CHAPTER THREE
Keliah cursed herself for being a complete and total ass with Meredith at lunch. She knew Meredith was probably dwelling on every single word she said to her so she decided to get her mind off of it and what better way to do that then talk about her complicated love life? There was probably several better ways but Keliah blurted it out before she finished her thought process.
"Do you think professor Kerouac hates me?"
Keliah and Meredith were stretching their quads on the field aloof from their teammates as they discussed probable reasons why Georgia would hate Keliah.
"I think she wants to keep her job and you're hindering her from doing that."
"By complimenting her?"
"By harassing her."
"Harass Meredith? Harass? I bring her coffee every day. That's hardly harassing."
"You also throw suggestive comments at her—"
"That she likes."
Meredith began to juggle a ball, ignoring Keliah's nonsense.
"I mean she has to like them."
Keliah began to think out loud.
"I am the total fucking package. What could I be missing? She's probably not acting on her feelings because her students would get jealous of our relationship."
Meredith laughed.
"When did you become such a narcissistic ass?"
"When I realized that my professor likes me more than a student."
"She doesn't even like you as a student."
Keliah yanked Meredith's ball that rested on her hip and hit her in the face with it.
"Dude, ow."
Meredith rubbed her jaw, wincing in pain.
"You're just jealous because—"
Keliah's eyes flickered up at the sky as she tried to think of a plausible insult.
"Because what? Professor Kerouac actually makes eye contact with me?"
Keliah grabbed the ball and hit Meredith again.
"Now whose being the narcissistic ass?"
Meredith smiled. Their head coach blew his whistle for the girls to huddle so he could explain today’s practice. Everyone complained when the words "fitness" and "test" were mentioned but Meredith couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with excitement. Pushing her body to the limit and going the extra mile was what Meredith loved. And Meredith actually did go the extra mile. She was the last one to finish the beep test and the first one to finish the shuttle run. Everyone else had gotten tired but managed to cheer tiredly for her on the sidelines. When she finished, her teammates congratulated her before their coach gathered them around one last time. Meredith put a towel over her head and squirted water from her water bottle in her mouth. Her calves were constantly clenching even as she stood still around her teammates but she knew it would only better her endurance, making her a better player. Meredith’s love for soccer was always profound but she was only interested in playing college soccer. Gabrielle was the one who had the dream. Meredith always loved that Gabrielle had big dreams and that nothing was impossible for her. That’s the main reason why she fell in love with Gabrielle. She had such a beautiful soul.
“Babe, you know you are better than me at soccer. You haven't made contact with any of the colleges that chose you. Including ours. Why don't you join the team?"
“I don’t know Gaby. It would just be an extracurricular activity. I really have to focus on my journalism and all.”
“Yeah but we could use you. I mean, you make the game so interesting with all your fancy footwork that always confuses the hell out of me.”
Meredith chuckled.
"It’s simple, really.”
“Oh shut up. Take a compliment for once. But seriously, think about it. Us playing on the same team means more time for us to be together and you know what that means?"
Gabrielle brushed her soft lips against Meredith’s neck.
“Gabrielle, come on. We are in public.”
Gabrielle bit the bottom of her ear and whispered,
“So? Let’s go somewhere private.”
“Compton, are your boots more fascinating then my pre-game speech?"
Meredith blinked hastily and looked up from staring down at her cleats, around at her teammates that were smirking at her.
“Um no sir."
"So you wouldn't mind me asking what I just said to your teammates. The ones who were listening."
"I just figured I didn't have to listen because I knew you were going to say that everyone did a horrible job but me."
The entire team ruptured in laughter. Meredith's coach smirked.
"Well I see you obviously didn't run enough because you are still able to make cognitive thoughts so how about another—mile?"
Meredith grinned before heading off to the track.
"Meredith?"
Her coach called back. When Meredith turned back around, he curled his index finger for her to come back.
"You still haven't heard my announcement."
"Right."
Meredith grinned, placing her hands on her hips.
"I was fortunate enough to get in contact with Sonde Super Star Gabrielle Bright and so she will be here next week to come out and show her support to her hometown for our game against Stanford on Friday so I expect everyone to make me look good and make themselves look good as well. That’s what I said, Meredith. Now you can go run your mile. Everyone else is dismissed."
Keliah gave Meredith a sympathetic look before grabbing her water bottle and
