What It Means To Be Me

Putting The Ball In Your Court

He...was challenging me in basketball to give my coat back? I really had wanted to just let go of some stress and shoot some hoops for a little while...but I guess playing with someone else wouldn't be a big deal.

"Fine, but when I win, you better hand it over."

Tanner seemed to sigh with relief before he headed toward the gym. I rolled my eyes but quickly followed after him, though I stopped for a moment when I noticed someone who looked familiar drive by in a black SUV. I couldn't really place a name to the face, though, so dwelling on it would've been useless at the moment. Pushing the person to the back of my mind, I quickly hurried to the gym and ducked inside, then headed for the basketball courts. When I stepped inside, I could see Tanner at the far end. He tossed my jacket onto the bleachers before letting his T-shirt join it. Eh? He got a tattoo. It was half of a wolf's face, cut right down the center as it stared straight ahead. Beneath it were five simple words I couldn't read until I was a few feet away.

Waiting for my other half.

When my eyes rose from the tattoo to meet his, my breath nearly caught in my throat. His wolf was right there beneath the surface as we stood in a packed gym full of college students. Needing to break up the tense atmosphere, I quickly tossed the ball at him, then got into position to defend.

"Come on, Tanner. I need to get my jacket back and put a wolf in its place in basketball," I goaded playfully. That seemed to snap him out of his daze pretty quickly. With a cocky smirk, he lunged forward with the ball, but as I got ready for a rough fight, he actually let it slip from his hand. Err, well, not gonna waste a chance to steal. I quickly swooped in and retrieved the ball, then turned around and shot from the three-point line. It swished in, drawing a few cheers from guys around us.

Wait, people are watching?

I whipped my head around and felt my face heating up as several guys fist-pumped the air and cheered mine and Tanner's names.

Err! Half of them are students from my class, too.

"Hey, Cole, heads up," Tanner shouted from behind me.

Huh?

I looked over right as he dunked the ball for two points.

"Hey," I shouted as I ran to retrieve the bouncing ball. He smirked and winked before getting ready to defend against me.

"Hey, yourself, cutie," he teased. My mind broke as words fell apart into just numbers and letters. My face also began to burn, but I forced myself to focus and quickly showed off some decent footwork to score two points for myself. As we got into the game, I stopped paying attention to our audience and focused on getting around Tanner and scoring the most points. He was pretty bad at the beginning, but the kid was a darned fast learner. We took a quick break where I tossed off my shirt, not quite liking the sticky feeling of sweat as it clung to my chest. There were a few whistles and cat-calls, but after a round of shushes from other students, they were quiet and I returned my attention to our game.

By the time I got the game-winning point, we were both exhausted and covered in sweat, but that didn't stop everyone who had been watching from rushing in and giving us strong pats on the back. There were also hugs, but most of them came from girls who were likely already in relationships with some of the guys. Awkward. It was also odd being so physical with other people, but surprisingly enough, my wolf was content to just remain quiet in my mind.

~Tanner~

My wolf was anything but calm as everyone stormed us. I loved the attention, but how dare they touch my mate. It took me so long to figure out what a mate actually was, which explained my constant thoughts of Cole and that I was getting seriously mad when he allowed everyone but me to touch him like that. I had to fake a smile and accept everyone's praise without snarling, which thankfully ended fast when Cole glanced at his watch and announced that he needed to shower before his next class. I didn't hesitate to give the same excuse and hurriedly followed after him once I'd grabbed his jacket and our shirts. He stopped at a locker and took out a small gym bag before ducking into the men's locker room. We were alone inside, so I figured I'd ask what had been on my mind since we'd started playing.