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I am not going to screw this up. I saw her in the seat that I got the tickets for, and I knew in my heart that I had to win this. Especially when my Raven is here to cheer for us. But when stupid Zara kissed me, I saw the disappointment in her eyes and when I pushed her away, I realised that my body didn’t react the way it would usually have to a girl, a hot girl kissing me.

“Shoot your shot, before you lose her.” Dan suggested in the shower. After the coach gave the celebratory speech and all, I ran out of the shower. I was probably still dripping but I didn’t care.

Alright James. She had no idea how happy those two words made me.

I’m going to put an effort into this date. Originally I’d picked a fancy restaurant to go to, but after George’s comment about my boring date idea being the definition of ‘how to lose a girl before you even get her’ made me drop it.

Sid recommended going for something engaging. I googled 27 options for engaging dates. I don’t know why half of them were for ages 60+ people. Shouldn’t their definition of fun and engaging be a walk in the park? Or a stroll?

I asked Dan for backup and he told me that I know her better than these monkeys and told me for something adrenaline filled to which Sid replied pottery class. I wonder who hurt him?

I did write down George’s idea of sex practice class which I first thought was just a joke. But when I looked it up, it existed. I don’t even want to know why he knew about that class. But that class is for couples who are looking to reignite their passion which is definitely not an issue when it comes to us. The issue for us is how do we control it?

After all the debating, I settled on arcade. We’d have different options. And plus there is a bowling alley right next to it. And I happen to be good at bowling. Maybe I’ll make a good impression.

◆◆◆

She is kicking my ass at bowling. But one thing that I get a kick out of is when he bends down to pick the ball, her skinny jeans squeeze around her ass and it is the most beautiful picture.

She jumps around and screams and does her victory dance after she scores the fifth spare of the match. And I have to say that she is amazing. But I’m not far behind.

I pick up the ball and slide it along. Spare! She snorts and rolls her eyes. It’s my fifth spare. But she is a couple points ahead of me. “Not so fast, baby.”

“Oh! We’ll see… This is not my best. I can do much better.” She did not tell me not to call her baby. I can’t believe that I am happy over the fact that someone is letting me call her baby.

“I’m going to kick your ass in air hockey.”

She sticks out her tongue. “I’d like to see you try.” She’s competitive. I love that about her. She challenges me. And as a sportsman, I love it.

She is beating me at air hockey too. “There’s something wrong with my disk.” I picked it up to see. There is nothing wrong with my disk. It’s the fact that I hate losing.

“You are such a sore loser.” she chuckles. “I can’t believe that you are an athlete.” She's laughing out loud now.

“‘I believe that losing is a choice and I don’t like it. I love winning.” I fly the plastic puck towards her and score.

“That does not count. You cheated!”

“All is fair is love and war.”

“Oh! This is war…” It gets a little intense when playing air hockey and we even shoo away the four kids who wanted to play it. Well, I don't. Alright, I did too. I want to win. Like I said, I can’t help that I am competitive. It’s in my blood. It’s in my sport.

“Haa! I won!” I throw the disc on the board and throw my hands up in the air. I shoot her airguns and she rolls her eyes. She is a sore loser, just like me. God, she looks cute when pissed. I know I said that I’d keep my hands to myself, but it’s getting more and more difficult to do so. “I told you that I’d beat your ass.” her eyes jolt up when I say that. She’s trying so hard not to blush. God I love that dirty mind of hers. Maybe she liked being spanked? Making a mental note to try that next time.

“What are you thinking about?” I tease her.

“There are people around, or else, I’d show you.” Where has she been all this time? I love her confidence. Fuck! That’s what makes her even more sexy.

“I’ll make sure to rent the entire place next time.” I wink at her. “Are you hungry?” We’ve been playing for hours because we both didn’t want to give up.

She pouts and nods her head.

“Let’s get you fed.” I wrap my arm around her and lead her through the arcade. It feels fun to be around her. She makes me happy. And hard.

We put on our winter coats and I drive us to a soccer bar. They have good food and I figured that she might be into the idea of watching soccer. Or as she calls it “The real football”.

We sit by a booth which has a good view of the match. “Now these are my people. Who came here to watch real football!” I am too tempted to roll my eyes out of my eye socket.

“Want a drink?”

“I’m not 21.”

“Oh!”

She takes off her coat to reveal her white top. “Yeah. But you can have one if you want. I’m not much of a drinker anyway.” It is loose around her shoulders and puts her cleavage on display. I haven’t been able to take my eyes off them since I first saw her. She looks around. “This is not what I expected from you though.”

I panic. I made a backup reservation at the French place which is just a fifteen minute drive from here. “You don’t like it?”

She chuckles looking at me in panic. “I love it. I mean, last time we went to this fancy place.”

“That wasn’t a date though.” I corrected her. I was just trying to show off back then. But we ended up having a good conversation about everything.

“So, tell me about your family.” I ask her as we scan through the menu.

She rests her elbow on the table and leans forward, readying herself. “After my dad didn’t feel like coming back, because it felt like home, he decided to stay there. Sold the business he had here and started another one with his two brothers. I live with all my cousins and my uncles and aunts in this huge mansion and I am a huge family person.”

“How many people live in the house then?”

Her eyes wander and she starts counting on her finger, my eyes widen after she counts seven but she keeps going. “Thirteen…wait. No. Now it’s twelve. Including me and Maura. One of my cousins got married.”

I cannot imagine how lonely it must be feeling living with just one roommate compared to how many people she grew up with! From the looks of it, her face lights up when she talks about her family. She must be missing them! “Damn! That’s a lot of people.”

“What about you?” she asks me cheerfully. I don’t want to ruin the mood by getting into my family history. My family is not as cheerful as hers. At least not anymore.

“Are you guys ready to order?” The waitress comes to take our order. We order food and I am hoping that Riya has forgotten about her question.

“So… Are you going to tell me?”

I chug on the cold water. “I mean you can find my family on google.”

She rolls her eyes and huffs sarcastically. “Of course, ‘Mr. I’m famous’. But I’d rather know about it from you.” She leans closer to the centre as if waiting for me to begin.

I clear my throat. I guess there is nobody who understands me more than her, so screw it! I’ll just tell her. “I have a father who was a NFL star. That’s all. We were a happy family. When my mother was alive.”

She nods, carefully listening. And I can’t help but feel warm at someone’s genuine interest in me. In my story where my father is not the centre of attention. “What was she like?” She seems genuinely interested and her smile makes me want to talk more.

Every time I’ve mentioned my mother, I’ve only ever gotten pity from everyone. Even from my father. So, it made me not want to talk about it at all. No one wanted to talk to me about her, not even dad, because they thought that it’d hurt me more. In fact what hurt me more all these years is not being able to talk about her without getting pity from the other person.

So I tell her. I tell her all the memories that I can think of. All the memories I cherish! “She was a dedicated coder. Taught me so much about it. Coding takes me back to those days. When she would fight with my dad for my time and teach me how to code. They would play board games and whoever would win, would teach me their skill. It was fun for me. It’s not like they ever forced me to do it. I was genuinely interested in football and coding both.”

She reaches for my hand and gives it a squeeze. “That sounds so sweet.”

I continue reminiscing about the bittersweet memory. “My mom would make these tacos almost every Thursday. It was a tradition in our house. I guess it was because I loved tacos and if I ate a lot, I’d sleep right there and then. So they would feed me a lot of tacos and dad would carry me to bed and they would have their ‘private time’” I do the air quotes and she chuckles, still holding onto my hand. “When I understood what they were doing, I felt yucked out and would still pretend that I was sleepy and go away.” I laugh now. I hadn’t thought about that memory for a long long time.

“How’d you know what they were doing?”

“I once ate less because I wasn’t feeling that well and pretended to fall asleep. I came back down and they were half naked making out on the couch. I didn’t make a sound and walked back upstairs and swore to never stay up late on Taco Thursdays.” she taps on the table as she laughs out loud.

She smiles at me like she sees me. She sees the person I am. Not the son of a NFL celebrity and not the captain of the football team of Winston. She sees me as James. Her smile makes me smile. “Your parents sound like they were so in love!”

My smile fades immediately and I feel my heart race. “They were. Until…” I take a deep breath in.

“You can tell me some other time…there’s no rush.” She reads my mind. Nobody knows about what happened. Not the media. No one. “So, do you still have taco Thursdays with your dad?” There's a brief pause from my side. And it gets a little awkward. Because ever since that incident me and my father have drifted apart a little. Okay, we have drifted apart a lot.

“No. I don’t” I say without any emotion whatsoever and Riya reaches for her glass.

“What’s your favourite cuisine?” she folds her hands and raises her brow.

“Why? Will you cook it for me?” I tease her. I loved it when she cooked breakfast for us. I’m saying that because it was a nice break from the mediocre tasting protein pancakes that Sid shoves down our throat because he is a fucking health nut.

“Maybe.”

“I love French cuisine.” I tell her and she immediately hisses and shakes her head in disappointment.

I get that a lot. I cannot handle too much spice. Only in food.

My mother used to cook French food in our house every other day. It somehow became my favourite food. “So, you basically like bland food?” she snorts.

I correct her quickly. “It lets the main ingredient shine. And it's definitely healthier than Indian food!” That gets me an eye roll.

She retaliates back! “Sweetheart…” Holy fucking shit! The way it rolls off her tongue, makes me want to jump over and take her right here. “The Indian food you’re referring to, doesn’t even scrape the surface. It’s not Indian food. I mean it is, but that’s not all the Indian food there is in the world.”

“That’s all that Sid cooks. He likes to call it our ‘cheat meals’” I use air quotes.

We bicker for sometime about Indian food and French food. And Raven promises to cook for me to prove me wrong. I am really looking forward to it.

I settle the bill which of course she fights me on. I tell her to get it next time and she laughs. It slightly bruised my ego but when I realised that she’s just teasing me, I ran after her in the parking lot. She’s swift like a deer but I finally catch her and tickle her into agreeing into going on another date with me.

Who knew dates could be so fun? Usually they would just be a lot of awkwardness, suit and tie and a fancy meal. But look at us! I’m in my jeans and a t-shirt and she’s wearing jeans and a shirt. This is perfect! This is so comfortable! She is my comfort person.

I drive her back to her house and she picks the music on the way. It starts with MJ hits and then she does a 180 and plays Bollywood music, which I don’t understand a word of, but the music…it’s so peaceful! And sounds…rusty and old. But peaceful old. She vibes to the music and smiles and explains to me some of her favourite lines. I don’t know why the road is so empty because we reach her house so fast. I drove below the speed limit all the way too! But because I am a gentleman I get out and open the door for her.

She steps out of the door and rubs her hand together because it’s windy and freezing. She looks like she’s wanting to say something but is hesitating. And I realise that I should end it with a kiss, right? I mean that’s what I’ve seen in the movies!

She finally speaks after some glances. “I had fun tonight. Really. Beating your ass in bowling was the highlight of my month.” My heart flutters. I have known her only for a month. Because for some stupid reason I was living under a rock!

“And beating your ass in air hockey was the highlight of mine.” I stuff my hands in my pocket. It’s freezing and I don’t have my jacket on.

“I thought it was winning the game last week!”

I forgot for a second that we had won the game. I don’t know why that win didn’t matter as much. I mean of course it did matter for my career. It helped me draw the attention of some potential NFL teams, but personally it didn’t change much for me. “It’s right after the hockey thing. You are such a sore loser…” I snort remembering her face when she’d lost. Her cute and mad face suddenly mattered more to me than any trophy.

“Says you. You are an even bigger sore loser.” she huffs and white air escapes her mouth. The mouth that I have been dying to kiss the entire night.

“Come here…” I pull her in my arms and she’s acting cute and pissed.

“I thought you said you’d keep our hands to yourself.”

“I never said anything about my mouth.” A wicked grin appears on her face. Fuck, I am a goner.

“Good.” she pulls my head down on to her mouth and her lips crash on mine.

It’s so warm and sweet. Her touch, her scent, her taste. “Fuck. I want you so bad…” I say against her lips.

She pulls away. “Lock your car.” And I do exactly that. She leads me to her apartment. Which is silent when she opens the door for me. “Juju is crashing at Jake’s place tonight.” She flicks the light on.

“Which bedroom is yours?” I ask her as we upstairs. She opens the door for me and I see stuffed animals. Half her bed is full of stuffed animals. “Cute.” I take a look around. I see some designer stuff. Books. A lot of books. And her desk is cluttered with textbooks and makeup and jewellery.

“Sorry for the mess. I have an exam coming up and I was getting ready and all this.'' She picks up her purse from her bed and moves to keep it on the chair but it falls off the chair and empties its contents out. Something purple catches my eye and I bend down to pick it up immediately.

She races to pick it up first but I snatch it.

I’m glad I got it first. I hold the purple vibrator in my hands. She seems flustered when I trace my hands along the length of the silicone. “How often do you use it?” I’m dying to know if she’s ever thought of me when using it and just that thought gets me hard.

She gets up and meets my eye and walks towards me. “Everytime I think of you.” I squeeze my ass cheeks tight so that I don’t nut in my pants. I’m that hard right now.

She walks close to me and closes any gap between us. Her breasts press against my chest and I feel her warm breath on my body. Too close. I am too close. She is too close. Her eyes do not stray away from mine. “Get on the bed.” I command and she obeys and gets on the bed and starts stripping. I waste no time either.

I strip naked and push the soft toys off the bed and prop myself on top of her. “Let me know if it’s too much, okay?” she nods her head. I crash my mouth on her. And it’s like our tongues were destined to be together because they get along so well. One hand playing with her breast and another reaching down to her pussy.

I take her breast in my mouth and she moans my name.

“You look so beautiful, Raven. ”