is this love?

8

nick shoots and scores, despite chris trying to block him. matt catches the rebound and shoots right beside the net.

chris rebounds that shot but can't shoot due to me blocking him. he dribbles away and passes it to matt who tries to shoot but can't because of nick so he passes it back to chris who side-steps me and shoots and scores.

out of the corner of my eye i see one of my parents on our porch. i look over at my house and squint to see my mom peering at me. she gave a swat of her hand and walked inside as if to say "whatever". nice. i love when my parents don't follow through with their punishments.

after a while of playing, chris and matt are ahead by 2 points. chris had already threw off his shirt. we go to get water and matt pulls his off too. holy hell.

his smooth ivory skin was exposed for the first time since summer, that i have seen at least. he had lost his tan completely, obviously considering it is late april. but he was attractive pale, like, i liked it.

his eyes locked with mine. shit, he caught me drooling over his very hot and much exposed torso. i blush and look at the ground as he does the same.

as we are hydrating, cameron comes outside. "hey!" nick yells to him across the yard. cameron waves, "can i play ball with y'all?" he asks as he comes over. "no." nick answers sarcastically.

chris dabs cameron up with a "sup, man." matt nods with a "hey." i just smile. nick goes to dab him up but pulls him in, but not for a bro hug, more like a flirty nose to nose i don't even know what to call it. and to make it even more awkward for the rest of us, nick looks to us and says, "cameron is really good at playing with ba- i mean playing ball." all of us laugh and cameron shoves him playfully.

"so, cameron, whose team are you gonna be on, me and matt's or nick and y/n's" chris asks him. "uhhhh, tough decision," he teases nick. nick elbows him in the side.

"nick and y/n's." he says finally.

"probably fair since they're losing." chris grins. "fuck you, it's only by two points." nick snaps back. "you're so cute when you're feisty." cameron says in a low voice, smiling at nick. nick looks up at him blushes.

"or someone could sit out to make the teams even-" matt says but is interrupted by nick and chris, "no, that's stupid." "i mean, you guys could alternate and we could play three more rounds-" "no, matt, then cameron would only get to play one game. that's not fair." nick stops him again. "yeah, never mind." matt surrenders. "that was so stupid matt." chris continues. chris and nick bully him for having a blond moment. i move to stand next to him, "y'all stop being mean to matt, he gets the point." you would have put your arm around him or something, but his shirtlessnes changes things a bit.

"thanks, y/n." matt looks at me and doesn't move his eyes from mine for a few seconds, as if to say more.

cameron tries to pass the ball to nick, but is stopped by chris who takes it and dribbles it over and tries to shoot, but gets blocked by nick. he passes it to matt, who is right at the net, i try to block him, but i'm too flustered from his lack of clothing to do so efficiently.

"block him, y/n, he's gonna shoot!" nick yells at me, running over to stop him. matt shoots with a jump and it swishes right through the net. nick groans and lightly pushes me, "what was that? get your head in the game." he tells me. did he forget i like matt? or maybe i'm just weird for getting weird around the guy i like when he's shirtless. yeah, i'm not the weird one.

cameron catches the rebound and dribbles out with chris guarding him. he fakes to the left, then passes it to nick to the right. i'm wide open at the net when nick passes it to me. i shoot and score.

nick catches that rebound and dribbles it and passes to cameron. cameron tries to pass it to me, but chris catches it mid-air. nick guards him and he passes to matt. and i'm right there. i have to guard matt. we actually have a shot at winning now because the score is tied and it's about dinner time so the game should be over soon. i want to win. so i guard matt, completely alert as i block in front of him. i try to swat the ball from him as he is bent over, dribbling, and he pivits, turning around, and suddenly his butt is dangerously close to my pelvis. i try to reach and get it from him and come close, but he dribbles it back.

chris shouts, waving his hands, "matt, i'm open!" i mean, not really, he had nick and cameron, but i guess it just looked like matt was struggling.

matt stands up to look over at chris and consider passing, but looks at me. the tension between us, thick in the humid spring air, he smirks and mutters only to where i can hear, "aren't you gonna try to get it." i lung and get it from him, catching him off guard, and he tries and fails to take it back from me. i pass to cameron and he shoots and scores.

it was the winning score because after that, marylou calls us in for dinner. nick invites cameron, but he declines saying his grandma is making dinner.

we head inside, all sweaty and gross. we each grab a plate and stand in line buffet stile. i was behind nick and matt was behind me, chris was in the front of course.

"i'm starving!" chris exclaims in attempt to rush his parents and justin who where in front of him.

i can feel matt's presence behind me. it gave me butterflies, i don't know why. maybe because of how close he was standing behind me or the fact he was still shirtless.

i turn around and look at him, "you hungry, matt?" he gives a small nod and my heart twists. "here, get in front of me." i insist. i was hungry too, but i wasn't all quiet with pitiful blue puppy eyes. "it's okay." he tells me. "no," i argue, "i'm not that hungry. you look hungrier." he sighs with a smile and gets in front of me. "thanks." he looks me in the eyes, turning his head, with that same goofy smile.

god, what i would do for this boy.