Dusk (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 16 - Pressure

"Well you're definitely overthinking it."

"Ugh." She picked up the other one and followed me to the front door. I unlocked it with one hand, making sure I didn't drop the new plant before we headed inside. My parents were out on one of their weekly dates, so the house was empty.

We carried the plants to my room, and Lucy immediately got to work, adjusting the positions of the plants and moving them to different corners, seeing where they'd fit best. I tried helping and she said she wanted full creative control, so I ended up falling back on my bed, closing my eyes.

I wasn't prepared to see him. I wasn't ready. I still felt exactly where his hand had been on my arm when he'd pulled me back, as if his hand had burned a mark on my skin. But it hadn't, and my mind was overthinking, overthinking, overthinking.

Last time I'd seen one of Rowan's basketball games was last year. I'd gone with my friends and some others from our high school to one of his playoff games. I remembered the stands erupting every time a point was scored, and deafening cheers chanting Rowans name all over the arena anytime he had the ball. There were massive screens set in different parts of the building, repeating plays for people to watch with careful eyes.

I remembered thinking this is nothing like high school sports as the cheerleaders chanted his name when he came out of the locker room in the midst of deafening crowd noise, and the screens all over the building flashed with a handsome photo of him in his jersey looking fiercely down the camera, his most impressive stats digitally appearing next to the image.

I remembered wondering how can one person play so well under so much attention? As he easily drained a three pointer, seeming as if he were completely unaware that anyone was watching him at all. Didn't it distract him? All the men's division one college basketball games were streamed, how didn't the pressure of being on live television unsettle him in the slightest?

"Done!" Lucy said, snapping me from my daydreams.

I lifted my head, and saw the pothos plant hanging from my window, curled around it like it was a welcoming portal to a much more mystical world.

The larger plant was in the sandy basket decorating the corner of my room, the light from the window shining off of it vibrantly.

"That actually doesn't look too bad..." I said, sitting up and surveying the additions. Lucy swatted me on the shoulder.

"I know, it looks amazing."

***

Lucy and I reached Eriks house, and I locked my car as we headed up the steps I'd last seen Rowan on.

Lucy was more quiet, and I had a feeling she was slightly nervous to see Erik again.

Before I could even knock, the door was thrown open and he greeted us with a massive grin on his half-blue face.

"Are you joining the Blue Man group?" I asked, and Eriks face fell.

"I'm being supportive. And why are you guys not wearing blue?" He responded, his tone full of disappointment.

"Lucy wanted to be neutral, and I have no blue shirts. At least not in the same shade as their school colors." I said, and Erik shook his head.

"Come in, I'll sort you two out." He greeted Lucy with a hug, and we followed him to his living room, where a bowl of blue paint lay waiting.

"I'll pass on the paint." I said, and Erik rolled his eyes before running up the stairs to his room.

"One sec." He shouted down at us, before reappearing with a handful of blue shirts. I picked one up, it had a large white 'C' with the face of a cartoon bluejay centered. Underneath it said CREIGHTON BASKETBALL also printed in white. I looked at the other shirts, they were all the same.

"How the fuck do you have so many of these?" I asked in bewilderment.

"My club coach used to give these out to us to practice in. He was assistant coach for Creighton for a while."

Oh, the world of basketball. I know so little.

Lucy and I slipped on the shirts before Erik came at me with the paintbrush.

"No, not happening!" I said, dodging out of his path. He turned to Lucy, slowly wagging the paintbrush at her and she shrieked as he leapt towards her. She ran from him and laughed.

"Fine, fine!" She said, her hands up in defense as he chased her back into the living room, "don't paint my whole face blue though." She said, catching her breath.

"I'll only do a little, I promise." He said, laughing along with her. Lucy let him paint two thick blue lines under her eyes, and I swore I saw her face flush slightly at his proximity.

Once we were all ready I grabbed my keys and headed to the front door.

"What do you think you're doing?" Erik said, and I turned to him, confused.

"Driving us?" He laughed and shook his head.

"Evan, going to a basketball game with me means going to a basketball game with me." My eyes fell to a large bottle of vodka he pulled from the kitchen freezer. "I'm calling us an Uber."

A few minutes later we were sneaking shots in the backseat, though they didn't help my nerves about seeing Rowan again.

We were dropped off right at the entrance to the arena. Lucy and Erik were being slightly more obvious with their flirting, as the alcohol wore down any formalities they may have had earlier. They hurried towards the entrance as we heard the buzzer loudly go off from inside, signaling the game would start any minute. Lucy turned and called for me to follow. My feet seemed to be stuck, scared of moving forward.

I knew I was probably more nervous to be in the same building as Rowan than he was to play basketball in front of thousands of fans on live television.

Don't be pathetic. I thought to myself, and followed them into the arena.

***

A/N: Can I just say, writing this chapter inspired me to do research on some house plants and it was a very pleasant experience you should all try. I think I'll go buy one now...

Q: Because my mind is on it now: what is your favorite plant?

Also: New LLK chapter was published wednesday!

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