Good Boy, Bad Boy

20: Basketball

It's the first day of me officially being in a relationship. I wake up the same, do my same morning routine and so does Trevor. Is anything supposed to be different? Or am I just assuming that something should happen since we're not just friends anymore? The only thing we've said to each other all morning is "Sleep well?", "Man, I'm hungry this morning." and "I can't wait for Coach to make us run for an hour." Basically- usual talk. I think I may have had high expectations for this. It's all pretty normal, except for maybe sometimes we'll kiss...and other stuff. Maybe. Ugh, Ash just pack your bags and move away if you plan on overthinking this too. Yeah, maybe my conscience is right. I shouldn't think about this so much. For now, I should just get my backpack and go to class. Unless I want to be late.

"Trevor, coming?" I ask as I look at him fixing his hair in the mirror.

"Yeah. Let's go." He pushes me out the door. Outside, just on time we're met with Elliot's shining face. Not literally shining, he's just smiling and looking all happy it's blinding.

"Great morning today boys, ain't it?" He pushes between Trevor and I and puts an arm over the two of us.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" I say as I try and get his arm off of me.

"Well, I got my precious room back which means a good nights sleep and it was pretty good considering I picked up some company with me last night." He wiggles his eyebrows.

"Should we guess who it was or are you gonna tell?" Trevor asks him and I finally pry off Elliot's arm. Damn, this boy has a grip.

"It was sweet sweet Alejandro." He whispers.

"What's the deal with you two anyway?" Trevor pokes Elliot's shoulder as he asks.

"Well, I guess you can say we're fuck buddies. He isn't looking for a relationship and neither am I so we get along perfectly." I get suspicious of his words because he has this look on his face telling me he likes him a little more than that. Maybe it's just the tiny smile on his face or the way he breathes out like he's disappointed.

"No feelings? Just pleasure?" I ask him.

"Yup. I love his face and body and how he uses it, nothing else." Why aren't you looking at me Elliot? Why are your eyes wandering? Are you scared to admit anything else?

"That's shallow." Trevor comments.

"He knows it, so do I. We agree. Now let's end this conversation. That's all you need to know about my love life." He pushes past us and goes into the locker rooms since we arrived in front of them. The way he quickly shut down the conversation as soon as it got emotional tells me that my suspicion might be true. But I shouldn't interfere in his relationship, if he doesn't let me or Trevor to do so, I won't be the one to push him. I know exactly what it's like to not want to tell your true emotions so I understand if he doesn't want to. And it's okay. He'll tell when he's ready.

I've always hated locker rooms. Filled with every kind of male known to mankind, all of them in their own conversation is too loud to hear, too much noise in a space too small to fit everyone comfortably, there's always this silent judgement others make of your body, dirty looks and evil stares, sometimes I see even some flirty looks but those are usually discreet; overall there's too much testosterone in one room and it's suffocating. I've always been the last one to change out of my clothes because I don't want them to see me naked so I wait for everyone to be out. Of course Trevor and Elliot wait for me.

"Guys um, I'll come you can go wait for me in the gym." They both look at each other and I think that they got the message because they nod at me and leave. I undress as quickly as I can and run to join the rest. I see all of them are huddled up and I go to stand next to Trevor. He sees I arrived next to him and makes room for me to get closer so I can hear.

"...we'll split into two teams and the game can start." I only catch the ending of Coach's words.

"What are we playing?" I ask Trevor when everyone starts lining up to be picked into a team.

"Basketball. Elliot's the leader of the first team and Toby over there" he points to a tall, thin guy with extremely curly hair going at all sides "is of the second. I hope you're good at playing because a lot of these guys are pros, including me." He smirks as he finishes. Show off.

"I'm not bad, but not good either. Cross your fingers that the ball won't be passed to me." I smile in hope that my wish will come true because I don't do well under pressure. And when I hold the ball in my hands the pressure is immense.

"Don't worry. I'll be here to protect you." He quickly kisses my cheek and panicked I look around if anyone saw that. There are a couple of guys that meet my eye.

"Don't do that in public. I don't like it." I push on his chest lightly.

"Oh sorry. Won't happen again." I don't say anything else to him because the team leaders start dividing the teams. Toby starts off and sadly for Elliott, he picks Trevor. Elliot's next but doesn't pick me and I guess he's hoping Toby will pick me so I can be with Trevor. That doesn't happen though as I'm the last man standing and I go with Elliot.

"Sorry dude, I wanted you to be with Trevor."

"It's okay. But just know that I'm not good at this." He taps my shoulder.

"Guess you're on bench then. But you gotta play later on so get ready." I go sit on the bench as the game starts. My main focus is Trevor and of course he's a centre. He must be a really good player. Everything is moving a little too fast for me but it's enough to see that he knows what he's doing. He scores one ball after another and the others on his team cheer. I can't help but smile and clap a little too even though I'm on the opposite team. The other guys on the bench next to me throw dirty glances so I stop.

Coach yells at some of the players and a few are switched back and forth until my turn finally comes. I'm in the power forward position and I slightly panic knowing that the ball will surely be passed to me now. The game continues and I run as I follow the player with the ball in his hands. I'm always open and an unknown guy throws the ball to me. I start to run towards the net but am quickly pushed to the ground by a muscly guy. He didn't even intend on getting the ball, he just pushed me down and while 'helping' me get up he pulls me a little closer to him and whispers, "Don't score if you know what's good for you faggot." I flinch at the harshness of his tone and am left dumbfounded when he leaves. He's given a yellow card by Coach and Elliot yells out, "He deserves a red Coach." but Coach just glares at him and he shuts up.

"You okay Ash?" Trevor comes up to me since players are switching again.

"...yeah." I say a little unsure since my butt and elbow do hurt a lot from the fall.

"That guy's a well known jerk. Don't let him out you down." He says before the Coach whistles and the game continues. Before the game ends the ball is passed to me again and by some incredible miracle I score. My team lost but thanks to my scoring it's only by two points. Everyone claps and cheers for the good game as we all head back to the locker room.

"Nice shot Ash. Didn't you say you weren't good?" Trevor asks me as he starts changing into his clothes.

"Lucky shot I guess." I glance at the side because I feel a burn as someone stares at me. I'm not surprised to see that someone is none other than the muscly jerk that pushed me and threatened me. I look away as I continue to wait for everyone to be out. We always have a 20 minute shower break in our rooms after P.E since there are not showers in the locker room so I'm in no rush this time. Trevor and Elliot say they'll be outside as I change. I finish and join them, we all head to our rooms and shower, then go back to classes.