♡︎Emerson♡︎
We're losing the game right now, it's the first game the girls have even been close to losing and I hope the girls take it okay.
They will, they used to lose every game. Right?
I look into the bleachers while number 7 on the opposite team shoots her first foul shot.
I see Ivor already looking at me, a smile stretching ear to ear across his face.
Number 7 misses her first shot but makes the second and the game continues. The score isn't that far apart. It's 9-15 and we're still in the first quarter so that is not bad at all.
The way the periods are working in this season is different then they are in the lower grades. The lower grades have 4 quarters 7 or 8 minutes each with a minute between each and 3 minutes between the second and third for half time.
Now, there are only 2 quarters, 18 minutes each with a two minute break in between.
With 4 minutes left in the first half, I find myself wishing I had a little more experience in the coaching department.
Coach B isn't here, he is visiting with his sister, Amelia; who just had a baby.
The same girl who went into labor at our diner yesterday we figured out. Small damn world am I right.
That whole thing was an experience.
I don't think I will ever go another day in my life ever without thinking about that.
Shit. That had to of hurt, one of my girls just got fouled on a lay-up and she hit the wall. That is one thing I do not miss about basketball. That is a lie. I miss everything about the sport.
✈︎_ _ _ _ _ _ _
At half time the girls semi-jogged over to our bench and grabbed their drinks.
I was just about to reach down for the small coaches whiteboard to show the girls which defense play I want to try for the second half of the game, when I fell two arms around my waist grab me from the back.
They turn me around so I'm facing looking into Ivor Hill's dark brown eyes. He reaches down and kisses my cheek before turning around and running back to the bleachers.
I few parents give him a weird look and a few others shrug it off, I'm left speechless. Apparently it's not just his football games half times that he decides to kiss my cheek. I'm not mad at it though.
Tom, who is in the crowd, looks at me and waves his hand like a fan in front of his face and bats his eye lashes.
Child, he's a child.
Don't ask me how he, a world-renowned neurosurgeon got two days in a row off. And definitely do not ask me why he chose to spend them with me, and Ivor I guess.
He has to meet Ryden and JJ.
I heard two girls in the hallway the other day talking about how JJ, Ryden, Ivor, and I are inseparable.
That was weird. Something I've never heard before.
I see a taller girl on the opposing team intentionally elbow 3 in the nose and the smaller blonde immediately brings her hands to her now bleeding face.
"TIME," I call out and the ref blows his whistle.
The other team members follow me, running over to Sarah and see if she's okay.
I pull her out of the game for now, bringing her over to bench. Her mother begins to stand up to walk over, but she waves her off, non-verbally saying she's fine.
I grab some tissues from the girls locker room and return back to my bench quickly.
I look over at the ref, who is just looking at the bloody towels doing nothing. Not even a damn foul.
I know better than to open my mouth and say something, but no way am I going to just sit back and watch the other team walk all over my girls because they're team is bigger.
"Hey!" I yell towards the ref, "Where was the foul?" I could get kicked out for this. I don't care.
"Excuse me?" He says walking over to me.
He gets really close to me and puffs his chest out so much that he's looking down at me.
"I have a bleeding player." I retort.
"Well I'll be damned, Miss Big Shot, I must not have seen the blood or commotion." He sneers.
Why is this escalating so quickly. Toxic masculinity much.
"Hey, step away, buddy." Now Tom is behind me, hand on the fuming refs shoulder.
Some people just aren't used to someone treating them without un-earned respect.
He doesn't remove his gaze from mine, and I don't back down either. "I suggest you move before I make a call to Henry Brown and let him handle you."
The large referee's eyes go wide and he immediately turns and blows his whistle, "Foul on white!" He calls.
Tom asks me if I'm okay, to which I respond with an, "Just a stupid ego." And he returns to his seat.
"That was hot." Some one whispers in my ear from behind.
"This is very unprofessional, Mr. Hill. I have a team to get to." I say smugly walking away from him.
He laughs before running back and jumping over the first two stands and sitting next to Tom.
My very known close relationship with Coach B proved pretty useful in that situation.
The game continues, and not one more foul is "missed".
✈︎_ _ _ _ _ _ _
We won.
Final score, 33-19. Proud coach moment right there.
My mother got off early tonight and we planned on having dinner with Tom at home.
We are walking out of the school, before the ref might I add, and over to Tom's car which is parked intentionally right next to ours.
"Hey, you know if you don't have any other plans, we were going to have dinner at their's and if you maybe wanted to-" Tom says. Almost-- Nervously?
"It's a Saturday night, of course he has pla-" I start.
"I'd love to." Ivor interrupts smiling.
This man still somehow finds out the times of every practice and game and shows up, much to my excitement.
And I know he has other friends, his best friend does have a girlfriend though. Who happens to be my best friend. That could be fun.
Tom and I get into his Bugatti, which the license plate reads "surge0n" I mean as he should I guess.
Ivor slips into his Jeep and we start driving.
My knee is slightly throbbing from the little run I did when Sarah was hurt, I hate that.
I hate that I ran from one room to another and now my knee is going to bother me for the rest of the night. I wish I could still play basketball, and run the school's track, and race coach B through the field in front of the younger track team.
I take off the brace I keep around my knee when I have shorts on out in public. The reasoning being half because of health reasons and have being to hide the scars. I had more surgeries than I'd like to admit.
I slide the brace into my basketball bag, which I have because I'm professional and look down at my leg.
✈︎_ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Ivor, right?" My mom asks when he and I walk through the front door and into my living room behind Tom.
"Yes," he shakes my mom's hand, "it's really nice to finally meet you." He smiles and follows Tom into the kitchen.
"And you haven't claimed him yet?" She jokes.
I shake my head smiling and follow our men into the next room.
We walk in to see Tom by the stove putting oil into a pan and Ivor standing with his back to him, chopping onions.
He looks hot. No.
He's wearing gray sweatpants and a black t-shirt that allows you to see the flexing muscles in his back. He had taken his shoes off, when I did, at the front door and now you can see his white Nike Dri Fit socks. The hoodie he was wearing at the game is now thrown over a chair at the dinning room table.
Oh. My. God.
"Ivor Elio Hill, guarda la mostruosità che sta accadendo sui fornelli in questo momento."
(Ivor Elio Hill, look at the monstrosity happening on the stove right now.)
He turns around, eyes widening when he saw the oil laying in the middle of the pan with nothing else added, and not sizzling around in the pan.
"Non possiamo più permettere che ciò accada, non va bene, mia cara."
(We can not allow this to happen any longer, no good, my dear.)
The astronomical coincidence it was for Ivor and I both to speak Italian. Astronomical. Un realistic if you will.
We help Tom, adjust his cooking skills and we all talk and laugh until the food is ready.
I go upstairs a little bit after the food is started to change. My outfit is kind of similar to Ivor's.
✈︎_ _ _ _ _ _ _
"You know when Em was younger, sometimes her hand would move like she was dribbling a basketball randomly." My mom added to our discussion about little Em.
I am going to kill my friends and family. That was a joke.
Was it though?
Over Ivor and Tom's laughs, Iv decides to bring up a story from his childhood and it made all of us lose our minds.
"My sister, Amara and I were out with my parents and..."
The whole rest of the night Ivor, Tom, my mother and I all exchanged jokes and stories.
We laughed and laughed until our stomachs hurt.
✈︎_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Don't ask me about the decisions that led up to this, but now my mom and her boyfriend are watching a movie with me and my boy friend.
We're watching Halloween which is not only one of my favorite movies, but it's also my favorite holiday. And fall is my all time favorite season.
It's a scary movie, which my mom is terrified of. I think that was part of the reasoning of watching a scary movie. Tom and Ivor got to pick the movie.
A scary part comes on and my mom hides her face in Tom's shirt. He looks over to us and nods like a cool guy. Yeah.
"È solo un po' di sangue." I say
(It's just a little blood.)
"Sì, non so perché ha reagito troppo." Ivor agrees sarcastically.
(Yes, I don't know why she overreacted.)
We both laugh a little bit and continue to watch the movie.
I swear to god if I start having double dates with my mother that's a new low. But it'd be fun though.
Triple dates. With JJ and Ry too.
Wait. Hold on. Rewind.
✈︎_ _ _ _ _ _ _
I'm tired, but I know if I fall asleep with the position Iv and I are in right now, it would be difficult for him to get up and get around me when he wants to leave.
I feel my eyes start to flutter closed but I slightly shake my head to keep myself awake.
Ivor bends down a bit and whispers in my ear, "It's okay you can go to sleep, piccola."
(baby / small.)
I close my eyes and nuzzle my head into his chest, even more so if possible.
✈︎_ _ _ _ _ _ _
I wake up when I feel Ivor move next to me. I involuntarily groan quietly and grab at his hoodie.
"Shhh shhh, I'm not going anywhere." He whispers, slightly rubbing my arm.
He moved his position a bit and then focused his attention back onto the screen. I have my back to the tv but by the sounds of it, it seems like they've moved on to Halloween 2.
I look up and see my mom is sleeping on Tom, they're laying on the other couch.
Tom and Ivor start talking simultaneously over the movie, but their voices sound far away as I drift back to sleep in Iv's arms.
—————————————————————————
Word count: 2,443
Sorry this took so long to be uploaded but I didn't have my phone or laptop since Friday so I couldn't actually write the chapter. I put out an announcement thing but I don't know if anyone saw it.
I just found out that apparently my phone and laptop count the word count's differently so all the word counts I've previously put on the chapters, has been like wrong. So that's fun. The word count is probably 20 to 40 ish words higher than what I've put down so lets just pretend that didn't happen.
I'm low key mad at myself for not getting the chapter out before midnight so now it's been 5 days of not posting.
Some people thought the Amelia Howard point of view part wasn't necessary in the last chapter, but trust me.
I don't know who caught the part about coach B's sister, *insert f boi face*.
I also am totally not writing a spin off book right now. 100 percent not happening.
*SPIN OFFS ARE NOT SEQUELS*
I think it's time to introduce the aesthetics to some characters that weren't in the Introduction chapter at the beginning.
So, here are some extra characters:
Henry Brown (age is like 30-40):
Tom Rivera (43 ish when introduced):
Amara Hill (19 when introduced):
Honestly, these could change a lot, the only one's that won't are Ivor, JJ, Ryden, and Em's. I could be saying this now and then it ends up not being like this.
If you imagine these characters as something that's totally fine too.
I feel like a lot of people thought coach B was like older, but I imagine him as more like 30 to 40's.
Soo anwayssss, I'm probably forgetting a lot of things I want to say but yeahhh.
<3 Author and shit
Toodeloo 🥺✌🏻