All I Ever Wanted

Prologue

"You're never gonna make a shot if you keep shooting the ball like that."

I glared at him, and his grin only widened.

The next thing I knew, he was standing behind me, his back pressed up against mine as he positioned my arms at the proper angle and the ball in the right position.

"Try it now," he whispered in my ear, and when I released it, the ball made a swish into the hoop.

My smiled stretched from ear to ear as I jumped up and down and celebrated. We'd been out in the hot Orange County sun for the past thirty minutes waiting for me to make a shot, and I'd finally done it.

When I finished celebrating, I turned to find Klay staring down at me, his gaze intense.

"I see why you like basketball so much," I admitted, and ignored my heart thumping against my chest under his watchful gaze, "it's fun."

He remained silent for a moment, and my mouth opened slightly when he moved a stray curl out of my eyes and cupped my cheek in his hand.

His voice was so quiet as he said, "There's something I like a lot more than basketball."

My eyes widened a fraction when I noticed that he was lowering his head towards mine, and I closed my eyes in anticipation of waiting for his lips to meet mine.

"Klay!"

We broke apart quickly, and when I turned to my left, I saw his father standing there with a very ticked off expression. His jaw was clenched tightly, as were his fists.

"I thought I told you to practice drills."

Klay glared at him, and I noticed how hard he was refraining from yelling at his father.

"I did. I was showing Logan how to shoot-"

"I don't care about that. Is she going to Washington State to play basketball? No! And you aren't done with drills until I say you are. Go in the back."

Klay gave me a quick hug, and he kissed the top of my forehead before whispering, "Meet me by the pond down the street at nine o clock."

I gave him the most inconspicuous nod I could manage and watched as he walked past his father without a word and went into the house.

My knees shook as I stood under the watchful gaze of Mr. Thompson.

"Basketball is everything to him. You really think he wants to keep some little girl around? Grow up! He's eighteen years old and has a whole career ahead of him. You? You're some little freshman that can't even drive yet. All you're going to do is bring him down," Mr. Thompson said with a snarl, and my eyes watered as he gave me a cold smile, "and soon enough, he's going to realize that. When he goes off to college tomorrow, he's going to forget all about you."

Later that night, I stood near the pond and waited patiently for Klay to come. Five minutes turned into fifteen, and fifteen turned into thirty. Before I knew it, it was almost ten o clock, and still no sign of Klay.

My eyes watered as Mr. Thompson's words replayed in my mind.

'All you're going to do is bring him down, and soon enough, he's going to realize that.'

Tears fell down my cheeks as I sunk down onto the grass and bawled my eyes out.

The next day, Klay left for Washington State without saying a word to me. No visit, no text, no phone call.

I guess his father was right. Klay had barely left and already he had forgotten about me.