Promise Me to Please | Please Me #2

TWENTY FOUR

  We walked into the huge on-campus gymnasium. Too many people to count taking their seats and excitedly talking amongst themselves.

   "This is so exciting!" Cora exclaimed. "I've never been to a basketball game before."

  Leah passed her a soda, "Barnard has a basketball team, right?"

   "Mm hm." Cora unscrewed the lid and took long sip. "Apparently, they're really good. You know we're the only women's college in the country to compete at the Division 1 level?"

   "Woah." Leah sounded impressed.

  Cora chuckled, "I know. I've always been more of a soccer girl if I'm being honest."

   "Oh my God, same!" Leah grinned in excitement. "I think it's more impressive to watch people play with their feet rather than their hands." She paused for a moment before her eyes widened. "Wait that sounded like I have a foot fetish! I promise you, I do not!"

  Cora studied her for a second before bursting out into fits of laughter. "It's alright, girl. I got what you meant."

  Ezekiel nudged my side, taking my focus off Leah and Cora. "You're friend's cute." He said, eyeing Cora.

   "Thanks." I sipped my coffee with a smile. "You fuck her, and you die."

  Dramatically, he rolled his eyes. "I was being nice. Jesus. I'm not some walking pervert."

   "I'm sure some people would disagree." I muttered.

  He gave a sarcastic look, "Ha-ha."

  The game was about to start, and a group of cheerleaders ran onto the court. Their bright orange uniforms indicated they were from Princeton. A couple seconds after came our cheerleaders for Columbia in their light and navy-blue uniforms.

  I had to admit, coming to my college's basketball game in support for the opposing team was super weird. I'd never been to a single sporting event at Columbia, purely because I had no friends and but also because I wasn't a big sports fan. However, looking over at Leah and Cora excitedly cheering along made wonder if I'd missed out on it.

  Both teams ran onto the pitch and the cheers went up. "Which one's Taylor?!" I shouted over the noise to Leah. She squinted her eyes, we were pretty high up, so it was kind of hard to see.

   "They're running around too much, I can't see him yet!" she shouted back, laughing at something she caught Cora saying.

  I tried to focus on all the players, but they were too busy running about and taking their positions. Two players stood in the centre of the court, the ref throwing the ball up in the air and before I knew it, the game had commenced.

  Now I was no basketball fanatic, but I had to admit, the game was pretty impressive. If you found grown men playing with balls interesting.

  That thought made me turn to Ezekiel and laugh, "You must love watching grown men play with big balls, huh?"

  He gave me a 'shut-the-fuck-up' look, something which made me laugh even more. We watched as the Princeton players caught ahold of the ball passed between each other. The crowd roared and the quickness of the movements gave me whiplash, my eyes constantly switching from one player to the next. Within a beat, they ran to the other end of the court.

   "There he is! He's got the ball!" Leah shouted and I narrowed the player who was drippling up to basket. Jesus, we really were high up because I could barely make him out – maybe I needed glasses?

  Oh my god, I would never hear the end of it if Knowles saw me with glasses.

  I wondered if he liked basketball. He didn't seem like a sports kind of guy. He never played any sports in school, so I doubted it appealed to him in college.