21 | play

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C H A P T E R 2 1 | K A T I E


Walking into the gym, the crowd was already beginning to hype themselves up. Just like the last game I'd attended, the cheerleaders were dancing to the upbeat music in the center of the court as the clock on the scoreboard counted down the minutes until the game would start.

This time however, instead of accompanying Dean to the game, I'd dragged Stella along.

"Do you see him?" she asked, tightening her grip on my wrist as she overexcitedly scanned over the handful of players stretching and warming up at either end of the gym.

I shook my head, only having to glance quickly at the Duke players to know that Dean wasn't out here. "He's probably in the locker room with the rest of his teammates," I replied, straining slightly as I raised my voice.

"Okay then," she sighed, though her excitement didn't fade much as her gaze shifted to the bleachers. We were hovering near the entrance of the gym with other people swerving around us, some occasionally bumping into us in a rush to find seats. "Oh," Stella chirped, grabbing my wrist as she pointed across the court, "I see Holden, come on."

Following her, I quickly spotted Holden as he stood up, waving to get our attention. As the two of us got closer, climbing the bleachers to where he sat, I noticed he'd saved enough room for the both of us.

"Hey," he greeted, kissing Stella quickly as she squeezed past him, taking a seat on his left as I sat to his right.

Taking a handful of the popcorn from the bag in his lap, Stella smiled at him and raised an eyebrow with curiosity. "How long have you been here?"

"I came with Dean."

"So you've been here a while then?" I asked with the tiniest amount of surprise laced around my words.

Holden nodded in response. "I went to find something to eat first, but yeah, I was here when everyone was still warming up."

"And Dean – "

"Was warming up with the rest of the team," he said, answering my unasked question with a smile of amusement.

My lips tugged upwards shyly, feeling slightly guilty that my worries were so transparent. Last week, when Dean had mentioned that he'd talked to his coach, I'd been nervous for him, but had masked it with congratulations. His determination was admirable, but thinking about it realistically, I didn't know how well Dean would fare joining the team again.

"He'll be fine," Holden continued reassuringly when I didn't relax. "I've been to too many of these games to say otherwise."

Although it was a good attempt, it didn't do much to calm the nerves that were slowly causing my hands to shake. However, when an outburst from a group of students behind me made me jump, their faces all painted as enthusiasm radiated off of them, I realized that I'd zoned out momentarily and that both teams were now emerging from the locker rooms.

Dressed in their white jerseys, my eyes bypassed each Duke player until they fell on Dean. Despite the fact that he was now without his glasses, as I'd gone with him earlier in the week to get contacts for the nights he'd be playing, I recognized him easily. Seemingly fitting right in with his teammates as they all circled around the coach, it reminded me of the first night we'd met.

He was purposeful, athletic, and confident.

Even though it didn't surprise me, it was slightly saddening to see Dean stick to the sidelines as the starting line-up took to the court. I watched as one of his teammates took the jump ball as the first whistle went and the game began. The crowd was into the game, and right from the beginning it was obvious that there was a rift between the teams. The game was intense and the score was close, and while I could've easily been swept into the excitement like the rest of the crowd, I found my eyes frequently flitting to Dean. His leg bounced up and down anxiously as he watched the game, and every time the opposing team scored his hands would clench by his sides.

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