She Was Happy - NCT Dream's Jisung

Week 4 - Basketball and Bets

And shoot.

"Brick."

No basket.

Let's try this again. Pull. Follow through. Shot.

"Brick."

No basket.

I picked up the ball and dribbled out the frustration building up from her annoying calls. If I didn't make this one, I was gonna pick her up by her short little legs and dunk her into the basket.

Okay focus...form. Shot.

"Shitting brickzzz."

I missed again. Badly.

"Oooooo that one was an airball, Stick," Happy cackled. Her rude laughs were starting to sound like someone I knew well. Someone big-headed and annoyingly good at basketball.

"Can you not?" I told her, retrieving the ball and tucking it under my arm.

It was the fourth Saturday. Happy and I made it through another long lecture session. And instead of spending our hour lunch break in the cafeteria, we decided to spend some time outside under the mid-winter sun. Though the weather was still mildly cold, the sun was beating down heavily.

"What's the problem?" she said nonchalantly, picking at her nail polish. I began to see that this was a habit of hers.

"You're putting me off, Happy," I complained, dropping the ball and letting it bounce lazily under my hand.

"Or you just suck."

My jaw dropped at her audacity. "You try then," I shot back, rolling the ball toward her.

She shifted her focus from her nails to the ball and swept it up with one reach. "A try I will give it then." She popped up from the concrete and dribbled the ball to the center of the free-throw line.

"Okay, Yoda," I scoffed, crossing my arms.

I watched as she started off with a few pre-shot dribbles, rolling up her thick sweater sleeves to her elbows. I was surprised at her decent form as she stepped up to shoot. Then the ball went in smoothly. She gave me a devilish grin at the end of it.

"Too easy. You're front and center right behind the line," I retaliated, pointing out her spot.

"No problem," she mumbled, with the neck of her sweater clenched between her teeth. She jogged and dribbled over to the left 3-point line. With one swift backstep behind the line and one push upward, the ball went straight through the net. Again.

I gave up. "Okay, fuck you, mini Klay Thompson," I blurted out, walking off the court in defeat. We both burst out in laughter, clapping like idiots.

Happy followed me off the court and onto the grass, where we both dropped to the ground and made ourselves comfortable.

Happy laid on her back, letting the overgrown grass consume her body. I was about to do the same when I noticed she was squinting up at the sun.

I calculated my movements carefully and laid down next to her, leaving enough space for me to reach over. Then I raised my hand up in front of her face to block the sun.

"Thanks, Stick," she spoke softly, turning to face me. I made the mistake of turning the same time as her, as our noses nearly touched. Normally, I would have immediately backed up in discomfort, but I couldn't help but stare at how her eyes emulated this deep brown in the shade and how her cheeks glowed pink from sitting under the bright sun. Her beauty was unreal.

My heart skipped a beat when she pulled back and scooted over closer to me so our shoulders were touching. She put her hand up just like mine and graced me with some shade to free me from squinting up at the sun too. I got a full view of her hand and I could see that the fingernails of her right hand were almost scraped free of black color. I smiled at the way my arm reached up to the sky farther than hers. And she seemed to notice my reaction to this.

"Hey, Stick. Guess what?"

"Hm?"

"I made you laugh...And now you're smiling." I wasn't looking at her, but I could tell Happy was also grinning with the way her words sounded.

"Hm...I guess you're right," I said, ruffling my hair back with my other hand. "You're really taking this mission thing seriously, aren't you?"

"Mhm," she nodded. "You should smile like that more often. It's pretty," she breathed.

I took one long breath of the winter air with her, feeling the stress of school leave me. I'd never been called pretty before, but I liked it when the words left her mouth.

Happy relaxed her arm and picked up the basketball from beside her. She began to toss it up into the air again and again when she stopped and inspected the surface of the ball. "Who's Z. C.?" she asked.

I arched my neck up to see that she was looking at Chenle's initials written on the ball with faded black marker. The basketball we were using was his. He had left it with me on Friday by accident, so I brought it today with the possibility that I might get the chance to play on Newshore's courts. When I passed by them a few times on my way to class, I saw that they were nicer than Weston Heights'.

"My friend, Chenle," I said, dropping my arm to give it a rest. I sat up to use my body instead to block the sun for Happy.

Happy let out an exaggerated gasp. "I'm hurt, Stick. You have another friend other than me?" She exclaimed, holding her hand to her chest.

"Oh, we're friends?" I smirked back, raising my eyebrows at her.

She laughed and kicked her sneakers up in the air. "Hell yeah we are."

I sighed and laid back down, closing my eyes against the bright light. She said we were friends.

"Jisung," Happy spoke gently. I chuckled to myself. It was funny to me how hearing her say my actual name was now a rare case.

"Yes?" I replied, eyes still closed.

"Do you like sweet things?"

"Love 'em."

"Me too. What's your favorite sweet thing?"

"Banana bread from my favorite coffee shop," I answered, with no hesitation. It was my favorite sweet thing indeed.

"Okay, then let's make a bet." I felt Happy get up, leaving a warm space of flattened grass beside me.

"Bet?" I asked her, finally opening my eyes to see her standing again at the basketball court.

"Yup. If I make this, you owe me that same banana bread at the end of Exam day."

"And if you don't?"

"Same thing. You get the bread," she said, dribbling her way to near half-court.

I watched her stop a few feet in front of the half-court line. "Okay, bet," I called out, seeing no harm in this exchange.

Happy carefully positioned herself, stalling the time with slow dribbles. Then with a quick lift she shot the ball.

Surprise, surprise. She made it.