Seven Days

Meet and Greet

 Recap

I bit the side of my lip while watching him with wide eyes. I had never seen such an attractive man in my entire life. He was extremely tall. My guess was about six foot ten inches.

That height was perfect for me I thought giddily. I was five foot nine inches and guys were rarely taller than me. You're being stupid, I chided myself. Why does it matter if he's taller than me. He is a handsome, successful, NBA player while I am an ordinary-looking, frail, orphan. He would never be interested in me I thought glumly. I tore my eyes away from his frame, and I braced myself as the men approached us.

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The closer the players came to us, the quieter they became. They looked at each other with slight panic in their eyes. I chuckled under my breath. The guys had no idea how to interact with kids, and it was obvious. I smiled knowing exactly what was coming. The children began to scream and lurched forward toward the men in excitement. It became utter chaos in the span of about five seconds. The players looked nervously down towards their feet where many children were collected around. Some of the orphans had gone so far as attaching themselves to the men's legs by wrapping their arms and legs around the guys' calves. Children were screaming their names, all at the same time, up to the shocked basketball players. I looked around to the workers at the orphanage, and I realized they were all smiling in amusement.

The older kids began to make their way to the men and tried to detach the children from their legs. The players smiled at them graciously, and I rolled my eyes. I decided not to go help which left me standing by myself at the corner of the court. The younger kids had all been looking forward to this moment for a few months now. I didn't understand why the older children were trying to ruin the kids fun. I seriously doubted that a few children holding on to huge basketball players' legs was going to do any damage to them. However, Coach Johnston, looked at the crowd in a state of worry. He began to yell, but no one could hear him over the steady roar of the kids.

"Stop!" Coach Johnston bellowed.

As soon as he said that, everyone froze. It was a hilarious scene. Kids froze on the ground with wide eyes and open mouths. The older kids, around my age, who never listen to anyone, actually stood still as well. The players, accustomed to taking orders from their coach, froze as well. Some of them had children sitting on their necks, and others were in the middle of picking one of the orphans up. I chuckled slightly, and everyone's heads whipped over to me in the corner. I could feel their eyes on me. My cheeks flamed in embarrassment. I looked down at my shoes, but not before I accidentally made eye contact with a few of the basketball players. Unfortunately, one of the guys I made eye contact with was the guy I had noticed earlier. His piercing blue eyes were filled with amusement. My cheeks blushed even more furiously, if that was possible.

I realized that he was one of the men with a child sitting on his neck. For some reason, I found it adorable to see him and the other men interacting with the kids. They were obviously so uncomfortable when they first saw the kids, but now they were playing with them. I chided myself, there was nothing adorable about these men. The only reason they were interacting with the kids was for publicity, I reminded myself. I continued to look at my shoes, refusing to look up guessing that people were still looking at me wondering why the strange girl standing by herself was laughing. My fingers began to play with the bottom of my gray shirt, a nervous tendency of mine.

"Kids, we all need to calm down! Each player is going to sit down and talk to about fifteen children. Then we will play a little basketball together. Now children, I want you to calmly sit down in front of the player you want to to talk to," Coach Johnston said in an orderly fashion.