It All Started With A Basketball

Chapter 9 - Tutors

"But whyyy?" I whined.
"Because you have to." Brandon says.
"But I already know how to do it! It's so easy. You just throw it into the basket."
"Well now you're going to learn it the better way." He justifies.
"But--" Colton put a finger to my mouth signaling for me to be quiet. I glared at him and he retracted his hand.
"Don't bother fighting it," Colton said "Brandon always gets his way."
"Then this will encourage him not to throw a temper tantrum when he doesn't get his way." I say.
"I'm right here, you know." Brandon huffs in annoyance. "Anyways, just do as I told you."
"But those steps are like for babies." I said.
"Then it shouldn't be much of a problem to complete them. Now say the steps as you do them."

I just stood there, ball in hand.

"You forgot them, didn't you?" He says. I slowly nod my head. Brandon let out a sigh.
"Balance, eyes on the target, elbow straight and follow through." He repeated.

I blinked.

"I'm supposed to remember that how?" I question.

"Beef." He says.

"What? Do I want beef? That was kind of irrelevant, but--"
"Not that kind of beef. It's an acronym." He explains.
"Ohhh. Now I kinda want beef..." I look up at him hopefully.
"No."
"But--"
"No buts." Brandon says. I look at him with puppy eyes.
Brandon tries to look away but he can't.
"Ugh. The cuteness has overwhelmed me. Fine I'll get you a taco after this tutoring session."
"YAY!" I give him a big hug which startled him.

And me.

Why am I hugging a stranger?

Well he's not a stranger anymore, Lindsay.

But still. He's strange.

Wait why am I arguing with myself?

I pull away from the hug.
At first, Brandon looked shocked. But now he had the biggest smirk plastered across his face.

I blushed and looked down.

"Well this is awkward." Colton says right in my ear. I jump in surprise.
"Dude, don't do that." I say, pushing him away.

He just laughs.

"Moving on... Say the steps as you do them."

I sighed, knowing I didn't have any other option.

I stood in front of the basket.
"Balance, eyes on the target, elbow straight, follow through." I performed each step flawlessly and the ball went directly into the basket.

"I DID IT DADDY, I DID IT!" I said in a little kid voice.
Brandon played along by picking me up and spinning me around. "I knew you could do it, cupcake! You deserve a cookie!" He praises.

My eyes widened and Brandon put me down. "Really? I can have a cookie?" I looked him in the eyes.
"No, I was just joking." He chuckles.

The other boys and I all shake our heads slowly.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Colton says.
"What?" Brandon says, clearly confused.
"You don't just offer a girl a cookie and then say she can't have a cookie. It's just not right." Drew said.
"Yeah, it's like adopting a puppy, then running over it with a car." Colton adds.

"Uncle Drew! Daddy was being very mean. He still wont give me a cookie." I say and bury my head in Drew's chest, pretending to cry. He wraps his arms around me.
"It's okay cupcake--" Brandon cuts him off.
"Watch it... That's my nickname for her."

"Well looks like someone's grumpy..." Drew mutters.
"Awww does somebody need a hug?" Colton approaches Brandon, arms wide open.
"Fuck off." He growls and Colton backs away.
"Uncle Drew! Daddy was being very mean. He said a bad word." Colton mimics me.

I looked at Brandon.
"Are you sure you don't need a hug?" I ask.

His frown instantly turns into a grin.

"Well from you, sure. But not from those clowns." Brandon says with a smirk.

"That was very hurtful." Colton states, over dramatically.

"Glad to help." Brandon chuckles.
I awaited for Colton's comeback, when suddenly I was engulfed into a hug by a pair of masculine arms that wrapped around me.

My body stiffened, then relaxed.

For some odd, deranged and psychotic reason, I was comfortable in Brandon's arms.

I felt safe.

Oh my gosh, what am I saying? I'm acting like he's my boyfriend. But he's nothing like Bryan...

I pushed Brandon away.
I could sense a feeling of hurt coming from him, but he did a good job of hiding it.

I quickly changed the subject.

"Can we continue with the tutoring session?"

---//---

"Okay, now see if you can successfully pass the ball to Colton, while I try and block it." Brandon instructs.
"Piece of cake." I insist. "Speaking of..." I smirk.

"No. I'm already getting you a taco."
"Fine." I grumble.

Brandon stood in front of me, arms out in attempt to block me. Colton was diagonal to the right of me, but stood behind Brandon.

It seemed pretty simple.

Keyword seemed.

I thought I could easily bounce the ball under his arm to reach Colton. But no.

Brandon here, decided to use his FAT AND FLABBY (okay who am I kidding, toned and muscular) ARMS to hit the ball down when I tried to pass it.

"Ugh. Look what you did!" I groaned as the ball rolled further and further away.
"Don't get upset because you completely failed at that pass." Brandon retorts, smirking.

I have to admit, that wasn't a very good pass.

"Watch, this is the right way to do it." Brandon says while retrieving the basketball.

I stood in front of him, arms out (as he did to me). He turned around, dribbling the ball. Around three seconds later, he turned back around leaving me startled for a second. Then, he pretended to throw the ball over me and, of course, I followed his moves except I jumped with arms fully extended up which allowed Brandon an open shot at throwing the ball past my side directly to Colton.

"That's how it's done." Brandon said, mocking me by pretending to flip his hair. Which was physically impossible considering how short it was.

"Watch it... The hair flip is my thing."

He just smirked.

"We've been practicing for hours, can I get my taco now?" I gave him the puppy eyes.
"Okay cupcake." Brandon agreed.

I rolled my eyes but I couldn't refrain from smiling.

Maybe this tutoring session wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Or so I thought...

A/N Hey guys! I know we haven't updated in a while, Jenn and I have had writer's block and have been busy as well. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.