Page 35 of Playing to Win
“What? I’m serious. One lady from our church almost suffocated me because she hugged me for so long! I was so excited when I hit my growth spurt and grew taller than their boobs. They could hug me all they wanted then, but at least their boobs would be rubbed on my arm instead of my face being trapped between them.”
Callie was laughing so hard she was having a hard time breathing. “I’m sorry,” she said, breathless. “I just keep getting the image of you as a young kid, your face trapped between some old lady’s boobs.”
“Old Lady Jenkins. My buddies and me used to call her the air slayer. Boobies slashing breaths with a single squeeze.” Kyle was really getting into it now, using his hands to slash the air like he and Kent Talley, his best friend growing up, used to do.
“Stop. Stop. I can’t take it anymore.” Callie had tears running down her face she was laughing so hard. It was at that moment their waitress decided to come over and take their drink order and get them their menus.
“Hey, guys, sorry it took a little bit for me to get over here,” she said, putting two menus in front of them. “The guys and I were just taking bets to see who was right. Are you Kyle Kelly from the Thunder?”
Kyle sheepishly held up his hands. “Guilty as charged.”
Their waitress looked back toward the kitchen, where a handful of waiters, waitresses, and cooks were in the doorway, looking over at their table. She gave them a thumbs-up and they all began exchanging money. Some of them looked happy, some looked mad.
“Would you mind letting us take a picture of you with your food when it comes out? I know it sounds weird, but we’ll post it on our social media pages. It’s great publicity.”
“Yeah, I don’t think that will be a problem.”
“Thanks so much!”
“Yep.”
“Do you guys know what you want to drink?”
“I want a Dr. Pepper,” Callie said.
“Just water for me. Thanks.”
“All right. I’ll be right back with those.”
Kyle looked over his menu.
“Well, aside from women who loved to crush your face in their boobies and the fact that your family taught you it was bad manners to tell them you couldn’t breathe, what else should I know about you?”
“Tell me what all you know about me and I’ll tell you if what you read was accurate.?”
“Nah. I’d rather hear it from you. I know a lot of things on the internet aren’t valid. And before you wouldn’t take no for an answer, I didn’t make it a habit to read up and stalk the players I dance for. I just do my civic duty and collect my paycheck.”
“Right. The whole hate the players thing.”
“I don’t hate you guys, I just don’t—”
“Date athletes,” Kyle finished with her, a smile on his face. Callie stuck out her tongue at him. “So my parents are both doctors. My sister Kacia is a teacher. Kensi is a nurse. Katie is a counselor, and Kylee is a pediatric surgeon.”
“Wow. You aren’t the only smartie in your family then, it sounds like. All K’s, huh? I bet that wasn’t at all confusing for your mom. Why on earth would she do that to herself?”
“My dad’s name is Keith and her name is Kathy, so they just decided we’d be a family of K’s. When we’d get in trouble growing up, she’d go down the list of names until she got to the right one. Since I was the only boy, she usually got mine right on the first try. My sisters though, usually got called every name in the family before she got the right one. One time my sister Kacia got called Kelsie, which was our dog’s name. That didn’t go over too well.”
“It sounds like you have a fun family.”
“I do. We’re really close.”
“How is it for them, you living all the way here?”
“It was pretty hard at first, especially since I played in college at Duke. They were able to come to all the home games and made most of the away ones. Since my mom and dad are surgeons with their own practice, they pretty much make their own hours, so they were lucky enough to take off when they wanted. But being here has been hard on them, especially with all my sisters still living close to them.”
“So where is home?” Callie asked, just as their waitress returned with their drinks.
“You guys know what you want?” she asked, pulling a pen and a pad out of the front of her apron.
