GAME ON

11. Too Early

I take the shirt and shorts and grab my sports bra for my purse then I go into the bathroom. I changed into the shorts and slipped on my sports bra then stared at myself in the mirror. Why didn't he want to touch me? Was it too early? Who are we kidding, yea it was too early, it's just it's him and he's honestly like Channing Tatum and this only happens once in a lifetime. Maybe he doesn't like me like I think he likes me? If a guy likes you, he sleeps with you, am I right. Ugh! I wish I dated in high school. I actually wish I listened to my mom when she try to give me the guy talk. I felt a tear drop and I shake my head. I am not crying right now. "Nessa you want some popcorn?" Derek said. I clear my throat.

"Sure" I said wiping my face.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine"

"Can I come in?" he said and I don't answer. I start wiping my face so it doesn't look like I was crying and he was opening the door. He touches my arm. "Vanessa" he said.

"I told you I'm fine" I said storming out the bathroom.

"I gave you a shirt Nessa" he said and I look at him confused.

"What are you so afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid, you want to move on to other things and it's not the time"

"Well why not?" I said.

"I don't want to ruin it. Just trust me" he said handing me the shirt. I take it and slipped it on and sat down in his bed. "Are you staying the night?"

"Can I? Or maybe it's not the right time for me to?" I said looking at my phone. He walks over to me and started kissing me on my neck. I stay staring at my phone and he lets out a sigh.

"I'll go make the popcorn" he said getting out and leave. I lay down onto his bed and turned on the TV. After about 10 minutes he walks back in the room with popcorn and I kept looking up at his abs. He came on the other side of the bed and set the popcorn in the middle of us. He sits in the bed and moves closer to me. He grabs my phone then sets it down. "What do you want to watch?" he asked.

"Doesn't matter" I said. He puts on a movie and wraps his arm around me. We sit and watch Shutter Island with Leonardo and I tried my hardest to keep my eyes open then I heard Derek laugh and I look and he was staring at me. "Leave me alone" I said and he moves my hair out my face.

"If you are tired we can go to bed" he said moving the popcorn bowl and turning off the TV.

"Why me?" I asked and he looks at me.

"What?" he asked.

"Like why do you like me? You hated me the first week of practice. Then you can have like any girl not only on the basketball team but in the world, like if you want Beyoncé you can actually have Beyoncé" I said and he laughs and I smile. "Seriously what changed your mind?" I asked.

"I never hated you Vanessa. I put all feelings aside when it comes to basketball"

"Yea I can tell, these pass 2 weeks in practice you won't even look at me"

"I do, trust me. You just never catch me" he said and bends down to kiss me. "You are strong, I pushed you so hard when you came in and you never gave up. You're independent, when you stood up for the rest of the girls to me. You are so beautiful. You could wear basketball gear all the time and I still find it so attractive on you. You're perfect" he said and I smile. I stare at him and his hands massages my stomach. He moves closer to me and we spoon and he kisses me on my head and I fall asleep. The next morning, I woke up to an empty bed and I heard basketball on in the living room. I go to the bathroom, fix my hair, rinse my mouth with his mouth wash, and did a little prepping with stuff I found in his bathroom. I go out to the kitchen and he was cooking. I smirk and take off the shorts and throw them on the couch then walked up to him.

"Morning" I said wrapping my arms around him. He turns around and smiles at me.

"Morning beautiful" he kisses me then lifts me up on the counter and looks down at my legs realizing I don't have the shorts on.

"Smells good" I said.

"Nessa... where are your shorts?"

"Derek... stop" I laugh. He stares at me and turns around to look at the shorts on the back of the couch. He walks over to the couch and picks up the shorts and walks over to me. He looks at me handing me the shorts. "You serious?"

"Just put them on and leave them on, why is that so hard?"

"Why do you want me to? Like I'm so confused"

"Vanessa..."

"No I'm serious, like what's the big deal? You like me and I like you"

"Nessa, I'm not going to sleep with you" he saysso bluntly.    

"Why?" I asked. Derek just stares at me then looks to the ground. I roll my eyes and jumped off the counter. I grab his shorts and slipped them on. "You happy?" I said walking passing him. I go back to his room gathering my things.

"Vanessa... don't be ridiculous. Let's have breakfast" he says.

"I can't. I have so much homework I need to get done, so I'll just see you at practice" I say not making eye contact with him. I walk pass him and head out to the front door. The following day after class I wasn't excited at all to go to practice. I head to the locker room and started to get changed and we all went out to the gymnasium to get stretched out.

"So Harrison, I came by your dorm last night and funny enough, you weren't there?" Felicty says as she smirks at me. "You stay at Trevor's last night?" she asked and the girls started to laugh.

"No" I say straight forward.

"Then where were you?"

"Oh sorry, I actually went to see your dad, he's been bugging me non-stop to come by" I said and all the girls burst out laughing and Felicity stares at me.

"Team-bonding right Harrison?" someone said and I look over to see Derek, I mean Coach West. He stares at me.

"I was just joking" I said and he looks away.

"You ladies need to get focus, next week is our first game and we need to be ready. Stop joking... around and get into mindset" he says.

"Yes sir" Felicity says and Coach walks away.

"Can't believe we have our first game next week" heather said.

"Who against?" I asked.

"The Raiders" Bianca says.

"They any good?" I asked.

"In the pass they have been but who knows this year" Heather says standing up. After everyone gets done stretching we all get on the line and started practice. When Wednesday practice came around, coach and I didn't speak outside of practice and it was pretty pathetic. I was so annoyed and scared that maybe he found another basketball girl to have a thing with. Before practice I was just about to go into the locker room when I just needed to talk to him. I walk to his office and what do you know? Trevor is walking out the gym.

"Hey" he says stopping in front of me smiling.

"Hey Trevor" I say moving my hair out of my face.

"Umm... look there's this new scary movie coming out this weekend, and a lot of us are going and I was just—" he was saying before someone pushes Trevor into me. We were kissing distance and his hands rest on my hips to keep his balance. I look over to see Heather and she smirks.

"You're welcome lovebirds" she said walking away to the locker room. I rolled my eyes and Trevor laughs. Then I see a shadow and I look over to see Coach West staring at me. I hurry to push Trevor away from me.

"Hey Coach West" Trevor said in a kind of scared. Derek stares at me then his eyes walk over to Trevor.