Dating: One on One: Eastridge Heights Basketball Book 1

by Stephanie Street

  I barked out a laugh because she was dead on. “I have no idea. Good thing the guy’s so big.” And strong. I had to jerk my thoughts away from falling down that rabbit hole. I’d wait to dream about Drew’s strong arms around me until Dannika wasn’t here to make fun of me.

  “How sweet, he held you up.” Dannika sighed and fell back against the pillows on my bed.

  I wasn’t sure about sweet. Smoking was probably a better description. I told her about playing basketball with the guys and then riding in his car and going swimming at his house, not leaving out a single detail. I needed to tell someone.

  “And he hasn’t called or texted or anything,” Danni asked, her expression a mix of wonder and outrage. “I swear, Piper, I can’t leave for a measly few weeks without your life falling apart.”

  It was true. “As far as I know he doesn’t have my number.”

  Dannika gave me a look. “He made out with you for thirty minutes solid. He sees your twin brother every single day. He could make that happen if he wanted. Plus, he knows where you live.”

  I knew Drew was still playing ball with the guys. Luke and Jared talked basketball more than they talked about girls.

  I shook my head. “He hasn’t asked Luke for my number.” Not that Luke would have given it to him after the debacle at Drew’s house- we’d had a heated argument about how little we knew about Drew and that Luke liked playing basketball with him, but wasn’t sure it was a good idea for me to run off and make out with the guy. I’d set him straight about being my brother and not my dad which led to another argument that almost got Mom involved. Eventually we agreed to disagree about Luke’s role in my life and we hadn’t discussed it since.

  Still, Drew could have asked one of the other guys for my number. And he sure could have stopped by.

  The ass.

  “Wow,” Dannika breathed.

  Exactly.

  A few days later, I rolled onto my stomach and picked my phone up off the floor beside my bed. It was after ten and I was supposed to be sleeping. School started the next day and I needed my rest. But sleep wouldn’t come. Instead, I’d been lying here for over an hour, tossing and turning. There was only one thing that would help at this point.

  I’d been tempted on more than one occasion to go to the basketball court to play. I knew Drew was playing, but Luke hadn’t asked me once to go since our argument, even when they were down a player. Not that I needed an invitation. It was just better this way. If I didn’t mean enough to Drew for him to coming looking for me, then I needed to stay away. He was obviously a player and I didn’t need that kind of heartache or drama in my life.

  Stupid...basketball player!

  Ten minutes later, I was at the basketball court. The nights had gotten chilly so I wore one of Luke’s hoodies that covered most of the barely there short shorts I wore to bed. I hadn’t even put on tennis shoes. Flip flops were good enough for shooting around. By myself. In the middle of the night.

  “Long time, no see.”

  My eyes slid shut as my chin fell to my chest. I’d know that voice anywhere. It was the one that haunted my dreams.

  “What are you doing here?” I couldn’t look at him. I didn’t want to look at him. If I did, I was afraid I’d never look away.

  “Couldn’t sleep.” Without touching me, Drew knocked the ball out from under my elbow. He dribbled a few times before shooting. I knew without looking he’d made it.

  The ball bounced in front of me. Instinctively, I reached for it.

  Dang.

  Taking a deep breath, I dribbled to the exact spot where he’d made the basket. Aiming, I shot the ball.

  “Nice,” Drew said, grabbing the ball before it bounced off the court and into the grass.

  I watched impassively as he stopped at another position on the court and shot the ball, he shagged it since I made no move to do so. Again, the ball bounced in front of me. Taunting me. It was no use. He had me. My competitive personality didn’t know how to not react. Of course, I made the shot.

  “Do you have a dad, Piper?” Drew moved further from the basket, not quite a three-pointer, but close.

  Nothing but net.

  The ball bounce in my direction and I grabbed it. Drew moved away from his last position, making room for me to duplicate his shot.

  “Sperm donor.” I sank the shot after the ball took a precarious ride around the rim and wondered what he was getting at with that question.

  Drew snorted. “I hear you.”

  “No. Really. It was a sperm donor.” Yeah, that was always an awkward conversation.

  He caught the ball and held it, his mouth hanging open. I tried not to remember how that mouth felt against mine.

  “Are you serious?”

  I shrugged. I had this part down pat. “Mom’s kind of different. She hit puberty, but never got any kind of sex drive. I guess it’s called asexual or something. She never felt anything strong enough about anybody to get married but she wanted kids. So, she went to the sperm bank and picked a daddy. Nine months later, give or take, Luke and I were born.”

  Now the really awkward part where the person you’ve just spilled your guts to about your weird family processes what you’ve said and decides if they believe you or not.

  “You’re kidding.” Deep furrows marred his brow.

  “Nope,” I replied, popping the ‘p’.

  “Wow. I’ve honestly never-” he cut himself off. Probably wondering what kind of political correctness this kind of situation required.

  “Yeah, I have to wonder how many of us are there. It keeps me awake sometimes. How many half brothers and sisters could we actually have, you know?”

  Drew barked out a laugh. “Holy shit. That’s just crazy.”

  “Right? I guess, I don’t really want to know, though. Luke is more than enough.” I fiddled with the strings on Luke’s hoodie. And cue Drew’s early departure.

  Except he didn’t run. Instead, he shot the ball, shaking his head with disbelief the whole time. We alternated making baskets without talking for a while.

  “I’m sorry, but the whole no sex drive thing just doesn’t compute.” Drew held the ball and shook his head, his eyes blinked like he was trying hard to figure something out but kept coming up with nothing.

  I snorted. “Guys.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “Are you saying you get it? Because thirty minutes in my swimming pool begs to differ.”

  He had me there. And truly I never had understood where my mom was coming from with all that, but I was a believer. In all my life, I’ve never seen or heard anything that would lead me to believe she was attracted to anyone. Male or female. It was just plain weird.

  But I digress. Back to the reference to our marathon make out sesh. “So, we’re talking about that now?”

  He at least had the grace to look away. “Look, you’re the one that made it sound like you engage in non-committal make out all the time.”

  I’m sorry. “What? When did I ever say that?”

  “In my car. On the way to my house.”

  “I-I,” I sputtered. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

  “How did you mean it then?” He folded his arms across his chest like he wasn’t the bad guy in this situation.

  Spinning away from him, I paced back and forth. “I don’t know. I was being-” Flirty? Mysterious? Completely out of character? That last one for sure. “Really? Do I come across like a girl that does that?”

  “How should I know?”

  It stung, even though I recognized he didn’t know me at all. I stopped pacing to face him. “Is that what you really think? Because I’ve kissed you more than anybody else combined.” By a long shot. But he didn’t need to know that. It was embarrassing enough to admit what I already had.

  His eyes narrowed and a smile toyed with his lips. “If you think that bothers me, you’re wrong.”

  He had that look in his eye. I’d seen it twice before.

  “Yeah, no.” I shook my he
ad and put my hand between us. “Not going there.”

  He had no respect for my space and I wanted to kick my own butt for enjoying the feel of his arms around me. “You like kissing me.”

  “Not the point.” Curse my traitorous self. Body, stop responding! Please!

  “What is the point, then?”

  I wasn’t sure anymore. I’d never experienced this kind of attraction before. And it was more than the fact that he was tall and I fit so perfectly in his arms. And he made me feel small and feminine and like I was his dream come true.

  But he didn’t call. He didn’t knock on my door to meet my mother. He didn’t even ask me on a date.

  Right.

  Stepping out of his arms was more difficult than I wanted to admit. “Chemistry!”

  “Chemistry is the point?” He looked skeptical, while he stalking me like a panther.

  “Chemistry is the problem.”

  “Not from where I’m standing.” That could have come across so wrong, but the way he said it, so matter of fact, had my blood simmering.

  Drew took a step toward me, closing the distance between us, but not touching.

  “Look, why don’t you just spell it out for me. Exactly what you are thinking.”

  Yeah, that was a bad idea. Guys didn’t like those conversations, did they?

  Define the relationship.

  Commitment.

  Couple.

  Kissing the way we’d kissed usually led to conversations like that. Didn’t it?

  I used to always think I was attracted to clean cut guys. Goody two shoes types. Guys like Noah. Mr. Perfect. Too bad Noah wasn’t taller. And there was nothing. No chemistry.

  Drew on the other hand, set me on fire with just a look. A touch and I was ready to- well, just about anything. That made him dangerous on so many levels. The most obvious being the danger he posed to my heart. If the last couple of weeks had taught me anything, it was that bad boy Drew already had the power to hurt me and I wasn’t in the market for heartbreak.

  We were going to be something.

  Or we were going to be nothing.

  “What is this?” I gestured between us with my hand.

  Drew held my gaze for a moment before sighing and dropping his eyes to the ground.

  Exactly.

  “See you at school, Drew.” I only stopped for my ball. I was halfway across the grassy field before he caught up to me.

  “Piper. Wait.” He stopped me with a hand on my arm.

  I wanted to kick myself again for the hope I felt because he’d come after me. Hope that disappeared the second I got a good look at his eyes. Beautiful blue eyes filled with regret.

  “It’s all good, Drew. Don’t worry about it.” And heaven help you, don’t apologize. I tugged my arm from his grasp.

  “I don’t do relationships.”

  I snorted. Yeah. Big surprise there. What had I been expecting anyway?

  “I get it. School hasn’t even started. Why commit to the Neander-tall when there’s a whole school of girls to choose from?” Oh, dear. Why did I say all that?

  Drew reared back like I’d struck him. “What? I wasn’t thinking that. I’m not thinking that.”

  “Whatever, Drew. Good luck tomorrow. Let me know if you have trouble finding any of your classes.” I turned to walk away again... Again.

  “It’s not you, Piper-”

  I whirled so fast he didn’t know what hit him. But what hit him was my fist in his solar plexus. “Don’t. Just. Don’t. It’s fine. I get it. I’m fun to mess around with until you find what you’re looking for. And it was fun. But now, we’re done.”

  Drew

  And there she went, walking away from me again.

  Damn that girl. And damn me for wanting her. Sighing, I ran my fingers through my hair and watched until she disappeared in the darkness. When I couldn’t see her any longer, I returned to my car where I’d been waiting, hoping she would appear.

  I could have stopped by her house. I could have asked Luke or any one of those guys for her number. But I didn’t. Because I wasn’t going to do a relationship. I’d learned my lesson. No girls. No basketball team. No pressure to be something I didn’t want to be.

  So, why couldn’t I stop thinking about Piper? And why did that hurt look in her eyes make me want to stab myself- repeatedly?

  I drove home with the windows down. It was August now and the heat was still unbearable during the day but the evenings were cool and at night the air felt almost luxurious. I passed some soybean fields, briefly distracted by the millions of lightening bugs glittering in the dark. I figured if I ever left Indiana the only thing I’d miss was lightning bugs. And Kittie.

  Now, maybe Piper.

  I didn’t know what to do about Piper, but I knew I couldn’t give her the commitment she wanted. The commitment that would give me access to her kisses. To her soft skin. I was just going to have to do without.

  “I set out some new clothes for you to wear for your first day of school,” my mom said as soon as I opened the door between the garage and the kitchen.

  “Thanks,” I answered even thought I knew there was no way I was going to wear anything she’d picked out. Not anymore.

  “You aren’t going to wear them are you,” she asked on a sigh.

  Looking up, I met her gaze for the first time in days. Hurt reflected in her blue eyes that were just like mine and I knew I’d put some of it there. I wanted to care more.

  Even close to midnight, she looked like she just stepped off a parenting magazine cover. Perfect blonde hair. Perfect makeup. Perfectly matching designer clothes. Not too fancy, just pretentious enough to be annoying. Her acrylic nails clicked on the counter as she folded a pile of perfectly white dishcloths. We had a housekeeper for that but every now and then Mom liked to pretend she actually took care of us.

  The full glass of wine and half empty bottle beside it told the real story.

  “Goodnight, Mom.” I didn’t stick around long enough to see the tears build in her already glassy eyes. I’d been manipulated enough.

  Trudging up the stairs, I wondered when things would change. Would life always take this much energy? In my room, I glanced at the bag from one of Mom’s favorite stores. The familiar logo made me want to scream. Instead, I yanked the bag off my bed and launched it into the corner. It landed against the carpet with a crinkly thud. I knew the clothes would magically appear in my closet tomorrow, hung neatly beside the thousands of dollars’ worth of clothes that never got worn.

  I wouldn’t be bought.

  The sound of crushed carpet fibers announced Kittie’s entrance to my room before her grip on my arm could.

  Why? She pointed to the bag of clothes.

  I shook my head. I didn’t want to get into it with her tonight. Kittie didn’t start school until the next week but I knew she also had brand new additions to her closet today. I guess picking out our clothes was Mom’s last-ditch effort to be nurturing.

  “I don’t want them.” I signed and spoke even though my face was turned away from her.

  You make her cry. Kittie’s hand on my arm became insistent and I resisted the urge to shove her away from me. It wasn’t Kittie’s fault. Of all of us, she was the innocent one. As gently as I could, I put her hand away from me. I gave her my I mean it face, hoping she would back off. No such luck.

  “Drew!” Her tiny fists beat on my chest until I caught them and held on.

  “What?” I didn’t need to sign that time.

  “Tell me.” She had to speak because I still held her hands. I let her go. What is going on?

  “Nothing is going on.” I moved into my bathroom. Kittie ran around in front of me.

  Just because I am deaf doesn’t mean I’m stupid, Drew!

  “I never said you were stupid.” And I would pound anyone who did say such a thing.

  You treat me like I’m stupid. Like I don’t know something is wrong in this house. In this family.

  I covered my surprise with
a mask of indifference. There was no point in getting into this with her. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  That is the point! I can’t hear, but I can see. I can feel. Mom is worse. Dad is gone. You are gone. And I am here. All alone in the dark.

  I knew she didn’t mean actual darkness. And I hated that she felt left out, but there was no way I was ever going to talk to her about anything.

  “Go to bed, Kittie. I have school in the morning. I need to get some sleep.” I pulled her into a hug. She tried to resist but eventually gave in and squeezed me back. I loved my sister. But there was no way I was going to be the one to spill the beans about everything. The longer she was ‘in the dark’ as she said, the better off she would be.

  “I love you,” I told her after letting her go.

  Her sad smile almost broke my resolve, but I knew deep down I would always protect her. From them. From my own knowledge.

  Chapter 9

  Piper

  “Piper, honey, is there a reason you can’t just get up to your alarm clock.”

  I squinted my eyes open against the overhead light above my bed that Mom turned on when she entered my room. Uninvited.

  Groaning, I rolled over and tried to find my happy place- sleep. “G-way,” I mumbled even though I knew she wouldn’t.

  “Sweetie, it’s the first day of school. You need to get up and start this new year right.” Her soft voice was a lie. A lie which was proven when she ripped my blanket off my body, exposing me to the frosty temperatures of my air-conditioned room.

  “Mom,” I grumbled, wishing for another ten minutes. Or a hundred.

  “It’s a good thing your brother is a morning person. I’m not sure I could handle this aspect of parenting times two. Now get up.” With that, she yanked the pillow off my head and whacked me with it before leaving my room. “If you don’t want Luke to eat all the pancakes, you better get moving.”

  Pancakes didn’t hold quite the appeal they had when I was ten. I was much more conscious of the food I consumed these days. My almost six-foot frame held a lot of secret weight but I didn’t want to overburden it. Still, I knew I needed to get up. I promised myself I would actually blow out my hair today instead of my signature messy bun. I figured if I was going to go that far, I might as well put on some of the makeup I’d picked up over the summer.