Her fingers looked for any nonexistent frayed threads of her t-shirt as she keeps her head level to those of average height, her polite smile becoming more and more forced by the minutes that pass before she has to go. Perhaps she arrived early to prepare herself as the new kid, or that someone would find the fading block letters of her light blue shirt saying "I play B-ball, grrr." Courtesy of teammates she missed dearly, but she chose to move forward, step by step heading towards the basketball courts.
He was the odd one out. Or rather too kind. It was like he was waiting for her, as he was the still, closest to her on the edge of a sea of moving grey, with blurs of red and black uniform, of pairs of people dancing defence or attack with basketballs.
"Inevitably drills."
She sighs out a puff of warm breath, eager to move with the flock, and the cold as she hugs herself tighter in her new school jacket. What she gets for wanting to start school earlier, for the sake of basketball tryouts, of mixed gender to warm up expectations.
He turns around with a slight smile.
- Honestly he had been expecting her, so he waited for her so he was the last one left, in need of a partner, in spite of his curiosity of new people, and observant as he walked past her earlier.
- That time he told himself that was the last time he would turn around.
She was there.
As they were walking to any free space, words were asleep between them, as it was clear they knew what to do.
Yet maybe it was the cold that gestured her to say;
"Hi!"
He savoured his words and politely smiled as he passed her the ball in his hands and replied;
"Hey. You seem cold, let's start straight away. I hope you're a formidable opponent-"
And didn't think of more to say before he attacked swiftly, sign of an agile player as he tried to get the ball out of her hands.
But she was quicker. She moved in reaction, quick enough to speed away out of his reach, as adrenaline sparked her flight response like instinct.
"Hey! No fair, I didn't get to say of course I'm an opponent you should beware of - even in warmup!"
- As her fight response came into play, moving closer, daring him to even TRY to get the ball as her play became an attack within defence, taunting him to play hard to get the ball out of her hands. It was clear that she knew what she was doing.
But it was within last minutes of this drill where he perhaps found a space to move his attack forward, within her tiredness, and loss of endurance of basketball playing from the lack of it over the past few weeks - that he had managed to use his long arms, and use them to surround her arms from her behind - her hands containing the ball she had ferociously defended. His close presence was warming, as his height only exceeded hers by a few inches, so that his breath whispered for a moment beside her ear as he tried to see the ball. It was a small space of air that separated them before she quickly escaped, ducking under his right arm.
Just being in a cocoon of warmth for mere seconds was enough to make her miss it, although she was already quite warm from the exercise she was exerting, just trying to keep the ball away from him. But as she turned around to reveal a happy, victorious face herself, what she saw ceased all movement.
He had the ball in his hands! She must of been somewhat distracted moving away. But what stunned her the most was the full blown smile he showed - that it showed admirability to her, genuine not to acknowledge that this was a game and he had won, but that he had learned from her and had fun. Like she did too.
- His thought at that time was that he was right to wait for her.
He had so much fun as he desperately tried many attempts within the short span of time to even touch the ball. It was like cat and mouse, playful that her speed at last moment prolonged no ball in his grasp. She was a really formidable opponent.
Out of breath, and out of irrationality he exclaimed; "You're Turbo. You're so fast."
Before his ears turned pink..
But who noticed as she grinned, "No, you're just a slowpoke most of the time. Good game":)
- But she already admired his confidence to face someone who he'd never met before, not knowing her strengths and weaknesses.
- The thoughts of him lingered, as the group of uniforms came back together to listen to the coach. But thinking of him as the first person she's met here at her new school, made her heart race for a second, but that could also be blamed on the exercise she had enjoyed.
Dokidoki,
dokidoki.
Author's notes
- initially planned to be a bunch of one-shots, but it might actually become a series: with storyline, Woo.
- i don't play basketball.
- reminds me nostalgically of the last air-bender, no reason as to why...
YOU ARE READING
Dokidoki; my heart
Short Story~ for simba {insert smart summary here of a girl who i wrote a bf for because she told me to one random night} - besides, pretty good write it out practice ;)
