Goals Off Court | SatoSere

Chapter 16 - Game Of Denial

Ash walked back to his dorm room, kicking at the rocks and the dirt on the side of the road the entire way back. That Drew guy and his smugness pissed him off. Everything had been going fine.

Maybe fine was a strong word.

He was slowly not despising the lessons. He still had his personal opinions about them, but Serena was there, so he'd say the lessons were tolerable.

He groaned once he reached his dorm room, shoving the key into the lock, only to meet one intolerable son of a—

"Yo, Ashy-boy!" His expression must have been really spot-on because Gary interrupted him before he finished putting the thought together. "Alright. Go ahead and pile it on me, man."

Ash began to pace around the small space between their beds, not even bringing up how Gary read him like a book. "Do you know this guy—named Drew or something? Green hair?"

"The dance guy? Top partner dancer with a girl—May?" Gary blinked slowly, unconcerned and replied once Ash nodded. "Yeah. Never talked to him, though."

"He's a pain in the ass."

"Well, okay," Gary said slowly with a whistle, raising his eyebrow. All of a sudden, he wasn't particularly attentive to anything anymore. "Is he really? Or is this like a new episode of Ash meeting a new rival that starts off bad thing? Because if it is, I'm ready to watch."

Another moment to think. Ash's eyes were narrow, sharp. "What does that mean?"

He saw Gary shaking his head to the sides amusingly and the made grin only got wider. "You have those rivals you have a bad feeling about until they grow on you. Me, for example."

Incredulous, Ash whipped around, hating the fact Gary wasn't wrong. "This is different."

"What did he do?"

"Him and that girlfriend of his come to my lesson, show off their dances, and once me and Serena do so, he starts telling me how my technique is all off and unnecessary mess like that. I don't give two shits about his opinion. The guy isn't my teacher, Serena is. She's a good one, at that. He was practically telling her otherwise."

Ash had thought that Drew guy was lucky things didn't get out of hand because Serena was present.

"So—" Gary's mouth tilted to the smallest of smiles. He looked at Ash with a confused blink, relaxed, and all the carelessness in his poise. "—Are you mad he undermined you or her?"

Ash's face was bleak and inexpressive, but a twitch in the corner of his brow betrayed him. "It doesn't matter who it is. He's an ass and already irritates me."

From the corner of his eye, Ash caught Gary swallowing, his adam apple rising and falling as he contemplated. "If you like dancing and these lessons, you don't have to lie, man. It's cool you're working hard at something like this and-"

"I don't. I don't care about it." All the flatness left Ash's voice and he licked his lips in contemplation before speaking again. "But I'm not gonna put in zero effort. They're over in a week."

Gary blinked, but slowly narrowed his cat-like eyes; he was playing with fire. "Do you want them to be over?"

"Of course I do?" Ash replied, his tone matching his expression; it was more of a question to himself than an answer. "I gotta get back on the court. Your gramps thinking that dance will be relaxing to me is ridiculous and not working. I'm more stressed and pissed."

Gary hummed in understanding. "I had a feeling that would be the case, but have you thought that you genuinely enjoy dancing? Or you just enjoy her."