Her and the Basketball Champion

chapter 16

The crowd around the basketball courts was buzzing and cheering as the teams run laps around the court, waving and doing warm ups in preparation. 

Me and Lily are standing near the back because I had woken up late, and by the time we arrived, there were already so many people crowding around the fence. 

He's probably forgotten that he'd invited me anyway. 

I stood up on my tip toes and tried to spot Jonas over the heads of people in front of me. The fact that I was short didn't help with that at all. 

"Can you see him?" I asked Lily. She is significantly taller than me so has a clearer view of the tram from where we're standing.

"Yeah, he's on the right over there." she turns to look at me and grins at my position. 

I sigh and shake my head, admitting defeat and cursing my shortness. 

Jonas

I try to spot her through the crowd but can't see her anywhere. Maybe she didn't want to come and just wanted to sleep instead. She did make that pretty clear I guess. 

I'm about to bend down to stretch my legs before I see a familiar tall blonde dragging a shorter person behind her. 

My shoulders relax and I watch as Eliza gets pulled to the front, cursing as her scarf gets stuck on someones jacket, and she stops to try and pull it out, ripping it in the process. I can literally hear her mutter a "fuck sake" from here.

I smile and walk closer to where they are standing, rolling my shoulders to let some of the before-game nerves leave my body. 

"I see you made it, princess." I say as I smirk at her, taking in her frustrated face as she grips onto the rip in her scarf. 

I nod at Lily and give a smile before turning back to Eliza.

She's staring at me with such an intense look that I shuffle on my feet, heat spreading through my body. God, why does she have this effect on me?

"Awe, I knew you missed me too much." She throws back a grin as I raise my eyebrows at her smug face.

"I can say the same for you." I return, confidence growing inside of me as I see her roll her eyes and try to suppress the small smile that makes it's way onto her lips. 

I glance down at them, seeing the way she bites the inside of her cheek, causing her lips to slightly pucker. Her lips look so soft and I can't help but imagine what they feel like against mine. 

I quickly look away, slightly shaking my head at my thoughts. 

I feel like everyone can hear what I'm thinking.

"Can ya'll stop flirting now. I actually want to watch the game." Lily says as she moves her eyes between the two of us, her eyebrows raised in an expecting way. 

"We aren't flirting. Just talking like normal people." Eliza says as she avoids my eyes. I see a pink tinge creep up onto her cheeks as she narrows her eyes at Lily and gives her a playful shove on the arm.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night."

I start to walk backwards, calling out a "Wish me luck" before jogging back to the group and huddling with the rest of the boys as the coach gives us a short pep talk consisting of tactics and a shout of "Let's beat those motherfuckers." 

We all cheer and run about the court to get into our positions, waiting for the whistle to blow so we can start the game. 

I throw  quick glance towards where Eliza is standing and see her looking at me with that same unreadable expression from before.

Something jumpstarts inside of me and all I can think about is wining this game. 

For her. 

As the whistle blows, we all jump into game mode and start off really good. Every time we get the ball, we shoot, and by half time, we're three more points ahead of the opposing team. 

but, as we start again, the other team start to up their game, and all I can focus on is Eliza cheers and screams from the crowd. 

I start running towards the ball, putting in all my energy and tactics into trying to intercept and dribble the ball away from the other team. 

I jump up as I throw the ball towards one of my teammates, and because he's way taller than me and closer to the hoop, he scores. 

Again, and again, and again. 

Until we're finally ahead of them again, and my blood is pumping from the adrenaline coursing through my body and the feel of Elizas stare on my back as I play. 

The last thirty seconds are closing in and My heir is sticking onto my forehead as I catch the ball and throw it to Alex, a teammate. Before it gets to him though, It's intercepted from the opposing team and I cry out in frustration as I look at the big clock sitting on the ground against the fence. 

Twenty seconds left. 

I run towards the ball. 

Fifteen seconds. 

I tackle the ball. 

Ten seconds left. 

I throw it towards our player, closest to the hoop. 

Five seconds. 

He jumps and the ball circles the metal frame of the hoop as it bounces off of the headboard. 

Two seconds. 

We score. 

I jump up and run towards Jamie, hugging him as the rest of the team pile up on top of us. We're all laughing and cheering, lifting him up onto our shoulders and slapping him on the back. 

Our coach comes over to us with the proudest look on our faces, as we finally let Jamie go, his feet landing back onto the ground. 

I turn to search my eyes through the loud crowd who are celebrating our success with the throwing of caps and the clapping of hands.

I graze my eyes over the crowd, searching for that one face, and I grin when I see her screaming and laughing as she looks at me. 

I can't help but stare at her as her laugh captures my ears over the loud crowd. Gos, it's the best sound I'v heard, and I just want to bottle it up and keep it so I can listen to it over and over again. It's contagious and I automatically start to laugh. 

I want to go up to her and hug her, but I can hear the coach calling my name and I hesitantly peel my eyes away from her as I walk back over to the group. 

He says a few words about how great we played and before I know it, we're walking to grab our bags and leave the courts. 

I can't get away fast enough. 

I walk over to where Eliza and Lily are waiting for me, trying to act as natural as I can despite the nerves bubbling up in my stomach. 

"You did so good, dude! I'm proud of you." She has such a wide smile on her face and I can't help but smile too. 

I can literally feel butterflies in my stomach at her words. 

I'm so tempted to wrap my arms around her, but I refrain because I don't want to be too touchy, and she's just forgiven me for my other stunt, so I don't want to risk anything. 

Plus, I'm sure there's a reason why she didn't want me to touch her that day at the Cafe. 

"I know, I'm the best." 

"You wish." 

A silence descends upon the three of us and then they're waving and shouting a "bye". 

I want to call out to stop them , but realise that I have nothing to say. 

I wave back and watch them walk away.