Fruits and Hoops

Chapter 1: Best Pals.

"WHAT IS UP DAWG?" He greets me, I laugh and shake my head as he buckles up and I back out of his driveway. 

"Hey Lu," I say, I begin our drive to Acorn Field Park.

"Dude, these basketball tryouts are getting me so stressed," Luka begins, he's also on the basketball team. That's how we became friends about five years ago and we've been unseparated since. I agree with him, we've been nonstop practicing for months, Luka scoffs at me. "You have nothing to be stressed about," He laughs.

"Well, I mean it's just a lot of pressure," I inform him, he snorts and rolls his eyes, "You know how my dad is," I remind him, and he lets out a fake gagging noise. He was the first person that opened my eyes about my dad. I thought how my family interacted was normal, but I guess it's not. So I guess it's safe to say he hates my father. We turn into the park and I head to our normal parking spot next to the playground. 

"Your dad needs to get a grip," He says, I chuckle, and we get out of my truck, I grab blankets from the backseat and we go to the bed and hop up in it. We like to sit in the bed of my truck and talk, stare at the sky, or do nothing. We just like being with each other, as friends do. "You think you're gonna go to the Snowball?" Luka asks I hadn't thought about it, school dances aren't my thing, and it's only the beginning of November. 

"I don't know, probably not," I answer, "I don't really have anyone to go with," I continue, I've never been the dating type. I've had girlfriends but they've liked me way more than I've liked them. I like being close with people like that, but I guess I haven't met the right girl. "Have you?" I asked him, he let out a small, airy laugh. 

"I was hoping you'd be taking a hottie with a best friend," He laughs, he playfully punches my shoulder, and I laugh along, I look up at the sky, the sun is setting and the stars are peeking through. I let out a long exhale as I fixate on the sky. Luka looks up too.

"The sky's so pretty at night Lu," I say softly, he stifles a laugh, I look down and shoot him a confused look, he looks back at me and covers his mouth as he laughs. He starts to lay down and forgets trying to hide his amusement with what I said. 

"That-oh my god," He begins, "Gayest thing I've ever heard," He spits out, his laughter calming down, I scoff, he always does this, I'll say something that could be taken as not so masculine, and suddenly I like kissing boys. 

"Is there something wrong with being gay?" I protest jokingly, he clears his throat, he's still lying down but he's on his side, his arms propping him up. 

"Of course not, it's 2024 for God's sake Evan," He says with another chuckle, I join him in lying, and I face him while lying on my side. Our faces are inches apart, and his freckles are more visible from this angle, he has big brown eyes that are protected by his square black glasses. Our laughter dies out and we're just looking at each other now, he goes to say something but bites his lip. 

"What?" I press, and he shakes his head and lays on his back, "Dude you can't keep shit from me," I joke.

"I know, trust me I know," He agrees, it's not a lie, he tells me everything, and since I know him so well even if he doesn't tell me something I'll figure it out. He opens his mouth for a second, and hesitates before he speaks, "Do you wanna stay the night tonight?" He asks, "I know it's a school night but-" 

"I'll tell my parents I'll be home tomorrow," I tell him, he smiles, I text my mom I'm staying over at Luka's and she doesn't care. 

We make it back to Luka's house and make our way to his room. He gives me a pair of his sweatpants to sleep in so I can change out of my jeans. I head to his bathroom to change and come back to his room. 

"Do you wanna watch a movie?" He asks, "I can rent any on my laptop," He adds, he already has his laptop open next to him on his bed. Who am I to deprive this man of his movie time?

"Yeah sure, what movie we thinking?" I ask, his face lights up, he's the biggest movie fanatic, I swear the staff at every movie theater in the county knows him. Hell, probably every one of them in the state. I lay next to him in his bed, as he puts on some movie I don't recognize. 

"It's called Dead Poets Society," He says, it looks old, but it looks decent from the start. We get comfortable in his bed and continue watching the movie. Luka's bed isn't big, so we're pretty close to each other, which is fine, I don't mind being close to him. It makes me feel safe in a way, that sounds super gay, but I'm not gay, he's just my best friend. In the middle of the movie Luka wrapped his arm around me, he said it was getting squished and falling asleep. I didn't mind, I inch closer to him, and his arm hugs my shoulder. We continue the movie like this. Whenever we do this I always get this feeling in my stomach. Like TV static but in a good way, it's warm, and it's nice. I notice he's fallen asleep. I can't help but smile at him, I close his laptop and lay it on the floor. I'm about to get up to sleep on the couch, where I normally sleep when he wraps his other arm around me and snuggles himself more into me. I get this weird feeling in my face like it's getting warmer, part of me wishes we could stay like this forever, it's nice, it's safe, it's warm. 

I begin to fall asleep. It hits me as I'm drifting off that maybe I shouldn't feel this way. This is how girls describe how it feels to love their boyfriends. Why am I feeling like this about Luka? Why do I want to cuddle with a boy? Maybe I'm just touch starved. Maybe it'll pass when I meet a pretty girl.