Page 10

THEO

I didn’t have to think about it for even a second. As soon as my eyes landed on her, I knew I was looking at Maya. It’d been almost two full weeks since I’d seen her, but I’d had a photo of her face permanently ingrained in my head just in case we happened to cross paths again.

And sure enough, there she was.

She was sitting with her blonde friend, who was animatedly talking to her about something she was looking at on the court.

Maya didn’t seem to be listening to her; instead, her attention was directed fully at me.

Or maybe GJ. But based on the way our eyes stayed locked on each other, I could only assume she’d been looking specifically for me.

For the first time ever in my basketball career—even going back to when I was a kid, a preteen, a teenager—my heart skipped a beat on the court.

Maya actually came to see me play.

I didn’t get nervous out here. I’d gotten nervous before games before, and I got nervous about games, but the second I was on the court, every worry turned to white noise.

Anxiety turned into the excitement of getting to play the sport that I loved.

And I was good ; I’d always been good. I had no reason to ever feel nervous out here.

Maya gave me more than enough reason, however.

We held each other’s gazes for what had to have been an eternity.

I couldn’t bring myself to look away. I wanted to go run up to her, wanted to say hi.

I thought about waving, but I didn’t want to embarrass myself like that, especially not when I knew everyone in the stands was looking down here at me and my team.

I desperately wished there was a way to get her to stay and make sure she came down after the game to see me. I needed some kind of signal, some way to let her know that I was happy to see her beyond just a passing smile. I couldn’t let her go again.

She was somehow even more beautiful the second time around, so much better than the mental image I’d had of her in my head.

It was hard to make out the exact details from so far, but I could see bits and pieces.

Her makeup was different this time, a little lighter, and she was wearing a Lakeside Green t-shirt.

Her hair was down and less wavy than it had been at the party.

GJ nudged me, and I snapped back into reality. Even though it felt like I’d been staring at Maya for a lifetime, we’d only been on the court for a minute or two.

“You ready for this, McCall?” GJ asked, clapping her hands together. She stood up and shook out her body. “Your girl is here. You need to put on a show for her.”

I shook my head. “Not my girl. ”

“Right. Like you’re not staring longingly up at the student section. Or maybe you’re just eyeing the fat heads of my beautiful face.”

“Why would I do that when I can stare at the real thing right here?”

GJ threw her body forward as she laughed. “Funny as hell, McCall. I do not give you enough credit for that.”

The starting lineup—Coach Darlene wasn’t taking any risks today with who was on the court unless she had to, the game was too important—got up and took position on the court.

Reasonably, we’d all been ripped a new one when we were in the locker room. The game was a lot closer than anyone wanted it to be, and our ability to pull this off would be an indicator of what the rest of the season would look like. The last two quarters needed to be tight.

And even though GJ had been teasing me about Maya being there, she was right—I wanted to impress her. If I had any shot of getting to know her more, I couldn’t let her think I was all talk.

The game started up, all of us practically frozen in place until the ball was tossed in the air to signal the start of the game.

When I was playing, nothing really existed anymore other than the court and the ball.

I saw it all happening nearly in slow motion; I knew who needed to be where, how to get the ball where it needed to go, and who could take an assist to get the ball in.

I prided myself on being an excellent shot, but also someone who knew we were playing a team sport.

It wasn’t all about me, even when people who critiqued me tried to make it that way.

“Come on, baby. Let me see it,” GJ yelled.

I knew from her tone she was trash talking the other team.

She was an expert at avoiding technicals and the decibel of her natural speaking voice was that of a professional stage actor.

Few people were as loud as she was on a court. I fought off a smile listening to her.

Mags started with the ball, throwing it hard in Gemma’s direction.

From there, we were off to the races. There was awareness in the back of my mind that Maya was watching me, but it didn’t throw me off my game.

If anything, I played with more pride and more fun than I usually did.

Rather than occasionally stepping back and sticking to something more basic and less risky, I went for half-court threes.

I could tell I was showing off, and the crowd could, too. They loved it. Every time the ball was in my hands, everyone waited to see what I was going to do next. I could see it in their faces, hear it in the way they all cheered when the ball dropped into the net.

The sound of everyone cheering for our team was the best kind of high.

I let myself get lost in it, quickly bringing the score from only being a few points away to gaining a solid eighteen-point lead toward the end of the third quarter.

I’d probably feel bad after the game for being a showoff, but I had nothing to feel bad about right now.

As the clock ticked down, I went for a hook shot that landed just as the buzzer went off. The crowd went to their feet as if it’d been the game-winning shot, and I turned to see if Maya had stood up, too. Across the way, I saw her standing with her friend, both of them clapping and cheering.

As the quarter wrapped up and the team ran for their huddle, I took my moment to enjoy it. I threw my arms up, encouraging the crowd to cheer even louder than before. It was exactly the kind of love that the team needed to hear to close out the game.

When I turned and saw Maya again, her eyes still locked on me, I flashed her an easy smile over my shoulder. Deep in the throes of a game, I wasn’t nervous about what she thought. This was my arena, my stage, my sport. I had no reason to second-guess myself out here.

We breezed through the fourth quarter. I loved to win but I hated the end of a game; I wanted to be out on the court for as long as I physically could.

There were practice days where I found myself unable to leave, wanting to push myself harder and harder not because anyone asked me to, but because I wanted to.

Basketball was my passion, hobby, and career. It was the one true love of my life.

The game closed with an easy 80-68. It was about as close as everyone imagined the score would be, and the stats for our team looked good. I knew Coach Darlene was still going to have a fuck ton of notes for us and was never going to let us get off easily, but it was a strong start to the season.

“Yeah, baby! That’s what I’m talking about!” GJ said, slapping her hand to my back. “We’re getting a motherfucking ring this year! ”

I laughed, wiping sweat from my forehead with my jersey. “One game at a time.”

“Nah, I am not taking that.” She shook her head. “Come on. Let me hear it.”

I rolled my eyes but didn’t really mean it. I smiled as I said, “We’re getting a ring this year.”

She threw her arm over my shoulder, pulling me into her chest. “We’re getting a fucking ring this year!” she cheered. As she launched into a round of singing “We Are the Champions,” I got pulled to the side to talk to a commenter about the win.

I never minded doing a post-game interview but today, I was feeling antsy about catching Maya before she left.

I didn’t want her to think I wasn’t going to say anything to her.

I didn’t have a phone number or any of her social media to reach her.

I’d just have to hope she’d keep showing up.

And if I didn’t catch her after this game, there was no way she was coming to any of them in the future.

I couldn’t risk her thinking that I didn’t care that she came.

The interview was fast, the same usual talk of plays in the game, what the season was going to look like for us.

Despite the media training and practice we received, I never really knew what to say.

I was always proud of my team, even when we lost. And I didn’t really know how to explain what plays we did when or why I went for something; the sport was purely instinct and muscle memory at this point.

I didn’t know how to explain my decision making to anyone else.

I went for the three because I knew I could make the three; it was always as simple as that.

When the interview wrapped up, I headed over to the student section. Despite wanting to play it cool, I knew there was nothing cool about being the person looking for someone else. I didn’t need to see my face to know I probably looked a little desperate.

“Maya!” I yelled when I spotted her. She’d been in the process of putting on her coat; I’d caught her at just the right time. She looked around, trying to find the source of my voice. “Maya!”

She finally looked down at the court and saw me standing by the metal divider between the bleachers and the courtside seats.

It was the closest we could get without me taking the steps up into the bleachers or her coming down onto the floor.

Her friend looked down at me and smiled before pushing Maya off toward me.

Maya brushed past people and floated down the steps, closer to the barricade.

When she made it down to the lowest level, she put her hands on the metal and leaned toward me.

She was even more beautiful up close. Her hazel eyes flashed with green, reflecting off the green of her shirt.

Her cheeks had the tiniest bit of pink to them from the heat of being in the packed arena.

“What’d you think?” I asked and wiped sweat from my forehead. It was an unfortunate reminder that I was, of course, drenched in sweat while talking to the girl of my dreams.

“That was pretty incredible,” she admitted. “Congrats on your first triple-double of the season.”

I broke out into such a stupid grin that I had to turn my face away from her.

I knew I didn’t have long—I had to meet with Coach Darlene and our team in the locker room, prepare for our post-game press conference, shower.

And then the team usually did something together after a game, so my entire night was booked out.

But I wanted whatever time I could get here with her.

“I didn’t think you were a basketball fan,” I said.

“I’m not, Iris told me to say that,” she replied. “I still don’t really know what that means. But it sounds impressive.”

My lips turned up in a smile. “It’s something.”

Maya cracked a smile. “I want to say you’re going to be the next big thing, but I think you already are the big thing. National celebrity status.”

“Just here to play ball.”

“Of course.”

“Yo, McCall! Get over here!”

“Shit,” I muttered under my breath. I turned to see my teammates heading off. GJ was already getting corralled for the panel. I turned to Gemma, who’d been the one to call out for me. “One sec!”

“Busy bee,” Maya said.

I didn’t have time to play coy; I had one shot with her before she might be gone again. “You coming to the next one?”

“You want me to?”

My lips perked up into another smile as I started backing my way toward my team. I wanted to ask for her number, or at the very least some kind of social media account, but I didn’t have my phone on me. “I don’t have much time to talk now, but DM me. I want to see you.”

“I’ll consider,” Maya said, which was about as much as I could hope for from a girl who said she didn’t date. At least we both knew I wasn’t afraid to compete for something; I always liked a challenge.

I smiled at her before turning back toward my team, jogging to meet them. As I was about to get moved through the tunnel and toward the locker room, I turned back to see Maya still looking over at me as she headed back up the stairs toward her friend.

Even if she didn’t DM me or come to any of my other games, I’d at least always have that mental image.