Battle of Hearts

Chapter 40

"Nothing. Just wanted to see you."

"Uh-huh." He raised an eyebrow in suspicion. She strutted closer to his body, the smell of his deodorant overpowering the sweat, and tentatively stole the ball away from his hands.

"What are you doing here?" She asked shooting the ball into the basket. It hit the ring and dodged off to the side.

"Just came to clear my head."

Before she could respond she heard him say something that immediately caused her to whirl on her heels. "I have to tell you something." He slowly and carefully said. She observed his reluctance and nodded, encouraging him to continue.

"What is it?"

"I-I… I have decided… to go to UCLA."

She took a few seconds to fully comprehend the idea and something about his distressed tone rang a bell in her head. "Wow.… That's great. But you wanted to go to Berkeley, right?"

He hesitated and finally said, "Yeah… But my mom wants me to go to UCLA." He walked past her and picked the ball aimlessly shooting at the basket. His expressions were dull, full of gloom and she couldn't understand why was he doing something he doesn't want to.

"Miller, why are you listening to her? Do what your heart wants."

"Cause she's my mother. I don't want to disappoint her. And this is my chance to impress her… She is hardly ever happy when it comes to me."

She moved closer to him and put a motivating hand on his arm. She uttered sincerely, "What's the point of it if you won't be happy going somewhere you don't want to go?"

"It's all done. I've accepted their offer. You should've seen the look on my mother's face when I told her, she was so relieved." A faint reminiscent smile graced his dull face.

"You're so crazy. You gave up your wishes just to make your mother happy. Well… What about you, Miller? Why can't she be happy with her son's choices?" She felt anger towards him for always being so selfless and towards his mother for being so unaware of her son's desires. This decision only caused him pain she didn't want to see.

Furious, she took long steps and sat up on the hood of his car facing the court. She huffed out a sigh and watched as he followed her steps with a dull smile and sat beside her on the hood. "I will be okay, Parker. Don't worry about me. If you too will be angry with me who am I going to annoy?" He wrapped a hand around her shoulders and pulled her closer to his warm body.

She inhaled the sporty strong smell of his deodorant through the school jersey he wore and dropped her head on his shoulder. "Are you sure you'll be happy there?" She asked trying to clear her doubts.

"Of course. I'll try to be." He murmured into her hair and gently kissed on hair. She lifted up her head to look at his expressions to test the truth in his words. But she couldn't because she froze staring into those beautiful concern filled eyes that were gazing with equal intensity at her.

Her gaze flickered to his lips that were desperately calling her to taste its sweetness. When she fluttered her eyes back on him she saw him lean forward closely watching her reaction. She didn't stay still and followed his movements, leaning closer to bridge the lust filled gap in between them.

He softly pressed on her lips and she replicated his movements. His lips tasted like the cold summer nights in the dry desert. She touched his neck and he shivered slightly and she found herself smiling into the kiss. He sensed her smile and a deep groan escaped from his throat making her emotions go wild. She wanted more, she wanted more of his cloud like lips, wanted more of every part of his body.