The woman scanning tickets smiled politely. “It’s customary for everyone with one of those badges. No worries, I see someone coming right now. You won’t have to wait long.”
Now as the security guard sticks close by me as we walk through the mezzanine, people part for us with mouths gaping. A few people snap my picture, and I want to laugh. If they only knew I’m a nobody.
We finally reach a discreetly concealed elevator, and the security guard tells me to scan my badge over a small sensor. I do and the doors whisk open immediately. Once we step inside, he inserts a key and presses the button with a capital P beside it.
“Thank you for walking with me,” I tell him with a timid smile.
I didn’t need the escort for security reasons—obviously—but I would have never figured out how to access the private suite on my own.
“No problem. I’ll drop you at the door of the suite. If you need to leave it for any reason, please use the phone to call for security. When you’re ready to leave the game, two guards will take you to your car.”
“Oh…okay. Thank you.”
I choose not to tell him I took the bus here. Something tells me that would throw their whole system for a loop.
I’ve been carless for a while. Nan’s finally crapped out on me a month after I arrived back in California, and I haven’t had the cash to buy a new one. Los Angeles is a driving city, so it’s been tricky, but I’ve lucked out living near the Caltech campus. Most everything I need is nearby, and if I ever need to get somewhere far away, Kayla or Ryan let me borrow one of their cars.
The elevator arrives on the private floor and the doors sweep open. The first thing I notice is the floors. No concrete up here. Smooth white marble shines beneath glossy dark purple walls. Spaced evenly on either side, black and white photographs of past players hang side by side beneath museum lights. Between the photographs, there are doors to private suites, each one numbered. My badge is for suite number five, and that’s where I’m led.
“Enjoy the game,” the guard tells me with a simple nod before leaving me to fend for myself.
I look down at the polished gold doorknob, feeling my pulse pound as I pause and stare at it for a moment. I could still leave right now and scurry right back to my life as I know it. Ben would assume I never showed, and maybe that’d be it for us.
But my hand twists that knob. I enter his world with a racing heart and a held breath. I don’t know what I was expecting, maybe a completely empty room, but when I open the door, there are a dozen people inside the suite. Only a handful of them look up when I enter, and thankfully, Leanna is one of them.
“Raelynn!”
She leaps up from her chair and darts toward me with a big smile on her face. Before I can even take a full step inside, she has me wrapped in a tight hug.
“I didn’t think you would show! They’re already in the second quarter.”
“Yeah, I hit some bad traffic.”
I don’t tell her it was really the bus that was delayed.
“No. It’s totally fine,” she says, holding me out at arm’s length and smiling wide.
I feel guilty seeing her again, so guilty I can’t really meet her smile until we clear the air.
“About the phone number—”
“Stop. I would have done the same thing!” she says with a playful laugh. “I was only bummed because I did actually want to keep up with you. But hey, everything has worked out, right?”
Has it?
It doesn’t feel that way at all.
She leads me back to where she was sitting and points to an empty oversized leather chair beside hers. From our seats, we have a sweeping view of the basketball court through a pane of glass, and I look down to find Ben huddled with his team during a timeout. I wonder if he’s solely focused on the court or if he’s worried about whether or not I showed. Then I blush with embarrassment. Of course he’s not thinking about me at a time like this.
“They’ve been playing really well so far,” Leanna tells me, sounding proud.
“Sorry, that’s usually my chair,” a voice says from behind me.
I turn around then tilt my chin up to see a beautiful redhead with crossed arms assessing me with annoyance.
“There aren’t assigned seats, Eva,” Leanna says with a little bite.
Eva looks bored as she replies to Leanna while looking straight at me, “Your guest is in my seat.”
“She’s not my guest. Ben invited her.”
Eva’s gaze narrows, and now she looks curious where before she was merely inconvenienced.
“Ben invited you?”