Ray and I finish clapping and sit back down on the bleachers. Pulling up their jackets over the team shirts and picking up their stuff on the ground, the crowd slowly starts to move towards the four exits. "Let's leave last," Ray says, propping up his feet on the seat in front of him. I lean back on my bench and adjust my baseball cap. I wore a cap today to blend in with the audience of the basketball game. The one where Joe played and his team won.
A few days ago Joe invited me to see his game at his school. Since Khloe and Sandy weren't available, I bit my teeth and asked my annoying classmate, Ray, to come with me today. Which turned out to be a not so bad idea because unlike me, Ray knows the basketball rules, and didn't mind explaining them while the game was going on.
I notice Jennifer climb down the steps, the bottom of her floral maxi dress flowing behind her, to meet Joe on the court. I first spotted her not too long after Ray and I took our seats. She was sitting a few rows behind with Chris and their group of friends. I stopped staring at them and turned around when it looked like Chris was going to look my way.
Joe smiles at Jennifer and hugs her at the sideline. Even after the hug Jennifer keeps her hands on his shoulders. I bite my lower lip.
Ray coughs. "You really have your work cut out for you," he comments, thinking out loud about the same thing as I am.
I slide down on the bench with a sigh and continue looking at Joe, hoping he'll take his eyes off her and look at me. To my surprise, he does. He gives me a smile and a wave before joining his teammates to leave for the changing room.
"Hmmm, not bad," Ray comments again, and I sit up straighter with a poorly concealed grin.
When most of the crowd is gone, left for their homes, Ray and I gather our things and climb up the steps towards the nearest exit. Suddenly a hand pulls me back, sending me to panicville.
"Fuck, Chris! You scared me!" I say from between his hands after he caught me from tripping and possibly tumbling down all of the steps to the court. My hand over my chest feels my racing heart as if it's beating inside my palm itself.
He smirks. "Why? Who did you think grabbed you? Ants?"
"Ants?" Ray whispers in a confusion.
"What do you want?" I ask Chris, yanking my arms from him and steadying my feet on the concrete step. When the panic was over after knowing it was Chris who pulled me, I started feeling other feelings from his hands holding me in place.
"What's with the sour mood? You looked like you were having fun a while ago," he says.
Not wanting to sound jealous or anything, I hold my tongue from asking why he cares about my mood? Shouldn't he be with his date now instead of sneaking up on me?
"I was having fun, till you almost gave me a heart attack," I say.
Chris climbs up a step, leans forward and whispers, "I can't help it though. I tend to have that effect on girls."
His hot breath freezes me in place and dries up my throat. My eyes linger on Chris' lips that are temptingly close to me before I realize Ray's presence at my side. Swiftly, I move back up a step, and glare at Chris as if he just gave me my life's most jarring insult.
In response, he just smiles, unfazed and enjoying every moment of him riling me up. "I didn't know you liked sports," he says, straightening up, "I would've asked you to come to one of my games. That's more interesting than shooting hoops," he says with a wink.
Football. Basketball. It's all same to me who's not interested in sports altogether. But his wink might make me have a preference, though, now.
"Oh, she doesn't know a thing about basketball. She just came to support and check out her mate," Ray says, swinging his hand in the air.
