Had she gotten distracted by Xander? She’d said he was just giving her the tour as a favor to her dad, but what if it was actually more than that?
The coach went over our strategy for the last half of the game and soon we were headed back out to finish. Coach put Carter, Mack, and me on the floor with Edgar and Dallas. I was completely immersed in the game until the other team called a time-out and I happened to look out at the crowd at the same time that Scarlett walked through the doors and sat in an empty seat near the top.
Her gaze seemed to go in my direction briefly, and I felt breathless for a reason that had nothing to do with the exercise this game was giving me.
She came.
She made it.
We all played our best for the rest of the game, and when the final buzzer sounded, Eden Falls Academy was in the lead, 59-53.
The Eden Falls fans roared with a cheer, and before I knew it, the whole basketball court was filling with students and parents all congratulating my teammates and me on a game well played.
My dad hugged me and told me what a great job I’d done and said that as soon as I was showered and ready, they wanted to take me out to dinner to celebrate.
“Just be thinking about where you want to eat tonight and we’ll go there,” Mom said, giving me a hug. “I’m so proud of you, honey. You did such a great job out there.”
“Thanks,” I said, returning her embrace. “It was a good game.”
I pulled away from her a second later, and that was when I saw Scarlett standing behind Bash, looking like she might be waiting to say something to me.
“Hey,” I said, not exactly sure what to do.
“Hi.” She looked down, her hands wringing together. Then meeting my gaze again with her beautiful brown eyes, she said, “Y-you played so well tonight. Congrats on the win.”
“Thank you,” I said, feeling my cheeks warm a little because I was still unsure of where we stood. “I’m glad you could make it.”
“Me too.” She nodded. “I got stuck in traffic so I was late, but I’m glad I got to see at least half of it.”
My mom stepped up by my side. She turned to Scarlett and said, “Have you eaten yet? We’re planning to head out to dinner after this, and if you aren’t in too big of a hurry to get back to Eden Falls, we’d love to have you join us.”
“Oh, um...” Scarlett glanced at me, like she wasn’t sure what she should do. And I realized that I probably should have told my mom that things had been off between Scarlett and me lately.
But since it actually would be nice to have Scarlett there, I said, “I was thinking we should just stay close and eat at one of the restaurants in the building. You should come.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, still looking apprehensive.
To which my mom said, “You’re practically family, so of course you should come.”
* * *
Dinner was delicious,and it was nice sitting by Scarlett again and actually talking. The dinner conversation started out somewhat awkwardly, since my parents had asked what kinds of things Scarlett and I had been doing together lately…which was hard to explain when the only things we’d been doing the past few weeks was simply existing side by side but not really talking.
But once the entrees came and Dad and Bash started telling jokes, we were able to loosen up enough that whenever our legs bumped under the table, I no longer felt like I needed to apologize for each accidental touch. By the end of dinner, I was able to relax and think about how comforting it was to celebrate the end of an amazing basketball season with the beautiful girl whom I’d known for most of my life.
“How did you get here?” Scarlett asked me as we walked out of the building later.
“I rode the bus to the game with the rest of the team,” I said, hitching my duffel bag higher on my shoulder as we stepped into the car garage.
“So you didn’t bring your car?”
“No.” I pointed my thumb over my shoulder to where my parents and Bash were walking behind us. “I was planning to get a ride back with my family.”
Eden Falls wasn’t too far out of their way on their drive back to Manhattan.
“Do you want to ride back with me?” She glanced up at me, meeting my gaze in the dim lighting. “It would save your parents from having to backtrack to Eden Falls on their way home.”
“You don’t mind the extra company?” I asked, just to give her a way out in case she was simply offering to be nice.
