Swish

.37

The line was crawling at a snail's pace, my rolling carry on bag clicking to the same pace as my feet, but soon enough we were on the bridge connecting the airport to the plane.

"Welcome aboard," the friendly pilot greeted us as we boarded, but I felt anything but welcome with the shadow of Eli right behind my back. Since discovering that we'd be seat partners, Matthew hadn't said much, but he had carried one of my bags for me, something that a few onlookers hadn't ignored.

There was media scrutiny involving him as well because he was following in Eli's footsteps to the NBA. There wasn't any question as to why I was easily recognizable in the public eye, but I thought that my incognito outfit would help conceal my identity, but when walking next to a six and a half foot tall man who was most definitely a basketball player, it was easier than I would've liked for others to figure out who I was quickly.

I just hoped they didn't sell any pictures to the stupid gossip magazines that bored housewives and impressionable teens bought when they were in line at the grocery stores, or the internet blogs that touted multiple conspiracy theories about me and my father, most of them involving Eli as well.

"Swanky," Matthew commented the moment we found our plush white seats close to the front and settled in after stashing our bags in the overhead compartments, getting comfortable for the roughly three hour plane ride where we'd be sitting directly next to each other.

"You good with me calling the window seat?"

I didn't let on that if he said no, I would've most likely freaked out and had a panic attack in the middle of the airplane with other passengers still boarding in a steady stream, but thankfully he agreed without complaint, saying the aisle seat had more room for his gargantuan legs anyway.

Small talk abounded, and while it was awkward at first, our conversations grew deeper, delving into childhood and family matters.

"I know I said it earlier, but I am sorry about what happened with your dad, again, I can't imagine what that's like."

"So your family is pretty normal, then?"

He huffed out a quick laugh, garnering some attention from a teenaged girl sitting next to her parents on the row beside us.

"Hardly. Every family has their own level of drama, but my family's drama is thankfully more my mom bitching at me to call her when she hasn't heard from me in a few hours. I mean, the craziest thing that's ever happened in my family was getting expelled for steroids that weren't even mine..."

I cringed as he trailed his sentence off, knowing exactly who had set him up for that expulsion, and I knew that they'd somehow made up for it.

At my facial expression he cracked a side grin.

"Yeah, I know that he told you what happened between us. I don't hold it over him anymore, not after he explained everything and what led up to that with his sister and his stepdad."

"You-he told you about that, and that I knew about it too?"

"Yeah, I mean, we had a real truthful conversation about why he thought he had to do it, and of course I was more than pissed at him, but I figured what I did was worse. I tried to hurt him physically on the court that day of the charity game. He was lucky he didn't break anything with how hard he went down. That was on me, and if he did end up hurting himself to the point where his career would've ended because of it...I don't know if I could've forgiven myself once I found out the truth."

"So are you guys--how is he?"

I just couldn't help myself, though I knew I should've been able to. I just couldn't go three hours without asking the question I'd been dying to ask the second I laid eyes on Matthew.