Choosing

f i f t e e n

I can't help thinking about what Bokuto said about us being together. It's been occupying my mind for two whole days. But I made a promise to Ushijima and I don't plan on breaking it. I'll forget about Bokuto and his lightning personality until Ushijima and I "break up".

"Something's wrong." Ushijima states when I walk outside for our nighttime jogs. I look around to see what he's talking about. "You're acting different."

I blink at him. How did he notice? My only thought is to deflect.

"Only 'cause I'm going to beat you to the end of the road!" I push him and start running. I know he can easily beat me, but it's the only way I thought of deflecting him.

We end up running for an hour like we usually do and then we find ourselves laying at the front door huffing and puffing. Well, I'm huffing and puffing, Ushijima is just watching me.

My phone vibrates and I answer without looking.

"Hey, Sara. I'll be in soon."

"Y/N?" The voice on the other end of the line says. I gasp and shoot straight up in a sitting position, Ushijima follows my movements.

"Mom? What's wrong? Why are you calling?"

"Can I not check up on my daughter? It's been a week."

"You never cared before." I mutter under my breath. Ushijima pretends to stare off into the distance, but I know he's listening.

"Are you having fun?" My mom asks totally ignorant of my comment.

"Yeah. It's fun, Mom."

"Any cute boys?" I can basically see her smile in my head. She loves talking about boys. I know I can't lie, she'll just keep going and going until I spill.

"A few." I admit.

"I ran into Tooru's mom yesterday. She mentioned that he was at your camp. You didn't tell me that."

"You weren't home, I couldn't tell you even if I wanted too."

I'm met with silence on the other end until, "I was working, baby." Yeah, working with guys and friends.

"I know," I lie.

"It's almost eleven. We should get back." Ushijima says in a low voice but my bat eared mother hears perfectly.

"Who was that? And 'get back' from where?"

"Just a friend, Mom." I assure her before she gets crazy about it. "We were on a jog. It is training camp."

"Oh a jog, I get it. Just make sure you're being safe!" She yells loudly and I cringe away from the phone. Pink threatens to creep up Ushijima's ears and I realize he heard what she just said.

"Okay, I will. I got to go. Goodbye, Mom."

"Bye, sweetie. I love you."

"You too."

I hang up quickly and give Ushijima a sheepish smile. "Sorry, about that."

He shrugs. "Your mom isn't home much."

"Eavesdropper." I narrow my eyes.

"My parents are divorced." He states and I raise my eyebrows.

"Same,"

"My dad lives in the States now."

"Mine too. California, actually. He has a new wife, a new step-daughter and a son on the way."

He watches me for a moment. "Have you met them?"

"His new family? No way." I play with my shoes. "He barely even calls anyway."

Ushijima doesn't say anything so I continue. "What about you? Do you talk to your dad?"

"Sometimes. I want to win for him. I want to go to the States see him." Ushijima says. His eyes look faraway.

"That's why you didn't want the news calling you bad names. You don't want your father to read it."

He doesn't respond and I know I'm right. I suddenly feel extra guilty for dragging him into this mess. We end up sitting in silence for a couple minutes. Maybe he's remembering his dad like me. Only my dad is different. He left on a "work trip" one day and never came back. He texted from time to time but it faded as I got older. Now we haven't talked in over three months. It's normal for me though. I've gotten over it.

Mostly

When Ushijima and I start walking closer to the building, the silence is broken.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this mess." I tell him honestly.

"It's not your fault you're clumsy." He tells me. I want to argue and say I'm not but I don't.

When we get to the girls door — that he insists on walking me to every single day — I thank him for everything.

"It's nothing. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," I give him a small smile and his lips almost quirk up but he fixes it immediately. I decide to tease him. "I saw that."

"Nothing to see." He shrugs plainly.

"I'm gonna get you to smile Wakatoshi Ushijima. Even if it's the last thing I do."

He starts to walk away but I grab his hand quickly. He pauses and stares at our hands together.

"You, uh, you need to stop walking away in the middle of conversations."

"I don't do it a lot."

I laugh. "I think ninety-nine point nine percent of the time you do it."

He shifts on his feet and I realize our hands are still intertwined. I quickly let go and tap my fingers on my side.

"I won't do it anymore."

"Really?"

"It makes you upset, so I won't do it anymore."

I tighten my lips from smiling again. "Thanks."

"Can I walk away now?"

I giggle. "You can, goodnight."

"Goodnight, Y/N." He starts walking away.

"I hope you see your dad soon." I call after him.

"I hope you work things out with yours." His voice is casual as he can be, but his eyes... I can't quite pin the emotion in them. Before I can, he turns the corner and is out of sight.

I glance down at my hand and smile. Maybe fake dating him won't be such a bad idea.