"No bus? Why?" The whole team seemed to whine in unison as Coach stood before them in the locker room, a whiteboard with a series of X's and O's and arrows littered about with their strategy against Columbia tomorrow.
Coach shook her head, as though disappointed in herself. "Look, not my call. I requested it, but the admin said that because of the budget cuts, any travel less than two hours is the player's responsibility. It's their policy going forward, and there's just nothing I can do. Sorry girls."
A collective groan rang as news broke to the girls, seated about the benches in the locker room. "I gotta drive, too. No use whining about it; it's not a battle we're going to win. I'll see you all tomorrow at 10 a.m. sharp at Columbia's courts. Don't be late!"
Lauren groaned as Coach walked away and turned to Bri. "You're going to need a ride, right? I can pick you up at 7:30."
Bri flashed Lauren a smile as she grabbed her bag and heaved it over her shoulder. Bri hated driving, especially if it was going to be more than a few minutes. "Yeah, thanks. That'd be great! Just add it to my tab!"
Lauren rolled her eyes. "When the season is over, you owe me a drink. Or two. Or whatever number we're up to now."
"Uh, I think that's 27."
"Fuck yeah," Lauren giggled. The two began to walk out of the locker room together, both still sweaty from practice and carrying their bags. "Do you think we have a chance tomorrow? Their middle is a fucking monster. I don't know how I'm going to be able to hit against her."
Lauren wasn't small herself; at 6'2", she was the tallest on the team, but she was still short compared to some of the other middles in the league. She had been blessed with long legs that seemed to go on for days -- while she looked great in her volleyball shorts, she really got the boys' attention when she wore heels and a miniskirt that could accentuate her figure.
Bri shrugged. "Yeah, but you've been hitting so well. Megan will just have to be smart with her sets, but I think we got this. Their setter is a freshman, so as long as we're closing our blocks, I think we should be able to put up a pretty good wall."
Lauren nodded, but wasn't convinced. Obviously, she was going to show up tomorrow ready to play, but she knew she was going to be reliant on her teammates for the win. She was going to be outmatched. But it was a team game, after all. And Katie and Megan had been putting in long hours, so hopefully they'd be able to step up where Lauren was lacking.
Finally, the pair exited the gymnasium and headed to their cars.
"See you tomorrow! 7:30!" Lauren called out.
Bri waved. "See you then!"
---
Brrrm. Brrrm. Brrrm. Brrrm.
The vibrations echoed through the dark room as Bri awoke with a start. She glanced over at her phone and immediately gasped. It was 7:40, and Lauren was calling. Bri sat up and swiped her phone. "Sorry, Lauren, I overslept! I'll be out in two minutes!"
Lauren barely got a word in as Bri hung up, tossed her phone in her bag, slid into the first pair of shorts she could find, and threw a t-shirt on over her bra. She dashed out of her room, grabbed her water bottle and a granola bar, and darted down to the car. She tossed her bag into the open trunk, then climbed in next to Lauren.
"Sorry!" She exclaimed again, quickly buckling her seatbelt.
Lauren wasted no time backing out of the driveway and speeding off. "Well, as long as we don't have to stop, I think I should be able to shave off the two minutes late that the GPS says we're going to be. So I think we're fine. It'll just be close. What happened?!"
Bri massaged her eyes, still half-groggy from just barely waking up. "I guess I turned off my alarm this morning instead of snoozing it? I'm just hoping I packed everything..."
"Well, do you at least have your equipment? Shoes and pads and your uniform?"
Bri nodded. "Yeah, I packed all that last night. But... I didn't pack any clothes or anything, so hopefully I can wear this all day."
Turn left to merge onto Highway 60 for 100 miles.
Lauren shrugged as she obeyed the GPS's commands. "I don't think we'll go out after since it's so close and a morning game. You should be fine."
Bri didn't respond. Instead, she pulled down the sunshade and looked into the mirror. Bri had dark brown skin, matching brown eyes, and dark, almost black hair. She pulled at the bags under her eyes as though she could simply rearrange and hide the bags. Her lips were pale pink, accented by the rest of her dark features. She sighed. "I definitely didn't pack my makeup. And I guess I'm going to have to put my hair up, there's no way I'll be able to figure out a better way to deal with all this mess before gametime."
Lauren laughed. "Just focus on the game, don't worry about the rest of it. I need you to play well."
Bri loosened up a bit as her heart rate settled. She was going to be fine. The pair quickly fell into the normal chatter, and the miles began to pass by.
After half an hour, Bri grabbed Lauren's phone and took a look at the GPS app. "Well, it says you've already shaved 3 minutes off the time. We'll be there at 9:59 now, so plenty of time!"
Lauren smiled. "Yeah, but you know Coach wants us 5 minutes early... And I definitely don't want to lose my starting spot."
Bri nodded. She definitely didn't want to piss off Coach; she needed her starting spot so she could keep her scholarship, but she had an aching in her bladder that she'd already been fighting for the past 20 minutes, and she knew there was no way she'd be able to hold it for another hour and a half.
"I just... well, I need to pee." Bri responded frankly. "Do you know if there's a rest area coming up?"
Lauren grimaced. "I have no idea. I can try to find a gas station? The towns around here seem to be like 10 minutes away, and we can't afford that kind of time. Can you hold it a bit?"
Bri gave a noncommittal response. "I... maybe. Just keep an eye out, okay?"
Five more minutes passed--the girls only passed two exits, and both were devoid of immediate gas stations or rest stops. Finally, Bri spoke up again. She was squirming in her seat at this point, her hands pressed to her crotch anxiously. "Just... can you just pull over? I'll only be a minute, but I'm going to fucking piss off your car.
"Yeah, yeah, one second..." Lauren quickly began to decelerate, pulling off onto the shoulder. The embankment was fairly steep, but Bri jumped out of the car and scrambled a few feet down the hill. She didn't even take a moment to close the car door as she whipped her pants down to her ankles and crouched down. Lauren had a full view of Bri's firm, brown ass.
Not that she hadn't seen it before, but definitely not like this.
"Oh, fuck!" Lauren heard Bri shout out after just a few seconds, then jump up from the grass. She fell over, then scrambled to climb up the hill.