Sushi for One? (17 page)

Why hadn’t she seen that before?

TWENTY-ONE

R
ats, rats, rats! Of all times to be late! If not for that accident on the freeway, she would have been early instead of seven minutes late.

Lex screeched into the expansive parking lot for Wassamattayu’s complex just off Central Expressway. She grabbed her heavy gym bag and ran/waddled into the lobby.

“Lex Sakai, volleyball tryouts.”

The receptionist pointed her to the back of the sports club.

She entered the massive gym and tried not to pass out in awe. She always evaluated a new gym, and this one blew them all in the dust. Lofty ceilings, perfectly aligned lights so they weren’t glaring, set at the right brightness to more than adequately light up the courts. The soles of her sneakers crackled against the freshly waxed floor. New aluminum bleachers with wooden seats, folded up for now, lined all four walls, but even if they were pulled out, there would be ample space around the court. The highest grade nets available stretched tautly across the two courts — no sagging or bouncing from those puppies.

Nine other women stretched or warmed up on the sidelines. There were no other Asians, and they all towered over her by four inches or more. Not a good sign.

The women seemed to eye each other — no band of sisters here.

Lex recognized several from volleyball tournaments. They were all strong players.

Don’t psyche yourself out.
She pulled on her shoes and started stretching. The last women stretching started warming up, throwing the ball to flex their shoulder muscles, then moving into bumping, setting, and finally peppering back and forth.

Lex stretched as fast as she could. Why had she been late again? She could have sworn she had been watching the clock. Regret and guilt pulled her shoulder muscles together, made her heartbeat quicken.

No, stop that. You can’t tighten up now.

She finally approached a threesome warming up — apparently three women who knew each other well. “Anyone want to warm up with me?”

The girls stopped laughing at each other. “We’re done.” A stick-straight blonde with ice-blue eyes grabbed the ball and motioned for her entourage to follow her off the court.

Lex’s hands started shaking as her chest cavity became a furnace.

Forget Nebuchadnezzar — she’d have fried Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego if she got any hotter. The other women warming up in pairs avoided looking at her.

Her vision expanded as it did whenever she got ready-to-slam-a-ball-in-somebody’s-face livid. The lights became brighter, the gym larger. She caught every movement — the miniscule swaying of the net, the dangling of the cords at each end, the tiniest shifting of weight from one woman as she prepared to pass.

Lex marched to the wall and threw the ball to warm up her shoulder. She had ceased to feel — all her energy focused on that ball. She was a raging fire, a nuclear star.

She moved to her most technically challenging bumping exercises, then shifted to setting. Lex hadn’t warmed up solo in a long time — usually she peppered with a teammate, having fun, loosening up. Now, her muscles flowed like water, each movement precise with the higher level of challenge. She ought to do this more often.

A group of men and women entered the gym, one of them blowing a whistle to get everyone’s attention. Lex joined the circle of women around them.

“I’m Darren, coach for both the coed and women’s teams here at Wassamattayu. You all are trying out for a single position that will play on both teams.” He paused to glance at his clipboard. “Was-samattayu is part of a larger network of elite sports clubs. You should have received a schedule of tournaments for both the coed and women’s teams.”

He gestured to the others with them, rattling off names. “These are members of the coed and women’s team, and Krista here is my assistant coach.”

Krista stepped forward. “Okay, let’s start with some drills.”

The drills were easy compared to the stuff Lex put her junior high school girls through. She also learned a few new ball control exercises she could add. The drills tired her but didn’t wipe her out.

She stood mopping her sweaty face while several of the other women bent double, gasping for air.

Hehehe.

She knew most of them would be better at blocking — their height alone made them more effective at the net. Lex got touches during the blocking drills, but no stuffs like some of the women. However, she performed well on the setting drills.

Lex was among the last group on the hitting line, after watching her six-foot-tall nemeses pound the balls inside the ten-foot line. She’d learned to hit smarter.

Lex sent a few good hits into the center of the court for her first two. Before she started her third hit, Darren stepped up to the other side of the net to block her. He nodded to her.

He hadn’t blocked any of the other women during their drills.

She grinned. For him, she’d need a high set. “Five, please.”

The setter sent a beautiful arcing ball that seemed to float in midair. Lex started her approach, planted, and lifted off.

Darren set up a good block, taking away the easy shot in the middle of the court. Last-minute, she torqued and sent the ball down the line. It landed squarely on the strip of white. Excellent.

Darren continued blocking for the other two girls in her hitting group. One got stuffed, the other hit it high and out.

Lex’s turn again. This time he inched in to make the line shot harder. Lex cut the shot, a sweet short angle, right under his left armpit.

He grinned at her as they both landed.

Energy zoomed through her veins like liquid caffeine. Her lungs felt twice as large, her muscles twice as fast.

For the defensive drills, they paired her with two other girls at the back of the court. Lex subtly adjusted position, further from the brunette — who was a ball hog — but closer to the blonde — who was slow. She picked up a few hard, short shots near the net and got under the other balls so she made perfect, soft passes to the setter.

And then it ended. Lex felt like she’d hardly broken a sweat. She’d had more tiring sand workouts with Kin-Mun than the four hours from today.

The other women had left by the time Lex finished changing her shoes. Darren stood near the door, waiting for her.

As she passed, he gave her a high five. Looking around quickly, he leaned in toward her. “You nailed it.”

Her insides glowed — she felt as if she were made of light.

“Thanks.”

“I talked briefly with Krista. It’s pretty clear who we’re going to pick.” He lowered his voice even more, but his smile was like ethanol, making her burn brighter. “Lex, I’m looking forward to playing with you.”

Where else to celebrate besides Hot Pot Town Restaurant with her three cousins?

Unless one of them brought a guy who wasn’t a brother, a cousin, or even a close acquaintance.

Venus nudged Lex as Jennifer approached the restaurant from the parking lot with Mr. Gecko in tow — pale, buggy eyes, constantly licking his lips. “Who’s that?”

“Her boyfriend?”

“Jennifer looks like even she can’t stand him.” Trish stared hard at the two of them. “Look, she keeps moving away from him whenever he gets close.” Her phone rang. “Oh, it’s Kazuo. Hey, babe . . .” She wandered a few feet away.

Venus leaned close to Lex. “Did Trish explain why she ran away from you at church?”

“She said she never heard me call her.”

Venus eyed her with a
How stupid do you think I am?
look.

“Yeah, I don’t know if I believe her either.” Lex shook her head.

“That boyfriend is bad news.”

“Well then, you try talking to her. She avoids being alone with me.”

“Fine.” Venus was raring to go.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. I found housing. I called one of the ladies from church. I heard her niece wanted to rent the extra room in her town house. Bedroom on the second floor, carport in the back. I’ll go look at it tomorrow.”

“That’s great.”

“Things are totally looking up for me.”

Jennifer joined them. “H-hey, guys.”

Gecko had sidled up to Venus, trying to give her a discreet look down. Venus backed up a step and unleashed her famous organ-shrinking glare. His eyes popped open, and he scurried closer to Jennifer like a Chihuahua.

“Who’s your friend, Jenn?” Lex didn’t want to call him Gecko all night, although Venus probably wouldn’t mind.

“Um . . . this is Hector.”

“Perfect.” Venus sneered at him.

“How’d you guys meet?” Lex planted a cool smile on her face.

“Oh . . . Actually, we just met tonight.”

Lex raised her eyebrows at Jenn.

“Well Lex, when you called, Grandma was at our house.”

Oh, no.

“And she asked me to invite Hector along.” Jenn cast a desperate glance at the restaurant doors. “Should we go in?”

Lex hooked her talons into Jennifer’s arm to hold her back as Hector followed Venus to the restaurant, trying to ogle her backside.
Creep.

“Jenn, what’s the deal? Why didn’t you just tell Grandma no?”

“
You
try telling Grandma no.”

“Why’d you tell her you were going out with me? You know what she’s been up to.”

“Grandma’s been over at our house a lot lately. It’s
wearing
on me.”

Jenn snatched her arm away and marched into the restaurant.

Lex stood a moment, too surprised to move. Jenn never snapped at people.

She gestured to Trish, who went inside without her.

“Lex! Wait up!” She heard another voice.

Lex turned and saw her brother. “Richard, what are you doing here?” With yet another male friend?

He hustled up to her, while a dark-skinned guy followed at a slower pace. “Grandma told me you’d be here.”

Lex fought the urge to scream.

He ignored her, instead motioning to his friend. “This is Oliver.”

“Hi. Nice to meet you.” No way was Oliver one of Richard’s friends. They all tended to have the same slick charm, but Oliver seemed rather mild-mannered, like a tanned, Asian Clark Kent. “Bye, Richard.”

“Wait a minute, where are you going?”

“We’re having dinner.”

“I know. We’ll join you.”

Lex lowered her voice to a hiss. “I don’t remember asking you.”

Richard chucked her under the chin as he breezed past her toward the restaurant doors. “I’m your brother. I don’t need to be asked.”

Lex stormed after them.

Hot Pot Town looked more like a warehouse than a restaurant. A mish-mash of tables packed every open space, and they managed to find a cafeteria-style table near the food buffets. The waiter started their tabletop burner topped by a steel kettle of chicken broth — the “hot pot” — and took their drink orders.

Lex wandered to the refrigerated raw meats and selected chicken and beef, sliced so thin she could almost see her white plate through them. Each of them would cook their own selections in the broth at the table. She had moved to the marinated seafood when she realized Gecko followed her.

“So, you’re Lex?”

“Yeah.”

He didn’t get the message from her clipped tone. “I’m Hector.”

“I know.”
And I don’t need to know anything more about you.
Hmm, the marinated scallops or shrimp? She got a scoop of each.

Gecko hovered near her shoulder. She jerked away from his invasion of her personal space.

“So, Lex, what do you do?” Joviality so heartily false it sounded like a Barney movie.

She slammed him with a hard, direct glare. “Don’t even. I know Grandma told your mother — ”

“Aunt, actually.”

Lex shrugged and went back to the black bean sauce chicken.

“Well, then, since all the cards are on the table . . .” Gecko’s voice grew more forceful, less pleasant. “Let’s be honest here. I’d just like some game tickets.” Gecko smiled as if he’d said something intelligent.

“No.” Ohh, they had Chinese broccoli and bok choy.

“Aw, come on.” Slime coated his voice. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Since we’re being honest, Geck — Hector, I have to tell you that you’d be a pretty boring date.” Lex spooned some corn onto her plate.

“Who’s talking date? I can make it worth your while
the other way.
”

His attempt at being subtle, she guessed. He’d make a lousy
Yakuza.
“You mean money?” She pitched her voice rather loud.

He sucked in his cheeks and flapped his hands at her. “Keep it down.”

“You mean money?” She said it even louder, if possible.

“Yes, yes, just shut up.”

She rescued a piece of fish before it rolled off the edge of her plate.

She had finished getting food for the hot pot. “The answer’s no.”

“I can pay as much as you want — ”

Lex turned toward their table, but Gecko stood in the way and laid a hand on her arm. She jolted away. “Listen, buddy, jailbait isn’t my first career choice.”

“Who’s to know?”

“What about the word ‘no’ do you not understand?”

“Oh, come on — ”

“Hey, Lex.”

She’d never been so glad to see Aiden. Yet again. “What are you doing here?”