Prom Committee

Playing with the Player

My heart was racing a mile a minute. All these thoughts were rummaging through my brain. The awful mocking voice of Sadie was stuck in the back of my mind. My leg was involuntary bouncing, and I couldn't stop no matter how hard I tried.

Sitting on the edge of our 'L' shaped sofa was purely agonizing, almost like when your mother brings up embarrassing stories of you when you were younger. My brown eyes stayed content on the window near the front door. The curtain was slightly open letting a small gap of our driveway come into view.

I knew Josh was going to be here any minute, I was beyond excited but also wanted to throw up. I clutched onto my phone unsure if he was going to text me that he was here like a typical "Gen Z" kid. On the other hand he could be a normal young man and actually walk up to the house and knock on the door.

I was definitely thinking about this way too much.

"Hey Tara," Layla said, interrupting my train of thought.

"Yeah?" I asked, looking like a deer in the headlights.

She giggled, "Just breathe."

I hadn't realized but both her and my mom were making a little smorgasbord of popcorn, pretzels, and chips. My mother was actually serious about making snacks for her and Layla. They must be getting ready to watch movies, or some kind of television show.

"I am," I retorted.

"Good," she stated, chomping on a pretzel.

"Just remember to have fun sweetie," my mom grinned.

"Yeah," Layla warned, "just not too much fun."

"I won't," I stammered.

I looked back out the window and saw Josh's red Toyota Camry pull up into the driveway. I stayed seated on the sofa and decided to just wait.

I didn't want to seem too eager after all.

A handful of seconds later a knock was heard at the door.

He was a normal young man I guess.

I peered over at my mother and Layla and then over at the door. I unglued my butt from my spot, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

"Hey Little T," Josh beamed.

He was wearing black jeans that had distressing and a small hole on the knee. A maroon colored Nike t-shirt was worn nicely on his upper body. It reminded me of my pajamas from this morning.

Damn he was cute.

"Uh h-hi Josh," I stuttered realizing that I haven't responded back.

I stepped aside allowing him to enter the house, and I closed the door.

"Hey Josh," Layla chirped as her and my mother sat down in the living room.

"Hey Layla. Nice to see you again Mrs. Collins," Josh greeted.

"Josh it's nice to see you as well, but please call me Julia," she corrected him.

He grinned. "Will do."

After all the small talk I guided him through our living room to our patio doors which lead us outside. The backyard was a decent size. Half of the lawn was concrete making a big enough half court to play basketball. The other half was just grass that my rectangle sized trampoline stayed. A brown wooden fence surrounded all of it.

"It's definitely been a bit since I was here last," Josh gawked.

I chuckled, "I mean yeah, my birthday is in the beginning of the school year and now we're almost near the end."

"Fair point."

He started strolling on the court and a expression of confusion was written on his face.

"What's up?" I asked.

"T, if you don't know how to play basketball, let alone shoot hoops, why do you have a half court in your backyard," he asked dumbfounded.

I walked to where he was and uttered, "My dad used to be really into the game. He even tried teaching me when I was younger, but obviously you know how that turned out."

He rested his hand on my shoulder, "To be fair I have never seen you shoot yet."

Butterflies.

"I guess."

I watched him grab the ball that was sitting next to the hoop and he began bouncing it. And then before I knew it he brought it up and shot it in the net.

How was I supposed to do that?

"Okay, it's your turn," he grinned handing me the ball.

I grabbed the ball from his hands our fingers brushing against each other as I blushed. He let go and stood right beside me.

I mumbled, "I guess I'm ready as I'll ever be."

"So what you want to do basically is when you're bringing the ball up you're relying on your right hand and your left hand is beside it like an imaginary guide. You'll bring the ball up, aim for your target and let go to shoot. Does that kind of make sense?" he asked.

I was pretty smart, and could visualize things quite well when someone explained something to me. Maybe I could actually do this.

I grinned, "I think so."

"Okay T, let's see it," he took a step back.

Doing what Josh said I brought the ball up, aimed for the net and let go to make my shot.

Unfortunately the ball didn't hit the backboard or the net at all and instead went straight past the hoop rolling against the fence.

"That wasn't horrible for your first attempt. Here," he jogged over to get the ball, "let me make a few adjustments."

He tossed me the ball causing me to flinch a little.

"You're going to want to put your right foot forward a bit more, and bend your right elbow," he explained.

"Okay," I replied sheepishly.

I was going to do what he told me when out of nowhere he came up behind me and gently nudged my right heel with his shoe. Then to make my heart race even quicker he placed his head near my neck wrapping his arms around mine. Josh was physically showing me what he meant and my body just wanted to melt.

Weirdly enough I enjoyed this feeling, and I felt like I was going to explode from sensory overload.

"Do you understand now?" he smiled staring into my eyes.

I smiled, "Yes."

At that moment I just wanted to kiss him so bad, but I knew that I shouldn't or couldn't.

We stood there staring for what felt like an eternity. I peered at the ground and began bouncing the ball as he let go backing up a few feet. I took a deep breath and did precisely what he told me.

Fortunately, the ball hit the backboard and went through the net this time. I was completely ecstatic and began jumping up and down. Of course Josh was equally as excited and ran towards me with a huge smile on his face.

The moment happened so fast it seemed like I was in a dream.

But out of nowhere he picked me up spinning me around in circles giving me a hug. I was flabbergasted. Dumbfounded. Shocked. Surprised. You name it, I was it.

The many years that we had class together and were friends, he never did that. He only ever gave me a fist bump. I wanted to pinch myself to see if I was actually dreaming.

"I'm so proud of you," he beamed setting me back down on the ground.

My entire body was blushing at this point if that was even possible.

"Thanks Josh, but all I did was make a basket. It was nothing special. That was the reason why I asked you to hangout, remember," I laughed.

"I know," he chuckled.