𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐚

𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦

╔══════════════╗

Nicole walked up to the court and she instantly saw Lucas spinning around one of the guys and shooting a basket. (That was one of the only terms she actually knew). She clapped her hands and everyone looked in her direction. Baker went off and ran around with the boys after he stole the basketball from Lucas. Nicole sat back with Jimmy and Mouth but her eyes darted behind them. She was looking for Haley, the girl who said she'd come.

"Where is she?" Nicole voiced, Jimmy and Mouth looked at one another then at Nicole, shrugging. Lucas came up behind Nicole laughing and out of breath. "She bailed" he panted. Nicole frowned at the revelation, she had expected to have someone there while she sat miserably clueless the entire time. Though Baker had said he'd explain the game, it was completely useless, she still wouldn't understand.

Baker followed behind Lucas and hung his sweatshirt over Nicole's shoulders with a smile. Nicole instantly embraced the jacket but her eyes followed behind her to look up at Baker.

"Bake, its cold you should keep this on" she said. Baker shook his head, placing his hands on her shoulder to keep the jacket on her. "I'm sweating Nikki, you keep it warm for me till I get cold, yeah?"

Nicole wanted to protest but Baker's sweatshirt was comfortable and made her feel a sense of safety. So she hopped up onto the picnic table, zipped up Bakers jacket, and watched. Mouth began speaking into his recorder as the game started, Nicole had no idea what he meant by all of it. Jimmy joined in, commenting on the way the boys passed the ball. Again it went straight over Nicole's head.

As Nicole grew bored, her gaze began to wander through the darkness of the park. It was just a vast emptiness until her eyes landed on something. A car. Her eyes squinted as she tried to identify the people sitting in the two front seats. Then she recognized the car as her uncles, the bald man in the passenger seat being coach. She smiled and waved her hand over to the car, most likely startling the two men. They were quite hard to spot.

Soon enough when her uncle drove off, the game ended and everyone began to separate. Going in their own directions home. Baker offered Lucas a ride but he denied and said he needed time to think. Nicole watched as Lucas jogged off into the line of dimly lit streetlights and sighed before she looked behind her to Baker.

"We gotta go back to the diner, I left my car there" Baker said, running a hair through his dampened hair. Filled with sweat from the basketball game. Nicole had forgotten about the car situation and looked around the eerie park, staying tightly by Baker's side as she nodded her head in agreement. Once they started walking, Nicole realized she still had Baker's jacket on. When she began to unzip, Baker's hand wrapped around her own, filling her hands with warmth. His lopsided smile pulled from his lips as he stared down at her.

"You'll get cold Nikki, leave that on" his voice spoke. Despite the goosebumps that littered his arms, he held her hand tightly enough so they couldn't attempt to take it off. Of course Nicole planned to argue but when she saw Baker's smile, her tongue melted into her mouth and restrained her from speaking. Her tongue swiped over her lips while her mouth grew dry and her head looked down.

"Okay" was all she could think of to say. Baker reluctantly let go of her hands and began walking once more. Whistling a tune so there wasn't any silence brewing between the two.

"Hey, I haven't noticed your evil twin lurking around today. Where's he?" Baker asked. Nicole rolled her eyes at the mention of her brother. "He had a basketball game today, can't risk getting in trouble" she replied. Baker let out a simple 'ah' and continued to walk around. Nicole chewed at her lip and tilted her head slightly to get a glimpse of Baker.