SOL Day 9 - Pink Team

"Adella? You OK?" Annette asks, giving your shoulder a shake.

Riley's smiling. It's hard to look away from it.

You wake up and follow Annette inside. It looks like the girls were kind of partying, and kind of getting ready for bed. Some of them are half-naked, but Riley's still dressed. She walks over, looking curious.

"Hi," she says to you.

"Hi," you reply.

"I got your sub, Riley. Adella, Lili's got a fracture, so she'll be out for a while. You'll be subbing on Pink Team for a while. Don't get any ideas, Riley. You might want to use Adella for attacking, but at least for tomorrow's game you have to keep her in Lili's position," Annette warns. "Oh, and Adella, remember that Riley is team captain. So what she says goes."

"OK," Riley says, looking pleased. She's wearing short, teal shorts and a gray top with no bra. Her hair's still in her usual ponytail. There are grass stains on her socks and long, tanned legs. There's just a little bit of a bulge in her shorts. She has no makeup on and she looks so pretty.

Someone from FUTA arrives with your bags and leaves them at the cabin.

"You're all set," Annette says, patting your back. "Have a good night."

She leaves, and you are alone with Riley and her team.

You see, Elena, a very tall girl with darker skin from Kenya, Lara, a brunette from England... an ordinary-looking Japanese girl you don't know, but her name is Aki. There's the very skinny girl from Korea, Sun. And a petite, tanned redhead named Sam, who is from England like Lara. Two American brunettes are small and shy: Rebecca, with short hair, and Max, whose hair is a bit longer. Then there's Viti, the short, but curvy and cute girl from India. And Sheva... you've met her before. She's good.

You must have missed so much while you were locked up. You still feel like you're in a dream.

"Hey," Riley says, coming over to you. "We should talk."

Those are the most terrifying words you have ever heard. You follow her outside, and she shuts the door. You can still hear the music and the laughter in there.

Riley sits on the step, and after a second you sit next to her, keeping some space between you. It's a warm night, and a lot of fireflies are out. It's too warm, but... it's better than walls and bars. You can see the moon, and the air smells like the lake.

"This is awkward," Riley says, a bit shyly. Why is she shy? She's the captain, and she didn't just commit a crime or go to prison...

"I'm sorry," you say.

Riley scowls at you. It's cute.

"You really put me in a box," she says. "Like with feminism? Like, it was exciting and stuff, but you can't do that. You just can't."

"I know," you say. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine," she says, waving her hand. "Don't worry about me. Are you OK? You're the one who went to fucking prison. Like... unrealistically fast."

"I'm OK," you say. You feel very weird, and maybe aren't actually OK, but you're free, so you can't complain.

"Then let's just put it behind us, OK?" Riley smiles over at you, then awkwardly pats your shoulder. "OK. I'm glad you're here. Really. It's going to be good game tomorrow."

She stands up and goes back into the cabin. You are too... overwhelmed to follow her right away. You sit there, wondering what happened to you.

Someone's coming. It's Riona. She jogs up to the cabin, looking breathless.

"Oh my God," she says. "It's you. You're back."

"Hi," you say, tapping your foot nervously.

"Were you going to say something to me?" she asks, annoyed. Riona puts her hands on her hips. "I know we weren't married or anything, but you fucking go to jail and don't text me?"

"I couldn't text from jail." It was prison, not jail, but... you don't want to get into that.

"Then fucking text me when you get out!" she says.

"I'm sorry."

Her anger goes away. "Are you OK?"

"It's been a difficult week," you admit.

She looks sympathetic. "Reckon so," she says. "Well... do you want to talk about it? We could... take a walk."

You aren't sure. It's getting late, and it's hard to think straight.

Go with Riona?

or

Go back inside?