“Players, you are now each receiving a ticket. This will be what divides you into groups for the tryout. Look at the numbers on your ticket when you hear announcements.”
Megan received her ticket and looked down at it, letting go of Gianna’s hand. Her number was 7192534.
As the last few people were given their tickets, the announcer’s voice came again. “If your ticket number starts with a six, put your skates on and line up on the track.”
A woman standing on the track in skates lifted her arm to wave at them. Megan looked down at her ticket. Her number started with a seven, but Amelia was bending down and pulling her skates on.
About a third of the women in their section were moving as well, and they started to roll onto the track, pushing through the rows of seats. They’d seated the players close enough that there were no stairs to contend with, thankfully—Megan knew how to hop down stairs on her skates, but she wouldn’t trust herself with it right now.
The woman on the track, accompanied by the one giving out tickets, lined up those who had the right number, in groups of six on the track with a good distance between them. Then they stepped off the track and one blew a whistle. The prospective players started to skate.
It seemed to be a simple speed test at this point. Megan could easily pick out the fastest ones—Leya Out was one of them, and Amelia definitely was. As they skated, the woman who’d given out the tickets came back over and told them to start getting ready if their numbers started with a seven. Megan took a deep breath and bent down for her skating bag.
Gianna took her hand and squeezed it. “You’ll do great at this phase.”
Megan grinned at her. “I know. What’s your number?”
“Eight. Just like me.” Gianna patted her own hip.
Megan leaned over and kissed her. “Don’t be silly. You’re a clear ten.”
She got her skates on, then followed the small crowd to the track. The women in charge had the sevens enter the track one way while the sixes left a different way. They were all being sent back to their seats; either this test hadn’t allowed them to eliminate the slowest, or they were just waiting to cut down the numbers.
Megan remembered being shouted at by her bosses. She remembered that Gianna was in the audience, watching her. When the whistle was blown for them to start, she put on such a burst of speed that she broke through the line in front of her.
She got a raised eyebrow when they had finished their laps around the track and were being sent back to their seats, and she wondered if she’d been showing off too much. More importantly, she hoped she hadn’t just been a total idiot and screwed herself over by using too much energy at the beginning of the tryout.
By the time she got back to her seat, Gianna was already on the track. Megan watched, biting her lip. Gianna wasn’t among the fastest, but she wasn’t among the slowest, either. She was steady and solid. And smart enough not to show off.
Next they called people by the second number on their tickets, smaller groups this time, ten or twelve in a bunch. They set up an obstacle course of traffic cones on one side of the track and, on the other side, a row of tightly-spaced cones followed by a small stack of gym mats. Megan could see the purpose of this; the skaters would have to show how quickly they could turn to avoid the cones and how well they could jump on the other side.
She was in the last group this time, so she got to watch Gianna, Amelia, and the few others she knew run the obstacle course. They all acquitted themselves well, though Gianna landed heavily after the long jump and almost lost her balance. Megan found herself biting her lip again and crossing her fingers.
She should be feeling competitive. She should be wanting Gianna to lose out, for a bigger chance that there was space for her. But she couldn’t.
Megan practically flew through the obstacle course—it was no problem at all. The girl behind her, on the other hand, didn’t turn fast enough and knocked over several cones. When Megan slowed down to make the jump, she realized there were two other women and a man on this side of the track, watching them skate.
Finally, there was one more round, in which they had to jump the cones and the mats again, but this time fall and get up without losing too much speed or, of course, injuring themselves. Megan knew she did well there, too. It was easy to fall and roll right back up again, even on skates, if you did it correctly, and she absolutely knew how. She just had to make sure to fall on her right side.
Now the announcer told them to take a ten-minute break, have a drink and a snack, while the judges conferred. The two women who’d been working with them crossed the track. Of course, if they were going to talk, it would be out of earshot of the players.
Megan got out her water bottle and a bag of peanuts. She drank a little, but she wasn’t hungry yet. “It’s easy so far,” she commented to Gianna.
Gianna grimaced. “It is pretty easy, but it makes me wonder how picky they’re being.”
“They can’t disqualify you based on one little wobble,” Megan said, but she was suddenly unsure. The judges had to cut the numbers down somehow, didn’t they? Maybe they were only choosing those who were perfect skaters. It didn’t really make sense, since people might skate better or worse on one specific day, but they’d already invited only those who were really good players to try out.
A few people got up and moved around, and some others came down from the stands to take advantage of the break—Megan saw Shelly talking to Gayle—but most people stayed where they were, probably just as anxious as Megan was.
Finally, the woman who’d given them their tickets came back, holding a paper list. She started to read off names—derby names. It included Dr. Holtzwomann, Margaret Splatwood, and Mountain Bruise. But what did the names mean? Who were they choosing?
She looked up from the paper and her eyes sparkled wickedly. Megan knew she was enjoying the tension. “If I’ve called your name,” she said, letting the pause drag on far too long, “congratulations, you’re being subjected to more torture. If I haven’t called your name, you’re out. You can go home, or stay and heckle, whatever you want, but get your skates off.”
Megan let out a long breath and, without looking, grabbed for Gianna’s hand. Gianna squeezed hard. They’d both made it to the next round.
She wracked her brain, trying to remember what other names she recognized from the list. There had been a few from Gianna’s team, and a few she thought belonged to other teams she’d played against. Leya and Gayle were on to the next round, too. She hadn’t heard Jane the Ripper, so Helen was out, but she wasn’t sure about Mindy. Gianna’s pirates, though, the sisters—they were still in, too.
Now, occurring to her for the first time, she wondered what it would be like if she had to learn to skate with someone from Rolling in the Streets. She knew she could do it, but she didn’t know if she could ever like it. She’d invested too much in competing with them.
Shelly always told her she was too competitive.
Around her, other women were grumbling, swearing, getting their skates off and packing up. One or two were even crying. Megan felt bad for them, but she hoped it would just teach them to work harder next year.
As they drifted off, the woman with the paper was counting. Finally, she looked up. “Okay, those of you who are still going. I’m going to organize you into scrimmages. If your ticket ends with an even number, to my right. If your ticket ends with an odd number, to my left.”
They all got up and slowly skated into their groups. Megan found Leya and Mindy—good, she was still in—on her side. They grinned at each other. Megan looked over the group, but found it too many to count quickly, so probably more than a single derby team.
The woman in charge counted the groups. “Okay, odd numbers, there’s too many of you. I’ll switch two of you to the even side. Let’s see…”
Megan saw Gayle over there. She crossed her fingers. If everyone left from Monstrous Regiment was on the same side, they would be amazing.
The w
oman pointed. “You and you. Mountain Bruise and Smartie Hotpants. Other side.”
Megan’s eyes widened. She had no idea how to react as Gianna, smirking at her, skated over to join them. She was closely followed by another woman, but Megan didn’t give her a second glance.
Was she going to have to skate on the same team as Gianna? They still might get split apart. The groups were too big for one team.
But having seen the first group sent home, it was beginning to seem more real that Megan could actually become part of the all-star team. And if she could, then Gianna could too. Could they even play together? What would that do to their relationship? Megan felt her palms start to sweat.
“Okay. Five, five, five. Five, five, five.” Quickly, the woman split them into groups of five—the maximum that could be on the track per team. She moved too fast for Megan to react and try to choose her team, but to her relief, Gianna ended up on a different team, with Mindy. She and Leya were the only ones in their group. Amelia was on the other side, with the pirate sisters; were they going to have to play against them?
“We want to see different play styles, so each track group is going to play a jam against the two other teams from your side,” the woman announced. Megan felt her heart start to beat faster.
“Introduce yourselves in your track groups,” the woman continued, “so you’ll recognize each other when you get there. And pick two jammers and two alternates, because I don’t want the same jammer both times. Okay? You have five minutes.”
Megan and Leya quickly introduced themselves to the three other women on their track group. Megan did her best to focus on them so she would know who they were, but her eyes kept drifting over to Gianna, who was talking with her arms, as usual.
She was gratified when Leya put her forward as one of the jammers. It wasn’t too hard in their small group to decide who would be the first and second jammer and alternate. Now all they had to do was wait to play.
Two of the groups from the odd-number side went first. It was almost as fun to watch them as it was to play herself—they were really good, and Megan found herself cheering as much as the rest of the crowd in the stands. She had no idea how the judges were going to pick just fourteen women to be on the all-star team. Other than Gayle, who never let the opposing jammer through, and was obviously a shoo-in.
They went next; Megan had been selected as the second jammer, so this time she had to play blocker, against a group of women she didn’t know. It was strange playing as blocker and she let the other jammer past almost immediately. She swore under her breath at herself. She should have let Shelly put her in as a blocker more often. Sometimes they practiced the other roles, but she had clearly not done enough.
She did better the next time the jammers reached the pack, though she almost blocked her own jammer that time, and almost forgot not to use her elbows. As they finished the jam and skated back to their seats, her stomach twisted. She might have blown her chances.
The other side played again, then the two other groups from their side. Megan watched carefully and couldn’t find a single fault with Gianna’s skating. Mindy, however, seemed a little slow. Megan just had to hope she was still good enough.
After the last combination from the other side, it was finally Megan’s team’s turn—playing against Gianna’s team. Megan felt herself sweating again, her heart pounding. Playing against Mindy was going to be strange. But playing against Gianna again was going to be amazing.
She stretched her shoulders as they skated into place, she and the opposing jammer coming to a comfortable stop next to each other. It still didn’t hurt. She just had to be careful with her energy levels. She could almost let loose now, but she didn’t want to collapse when the jam was over.
The whistle blew, and she took off, leaving the opposing jammer in her dust. She slammed into a block from the other team with such force that they were both thrown off the track, and she had to skate back in before the pack left her behind. She almost pushed aside another player, but realized at the last minute that she was on her side—the same person she’d almost blocked last time.
She got a little speed going again, and then Gianna was in her way, blocking her with that magnificent ass. And once again, Megan bounced right off it, her skates going backward and almost out of control.
But not quite. She skated around another blocker, and she bounced off Gianna again. This time she felt fingers on her thigh and she knew Gianna was doing it on purpose.
On her third try, she made it past Gianna, just brushing against her sweaty, silken skin. She gave Gianna a grin as she skated away, skipping past the rest of the pack. If one of them was going to win a place on this team, it would be Megan.
She whipped around the track and made it to the blockers again, with the other team’s jammer working to catch her. She caught up while Megan was entangled, almost passing her as Gianna pushed Megan aside with one hip. But Leya and another blocker made a wall with Megan, and they pushed her through, just beating the other blocker.
The jam ended far too soon. Megan was sweaty and panting, but she wasn’t falling over. She was just wet. Everywhere.
The important thing was, they’d won. Even if she didn’t make it onto the team, she had that to remember.
The tired teams went back to their seats and waited for the judges to confer again. This time, the woman came back with a grin for all of them. “That was awesome. This is going to be a really hard decision, and thank you for that. We have all of your email addresses from when you registered, so you’re going to get an email with who is on the team. That should be within the next week. We’ll also let those of you who are on the team know when and where practices will be. And those of you who don’t make it—definitely come and try out next year.”
“A round of applause for our amazing skaters!” the announcer’s voice said, and the stands burst into applause and cheers. After a moment, Megan, Gianna, and the others who had been trying out joined in.
Megan couldn’t get too enthusiastic about cheering on the other players, though. And it seemed Gianna had the same idea as she did. Gianna grabbed her wrist, pulled her ear close to her mouth, and whispered, “Race you to the car.”
It was a tie.
They probably wouldn’t have made it past the car if the parking lot hadn’t been so crowded. As it was, Gianna peeled out of the lot before anyone else, cutting off another car and making a few pedestrians nervous. “Shoulder still okay?” she asked with a grin.
“It’s fine,” Megan said, laughing, half-breathless. She didn’t know if she actually had enough energy for sex with Gianna now, but she was sure as hell going to try.
They parked near Megan’s apartment and held hands tightly as they walked to the door. “Race you upstairs,” Gianna said once Megan had opened the door to the stairs, and jumped past the first step on her way up.
“Not fair,” Megan protested, hurrying to catch up with her. “The stairwell is too narrow. I can’t get past you.” She was pressed up against Gianna’s ass, which was delightful, but she wanted to win.
“Can’t win all the time,” Gianna tossed over her shoulder. Megan tried to climb up onto the handrail and over her, just to prove her wrong, but the wood creaked under her weight and she decided not to risk another injury. Not now, when she had a chance of getting onto the all-star team.
Anyway, Gianna couldn’t get into the apartment without her. When Gianna made it to the second-floor landing and turned around, Megan pushed her against the door and kissed her, their sweaty bodies melding together in the small space.
“Excuse me,” came a voice from above them. They separated their faces and looked up. Megan’s upstairs neighbor, the man with the wife and baby, was standing above them, glaring down his nose at them.
Megan snort-laughed and reached into her bag for her keys. Gianna was shaking with silent laughter. It was extremely hard to find her keys with all of Gianna’s jiggly parts rubbing against her that way.
Eventual
ly, though, she managed to unlock the door, and they tumbled inside. The man’s footsteps receded down the stairs—Megan was sure he was walking more loudly than necessary. She didn’t care.
She retrieved her keys and locked the door behind her, and then she and Gianna were undressing, their lips snatching at each other as they pulled at their clothes.
They raced to the bedroom, and Megan pushed Gianna onto the bed, her hand between her ample thighs. She found Gianna’s center, as slick and hot as she knew hers was, and thrust one, then two, then three fingers inside. Gianna screamed and clenched around her, her hands grabbing for the bedsheets.
“Don’t stop,” she groaned.
Megan took that as a suggestion to go faster, curling her fingers inside Gianna, pressing her more and more full. At the same time, her other hand roamed over Gianna’s body, stroking her fleshy curves, everywhere she could reach. And that was a lot, because Gianna was so short.
When Gianna started to pant, Megan added her thumb, pressing it and rubbing against Gianna’s clit, mindful of where to press so it would feel good and not hurt. She closed her other hand around Gianna’s breast, fingers dimpling the soft flesh.
“C’mon, baby,” she encouraged her. Touching her felt so good, she wanted Gianna to feel the same.
Gianna laughed, but soon that laugh turned into a scream of pleasure. Her muscles contracted tightly around Megan’s fingers. Megan grinned with triumph.
When Gianna was relaxed again, she lazily raised her arms and pulled Megan close, on top of her on the bed. “What was that?” she murmured.
“What do you mean?” Megan asked. “I figured you would recognize an orgasm when you felt one.”
Gianna snorted a quiet laugh. “You called me ‘baby.’ Usually you don’t call me anything. I’m the one that calls you ‘babe.’”
“That’s true.” Megan shook her head. She hadn’t thought about it when she’d said it. “I don’t think it meant anything. It was just encouragement. And clearly it worked.”
Crash Into You Page 15