"I grew up around basketball. I know how to play. So, how about we make it interesting?"
"I'm listening." Chase states while pulling his shirt off.
I just give him a look because right now his upper half is on full display and I'm fighting the urge to look.
"What? Why'd you stop talking? Am I distracting?" He ask with a knowing look on his face.
I would never admit he's distracting but he is.
"Not at all. In fact I'm seen better."
"Really because I'm pretty sure nobody looks better." He states with a smirk.
"Back to what I was saying. We are going to make this interesting. Every time I make a basket you can ask me a question and I'll do the same. So, what do want if you win?"
"I want to take you on a date." He doesn't ask. He tells me and I find that highly attractive. "What do you want?"
"I want a practice jersey." I watch as his lips curl up into a smile.
"I would love to see you in mine. So do you want mine or should I give you one of the freshman's. I mean you didn't ask for a certain one." I see what his playing at.
"If you want me to beg. I don't do that. I only beg in certain situations. Preferably ones in the bedroom. So, I won't beg. But if you want me to ask I will, only once though. Listen carefully. I want your practice jersey, Chase. The one that says Jackson on the back. I want it."
"You didn't ask." He tells me.
"I forgot to mention, I don't ask. I just tell you want I want and I want your jersey. So shall we begin?"
"You first." He says as he passes the ball to me.
I'm not going to make this easy on him. I'm going to show him what I've got. So I start half court. I aim for the net and shoot.
"So Chase out of all the roomies who's your least favorite?"
"Ethan." He says but i motion for him to continue. "He's in love. He's never around and when he is. She's all he talks about."
"That's every girl dream." I tell him. "We want to be talked about to the boys in a good way. It's motivating. Knowing you're so special that someone has time out of their day to talk about you and how in love with you they are to their friends."
He doesn't even look and still makes the basket. "So, same question for you least favorite roommate?"
"Loren. She's obsessed with Hayden. She just can't see what a player he is. Also when we're at parties, which is very rare. She's always getting wasted and I'm stuck babysitting. It sucks, because sometimes I need to let loose."
"You're not babysitting now."
"I've seen the way Hayden looks at her. He's perfectly capable of babysitting tonight while I kick your ass in basketball."
This time I get closer up to the net but stand at an angle. I make it. "Favorite holiday?"
"Halloween. The parties thrown on campus for Halloween are amazing."
"Mines the Fourth of July. I spend it at the lake. We tube, and ski. Plus watching the beautiful fireworks over the lake is so pretty. I love celebrating America. The country may suck at the moment, but other countries have it way worse." I say as he makes a basket.
"I agree. We're lucky to have rights. Some countries don't even have them. My turn to ask a question. You said you would answer any question so why did you not want to get in my truck tonight? It's not because we've been drinking. Your eyes said different."
"I lost a best friend in a car accident at night. I was with her and I saw it all." I look over at Chase and see him watching me carefully. "I mean it's not everyday you see your future maid of honor take her last breath." I pause blinking back the tears. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have gone to the party and got wasted."
I don't want to look at Chase so I'm looking down. I can't look at him. I don't want to see the judgement. I know it wasn't my fault. I just can't, not blame myself.
I don't want to look at Chase because his eyes will show how sorry he feels for me or judgement.
I don't handle either of those well.
People who feel sorry for me get on my nerves because they don't know what I'm going through or how I feel.
People who judge me, piss me off. They've done horrible things. Nobody's an angel. I don't judge others. Why should they judge me?
I just ruined everything. My mood just killed the fun we were having.
I'm just playing with my bracelet, ignoring the eyes I feel on me.
All of a sudden I feel arms wrap around me and soft lips on my forehead. "You know you're one special person Taylor Lawson." I wrap my arms around him. So that I'm hugging him back. "I mean you're once in a lifetime special. I've never met a girl who makes me think about her twenty-four seven. Hell I've never thought about a girl as much as I think about you. All I kept thinking about today was you. You were on my mind while I was studying and then again on my mind while I was waiting for you to walk in tonight. You just mess up my thinking schedule and I know that sounds stupid but you do. So, Taylor Lawson will you go on a date with me? Preferably tomorrow night."
Forehead kisses make a girl feel special but then admitting you think about her all the time makes her to start to fall.
"Chase Jackson, I would absolutely love to go on a date with you tomorrow night. Only if I still get a practice jersey before the season is over." He just picks me up and spins around.
"I didn't think you'd say yes." He admits once my feet are back on the ground.
"I didn't think you'd asked me out." I admit. "I really thought we'd continue to do the back and forth flirting before one of us got in a relationship." In a instance we hear keys rattling.
"We gotta go!" I whisper yell at him. "I thought you said you could get us in here."
"I did but Mrs. Carson couldn't give us a lot of time. I mean it's not long before Coach Carson gets a call saying someone broke in!"
"We broke in?" He questions.
"No! We just borrowed the court for a while without anyone noticing."
The keys rattling and footsteps get closer. "We've got to go!" I whisper yell at Chase. He just grabs my hand and pulls me.
Everywhere is so dark and before I know it we're outside. He's still dragging me until we're out of sight. "You're trouble!" He points out.
"Am I? I didn't think I was I mean we didn't get caught."
"You! You didn't get caught! I did! My basketball is back there along with my shirt."
"It's a basketball. Looks like all the rest of them. Also don't you guys share clothes like the girls. Blame it on Hayden or Gabe." I tell him.
"We don't share clothes. Not me and the guys. That's my party shirt. Every party I'm at I wear it. That basketball isn't just a basketball it has my name written on it along with my number."
Okay so maybe he's going to get caught.
All of a sudden the rain start pouring. "We walked." I state the obvious.
"We did walk didn't we." So we start our walk back. "Would you like a dance in the rain?" He ask stopping and turning towards me.
"I thought you'd never ask." I'm expecting a dance on the sidewalk but no he pulls me into the empty street.
"It always rains with us." He states. "Yeah, it does, doesn't it. So we can now declare that the rain is our thing." I tell him as he spins me in the empty street.
"It is definitely our thing. When we take a step in a good direction in always rains. Like that day at the lake. It rained. I kissed you that day and we danced in the rain. I asked you out today and now we're dancing in the rain."
"So this means you always have to ask me to dance in the rain because it's our thing." I tell him.
"I definitely do." He agrees. "Rain is a great thing."
Indeed rain is an absolute amazing thing and our thing.
____
8/19/21
8:56pm