Unknown - driven

“Yes!” Cat huffed, finally scoring her first point.

“Very impressive.”

“Thanks!” Then she looked up at Dylan as the ball landed in her hands once again. “It?s your ball.”

“Don?t wanna win yet,” Dylan remarked, offhand.

Cat chuckled. “Cocky, aren?t ya.”

Dylan shrugged. “Confident.”

“Hm. Ok, I can go with that.”

She tried the same move again, only from the opposite side. As expected, Dylan didn?t fall for the bait. Instead she backed up some, giving Cat a bit more room to maneuver, but also knowing her greater quickness and longer stride could close the gap when needed.

Cat took her time, eyes switching between the basket and Dylan as she calculated angles and her best chance of scoring. Knowing that Dylan?s weaker (if it could truly be termed that) side was her right, because of her knee, Cat exploited it, making Dylan put constant pressure on the joint in order to move with her as she guarded. Then she crossed over, then crossed over again, and charged toward the basket, full steam ahead.

Dylan managed to slip into a perfect stance a second before Cat hit the mark. She also knew that Cat had no chance of stopping, and that, further, her knee was straining past the limits she felt comfortable with.

Taking in a breath, she allowed Cat to run into her, but instead of bracing herself and chancing the knee, she grabbed Cat around the waist and fell back, hitting the ground hard with her player landing full atop her, nearly driving the breath from her lungs. The basketball skittered by and rolled harmlessly over the endline.

The kiss started slowly, naturally, given the close proximity of their lips, and grew from there into something quickly more heated. The passion, and the challenge, of the game they?d just played transferred itself into another contest, of sorts, as their bodies melded together in the sweat of their labors, each advancing, and giving way, in turn.

Soft moans drifted through the empty arena as each woman lost herself and her will in the taste of the other, in her softness and her heat. What they shared was raw, urgent, flaring to life between them and within them, leaving no space for softness or for gentleness.

And when it finally ended, they pulled away, breathing heavily, and lay blinking at one another, unable to believe what they had just shared.

“I?um?.” Cat choked out, voice rough, cheeks flushed deep with passion.

“Yeah,” Dylan returned, not having the breath for anything else.

Cat stepped out of the shower in her apartment, still mumbling ?oh shit, oh shit, oh shit?. Hamlet lifted his head from the foot of the bed where he was currently camped out keeping a watchful eye over his mistress. She looked at him as she slipped in her robe and roughly tied the belt into a tight knot. “How could I be so stupid?”

Hamlet yawned and laid his head back down.

She sat on the edge of her bed, fingers tapping and twitching nervously on her knees. “I need to talk to someone. Mom? No, no, no, bad idea.” She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and let it out slowly. When she opened them she reached for the phone be the bed. Biting her lip she slowly dialed a number she knew by heart and then put the receiver to her ear.

On the third ring a familiar and very friendly voice answered. “Hello?”

“Lee, it?s Cat.”

The voice on the other end was warm and sweet as honey. “Hiya darling. It?s been a while.”

“Yeah, it has, and I?m sorry about that.”

“It?s okay. I attribute it to the life of the newest star in the world of women?s b-ball.”

“Well, sort of. It?s been hectic, but I should have called before now. I?m sorry.”

“Hey, this is me remember. No apology necessary.”

Cat smiled, Lee Carol had been the closest thing to a serious relationship Cat had ever engaged in. They had dated for their last two years in college, rather steadily, but it had never grown into the ?I love you, can live my life without you? kind of relationship many couples found themselves in after that length of time. Lee and Cat had always remained casual and it was good for both of them. When they graduated and went their separate ways, and they did so as very good friends.

“Lee I have a problem, and I need your advice.”

“Anything, Cat. You know that.”

“Well, you know who Dylan Lambert is, right?”

“How could I not know? She was always staring at us when we made love.”

Cat chuckled. “Right. Well, the problem I have is with her.”

“Okay?” Lee drew the word out, waiting for Cat to continue. When nothing was forthcoming, she sighed and prodded. “Are you having problems with your game? I caught the one on ESPN the other night. You looked pretty good.”

“Oh you mean the Pistols fiasco? God what a game. That?s sorta?kinda?how my problem started.”

“Cat, dear, I love you to death but if you don?t get to the point I will be forced to come over there and tickle it out of you.”

Cat?s ribs twitched automatically at the remembrance of the many nights they had spent goofing off together, which usually resulted in Lee tickling Cat until she felt like she?d puke or pee herself. Many was the time she found herself begging for mercy. It was a mercy of the sweetest kind.

“Okay.” Cat paused, then let her words go in a rush. “I kissed her.”

“So?”

“So!? Jesus Christ, Lee! She?s my coach. My hero! My boss! I can?t kiss the boss.”

“Sounds like you already did.”

Cat sighed. “Yeah, I did,” she admitted quietly. “What am I gonna do?”

“What do you want to do?”

“I want to crawl under a rock and stay there until Pallas Dylan Lambert retires to some ski resort somewhere.”

“No an option. Next.”

Cat twirled the phone cord in her fingers. “I could apologize, I guess.”

“Are you sorry it happened?”

“No,” she answered quickly and then changed it. “Yes, I mean?” She paused and picked the comforter. “I don?t know exactly. I mean?.I?m really attracted to her.”

“There ya go then. Is she attracted to you?”

Cat blinked and looked at the phone. Replacing it to her ear, she licked her lips before answering. “I don?t know.”

“Have you ever though about?oh, I don?t know?asking her?”

“Are you insane?”

“Probably, but that?s besides the point. If you think she?s attracted to you, then ask her and figure out where to go from there. How did this kiss happen?”

“We were playing ball and I charged her, instead of moving she stayed there. I crashed into her and when we fell, I was on top of her and then I?I?well?”

“You kissed her.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Did she kiss you back?”

“Uh-huh.” Cat felt oddly adolescent.

“Ask her.”

“You?re not helping me here.”

“What do you want me to say Cat? Send her a dozen roses and an apology note? I?m not going to give you bad advice. I?m giving you honest advice. Ask her how she feels.”

“Lee, I?m not like you. I can?t ask that.”

“All right. Then just let it drop and see how she?s acting. If she pulls back then accept her friendship. If she moves forward, jump her.”

Cat laughed, feeling better than she had in the last few hours. “You know, I knew there was a really good reason I called you.”

“Because I give great advice?”

“Because you?re full of shit and I really needed that tonight. I needed to get calmed down.”

“Anytime, darling. You know you can call me anytime. I?m always gonna be here for you.”

Cat smiled. “Thanks Lee.”

There was a moment of comfortable silence between them.

“Catherine?”

“Yeah?”

“Don?t be a chicken shit. You?ll never know unless you go for it.”