesn't exactly regret it.
She picks up the box of cereal that she had knocked over what feels like hours ago, deciding that this box of Lucky Charms is pretty lucky, indeed.
And she doesn't notice it until much later, when she's climbing into bed after a half-hearted attempt at making dinner for herself, but she feels so much more at ease after such a tense couple of days than she would have if she'd gone to Dana's instead of the grocery store where she accidentally ran into the woman that hadn't left her thoughts in days.
But it's even clearer now that Shelby's not going to leave her head anytime soon.
Toni feels strangely okay with that.