The Word Love

IV

"Hey," Rose greeted as she took a seat across from me. I stared at her, waiting for her to explain why she was sitting at my lunch table. She put a spoonful of pudding into her mouth and looked up at me with a smile.

"Why are you here?" I asked when I saw that she wasn't going to be explaining about what happened yesterday anytime soon.

"You seemed lonely," she answered, "I figured you could use a friend."

I sighed, "Look, if this is about yes-"

"This is not about yesterday even though I'm very thankful for what you did," she interrupted before I could finish, frowning when I brought up the topic, "I just want us to be friends."

I laughed. Like, I literally laughed in her face.

She looked at me, "What?"

"I don't really have the time for friends," I told her.

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, because friends are so time consuming."

I rolled my eyes this time, "Yeah, they are."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," she grinned and put a forkful of salad into her mouth.

"How's it going?" Douglas sat down next to his sister and placed his tray in front of him. I threw my head back with a groan. Rose bit back from laughing as her brother looked at me in confusion, "What did I say?"

I got up from the table that used to be mine, "I'm going to the library."

I threw my tray away and from the distance I could hear Rose letting out her laugh while Douglas asked her questions. I passed Eric's table and he gave me a wink. I scoffed in disgust and quickly left the cafeteria. Instead of going to the library like I planned, I decided to go to the gym.

Coach Hedley was sitting on the benches, writing things down on his clipboard. The gym was empty since everyone was at lunch.

"Hey Coach," I greeted and he looked up from his work. The familiar grin I recognized formed on his lips and he threw his clipboard on the bench while standing up.

"Aimee Evans. Couldn't stay away from basketball now, could you," he chuckled.

"Nah, I was just walking around," I told him.

He walked over to the cart filled with pumped up basketballs, "A little game won't hurt. Come on, you and me," he picked up a ball and bounced it on the gym floor.

"I'm a little rusty," I informed him while pulling up my sleeves, "Haven't played in a while."

"We'll see about that," he smirked then passed the ball to me, "Your ball."

The leather roughness of the ball underneath my hands gave me a comfort. I felt the need to make as many free throws in a row as possible. I felt the temptation to throw the ball, feel it leave my hands, and see it go into the hoop. 2 years. It has been 2 years since I touched a basketball, and right now with one in my hand, I feel freaking awesome.

So with that feeling inside my chest and the motivation in my head, I bounced the ball on the ground and ran towards the hoop. I could feel adrenaline pumping through my veins as I managed to pass through Coach and make my first score.

I passed the ball to him with a smirk, "Your ball."

We played until the score was 10-8, with me being the winner. Then the bell rung, meaning that lunch was over. I passed Coach the ball and used a towel to wipe up the sweat off my forehead.

"You should consider getting back on the team this year," Coach told me as I was leaving the gym. I turned around to look at him.

"We'll see about that," I repeated his words from before and left the gym.

As I was walking to class, I bumped into Douglas. He grabbed my shoulders to help himself from falling. My eyes met his and we stood there staring at each other.

"You're sweating," he stated the obvious and breaking the silence between us.

"I didn't notice," I answered sarcastically, rolling my eyes too for the dramatic effect.

He laughed.

"I'm going to class," I mumbled.

He released his hands from my shoulders and then I remembered that he had been holding them. He stepped to the side.

"See you later, Aimee," he smiled and walked off.

I was still standing there staring at his back. His very tone, mas-

I shook my head to get rid of the thought and continued my way to class.

"I see the way you two look at each other," Rose popped up beside me and I jumped in surprise.

"What th-"

She continued, "I can see you two being together even though he's my brother and you're my friend."

I stopped, "Wait, Douglas?"

"Who else?" she rolled her eyes.

I scoffed and continued walking, deciding not to answer and hoping that she will stop.

"You guys so like each other," she sighed out happily, "I need a guy to look at me like that."

Ignoring, ignoring, ignoring.

"It's been awhile since Douglas was in a real relationship, and you two could be good for each other. Plus, he really likes you," I was noticing the fact that she was saying Douglas is single and making assumptions about his feelings about me.

Then I finally made it to my class.

"This is my class," I told her, interrupting her in the middle of her story about Douglas wetting his pants in front of an audience.

She frowned, "That's too bad. I'll finish the story up another time."

"I really don't need to know," I muttered under my breath.

She grinned, pretending that she didn't hear what I just said.

"See you later!"

Kill me now.