Maybe In Another Life

Chapter 13

She noticed the attention both cousins grabbed, and the confidence they both oozed.

They  were both of the same height, one with broader shoulders and a slightly wider stanced walk.

"Where are we going next? We still have time to kill." Soren asks Callum, not facing him.

"We can go to the basketball park, the homies are having a match. What d'you say?"

Soren's green eyes dart to Mavis for a second, who was still helplessly wandering behind, a look of unamusement etched on her unique features.

"Sure why not."

At the outdoor basketball court, the three met up with 7 of Callum's friends, all dressed down to sports wear, some even missing shirts.

Mavis unashamedly took them all in, one by one, spotting their differences and similarities and picking a favorite, as the two Masalis's weirdly shielded her with their bodies.

One was pale with brown hair, the other tanned. One asian, one hispanic, two black's and a redhead. All tall, some muscular some on the chubbier side, one with a bad posture and another with some acne.

"Callum!" One of them exclaims.

"What's good?" He greets them back and they all either do that weird bro hug thing or some sort of handshake. "Hope you don't mind I've brought some company. This is my cousin Soren, some of y'all know him, and this lady is Mavis."

"Mavis these are Connor, Christopher, Dionte, Sean, Alessandro, Cillian and Travis."

They boys greeted Mavis rather politely, but no one missed the looks she received by every single one of them. Some simply waved while others opted for a handshake, and one of those was the red head, Cillian.

He was quite handsome. Hair of a fiery copper color, pale and face full of freckles, with dark brown eyes to compliment his fairness. He had sharp straight features and a Hollywood smile.

Post introductions and some small talk, Mavis headed to one of the corners of the court, and carefully took a seat on the floor as to not accidentally flash anyone.

She squinted her eyes, watching as the boys split into teams, with Callum and Soren being on opposing ones. Her eyes also occasionally drifted to Cillian, who she often made eye contact with before his attention would shift to the guys.

"Yo Mavis!" Callum yelled from across the field. "You play ball?" He jogged up to her.

"Do PE classes count?" She looked up at him blocking the sun.

"Anything works. We're missing a player." He chuckled.

"Well um, I'd gladly join but I don't think I'm dressed appropriately." She motions to her mini skirt.

"I've got an extra pair of shorts." Cillian comes up from behind, placing a hand on Callum's shoulder. "You could tighten the strings and it should fit fine." He offered.

Mavis hesitantly nodded before following the redhead to his bag. He pulled out worn out sky blue basketball shorts and handed her them.

Mavis took off her jacket and tossed it to Cillian without breaking eye contact.

"Hold it out so I don't flash anyone." She says, and without awaiting any response, she starts pulling the shorts up underneath her skirt.

Cillian immediately turned away, wide eyed and red eared, but he held out the jacket nonetheless.

"Thanks." Mavis breathed, taking the jacket from his hands and throwing it along with the skirt on-top of his duffle bag.

He watched her lanky silhouette as she walked towards the others, who gawked at her with the same wild expression.

The shorts fell straight over her knees but her legs stuck out like two matchsticks from the midi-skirt like shorts.

"So, we gon play... or are you waiting to catch some flies in your mouthes?"

A few of the guys snapped out of their state and laughed it off before they split into groups of five and gathered to discuss their positions.

As they formed a circle, Mavis's ears picked up on someone from the other team asking Soren if she were his girlfriend.

"Hey girl you good?" Dionte, who stood on her right nudged her. She nodded, returning her focus to her own group, missing Soren's response.

She glanced around, remembering her teammates Callum, Cillian, Dionte, and Christopher.

This was going to be interesting...