The Way You Smile

chapter twenty two

Featured song🎀
Please please please
(Sabrina Carpenter)

-somewhere else-

“Well then, I’ll ask the boys to stay in extra time today. Make sure you get the best pictures.” The coach gushed, his eyes twinkling. Ivy nodded, making no effort to hide the amused smile on her face. He quickly shrugged his raincoat on and grabbed a bunch of keys. “Follow me.”

Ivy quickly fell into his pace as he began showing her the way to get to the basketball court. It was the first job the university gazette team gave her. And so, Ivy fully intended to get the best shots she could. After a few minutes of walking, where the coach talked continuously about the places from where she could get her shots, they reached a huge door. Coach Andrews asked her to wait before going in and emerging again a few minutes later. He nodded, as a sign for her to go in. Ivy entered and was immediately taken by surprise. The court was as clean as she had thought it won’t be. 

The surface was shining brightly and the entire place smelt of wood and of something warm and homey. She made a mental note to come here often from now on, as the boys in red shouted loudly. She looked towards them, they were all gathered around one of the hoops and were cheering and slapping each other on the backs. 

Ivy silently made her way towards the stands and turned against them, opening her bag. She took out the camera and started setting it up with the right lens and cleaned it before assembling it together. She spent the next hour going from place to place in the entire court. And by the time she was done, it had stopped raining outside and her clothes were wet with sweat. She smiled at the pictures, and started prancing towards where she had kept her bags. Ivy quickly packed up, forgetting to zip one of them up in her dreams of a cold, cold bath (in the middle of the rains, yes). 

Just as she was about to leave, her bag fell to the floor noisily, making her gasp and lean forward to grab her stuff. She hastily checked if anything was wrong with the expensive things. And then, suddenly everyone was shouting.

“The chick!”

“Hey!” 

“Shit!” 

“Move!” 

She turned to see what was wrong, and as if in slow motion, saw something bright and round and orange hurtling towards her face. Ivy closed her eyes tight, and felt back. 

There was silence. 

“Are you okay?” someone asked, making her slowly look up. Apparently, one of the guys had caught the ball. She squinted while trying to see his face, as light from one of the windows fell on her retinas, rendering her sight blind for a second. She tried to speak, her mouth opening and closing in an attempt to form meaningful and offensive words. But none came out. So she nodded, and took his hand. 

“Oh? Airpods girl” Vivaan smiled, amused.

“You! And don't call me that” she snapped.

-Time skip-

“So, where do you want to go?” Vivaan asked, jumping around instead of walking. Ivy let out an exasperated breath, increasing her pace and hoping against hope that he would cool down. 

“Chill down bro, you’re attracting too much attention!” she snapped. Vivaan laughed, but then quietly fell in step beside her. 

“Aw come on, dont be a buzzkill. Let me be happy, will you? I finally got a date with the girl I like!”