Page 59 of Playing to Win
Chapter 18
“Thunder up! Thunder up! Thunder up!” Callie and her squad were in the middle of the court during the commercial break, yelling along with the fans. They didn’t call it the Thunder Dome for nothing. This place was ridiculously loud. She imagined it even rivaled a front row ticket to an Aerosmith concert. Callie was sometimes tempted to wear earplugs.
It was the fourth quarter and the Thunder were up by four with thirty-five seconds left to play. If they won this game, they clinched the series and were in the final stretch, set to play the Spurs, the last team in their way before the championship series. Everyone was saying it was going to be the Thunder and the Knicks for the title. Callie hoped so. Ever since coming to Oklahoma, the Thunder had made the championship series two times but had yet to win it. She wanted this to be the year.
The buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the commercial break. The ball was inbounded and dribbled up the court by Tony Allen. Gasol set a pick at the top of the key for a pick and roll. Instead of driving to the hoop, though, Allen pulled up behind the three point line and let the ball fly. It fell through the net with a resounding swish. Immediately, the referee blew his whistle, signaling Jenkins’s sixth foul.
“Are you kidding me?” Callie screamed. “He didn’t even touch him! That’s ridiculous! You blew that call, Harrison!” All the fans around her cheered their agreement.
Jamal ran over to the referee to argue his case, but it was in vain. The call had already been made and being his sixth foul, Jamal was finished for the night. He walked over to the bench and slammed his hand on the empty seat before flopping into it and pulling his towel over his head. Allen stepped up to the free throw line, dribbled twice, and rotated the ball in his hands before draining his free throw. It was now tied one-oh-four to one-oh-four with twelve seconds to play.
“Stop gnawing on your fingernails, Cal,” Aria told her, coming over to Callie, pulling the thumb Callie didn’t even realize she was chewing out of her mouth. “There’s twelve seconds left. Your man is the MVP of the league. He’s got this.”
“You don’t know he’s the MVP yet, Aria,” Callie said with a frown. “It won’t be announced until tomorrow night.”
“Puh-lease. He’s a shoo-in and you know it. No other player in the league has the stats he’s put up this year. Are you doing anything for him?”
Callie froze in shock. “Am I supposed to?”
“Girl, he’s probably going to win MVP of the entire NBA league. Uh, yeah, you probably should do something. At least call his family. You know they’re going to do something.”
Callie was at a loss for words. Call his family? She had just gotten used to the idea of of him being her boyfriend no one knew about yet and now she had to meet his family? She felt the beginnings of panic quaking in her stomach.
“Hey, calm down, girly. You’re hiving up. Like everywhere. Definitely not good for the camera. Do you need a paper bag to breathe into or something?”
Callie looked down at her chest, which was definitely on display in her skimpy Thunder suit. Yep, bright red splotches covered her chest and neck. Great. Curse her fair skin. It would be just her luck that Brian the cameraman would feature her face on the local news as the Thunder girl with the contagious disease.
“Pay attention, Callie! Your man is on the move!” Callie turned her eyes to the court, watching Kyle dribble the ball over the half-court line. Her eyes moved to the shot clock perched on top of the goal, counting down the seconds until the end of regulation.
“Come on, Dimples. Come on,” she whispered, clenching her pom-poms so hard her knuckles were turning white. Kyle drove to the hoop, where Rose and Noah came from both sides of the lane to stop his penetration. Disbelieving, Callie watched as Kyle spun around Rose on his right side, took two dribbles under the goal, twisted his body like a professional contortionist and dunked the ball two-handedly just as the final buzzer sounded.
“Lordy, girl! That will be replayed on Sports Center about a million times tonight!” Aria came up to Callie and slapped her on the tush. “How in the world did he do that?”
“I don’t know. He’s just amazing, I guess.” Callie gave a salute to Aria and ran off.
“Where are you going?” Aria called.
“To kiss my man!”
“I thought he wasn’t your man!” Aria yelled.
Callie didn’t even answer. She just wanted to be in Kyle’s arms.
Kyle was on a high.He didn’t know how in the world he made that play. He had never contorted his body like that in his life. But they got the win; that’s all that mattered to him. He had just turned to talk to a reporter, a grin on his face, when he was hit from behind. All at once, the scent of strawberry shampoo and cucumber melon lotion assaulted his senses and his smile got even wider. He turned around and wrapped Curly’s lithe, muscular arms around his neck.
“Well, hey there, Beautiful,” he said, kissing her forehead. “How’d you like that last move?”
Callie crushed her lips to his. “It was amazing! How did you even do that?”
“I have no clue. But I’ll probably be hurting in the morning because of it.” Callie threw her head back and laughed. Lord, he loved that sound.
“So, I guess I need your family’s phone numbers now.”
“What for? I mean, I’m all for you wanting to talk to them, but why the sudden urge?”
“Well, we have to plan something special for your ceremony when you get your MVP award,” she said with a wink.
“Don’t jump ahead of yourself, Curly. There’s tons of good players in the league. Rose, Curry, Harden. I don’t hold a candle to them.”
