Letterman Jacket

8.5 / sixty days before

We circled the whole arcade until we finally reached the basketball hoops. Faust whistled under his breath as he mumbled, "Ah, my favorite."

I pushed his arm lightly. "This is unfair, you know. Basketball is your sport, so how could you not win this?"

He leaned against the side of the wall, his face carved in an amused expression. "I could still lose."

"Yeah right," I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "Remember volleyball? I am going to hit my own head with each ball I throw, Faust."

He stepped closer to me, and I had to look up in order to meet his eyes. "Tell you what. If you win, I'm going to ride the Ferris wheel with you even though I'm scared of heights, but if I win, you have to go to my every game until state championships."

That's not fair," I accused again, standing up on my tiptoes to snatch the ball cap from his head and place it over my own, flipping my hair away from my shoulders. "My prize only lasts for a day—yours stretches into months."

Faust laughed, spinning the ball cap around so the rim was facing backwards. "Fine. If I win, you have to tell me what you honestly think about me—not just for the article's sake."

I cocked my head to the side, a little perplexed, but also a little touched at the request.

"Do we have a deal?" His ocean-colored eyes sparkled with humor and excitement when he reached out his hand. I shook it firmly in one grasp. "Sweet. In order for us to have a fair play, I'm gonna help you practice for one game first before we do the real thing, yeah?"

Nodding, I stepped in front of the machine as Faust slipped a token inside the slot. As it powered up, he took one step forward so that my back was pressed against his chest. I inhaled sharply before he bent down and whispered in my ear, "Pick up a ball, Thea."

So I did with trembling fingers. Placing his hands over mine, Faust spoke quietly, "The thing about basketball is knowing where your aim is. You hold the ball like this, with your fingers apart and your elbow under." He showed me, correctly positioning my hands as I took a shaky breath, tingles running up my arm from where he touched me.

"Concentrate on the hoop and where you want the ball to go. Take a deep breath, stretch your forearms, flick your wrist slightly and give enough force to push it through."

With Faust's hands placed over mine from behind, he guided my arms as I tried to follow the instructions he gave me, and threw the ball into the net. It went inside.

"See. You're a natural," Faust said, backing away a few steps as my jaw dropped. "Do it again. And without my help this time."

*

To no one's surprise, Faust won.

"That wasn't actually bad," he remarked as we made our way back to the truck in the parking lot. "At least none of us earned a trip to the emergency room with a head injury."

"Ha, ha."

Faust chuckled, opening the passenger's door for me as I climbed inside. While the truck roared to life, I took out my phone from my bag to check the time. It was nearing eight o'clock, and so far, I hadn't received any text messages from Theo or my parents.

They must really trust Sutton a lot.

"I believe I have a prize to claim."

Looking up from the screen of my phone, Faust stared at me expectantly with a small smile playing on his lips. "Ah, right. A deal is a deal."

"A deal is a deal," he agreed, nodding.

"Okay," I started, leaning back against the leather seat. "I had you all wrong, Faust Carter. I thought you were just what my brother had described you as—arrogant and prideful. It was wrong of me to make a judgment based on someone else's when I didn't even know you personally to begin with."

Biting my bottom lip, I looked up to meet his intense gaze, the waves of his eyes touching the shore in my own. "I don't know where this is going, or what's going to happen in the future, but what I know right now...I wish I could've made an effort to know sooner, Faust."