Drew grabbed my hand and practically dragged me out into the hallway.
“Is that Ingrid and family?”
“Yup.”
“How in the world did you manage this arrangement?”
“I bumped into them at the gas station after you left, and they needed a place to stay, so I offered.”
“You could have warned me. I mean, hello? I look so horrible.” She looked fine. She had on shorts and a sweatshirt. Absolutely fine. “What an impression to make on my future husband.” My stomach twisted into a tight knot.
“Don’t worry so much. When I met him I was in my pj’s, and Justin still has been,” I paused.
“Shoot!” was yelled from the gym.
“They all have been super sweet,” I corrected myself.
“Did you just say Justin?”
“Now look what you did!”
“Lili!” Lance ran out into the hall. “Um, we got the ball stuck.”
“You did?”
“Yeah.”
“Why don’t you use a hockey stick to knock it down?”
“We did, but that got stuck too.”
“You got a hockey stick stuck?” Drew looked at him in disbelief.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, Lance, we’ll be in in a second.”
“Good.” He turned and walked back into the gym. I was about to follow when Drew grabbed my arm.
“So,” she whispered. “You and Lance?”
“No, not…” I quickly stopped myself. Not Lance, just Justin.
“I’m sorry, sweetie. Well, look out, Justin. Here I come.” She smoothed down her hair and marched confidently into the gym. I reluctantly followed.
The sight wasn’t too bad. The ball was stuck behind the backboard, and the stick was wrapped up in the net. How they managed to do that, I don’t know. Neither did they. The guys were standing around beneath trying to figure out how to get them down.
“What if we tried a broom?” asked JC.
“Or a ladder,” added Joey.
“Too much work,” I said.
“You know, Justin, I’m not that heavy,” Drew said. “If you gave me a boost, I could probably get it.” And it began. He looked at her in disbelief for a second. “I mean,” she continued, “You seem to have really strong arms.” She brushed her hand across his shoulder.
“Um, you know what. I hurt my arm yesterday during this snowball fight we had, so I don’t know if I should,” he said, looking over at me.
“Oh, that’s too bad.”
“Yeah, but we, uh, can just get another ball. It’s no big deal.”
“What about the stick?” I saw a familiar look of determination across her face. There was no stopping her now.
“JC, can lift ya up.”
“JC?”
“Yup.”
She looked over at JC and then back at Justin. “Okay.” -
After we got the hockey stick out of the net, I went off to one side to practice slam dunking. It may sound ridiculous, but it was one of those things that I wanted to be able to do, and so far it wasn’t going too well.
“Well,” Drew sighed, dribbling her ball over to me, “that wasn’t exactly how I planned for it to go. Too bad he hurt his arm.”
“Yeah.”
“How’d it happen?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
“I wish I knew if he had a girlfriend or something. Maybe that’s the problem.”
“He doesn’t.”
“Really?”
“Completely free.”
“Perfect. I’m making a promise to you that he will be mine by the end of the day.” That’s what I was afraid of. Or wait, maybe not. If he fell head over heals in love with her, then I could just ignore anything I was feeling and not worry about hurting anyone’s feelings, especially Drew’s. “Deal?”
“Huh?”
“Is it a deal?” She held out her hand to me.
“You know what, Drew. I’m trying to work here. Would you mind?”
“Fine.” She put her hand down then whispered, “Just because you and Lance didn’t hit it off doesn’t mean anything about Justin and me.” With that she turned and walked away.
I turned my attention back to the ball. “Come on, Stevenson, concentrate. Forget everyone else is here and make the shot.” I ran to the net, jumped, and missed, again.
I was standing under the net, holding the ball, and trying to figure out was wrong with my form when two hands gripped my waist firmly and smoothly lifted me off the ground. I dropped the ball into the net and slid back down.
I turned around and looked up at Justin as he slid his arms around me.
“Nice shot.”
“I’ve been practicing,” I smiled. It felt amazingly good to feel his hands pressing against my back, holding me where I was, but I had the sinking feeling that it felt too good.
“Are you feeling okay, Lili?”
I looked around his shoulder to see Drew staring at us with a confused look on her face. I shouldn’t have been that close to him. I took a step away from his grip. “Um, yeah. I just have some stuff on my mind.”
“I can tell.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“It is to me,“ he said softly, reaching for my hand. He was making this difficult for me
“Uh, I’m not feeling too well. I think I’m gonna head home.” I began walking quickly toward the door, the perfect escape just waiting for me.
“Want me to come with you?” he called after me. I was their ride. They all had to come back with me.
“You can stay here, and I’ll just come back later. I don’t wanna cut your game short.”
“We’re not playing a ga…”
“I’ll drive you guys back,” Drew chirped.
“See, she’ll bring ya home.”
“Oh wait,” Drew said, winking at me. “I only have room for five in my car.”
“See, I can go with you, Lili.”
“No, Justin. I know you want to stay and play.” I looked over at him, begging him to drop the subject.
“Yeah, Lance can go with her,” Drew suggested.
“Lance?” Justin looked at her like she was crazy.
“Me?” Lance looked even more shocked.
“You don’t like basketball that much, do you?”
“I, uh…”
“See, it’s settled.”
“But…”
“Justin, don’t worry. Now you can stay here and finish playing, and Lance will go with Lili. It all works out.”
“I don’t…” She handed me my coat and pushed Lance and me out the door.
“What just happened?” he asked.
“I don’t know. But if you wanna stay, I’d be happy to come back.”
“Nah, this is good. I don’t really feel like playing all that much.”
“Me neither.” We began the short walk back to my car.
“You were doing pretty good.”
“Thanks.”
“Do you play for a team?”
“No, it’s just a hobby.”
“I see.”
The ride back to my house was a bit uncomfortable. I would have thought that I’d enjoy being alone with Lance a little bit more than I was. But I couldn’t help but wonder what was taking place at the gym, maybe nothing.
Thoughts of Justin helping Drew dunk and other things along those lines kept creeping into my head without me being able to stop them. Though that was the way things should be, I couldn’t help but become incredibly sad.
When I got inside, I curled up in a ball in the corner of the couch and stared out the front window, my mind crowded with a million conflicting thoughts on what I should do.
“You want some hot cocoa or tea?” asked Lance, walking into the kitchen.
“Sure. Tea sounds good.” I grabbed the remote off the coffee table and began flipping through the stations.
“Anything good on?” he asked a few minutes later, handing me a hot cup.
“Not yet.”
“Just leave it on HBO. I’m sure something will come on.”
“Okay.” I flipped to channel 70 and set the remote back onto the table.
“What’s up with you?”
“Huh?’
“You seem kind of out of it.” He sat down next to me and pulled the blanket off the back of the couch, handing it to me.
“Lance?” I said, covering myself and sinking down into the cushions.
“Yeah.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Shoot.”
“Okay,” I sighed and turned to look at him. “Have you ever really liked someone who you really shouldn’t like because your really close friend has, I don’t know, dibs, I guess.”
“Dibs?”
“You know what I mean. Kinda like an ‘I saw ‘em first’ thing.”
“Unfortunately, I’m all too familiar with that situation.”
“You are?”
“Yeah.”
“What did you do?”
“What did I do? Well, I attempted to forget about how I felt.”
“Oh.”
“But my situation is a bit different. The girl I like…d, liked my friend instead of me.”
“She must have been crazy.”
“Must be,” he sighed sadly. I wondered who the girl he was thinking of was. “But, Lili, don’t worry. Justin likes you and not Drew.”
“But the thing is she doesn’t know, and everyone else loves Drew, and I just feel so guilty,” I sighed.
“Come here,” he smiled. I leaned over, and he hugged me. “Don’t worry your pretty little head off. You and Justin are perfect for each other.”
“Justin, you can sit up front,” Drew smiled as we walked out to the parking lot. It was maybe two hours after Lili and Lance left. I wasn’t really sure, maybe it was longer, maybe shorter. Afterward, my mind wasn’t really on basketball. It was too busy thinking of unanswerable questions.
“Yeah, sure.”
“Everybody ready?”
“Drew?” I began as we pulled out onto the street.
“Yes?”
“Why’d you send Lance back with Lili?”
“Does it really matter?”
“Yeah,” Chris said, leaning up front. “Why did you send Lance instead of Justin?”
“Well, if you really must know, Lili was complaining out in the hallway that nothing had happened between her and Lance because she loves Lance, so I thought it would be a prime opportunity for…”
“What did you just say?” I interrupted.
“I said that I thought it would be a prime opportunity…”
“No. Did you say that Lili loves Lance?”
“Yeah.”
“Lance?” I asked, a painful feeling growing in my chest.
“Well, she doesn’t love him, but she’s had a crush on him for, like, ever.”
“And she was complaining that nothing had happened between Lance and her?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Are you sure she wasn’t talking about Just…”
“Shut up, Joey. Are you sure?”
“I think I know my best friend. She’s always liked Lance. I mean, who else would she like?” She looked at us curiously.
“I have no clue,” I sighed as I sunk down in my seat.
“So like I was saying, I figured it would be the perfect opportunity for them to spend some time alone to…”
“Drew, shut up,” JC said.
Lili liked Lance? She was completely leading me on this whole time. She never liked me.
Now I could see it. That’s why she didn’t want me to touch her or anything at the gym. And her and Drew probably had the whole car thing planned out. That could’ve been what that wink was for. Maybe that’s why Ben acted like a jerk. God, I must have looked like an idiot. I wondered what they were doing now, probably sitting by the fire where the two of us sat last night, laughing, saying, “Justin thought I actually liked him.” “I know. He can be pretty dense at times.” “Oh well, he’s not important when I have you by my side.” Then they would laugh some more then kiss… By the time we reached Lili’s driveway, I had worried myself into a frenzy. I couldn’t tell if what I was feeling was anger or hurt. The fact that Lance could do something like this after her promised not to enraged me. At the same time, it hurt like no pain I had ever felt knowing that the connection I felt with Lili was imagined.
I jumped out of the car before it had even stopped moving. The front door opened for me to find Lili sleeping with her head on Lance’s lap, his arm around her, and ‘Titanic’ on the TV, one of the most romantic movies I could think of.
“Lance!”
“Justin!” He got up slowly, trying not to wake her up.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Oh, it’s not how it looks. She just fell asleep.”
“I can’t believe you!”
“No, Justin, I wouldn’t.”
“I’m gonna kill you!”
“Keep it down. You’re gonna wake her up.”
“One of my best friends would do this to me?” I took a step closer to him.
“Justin, man, calm down. I told you I wouldn’t do anything.”
“I’m going to fucking kill you.”
“Shit.” He ran out the door into the front yard, and I followed him, sticking close behind.
“How could you?” I yelled.
“I didn’t.”
“Yeah right.” I pushed him hard into a snow bank.
“What the hell is your problem?”
“My problem?” I was about to beat the living daylights out of him when someone pulled me back and into the snow.
“Justin! Cut it out!” JC yelled. I tried to get up, but I was being pinned down. Lance stood up and brushed the snow off of him, knowing he was safe.
“I said I wouldn’t do anything, and I didn’t. Besides, she fucking likes you!”
“No, she likes you,” I snapped back, trying unsuccessfully to get up again.
“Me?” He began cracking up. “Oh, that’s a good one.”
“Why are you laughing?” asked Chris.
“She was just crying about feeling so bad for liking Justin so much.”
“I-I’m sorry, Lance.”
“You should be. I just had to listen to the girl I like also talk about you for the past few hours.”
“I thought… it’s just that, well, Drew said…” I paused. “Wait, where is Drew?”
“After you flew out of the car she said she was going up to the gas station,” Joey said.
“Oh.”
Lance held out his hand to me and helped me up. “As much as I would like to, I’m not going to try to do anything with Lili. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s no problem. I’m just glad they pulled you away before you kicked my ass.”
“Sorry,” I apologized.
“It’s okay, Justin.”
“Justin?” A familiar voice came from behind me.
“Lili!” I turned around to find her standing on the front porch with a blanket wrapped around her, staring at us.
“What’s going on? I heard yelling.”
“Justin was trying to kill Lance,” Chris said, laughing.
“Um, we were just, uh…” I felt incredibly sheepish about what I had just done.
“We were having another snowball fight,” Lance said.
“Oh, okay. Where’s Drew?’
“Gas station.”
I walked up to her and took her hands in mine. They were soft and warm and exactly what I needed. “How was your nap?”
“Good. I really needed it. How was your game?”
“Pretty good, but,” I lowered my voice, “I wish I could have helped you more with your dunks.”
She laughed. “Me t...” Her voice trailed off, and her eyes shifted behind me. She quickly took her hands away from mine. I looked behind me to see Drew’s car pulling into the driveway.
“Hi, guys!” she called. “Man, Justin, you sure flew out of the car.”
“I really had to go to the bathroom,” I lied.
“I see. When nature calls. I got some cookies if you want to come inside.”
“Yes!” Chris smiled. “Cookies.” Everyone began to crowd into the house.
“Can I talk to you for a sec on the bus, Lili?” I asked, grabbing her hand before she went in.
“Sure.” I led her through the mess to the back of our bus and sat her down on the couch next to me.
“Lili,” I began, taking her hand. “I have to leave tomorrow morning.”
“I know,” she said solemnly, looking down.
“But I’m not saying good bye. It’s way too soon for that.”
“Okay.”
“I think we need to talk though.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“Oh, no. Don’t even think anything bad.”
“It’s hard not to.”
“Come on.” I pulled her onto my lap and laced my arms around her. She rested her head on my shoulder, and I could feel her gentle breathing against my neck. “It’s just, I really really like you a lot, and I think we need to talk about some stuff.”
“Like what?”
“Is there a place we could go tonight?”
“To talk? Why don’t we just talk now?”
“Cause we’re in a bus, not exactly the most private place.”
“Um, there’s this huge, old oak in the middle of a big field. It’s pretty nice there, but it would be kinda cold.”
“We could bring the blanket,” I suggested, wrapping my arms tighter around her.
“Yeah.”
“Fine, we’ll go for a walk to the tree once it gets dark.”
“It’s already getting dark.”
“You wanna leave now?”
“Where ya guys going?” Drew said, opening the door.
“Drew!” Lili jumped off my lap and over to the other side faster than you could say ‘dog.’
“Where ya guys going?” Drew asked again as she came in and took the seat next to me.
“For a walk,” I said, sliding away from her.
“Really?”
“Yup,” Lili agreed.
“Yeah, and we should really get going before it gets too late,” I said, standing up.
“Yes, we should,” said Drew, getting up also.
“What?”
“It’s already dark, so we should leave.”
“Drew, I was kind of hoping it could just be the two of us.”
“We should let Lili come with us too.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m kidding,” she laughed. Thank God. “Just let’s all leave before it gets too dark.”
“But…” I looked down at Lili for some assistance.
“Justin, will you get my coat for me?” was all she said.