"Go fish!" Em throws up her arms, and starts to do a little dance on the spot.
"You cheated!" I grumble, throwing down my stack of cards. This was a typical Saturday morning when Em was over at my place... Coffee, cards, and a cozy atmosphere.
"No, you're just a sore looser," she sticks out her tongue at me.
"Stop," I tease, "It's so immature!" I make a face, stretching my arms over my head and stifling a yawn.
"Says the girl who left me alone senior year!"
"Oh come on! I didn't leave you, I just followed my calling," I protested, getting up to stretch my legs.
"Whatever," she plays around with the cotton on her sweater. I watch as she tugs out a piece of strand and wraps it around her pinkie.
"You know, I was really stoked to finally get the chance to hear about your love life," she grumbles, "but apparently with your dumb luck, nothing."
"Who said I was even trying? I don't really care for this kind of thing..." I bend down to touch the tips of my toes. It's a gray morning outside. The sun was hiding behind think grey clouds that didn't look like they were about to let out. Fog flooded into the city last night, and was still here. On our way back from the airport, Em and I almost ran into a careless driver who was swivelling on our lane. Talk about rotten luck.
"Whatever, I want to go outside, do something fun," she gets up and stretches her arms and legs.
"Sure, just go shower first," I laugh, flopping back on my bed, "and be quick, I'm after you." She takes her clothes from inside her suitcase and throws a towel over her shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah," she laughs, throwing a smile over her shoulder. She shuts the door behind her, and I heave a heavy sigh, letting go of all the thoughts that were tormenting me.... OK, not tormenting, but still freaking me out.... Last night I had a dream, and it was nothing big, but I couldn't help but see a single face... utter a single name. I close my eyes and try to picture the face against the darkness of my closed lids. I don't try to fight the inevitable smile that creeps up on my lips. Eva, you, are the most disgusting thing that ever lived... stop smiling, I scowl at myself and open my eyes.
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"Pick up your phone, will you?" Em says from the passenger seat. We're driving down a narrow road to no where in particular. All the windows are rolled up and fogged. Cars zoom by like some film on fast forward and the cobblestone streets are filled with people just hanging about. I take off one hand from the steering wheel and reach for the dashboard, pull it open, and take out my phone. The caller ID flashes with an unknown, making me frown.
"No clue who it is," I shrug, placing it in the cup holder.
"It won't kill you to open it and check, you know," Em rolls her eyes, takes my phone and flips it open.
"Hello, how may I help you?" She asks, her voice going from happy to chirpy.
"Oh, OK, and you are?" She plays with a loose strand of her hair, a smile tugging on the corner of her lips.
"A colleague, you say?" Now she's full out smiling. I look sideways at her ass I hear the word 'colleague and snatch the phone from her grasp.
"Hello?" I say, pressing the phone between my ear and shoulder.
"Hi, Eva, it's me, Ron." It's Ron.
"Oh, hey, nice hearing from you on the weekend." He chuckles at that.
"Not as nice as hearing you." OK, this was different.
"So... can I do something for you," I ask, offering a little smile at a glaring Em.
"Well, not really. I was just wondering if, maybe, you wanted to hang out today... I had some free time...so I though..." Em had turned on the speaker a second ago and is nodding vigorously at me. I give her the look that shuts her up.
"I wouldn't mind, actually, I didn't have anything planned anyway... Is it OK if I brought a friend?" At this, Em slams her hand against her forehead, and sighs... loud.
"Who was that?"
"Oh, it was just the wind.. Well, I'll see you at around five? Beside that coffee shop we went to last time?"
"That's fine by me," he replies, a smile in his voice, and the phone closes, leaving an annoying beep beep noise. I stow the phone away and roll down the window on my side, breathing in the cold autumn air.
"Idiot," Em mutters, "this was the perfect opportunity for you to..."
"Hey, no way was I going alone," I throw her a look that shuts her up- again. After a few seconds of driving past nothing in particular, Em starts again.
"So where're we going?" She asks, putting on her frown again.
"We're going to meet him at this coffee shop... it's near the school."
"I see." So the next half an hour Em and I continue to wander around aimlessly, telling jokes and catching up on all the times we spent apart. I tell her about my class and how the students are, and she tells me about her parents, and how she's applying at a company to work as a journalist. She's always wanted to be a journalist, always on top of things, always getting the hottest gist. We get a short breakfast at the 'Violet's Vrunch', which is supposed to be vegetarian lunch and dinner since Em is vegan. Later around three O clock, we started to discuss random things such as what I would change about my school.
"The secretary," I laugh, throwing my head back. I'd be in big trouble if anyone from school heard me, but it was the truth. The lady didn't like me, and to be honest, I didn't really like her either.
"Why's that?" Em asking, crossing her arms with a bemused expression on her face.
"Because," I begin, regaining control, "I don't think she likes me- and she's hard on the eyes," I frown, picturing a scowling secretary in my head.
"Uhuh, tell me something else now," Em starts, leaning forward on her table. We were sitting on a wooden bench in the park near my house, there were a few people strolling about the clean pathways- if you didn't count the leaves... The wind was strong, but the sun was still out... halfway. Clouds were littered above, with a gradient of white inching up to dark grey.
"Tell you what?" I ask, leaning away. Something shone in her eyes, and something about that made my stomach twist.... I had the sneaking suspicion....
"Who's Collin?"
I stop dead in my tracks- not that I was walking, but if I was, I would have.
"Who's who?" I ask, playing dumb. For all I knew, she was talking about some random Collin who I never even heard of.
"I dunno, you tell me. Last night, you were talking in your dreams." Typical.
"I have no clue. Sometimes I have weird dreams, random people, you know?" I shrug, getting up.
"Now come on, it's time to head to the cafe, it's almost five, and it won't kill us if we arrive a little earlier." Em gives a long look and then shrugs, following me back to my car.
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"He'll be here soon, gosh, have some patient," I sigh, frowning for the millionth time. We're in the cafe, sitting in a booth near the window. We wait silently watching people stroll in and out, walk by and by without a care in the world. Everyone seems to be busy in their own little world, or maybe they're pretending like Em and I were. I get accustomed to the people walking in and out of the cafe that the faces start to dull, and it's only when Em kicks me in the shins do I notice a familiar face walking towards us. Em gives me a huge grin and goes on to compose herself before her gets here. Both Em and I stand up to greet him, and I introduce the both of them to each other. Ron is wearing his usual, button up shirt with a fall jacket on top with neatly pressed jeans.
"She's staying with me for the weekend," I finish off. We all sit down in the booth and Em goes on to tell him about her profession. After a while of catching up and Ron's brown hair glinting under the peaking sun, he finally looks down at his watch, then back up.
"Come on," he says, getting up, "I wanted to take you guys somewhere," he smiles, as if he was thinking about it in his head.
"Where?" Em and I ask at the same time.
"You'll see. Do you want to take your own car and follow me... or..."
"Em and I'll ride in my car and just follow, it'll be less complicated." And so we all head outside, the sun should be up high by now, almost sinking- not that you'd really notice thanks to the clouds.
Em and I wait until Ron is out of the parking lot, and then we follow. We drive for 20 minutes straight, and the farther we get from the cafe, the more the streets become crowded. I can tell we're in downtown by the urban scenery around, and now I'm really curious. Finally, Ron parks in a deserted places, saving a place for us.
"Now can I ask what we're doing here?" I ask, sweeping my arms at the little pieces of news paper flying around. Over the roar of cars and people, I think I can hear basketballs clinking against nets.
"Just follow me," he says, taking the lead down the street. I look over at Em who just shrugs and takes after him, and I decide to do the same after a while. We walk for maybe three minutes, and when we finally turn the corner, I see a mob of people sitting on metallic silver bleachers. Lots of diverse people, but mostly African Americans. There is a fence surrounding the bleachers and a large basketball court. Some people don't have enough space on the bleachers and so they're just leaning against the fences, chatting with each other. I have no clue why we're here and look over at Ron, who just smiles and points at the court. I follow his direction until my eyes finally land on a messy brown haired boy, maybe around six feet 2, with tranquillizing green eyes, and cheeks that are red from heat. I look back at Ron, with an eyebrow raised.
"He comes here every Saturday," he shrugs, "they have these mini tournaments that the whole neighbourhood comes to watch. I usually drop by every once in a while, you know, cheer him on, and believe me, he looks like he just hit the jackpot every time he's here." Ron laughs and opens the gate. Collin has his back to us and doesn't notice as the three of us sit down on the second row from the bottom on the bleachers. I rest my elbows on my knees and study all the people on the court with amusement. It's true, Collin is tall for his age, one might say just a bit above average, but compared to all the African Americans around him, he looked like an ant. Nice of me to say, huh? It was true, though. The people on the court start to shuffle around, getting in their places, and a man comes of and throws the ball in the air. Collin is in the center with someone almost twice his size, and I'm about to wince when Collin jumps... Boy, can he jump. Almost a meter in the air, his arms shooting above the other players, and he throws the ball over his head, to one of the forwards. And the games has begun. For the first half I'm on the edge of my seat, eyes glued on his swift movements, and slam dunks. He never looks up at the crowd once, eyes strictly on the basketball. When the first round ends, Collin's team is leading by four points, and Ron stands up, waving at him. Collin looks up, a lazy grin on his face and faces back. I don't think he knows that Em and I are here, but when he does see us, his arm drops at his side, and he looks away. If you look closely, you can see his eyes moving rapidly, he's getting fidgety with his arms, snatching the basketball from the guy nearby. The two of them get lost in some mini battle, and you know what? I think he's already forgotten we're even here.
"So.." Em pipes up, sitting up straight, "anyone mind telling me why we're here watching a basketball game?" I turn to her, looking a little surprised, and then I realize she doesn't even know Collin, and then I realize it would be bad if she found out, but there isn't anything I can do about it now.
"That's right, you wouldn't know him," Ron laughs.
"Know who?" I listen silently as Ron describes the green eyed boy on the court, not mentioning his name... yet.
"Collin is in my basketball team, and Eva's English student," he finishes off, making me cringe.
"Oh, so he's Collin, huh?" She muses, amusement coated on her voice, the kind that's only meant for me.
"Yeah, now look, the second round is starting," Ron points out, grinning. I try not to look to casual, or to anxious so as not to trigger something in Em... to bad what happened next changed that. The two teams were evened out, the other team had the ball, the player just waiting for someone to be open. You could almost see the tense muscles on Collin's arms, moving as he flexed them... I didn't know it at the time, but I was groaning in frustration as I tried to concentrate on the game, but it wasn't the game that caught my attention... And then the player with the ball chest passed it to one of the guys closest to Collin. Collin dived for the ball instead, and though he was closest, it was still pretty far for him. He reached out his fingers, all he needed was to tip the ball and it would go another direction. Just as he got close to the ball, the person it was meant for crashed into him from behind. Deliberately. I watched as Collin went sprawling forward, trying to catch himself against the cement floor. His hand slipped, twisting in a weird angle as his elbows hit the ground, and it was almost as if you could hear his elbows scratching against the rough cement. Next was his chin, and his forehead. I sucked in a deep breath and cover my mouth on instinct, not able to contain the gasp.
"That was a foul," I hissed, sitting on the edge of the bleacher. I may not know much about basketball, but I knew that you weren't aloud to injure anyone... at least I hoped not.
"So? This is just a community Rec, they don't have referees to check whether it was a foul or not. Besides, Collin's been through worse, this is nothing," Ron shrugs. I look at him in disbelief, and turn back to Collin. His face is all flustered, and he's fidgeting to get on his feet. His right arm is pressed tight against his side, but he's trying to act it cool. I can see it in his face.
"This is stupid," I growl, getting on my feet in one swift motion.
"What're you doing?" Both Em and Ron ask, but I ignore them. I hope down the Bleachers and march into the court. The game's paused momentarily and some of the guys turn around to give me the, what're-you-doing-lady-get-off-the-court look. I ignore them as well. Collin turns around just as I'm nearing and it doesn't take a blind man to see that he's embarrassed. I don't say anything to him, but grab his left arm and gently tug him towards the bleachers, not wanting to hurt him anymore.
"Come on," I tell him. There's no room for him to protest so he follows behind me. His arm is a little moist underneath my hand, making it hard to hold on, so Iet go and just let him follow on his own.
"That was nothing, you know," he mumbles behind me as we near the other two.
"Are you alright?" Em asks, making him flush a deeper shade of red.
"Em," I give her the hands off look, making her shrug. I turn too look at Collin, and ask him if he broke his right arm, but he just shrugs.
"Let me see," I insist, trying to pull it away from his side, but he pulls back instantly, wincing.
"You should see a doctor," I muse, examining his scraped chin instead. Tiny dots of red starting to appear. He shakes his head no.
"Like I said, it's not that big of a deal," he tries to shrug it off, but thinks against it.
"No way, you can't just leave it like that," I say, "come on, I'll take you. Em, Ron, drive back to the cafe and I'll meet you there in less then an hour, OK?" I ask turning to look at the two. Ron looks like he's about to protest, but Em pipes in first.
"OK!"
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"Try to ignore it," I tell him from the drivers seat. We just left the community hospital where the doctor had to lodge the elbow properly to the forearm. If Collin had left it like that, then the two bones would collide and that would've hurt like crazy. Maybe even damage his arm enough so that he wouldn't be able to play basketball for a while.
"If you're too rigid, you'll get a fever," I pull out of the parking lot. I try not too mention anything about paying for the cast, because I know he's just mortified. The cast cost about fifty dollars- not much for a cast, but I paid it off then and there to get the whole business over and done with. I turn to look sideways at him, his head resting against the glass window.
"You're OK now, right?" I ask him, driving out of the parking lot now. "I'll drop you home if you want," I shrug, and I notice from the corner of my eyes that he only seems to tense up even more.
"What's wrong?" I ask, because I know something isn't right. "Collin," I'm about to nudge his arm, but think against it. He opens his mouth just a little, as if he's about to say something, and then fumbles with a bunch of words, and just gives up all together.
"I screwed up back in the game didn't I," he said, looking out the window.
"Of course you didn't! It wasn't your fault the guy tackled you... I mean, he was twice your size!"
"No, it was my fault. The ball was too far anyway, In a normal game, you wouldn't take that leap... not if you're as short as I am..." He shakes his head. I look at him, and I guess for a basketball player he is pretty short...
"You jump like a kangaroo," I try, smiling, "and I thought it was cool the way you tackled the ball- although I advice you not to do that again, scared the daylights out of me!" I shouldn't have said that. The only thing it brought was more silence....
"So, home?" I ask him, although I'm already heading his way.
"You don't have to.." he tries to protest but after maybe 20 minutes, we're already there, and by now it's 6:30, but the sun is already almost all gone.
"Are you parents home?" I ask, as I park just outside his garage door.
"Probably not, who knows?" He shrugs, "can I ask you a question?" He asks suddenly, twisting the top of his body until he's facing me completely.
"Yeah?"
"How come you where with Mr. Alden... today?" The answer is simple, but the reason he wanted to know was just beyond me...
"Oh, he wanted to see your game and a friend of mine and I were invited," I shrug. I didn't lie... not entirely.
"Oh."
Oh, is right.
"Um... Ms. Sky?"
"Yeah?" I ask, trying to concentrate under the dying sun. I'm surprised to find that he's really close to me... close enough that I can smell his breath, which smelled oddly like tangerines. His left arm is resting around the head of my seat, and he's leaning forward... forward... forward...
A loud beep from behind makes my stomach lurch, my heartbeat race, my face heat up like someone was holding the sun right in front of me.