Across the Hall (girlxgirl)

fourteen

• E m b e r •

Since I had spent the majority of my life trying to avoid people at all costs I never really thought about my attraction to anyone before, but looking down at Naya and her team as they stretched in their black and white uniform I could feel my stomach do backflips every time she smiled or used the bottom of her shirt to wipe the sweat off her forehead. It was ridiculous, considering she wasn't even looking in my direction.

"Hey Ember, you've got a little something over here." Naomi pointed out seriously, gesturing to the side of her mouth and when I went to touch mine she burst out laughing.

Her words clicked.

"Shut up." I rolled my eyes, pushing her shoulder playfully as she laughed.

"Hey, I don't blame you, these players are really hot." She sighed leaning back against the stands as one of Naya's teammates punted the ball across the field.

I invited Naomi to the game early that morning, the thought of sitting alone or with Uncle Harry and Aunty Amara or even with Naya's friends was too much of a daunting idea. Thankfully Gabe had invited her the day before and she wasn't busy so she had no problem tagging along.

"Maybe you should go make your move," I teased with a small smile and she shook her head.

"No it's okay, I've someone who wants to be my prince charming." She smirked with a wink and I knew she was talking about Gabe.

"EMBER! NAOMI!" A voice called from the bottom of the stands, gaining my attention, and I turned to see Lola, Rae and Gabe waving at me. "Is there space next to you?!" Lola yelled up, paying no attention to the 30+ people now looking at us and I could only nod my head before she and Gabe headed towards us.

"I hope Olivia isn't with them, I still can't believe she was such a bitch." Naomi muttered loyally after hearing about the previous night's drama but before I could answer Lola came onto our level, stepping past Naomi as she and Rae came to sit next to me while Gabe took a seat on the other side of Naomi.

"We're so relieved to see you guys here, Scott was supposed to save us seats but he and Adam got pulled into babysitting last minute." She complained before turning to Naomi, her eyes lightening up.

"It's no problem, how was your night last night?" Naomi asked, conversing for the both of us because I wasn't listening, my attention was on the field and a specific fielder.

Eventually, the conversations around me faded as the referee blew her whistle but my eyes had barely left Naya since we'd arrived and that is where they stayed for the entire game. I had never seen her play before but it didn't take me long to realise why she was captain of the university team, she was extremely talented: side tackling players, stopping their passes and calling out plays as she went on to score 3 out of the 5 goals for the team. She was also very fast, as soon as she got the ball no one on the opposing team could catch her until the ball was sitting in the net.

When the referee blew the final whistle we watched as Naya celebrated with her teammates before Olivia appeared out of nowhere, running towards Naya and almost tackling her in a hug. When I saw her wrap her arms around Naya I felt a small bubble of ugly jealousy fill my chest, a bubble which I quickly had to squash, not wanting to deal with the consequences of those emotions if I let them loose.

"Oh, so she did come today." Naomi frowned as we all watched the interaction.

"Maybe she didn't see us sitting here?" Lola shrugged, but I didn't miss Gabe's frown, he knew something was up.

"Don't you think they would make a cute couple?" Rae cooed, eyes trained on Naya and Olivia as my heart twisted so hard at the thought it nearly broke.