#usc wbb

I actually would. I’ve thought about this a lot since making my last post lol.

From a developmental standpoint, I think it’d be great for her. She’s already USC’s primary ball handler by default most of the time, so letting her grow from being just a two-way player (someone who impacts both ends of the floor) into a true two-way combo guard would be huge for her long term.

Synopsis: Juju and Thaleia go into town to run errands and end up going on a record store side quest.

A/N: part 2 'cause it was requested. I wrote an outline for a full story, but I don't trust myself to commit. For that reason, I'm taking this part by part idk if I'm turning it into a full story yet.

WC: 2.3k

Callie and Sari sent out their daughters, Juju and Thaleia, for the week's essentials. That consisted of a farmer's market run for fruits and veggies, and a gas station run to get the floaties inflated. Thaleia, being the people-pleaser that she is, agreed without protest. Juju, on the other hand, was making up every excuse under the sun she was currently sunbathing beneath.

"Juju, it's going to be 2 hours tops", Thaleia, who was sent out to inform Juju of the mothers' requests, said exasperatedly for the third time in the last 5 minutes.

"Why us, Thaleia?" Juju responds as she finally turns her head to Thaleia, who's towering over her, lying on the chaise longue. She perches her sunglasses up on her head as she squints at the sun's exposure.

"Why not us, Judea. It is what it is. Are you freaking coming or not, 'cause I don't mind going alone." Thaleia snaps finally, in a fast-paced spew of words, her signature eyeroll to top it off. Her sudden irritation is only partially because of Juju's defiance, though. The other reason for her outburst is that, for some gnawing reason, Thaleia cannot stand hearing Juju say her name.

Thaleia.

She doesn't say it like everyone else does. But it's not something Thaleia can ever put her finger on, and it drives her up the wall. Similar to a quiet and lingering animosity, you can't address it head-on. She doesn't have hard proof that Juju says her name differently. It's in her eyes; she never says her name without first making eye contact. Maybe it's the way she pronounces the first syllable, precisely the "t"; she shows more teeth.

"Ooh. I riled up Thai-thai." Juju said with an annoying, knowing smile of someone who has spent a lot of time with someone and knows exactly what comes next from them, which was Thaleia's immediate deadpan look, followed by a dramatic spin before walking away from the conversation.

Juju finally sat up quickly and stepped forward to grab Thaleia's shoulders to halt her storming off, "Alright, alright, I'm just teasing. I'm coming, just let me change real quick"

-----

After 20 minutes of Thaleia begrudgingly waiting for Juju to change, she walks out in long jorts sitting precariously low on her hips with her tan lines and hip bones peeking out, daring Thaleia to drop her gaze and look.

And she does. Her eyes follow Juju’s toned body down to her abs, immediately drifting away in a reverie of what it would be like to stare without shame. To get more than stolen glances. To be chosen by Juju and bask in that loudly. The issue is that she's not even in competition with anyone. She simply hasn't even qualified for that race, so she forces her eyes away as she turns toward the door with her heart beating erratically like even the little thoughtless organ feels the need to jump out of Thaleia's chest and cling to Juju, only withheld by the ribs caging it in.

"Come on, we're gonna miss all the good produce," Thaleia monotonously says—a clear disconnect present in her voice.

Juju recognises it but writes it off to being the remnants of the irritation she caused her earlier before following Thaleia out to the front of the house where all the cars are parked and watches her beeline to her mom's car without asking who's driving. She hastily gets into the driver's side, desperate for a distraction, something to force her eyes and mind away from temptation. Juju follows, getting into the passenger seat obliviously.

"Damn, Thai-thai, why are you so tense?" Juju teases.

Thaleia simply side-eyes her before reaching to put some music on, a mediator in this particularly provocative day.

The short drive to the market, paired with the music, allowed the tension in Thaleia’s shoulder to loosen up and her mood to be lifted again. Since she was a kid, Thaleia was never someone who held grudges easily anyway. Twenty minutes tops was all it took before she showed all 32 again.

Thaleia parks down the road to where the actual shops and markets are and gets out of the big ‘mom car’ with a hop to the ground. Juju follows with her usual slugglish and unrushed exterior, getting out of the car before stretching as if the barely 7-minute drive was 2 hours long.

They are immediately hit with the earthy and muddy scent of fresh produce as they make their way up the street to where all the markets are. A kaleidoscope of the vivid fruit and vegetable colours comes into view as they approach, and Juju's stomach audibly responds to the sight with a loud growl.

"Looks like your tummy is contradicting your aversion to coming here, Judea," Thaleia teases with a nudge to Juju's side, to which she responds with a side-eye of her own.

The sellers' voices and yells drown each other out as Thaleia grabs her phone to pull up the shared family note where they put all the needed groceries. She scrolls down to where the fruits and veggies section is, "Alright, we need red onions, heirloom tomatoes, carrots, arugula and then 'what looks good' is what's written for fruits."

"That's not helpful. Literally everything looks good right now." Juju says as she squints at Thaleia from the bright midday sun as they walk over to a carrot and onion seller.

"Some stuff isn't in season, but they still try to sell it, like those tangerines over there," Thaleia points behind Juju with her head, "If you go squeeze them, they'll be hard as hell even if they look fine."

They finally approach the booth right as some customers finish up. "Good afternoon," Juju greets politely.

"Good afternoon, ladies. What can I get for ya?" the old, grey-haired woman responds with a toothy smile.

"May we please get a bunch of rainbow carrots and 4 red onions?" Thaleia asks before Juju adds, "and one white onion, please."

Thaleia looks to Juju with a frown, to which she elaborates by saying, "White tastes better with vodka pasta, and I want to have that this week."

Before Thaleia could respond, her phone dings with a text from Niko, her youngest brother. She reads it with a breathy laugh before reading it aloud to Juju, "Please grab chocolate. Mom won't let me put it on the list"

"Valid, dude, it's summer. Shit, I also want chocolate." Juju claims dramatically.

-----

After almost an hour at the market, a layer of sweat covers both girls' skin. Juju's face is now in a deep frown as they make their way back to the car after spending her entire time fighting flies off her. Thaleia unlocks the car, and they both set down their purchases in the trunk with a loud thud.

"This is why I didn't wanna come," Juju points vaguely at her sticky body and the several bags of produce.

Thaleia responds to Juju's complaints with a gasp, although she's not even looking at her, "Is that a record store?" Thaleia asks excitedly, her head already looking both ways as she moves to cross the street, leaving Juju behind.

Juju stares at her dumbfoundedly for a second before yelling from across the street, "I was talking."

Thaleia waves her hand dismissively before responding, "You were being a smellfungus."

That elicits an offended gasp from Juju, now, "A WHAT? I HEARD FUNGUS, THAT CAN'T BE GOOD"

She hurriedly crosses the street as well and stops next to Thaleia, who's reading the front of the store, confirming it is, in fact, a record store.

"What the hell is a smellfungus, Thaleia?" She repeats, offence still present in her question.

"A complainer, like you." Thaleia quickly explains before she pushes the door forward, "Now, come on, I want to go inside."

They walk into the record store, immediately being hit with the air conditioning and the faint smell of new leather and air freshener. A shiver runs down Juju's spine at the contrast of the outside humidity and noise to the cool and quiet environment they are currently in.

"Finally, some goddamn AC," Juju says, her face relaxing a bit now

The store is lined up with rows upon rows of vinyl displays, all with a vintage touch accentuated by the shadows caused by the red brick walls framing the place. A beautiful woman with a voluminous afro and perfectly stacked earrings sits at the cashier to the far left of the store, offering a warm, casual smile of acknowledgement. Her eyes lingered for a beat longer before she returned to whatever she was working on before they walked in.

"How did I never know this place existed? God, we must've driven into town a thousand times before, and I never noticed this." Thaleia says as she starts running her fingers along a set of organised vinyls, already in her element.

Juju watches Thaleia getting lost in a daze with that many vinyls in front of her. A loose curl slides to the front as it dangles to the side of Thaleia's face.

"The universe didn't want you to find it 'til now. It was your fate to find it this summer." Juju says as she peels her eyes off Thaleia and busies herself with the stack of vinyls next to the ones Thaleia is flicking through.

Thaleia releases a half laugh, half scoff at Juju's explanation, clearly not taking it seriously.

"What? I'm serious. You don't believe in fate?"

Thaleia pauses for a second, their background offering the perfect amount of unobtrusive noise from the chimes of the door with people walking in and out, paired with the mellifluous chatter of other customers.

"I believe in divine timing and connection, but fate and destiny..." Thaleia trails off, thinking for a moment, "I dunno, I think a fated existence negates the concept of free will."

Juju fully absorbs what Thaleia says as she focuses her attention on her, then responds, "But doesn't anything divine require some sort of higher energy and a submission to that?"

"Perhaps, but it definitely doesn't remove free will from the equation. Oftentimes, a connection that feels divine is still a connection that one consciously chooses to nurture every day." Thaleia responds as she picks up a vinyl and tucks it under her arm before continuing, "Same with a timeline, you may have trust that things will align when it is right, but it's still a timeline you choose to put effort into day by day."

Their conversation dies down as Juju zones out in what seems to be one of the many existential crises talking to Thaleia has caused her over the years. Meanwhile, Thaleia obliviously walks away to the next chunk of vinyls labelled "alternative rock", Juju trailing quietly.

Juju absentmindedly looks through the vinyls before one particular album snaps her out of her trance. She picks it up and stares at the cover, immediately transported back to the beginning of her rehab days. After a whole lot of bed rest and a slow buildup of mobility, she was finally able to start independent walking. That's when she decided to open up the dreaded and long-avoided rehab playlist that Thaeliea made for her, titled "Judea's jams back to bball ✨🏀😝".

"Only shadows ahead, barely clearing the roof. Get to know the feeling of liberation and release." Juju quietly murmurs, almost to herself.

That gets Thaleia to look back at Juju for the first time since walking into the shop, a questioning expression on her face. Her eyes drop to follow Juju's gaze on the vinyl in her hands. From the 5-hour-long playlist with ranging genres, artists and songs, the one that stuck with Juju most was the classic 'Don't Dream It's Over' by Crowded House. Thaleia's eyes soften in understanding as she watches Juju's face embody a battle between a sedulous melancholy fighting to return and a seraphic peace claiming its victory.

Thaelia doesn't interrupt her moment of reflection, allowing her to slowly dismantle the wall she has around her injury—a topic they have danced around for a year and a half now.

Juju finally placed the vinyl back with the others before she made eye contact with Thaleia, marking a moment of vulnerability. "The playlist you made me...that was my favourite song on it."

"Hm, I thought you weren't gonna like it; too on the nose," Thaleia responded.

"Sometimes on the nose is good." Juju pauses for a second before snatching the album from underneath Thaleia's arms and asking, "You done shopping or nah, 'cause I really wanna go home and jump in the pool right now."

"I'm done, I guess," Thaleia replied, despite being far from it, but she knows this isn't Juju's thing, and she would rather come back another day alone and take her time anyway.

Juju silently gives the smallest of nods before walking to the front of the store, where the previously mentioned cashier was sitting and handing her the record. Thaleia watches her with an eye roll, knowing Juju is very patient until she's suddenly not and right now, all the patience has left her body, and she's buzzing to get out of here.

She follows her to the front before realising she's already holding up her phone to the machine to pay. Damn, really impatient, Thaleia notes as the cashier reaches over to put the record in a small brown paper bag. Juju hurriedly takes the bag and walks out of the store, Thaleia trailing close behind. As soon as they're out of the store, Juju stops and turns to hand Theleia the bag.

"You couldn't wait 2 seconds for me to come up and pay?" Thaleia confronts with a raised eyebrow.

"Nah, too slow. Consider it a thank you for the playlist," she says, clearly avoiding eye contact.

Judea Watkins had never been one for emotions, thoughts and such; always phlegmatic.

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