Dating: One on One: Eastridge Heights Basketball Book 1

by Stephanie Street

  “Just come over. It’ll be fun.” I wanted her to come over. In fact, if she didn’t come swim, I’d be tempted to take back my invitation for the guys. I wouldn’t actually do it, but I’d be tempted.

  I watched the battle wage in her eyes. I knew she was thinking about our kiss and probably wondering what was going through my mind. I wasn’t going to tell her.

  “Please.”

  “Guys, let’s go! Meet at our house in fifteen,” Luke’s voice broke the connection between us.

  “I’ll follow you guys there, then you can follow me to my house,” I called out, my eyes never leaving her.

  Piper turned away to follow her brother and his friends, leaving me with nothing to do but go to my car and drive to Luke’s house. At least, I would know where she lived.

  Not that I needed to know, I reminded myself.

  Damn. When did I become such an ass? I should just let Piper go home and leave her alone. I should just forget about that kiss and how hot she looked making a jump shot. I wasn’t going to date her. I wasn’t going to get involved with her.

  “Piper,” I called out as I reached for the handle on my car door. She looked at me over her shoulder.

  Chapter 5

  Piper

  He called my name. He didn’t say anything, just stood there at his car watching me walk away. For some reason, even though I didn’t really know him, I knew what he was saying with that look. He wanted me to come with the guys to his house. And I was tempted. All the flirting on the basketball court had my nerves on end. What was he playing at, anyway?

  I turned away and continued to walk with the guys toward home. A few of us lived within walking distance but there were some that would have to drive home before meeting back at my house.

  Twenty minutes later Luke pounded on my door. “Piper, let’s go. Everybody’s ready.”

  Trembling, I pulled a tank top over the bikini Dannika had talked me into buying before she left for the summer. I still hadn’t worn it. I was used to wearing t-shirts and shorts, just like the guys had teased me about. Swimsuits were so annoying. As tall as I was, a one-piece was uncomfortable, fitting too short through the torso leaving me with a perma-wedgie. I’d had a couple of tankini’s over the years but in a moment of insanity I’d allowed Dannika to talk me into a bikini that showed off more skin than I’d ever done before.

  I felt sick. Was I really going to do this? It would be bad enough wearing the skimpy fabric in front of our friends- guys I’d known all my life- but in front of Drew? Just the thought of it had me close to passing out.

  “You can do this,” I whispered to myself, taking one last look in the mirror.

  “Piper!” Luke’s voice echoed up the stairs as his feet pounded down.

  “Alright, I’m coming!” I opened my door and headed down the stairs.

  The guys waited in the driveway. Luke sat in the driver's seat of the old model Jeep Wrangler we shared. He’d taken off the sides leaving everything open. All the seats were full.

  “Luke, what the heck?” It was an unspoken rule that the passenger seat was mine.

  “You can ride with Will or Drew,” he waved me off without remorse. He’d kicked me out of my own car!

  I gave him the death glare. The one that let him know I was not happy and he’d pay later. He just smiled, the jerk.

  “You riding with me, Pipe?” Will hung half out of the driver’s side window, torso bare.

  The other front seat was occupied. I’d have to sit in the back. Taking a deep breath, I glanced toward Drew’s hot rod muscle car. It made the Jeep and Will’s Ford look like pieces of crap. But at least the front seat was empty. I wondered how he’d kept the guys from getting in his car.

  “Think I’ll ride with Drew.” Though the thought terrified me. “That okay with you?”

  Instead of answering, Drew leaned over to open the passenger side door from the inside. “Hop in,” he commanded when I hesitated. I really was going to kill my brother for this.

  “Thanks.” I slipped into the front seat. The sorry excuse for a back seat was empty except for a gym bag and, of course, a basketball.

  “You guys ready,” Drew called out his open window to Luke and Will. Both nodded and Drew led the other two out of our neighborhood.

  We were silent as he wove through the side streets lined with middle class homes. The radio quietly played Top 40 music. That surprised me, I expected heavy metal or alternative. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the tattoos on his forearms move across his muscles as he drove.

  Drew cleared his throat before he began speaking. “So, uh, about the other night-”

  I rushed stop him. “It’s no big deal.”

  We were stopped at a light. Drew glared at me. “No big deal? You let guys you don’t know kiss you like that often?”

  I blushed to the roots of my hair and hoped he wouldn’t notice. I shrugged. “Maybe I do.”

  He didn’t need to know it wasn’t normal for random guys to kiss me. It wasn’t even normal for guys I did know to kiss me. Either way, I didn’t want him to think he’d gotten to me. Even though he had. Big time. More than anything, I wish I understood why he’d done it and what it meant to him. If it meant anything at all. I’d been worrying almost non-stop about what that kiss was.

  Drew continued to glared at me until the light turned green. “Oh, well, good. I won’t worry about apologizing then.”

  “Don’t sweat it. I’m not.” That was the biggest whopper I’d ever told in my entire life. I’d done nothing but sweat it over that kiss since it happened. But I wasn’t going to admit it. Ever.

  “Okay. Good.” He nodded, his eyes trained on the road in front of him.

  “Good.” I nodded for good measure.

  We were quiet again and I became aware of my surroundings. Drew had driven a few miles from my house and was turning into the elite neighborhood of Shady Acres.

  Holy. Crap.

  I’d never even driven through Shady Acres, let alone known anyone who lived there. The community itself wasn’t gated, but each of the drives had a gate and keypad. Drew drove past several homes before turning down a secluded lane. At the end, a sprawling mansion emerged from the midst of perfectly manicured shade trees. Pulling up to the keypad, he entered a code and waited for the gate to slide open. He quickly drove through, waving the two cars behind us to follow.

  “Wow.” I couldn’t have stopped the word from slipping past my lips if I’d tried, even if it made me seem country and small town. “This is your house?”

  Drew’s lips twisted in a semblance of a smile. “Home, sweet home.”

  I dragged my awed gaze from the house to look at him closely. Tension rimmed his eyes and his hands gripped the steering wheel with more force than necessary for the ten-mile-per-hour drive to the house.

  Huh.

  Drew

  The guys were falling all over themselves trying to get a look at everything. I tried to see the house and grounds from their perspective. It was pretty incredible.

  With a sigh, I opened my car door and got out. I felt like I should open Piper’s door, but she beat me to it and I had a feeling it wouldn’t have been the right thing to do under the circumstances. My mind kept playing our conversation on the drive over. After kissing her, I would never have guessed she was very experienced. Shaking my head, I wondered why I even cared.

  “Dude, are you kidding me?” Will’s eyes were as round as saucers.

  “Seriously, man, I can’t believe this place. You live here?” Noah couldn’t drag his gaze from the full basketball and tennis courts visible to the side of the house. There was also a putting green and soccer goals.

  “Yep.” I wish I knew what had possessed me to invite everyone over here. I was usually a lot more cautious about letting anyone into my life at home. I could count on one hand the number of times I’d invited friends in Colorado over to our house and I’d lived there all my life up until three weeks ago when we moved to Indiana.

&
nbsp; Piper. It was all her fault.

  “Holy shit balls, Drew.” Grayson had his face smashed against the window on the garage. “How many cars are in there, anyway?”

  I shrugged. I didn’t know anymore. Dad had left a few back at our house in Colorado. “My dad collects cars.” Cars and women. “Come on. The pool’s this way.” I led them around the side of the house. A veranda wrapped around the back and led to a custom-built swimming pool fed by a waterfall. A diving board hung over the deep end and, of course, a basketball goal was bolted at the other.

  I watched Piper’s reaction, but other than a brief widening of her eyes when she saw the pool, she was closed off. I wished I could read her better.

  “Cannon ball!” Zeke, who seemed to be the biggest clown of the group, stripped off his shirt and ran full speed toward the pool, executing a spectacular cannon ball. The splash wet the cement all around the pool.

  “Zeke, you big idiot,” Luke shouted as soon as Zeke’s head reemerged.

  Zeke ignored the comment and floated on his back. “Come on in, boys. The water’s just fine.”

  Shaking my head, I watched as the other guys kicked off shoes and ripped off shirts. Yelling, they each cannon balled into the pool.

  Zeke, screaming like a girl, set his feet on the bottom of the pool to keep from getting smashed by his friends.

  “Dammit, A.J.!” Zeke pushed at A.J.’s shoulder once A.J. surfaced a few inches from Zeke and a splashing fight ensued.

  Rolling my eyes at their antics, I turned to gauge Piper’s reaction to it all. Her teeth tugged at her full bottom lip, drawing my attention, while her eyes danced with a mix of humor and exasperation.

  “You gonna get in,” I asked, not willing to admit, even to myself, how much I was looking forward to seeing what she looked like in her swimsuit.

  Piper shook her head. “I think I’ll wait until they calm down.”

  I couldn’t blame her. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought they were trying to show off for a pretty girl, but I knew from experience these guys didn’t look at Piper that way, so that meant they were just idiots.

  “I’m gonna go change. There are drinks in the mini-bar.” I pointed to the bar tucked under the veranda and then made my way to the back door, leaving a wide-eyed Piper at the edge of the pool.

  Chapter 6

  Piper

  Mini-bar? I wondered what kind of drinks were in there. I could have used a water after dumping mine all over Jared earlier, but I didn’t want to draw attention to the mini-bar in case there was alcohol in there. These guys were bad enough sober.

  I was still in awe of Drew’s house and I wondered what his dad did for a living.

  “Can you believe this place,” Noah asked from the edge of the pool, his arms crossed on the ledge while his legs floated out behind him.

  “No kidding. Who is this guy?” I left my cut off shorts and tank on over my swimsuit but sat on the edge and dipped my feet into the cool water. “Ooh, that feels good.”

  “Yeah, I hate August. I always think July is the hottest, then August comes around to prove me wrong.” Noah rolled over, hooking the back of his head over the ledge and gripping it with his fingers over his shoulders, floating on his back. Noah was a good guy. One of the few of the basketball players I really liked rather than just tolerated. He was a bit intense but that happened to be one of the things I appreciated about him.

  Last year we’d been paired up in Spanish for this huge project that required a presentation in front of the whole class. Noah worked tirelessly on his part and we’d gotten an A. Since then we’d become pretty good friends.

  “At least you don’t play football. Every time I drive passed the school this time of year, I feel so bad for those guys.” Two-a-days had started a week ago. One of my other friends, Kaylee Martin, had an older brother who was on the team. I went to her house one day last week to find Mason crashed on the couch in the middle of the day, his sweaty hair matted to his forehead still wearing his football pants, pads and all.

  “Seriously. I’m so glad I quit after freshman year.” A lot of the guys who played for our high school basketball team had grown up also playing football. Football had really taken an upward swing the last few years in Indiana and a lot of parents pushed their kids to play. But in our hometown, it was all about the basketball. We’d won five State Championships in the last seven years and had more than the average number of players go on to play for Division 1 college teams. Most of our guys quit football in high school, opting to play for travelling basketball teams before the school season started.

  “So, what do you think? Drug dealer or mafia,” I asked, jerking my head toward the house.

  Noah snorted. “There’s no mafia in Indy, Pipe.”

  “We’re close enough to Chicago!”

  His expression said more than any words could have. “He’s probably pharmaceuticals.”

  “See! Drug dealer,” I laughed.

  Noah rolled his eyes and flicked water in my face.

  Before we could say anything more, the sliding glass door to the house opened and Drew stepped out.

  Against my will, my breath caught in my throat. He really was something. His tall, muscular body drew my gaze like flies to honey. I could stare at him all day. He’d played enough basketball with his shirt off that his skin was a deep bronze. His swim trunks rode low on his hips, exposing a band of bright white skin that hadn’t seen the sun yet this summer.

  Walking to the mini-bar, he opened a door I couldn’t see and reached in for a water bottle. Catching me looking at him, he raised a brow. I nodded and he retrieved a second bottle. With self-control I didn’t know I had, I turned away, denying myself the opportunity to watch as he walked toward the pool. Instead, I focused on the tomfoolery going on in the water. With the exception of Noah, my brother and his friends were acting like they’d never been in a pool before- dunking each other and generally making a lot of noise and splashing.

  “Why am I friends with them,” Noah groaned.

  “Because they play decent ball,” Drew answered as he settled on the concrete ledge beside me, handing me the water.

  “Their only redeeming quality,” Noah quipped.

  I had to agree. I loved Luke, he was my brother after all, but the other guys- again, with the exception of Noah- were a bunch of cavemen.

  The boys located a basket on the side of the pool filled with tennis balls.

  “Dodgeball,” Grayson shouted, picking up the basket and dumping the balls into the water.

  Luke glanced toward us. “Noah, you have to play or we’re uneven.”

  Beside me, Noah sighed. “Why does it always have to be a game with you guys? Can’t we ever just relax?”

  Ten balls were hurled in Noah’s direction, as they all shouted at him. I tucked my legs up as a shield, leaning away from Noah which brought me into contact with Drew. I tried not think about that fact as my arm and shoulder were pressed against him, his bare skin soft and warm against mine.

  “Stop being so lame!”

  “You gonna sunbathe like some damn girl!”

  The tennis balls didn’t stop coming at us. Finally, I kicked at Noah’s hand until he let go of the ledge.

  “Go play so they’ll stop.”

  Glaring at me, Noah dropped his feet to the floor of the pool. He reached for all the tennis balls floating around him, loading up with ammunition.

  “That’s it,” Noah grunted launching tennis balls as hard as he could throw them at the other guys.

  It was on. They quickly split into teams and an epic dodgeball battle ensued.

  Drew and I sat on the edge of the pool alternately rooting for or against our friends. Mostly cheering for the best hits.

  “Oooh,” we both said at the same time after a particularly hard throw from Will hit Luke’s upper arm which immediately turned red.

  “Man, that had to hurt,” Drew hissed.

  “Poor Luke,” I sympathized in a rare moment of twi
n solidarity. “Hit him back, Luke!”

  It was hard to get back in the game in swimming pool dodgeball. You had to swim passed the other team to tap the ledge behind them and then get back out of enemy territory. Since the player was already out all the other team could do was slow them down, which wasn’t hard to do.

  Luke dove under water and swam the whole way to the other side without anyone really paying attention and tapped the wall. He came up for a breath and then dove down again. No one even noticed.

  “Watch Luke.” I tapped Drew’s arm with my elbow, my eyes on my brother.

  “How’d he get back in so fast?” Drew hopped off the edge of the pool with a small splash and dipped all the way under the water for a few seconds before propelling himself back up to sit beside me. Drops of water dotted my jean shorts and tank top.

  He just grinned at the look I gave him. “It’s hot.”

  Shaking my head, I turned my attention back to the action in the pool. “You don’t have to babysit me.”

  “I’m not,” Drew answered with a wink. We both turned back to the game going on in the pool.

  Luke had three tennis balls in his hands as he stalked toward the center of the pool. Will was engaged in battle with Adam and Grayson who’d ganged up on him.

  “No one else is throwing that hard,” Adam shouted at Will.

  Will just shrugged with an evil grin and launched another tennis ball at Adam. Because he was looking away, Will never saw Luke sneak up behind. From point blank range, Luke threw the three tennis balls as hard as he could at Will. They hit his shoulder and back with loud splats.

  “Oh, shit!” Drew’s eyes were wide, his fist brought up in front of his mouth.

  “Don’t worry, they won’t fight for real. They do this crap to each other all the time.” I wanted to reassure him since he seemed a little worried. I hoped Will and Luke would prove me right. And they did. The only visible alter to their game was an increase in wrestling and dunking and volume.