Lolita 𐐪𐑂 Dick Grayson

t h i r t y 𐐪𐑂 s i x

Two weeks ago, hours after the taxi car had dropped me off home safely, I received a call from Dick.

"I need you to answer me honestly, Did you and Jason..."

"Yeah, once"

"When was this?"

"During the summer, our break"

That was the first time I had ever left Dick speechless through the phone.

I told him how it happened during the break we had when transitioning back into school, for the sake of his job. He still remained silent but after I kept repeating for him to speak to me, he answered:

"Thank you. Have a good night"

"Dick?"

Beep.

And here we were. In the Gotham Academy gymnasium, prepping for our last basketball game before winter break. Practices had been awkward and so were classes. But I tried to find ways to make him happy, and I could see him try but it always ended south. That's something I learned about Dick through these past months. He was a big pouty baby. One who didn't like to share.

Our gym floors looked cleaner than usual. It's shine almost blinding. Maybe we can use that to our advantage. I looked up our court and saw the visiting team pour in. A sudden chill of fright extended through my body seeing how tall they were. They wore green jerseys with gold accented letters spelling spartans. My team had been wearing our home jerseys that were navy blue with silver letterings.

"Geez, I guess we have competition today" I sighed looking at Sophie who was hurriedly tying her laces. Her hair had grown a lot since the start of the year, she could now tie it up into two low ponies that framed her long face well.

"Wait 'til they see how high you can jump" Sophie snickered finishing her shoes and patting my back before jogging over to the court to start warm ups alongside the rest of the team.

I placed my belongings down on my designated chair and began stripping from my athletic sweater when I saw the referee start to walk over. Although I never gave them any of my attention this one was different.

As I began walking towards the court I caught sight of Dick and the referee speaking to each other. As though the ref knew, his eyes shifted to look over at me. A sudden uncomfortable shiver went down my spine as I quickly looked away.

"Ball" I shouted to the girls near the basketball rack. I got a basketball thrown at me and I caught it, now dribbling to half court. I looked back to where Dick was and saw he had finished his talk with the referee. The ref now stood besides him, scanning the floor until we looked at each other again.

I dribbled the ball in my hands and shot towards the basket. I watched it hit the back of the transparent board and into the basket.

"Hey, you don't think the ref is too young" I asked Sophie as she came dribbling up to me with the same ball I just made in. She shook her head and asked if I was interested, lifting an eyebrow up.

"No" I muttered, throwing another shot, only this time I missed. I looked away from the basket as the ball rebounded my way; I went to retrieve my ball until I was stopped.

"I got it" The ref cried out loud, as I saw my ball roll towards his shoes. I awkwardly waddled towards him, glancing at Dick who had been busy getting the game monitor set up. The ball had now been picked up and the ref was spinning it on his finger now, using his other hand to turn it.

I stood there, not knowing what to do and even turned around to see if I could get any help from the other girls. Nothing. I looked back and saw the ref stopped spinning my ball, now handing it over to me.