One Last Shot

[33] Game Time

            Liam

Back at the guys' house, I go in, cold.

"Dude, you're freezing, here," Archer tosses me a blanket, and I lay on the couch.

"What's going on?" Grayson asks, and Jaspers sits next to me.

"Iris and I had a moment tonight."

"What do you mean?" Right as I open my mouth, I see Lix and Marcus leaving Lix's room, Marcus throwing a jacket and beanie on, and Felix walking over.

"Marcus has to run out."

"Where is he going?" Jasper's eyebrow is cocked.

"I'm on my way!" Marcus shouts to his phone as he leaves.

"Liam here was just telling us about a moment with Iris tonight," Archer turns his attention back to me.

"Do tell," Felix bounces into a sit on the couch.

"I was sitting on her front porch steps, needed to talk to her about stuff. Stuff I feel I can only talk to her about. I was telling her, and I just felt so safe, so different. I feel like it's stupid to say a guy feels safe with a girl, but I really do. Anyways, when I was finished, I felt like something was different. We were just looking at each other, I felt like I was absorbing her and she was absorbing me. It felt like it lasted an eternity."

"You are down bad," Jasper snorts.

"Do you care about her?" Felix asks.

"Of fucking course I do, I have for longer than I'll choose to admit. But I can't support her like one should, I can't pursue it. I'm going to law school, basketball isn't over yet, I can't hurt her by not providing what she needs."

"That's mature man," Grayson pats me on the back, "but boy are you the biggest idiot I've ever seen."

"What?"

"She's right here, hell I'd say waiting for you, and you're just going to say no? You're going to walk away? That's not you, and since when have you ever walked away from Iris? You've never backed down from a fight with her, why back down now, when it really matters?"

"What he said," Archer nods.

"Think about it at least," Jasper says, surprisingly chill. I nod, and catch a cold breeze. Marcus is back in the house, pulling his hat and coat off.

"Where did you run off to?" Grayson asks curiously. Marcus simply turns to us and smirks, before walking to Lix's room. Lix follows after him, and soon I fall asleep on the couch.

-

Another basketball game. Iris is wearing that college hoodie I gave her from my childhood bedroom again. It makes me happy when she wears it. As we're walking in, I see the girls team come in to watch. They like to watch our games, or more like they like to watch us. I see Megan and Veronica, and know trouble is on its way. About a minute and a half later, I hear a shriek. I look over, as does Marcus, Felix, Archer, Jasper, and Grayson, because that is the shriek of the one and only Violet. I see Iris practically tackling Violet in the stands to be quiet, and Sarah, on Violet's right, catches my eyesight and starts speaking quickly to Iris and Violet. I see Lilly burst out laughing, and Iris' face grow bright red. I exchange a glance with the guys and we jog over.

"Everything okay?" I ask, seeing Iris trying to gain her composure.

"Come back later," Sarah laughs awkwardly, and it looks like Violet is going to explode.

"No yeah, everything is perfectly fine," Violet sputters out the words. "Not like any huge breakthroughs regarding anyones ex-" Iris slaps her hand over Violet's mouth.

"Time to take a walk, Vi." She drags Violet out of the row and down the stairs, not even looking back at us. As I start to go after them, Lilly puts her hand up.

"Let those two deal with this one."

"Good idea," Sarah chimes in. We head back to warmups and the game starts. I'm playing fine, but I'm a little distracted. For one, I almost kissed Iris here, and second, I can't help wondering if something is wrong. Iris looked caught completely off guard, and she's always ready. This is a tough game, the other team is aggressive. Grayson shoves a kid, gets a foul called, and the kid starts mouthing off, of course the referee doesn't hear that. Later in the game, the guy may accidentally fall by my foot, but it's purely an accident.

We win, obviously, because our team is stacked, and I beeline over to Iris, I want to make sure everything is okay.

"Was everything okay earlier?"

"Yes," she sighs, looking more relaxed. "Vi was feeling a bit more frisky tonight than usual," I hear a small giggle from Violet in the corner, and then no more once Iris shoots her a look. "You played well tonight."

"Don't I always play well?"

"You ass," she rolls her eyes, "I liked when you tripped that guy. Almost looked like you took a page out of my book."

"That? Oh, psh, that was a complete accident."

"Don't bullshit me, I know the intended pain when I see it." I laugh, and I see her smile. God, I could look at her smile for hours.

"Bender." I turn around, and see my dad standing separated from the group. I walk over, and I see him smile, rare for Dad. "You played well tonight."

"Thanks Dad," I smile. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Well, I know I haven't been the most involved recently, but I want to try again, and I love watching you play. It feels wrong to have waited this long to see you."

"Thanks dad," he wraps me in a hug.

"I have to say, your focus hasn't wavered."

"What do you mean?"

"Because of that girl, Iris?"

"Yeah, Iris. But we aren't together."

"Could've fooled me. I saw how she watched you play. She was beaming with pride. And she's wearing your hoodie. I don't live under a rock, I did that trick too," he nudges my shoulder. "She's a nice girl, I may have only spoken to her once, but I think she was great with..." he hesitates, "Kai, and you seem to care about her."

"Alright, enough with the gushy stuff dad, you should probably get home, speaking of Kai."

"Yeah, I'll be heading out, good game son. I'm proud of you." My heart beats one loud boom. I haven't heard that in years.

"Thanks Dad, it means a lot." Shaking my hand, he starts to head away.

"Hi Mr. Bender!" Iris' chipper voice calls from behind me.

"Hi Iris," he smiles, something I never see, "nice to see you here."

"It's nice to see you here," her voice is sweet, but the hidden motive in that statement could've been a little more hidden.

"I expect I'll be coming to a lot more of these with the way the team's playing, don't you worry. Nice seeing you." Now he actually leaves, and I see Iris beaming ear to ear.

"He was nice to me, does that mean I get the strict dad approval?"

"Don't get too full of yourself," I laugh, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her close. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, I hear her breath halt. "Your head might explode if your ego gets any bigger."

"A risk I think I'll take," she smirks, grabbing my hand, pulling me so we can catch up with the group.