fortress | kate bishop

five.

2019
Manhattan, New York

"I'm gonna do it," Kate says as she is packing her bow back into her bag. Her teammate Greer looks at her confused.

"Do what?"

"I'm gonna ask Anya to be my girlfriend," Kate says with a smile, "I got us tickets to see the Wallows next weekend and we're going to go and I'm going to hold her as they play Uncomfortable which is the third to last song on the setlist because I already looked, and we're going to kiss and boom I pop the question and Anya Nikolaeva is my girlfriend."

"Wow," Greer says, ignoring the fact that sounded along the lines of a marriage proposal, "You have really thought this all out."

"Well Anya loves that song, she listens to it while she does homework and I feel like it's totally appropriate and romantic and I'm so excited and nervous. I think I'm going to puke."

"Please don't," Greer requests, "Puke on Deanna's time."

Kate glances at Greer with a smile as she feels her phone buzz in her pocket. She takes it out and looks at the screen with a smile before unlocking it.

Greer rolls her eyes, "Did Anya text you?"

"Nope," Kate says, "I get notifications when clips of Lion's Pride come out and Anya just did an interview with the basketball team."

"Oh my gosh," Greer says, "You're in love with her."

"I'm not," Kate says as she turns her phone sideways and presses play on the video, "I just really like her."

"Hi everyone, I'm Anya Nikolaeva with Lion's Pride and today we are in Levien Gymnasium with Luke McLean the Ivy League's player of the week," Anya says with a smile, and the freakishly tall basketball player beside her waves at the camera with a smile of his own.

Anya looks up at the basketball player, "Luke, can you see me down here?"

Luke laughs, "I can Anya. The view is great."

"Uh oh," Greer says from beside Kate, "Star basketball player is flirting with your girl."

Anya looks at the camera, "Seems Luke doesn't just shoot threes, but he's also a charmer." She jokes before looking at the player, "So Luke this week you led our team to a victory over Cornell and also managed to set a record of ten three-pointers made in a game. How are you feeling?"

"Amazing," Luke says, "I mean this is the stuff I've dreamed of since I was a kid."

"So this is your senior year, will Columbia have one of their own entering the NBA draft this year?" Anya asks Luke with a smile.

"You'll just have to wait and see Anya," Luke tells her.

"Come on Luke, can't you give your favorite reporter something?" Anya asks.

"You are my favorite reporter, so I will say I don't plan on just sitting around after college," Luke tells her and Anya grins as she looks over at the camera.

"You heard it here folks, Luke McLean has plans after college. He's currently the leading scorer in the Ivy League conference and we're hoping that he'll lead us to a championship in conference play. Can I and the rest of the student body count on you, Luke?"

"It's a big task Anya, but you most certainly can count on me," Luke responds.

"Good," Anya says with a smile as she looks up at the basketball player and then back at the camera, "If you guys follow me on Twitter, please don't, I challenged Luke to a basketball game. First person to score wins. You ready Luke?"