Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 145402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 582(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 582(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
Wymack was waiting for them in the lounge when they were all showered and dressed. He did a quick headcount and nodded when he found all nine accounted for. "Remember when I told you not to make plans for tonight?" He jerked his thumb at Abby. "We're going to her place. That's 'we' as in everyone." He sent a significant look at Andrew's group. "Consider this a mandatory team event. Abby's already agreed to cook for us, and I spent most of the morning stocking her cabinets with booze."
"Was that a vote of confidence or plans for a consolation party?" Dan asked.
"Doesn't matter," Wymack said. "Let's go. I'm starving and I really need a cigarette."
Security guards helped them to get to their cars. Traffic made the ride to Abby's five times longer than it should have been, but the Foxes were in too good of moods to really care.
Abby's fridge was full of covered dishes she'd prepped earlier in the day. She popped a couple pans in the oven while Wymack and Dan poured drinks. Kevin stayed in the kitchen when Wymack and Dan started talking about the night's game. Matt commandeered the sound system in the other room. Nicky and Allison argued with all of his choices and each other, but they didn't sound serious so Neil didn't intervene. Aaron had claimed a chair by the window and was watching them with a distant look on his face. He shot Neil a dirty look when he realized Neil was watching him, but Neil waved him off and went in search of the absentee goalkeepers. He didn't waste time going down the hall, since the only rooms back that way were bedrooms, but went out onto the front porch.
Andrew was sitting on the hood of his car with Renee standing in front of him. Renee glanced at the house at the sound of the door and motioned for Neil to join them. When Neil was halfway there, though, Renee turned away from Andrew and headed up the sidewalk. She flashed Neil a smile on her way by but said nothing. Neil wondered what he'd interrupted and whether or not he should apologize. He didn't have time to make up his mind before Renee disappeared inside. Neil took the spot she'd just abandoned and studied Andrew's blank face.
"We won," Neil said. He waited, but of course Andrew didn't respond to that. Neil tried to stamp out his frustration but couldn't stop all of a sigh. "Would it kill you to let something in?"
"It almost did last time," Andrew said.
He said it matter-of-factly, but Neil still winced when he realized his misstep. He reached out but stopped his hand a careful distance from Andrew's arm. Andrew's long sleeves and bands hid his scars but Neil remembered how they felt under his fingers.
"This is different," Neil said. "The only one in your way now is you. You really could be Court one day, but you can't get there if you won't try." Neil waited, but Andrew stared wordlessly back at him. Neil could win a stare-down with almost anyone else, but he didn't have the patience to fight Andrew tonight. "Andrew, talk to me."
"You sound like a wind-up doll with only one topic," Andrew said. "I have nothing to say to you."
"If I talk about something else, will you talk to me?"
Andrew quirked a brow at him. "Can you talk about something else?"
That stung. Neil opened his mouth to snap something back, but words failed him. The small talk that kept their teammates entertained so easily meant nothing to either of them. Neil didn't want to talk about movies and classes with Andrew. He wanted to talk about tonight's unprecedented win. He wanted to talk about their chances of breaking through round three for another death match. He wanted to talk about the look on Riko's face when the Foxes faced them again in May. He wanted to savor this win, not write it off as something trivial and uninteresting.
The front door opened. Nicky held onto the doorframe but leaned out to call to them, "Drinks are ready! You coming or what?"
Andrew pushed Neil out of the way and slid off the car. "Too late."
Neil was too disgruntled to stop him. He stayed by the car until Andrew caught up to Nicky, then finally set off toward the house. Halfway across the lawn his phone went off. Neil was annoyed enough to answer tonight's "28" in his inbox with an "Enough".
No one responded.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The rules changed in round three. Up until now a team's chances depended solely on its ability to win as many games as possible. From here through finals, the emphasis switched to points. The three schools that had survived the evens-bracket death match would face off against each other over the next three weeks. Whichever two teams netted the most points between the games would proceed to the second elimination round. Technically a team could lose both games and still advance, but that hadn't happened in years.
Because of the odd number of teams, the Foxes would play Nevada home on February 23rd, have the following week off, and face off against Binghamton in an away game on March 9th. The week between the death match and Nevada's game was a rest week, but the Foxes weren't willing to take it easy. They were as inspired as they were terrified by their win on Friday, and they didn't want to lose momentum. Luckily for them there was no way they could slow down. Wymack kept them ramped up until Thursday.
A TV crew came by the Foxhole Court Thursday afternoon to film a segment on the Foxes for their NCAA show. Neil thought Kevin would argue, since the interviews and filming meant practice was a stop-and-start broken mess, but Kevin knew how badly the Foxes needed good publicity. Neil had almost forgotten how pleasant Kevin could be when there was a camera in his face. Neil stifled the urge to call Kevin out on his act and avoided the microphones as much as possible.