“Andi!” I shouted.
Nothing. She didn’t respond. I closed my eyes as my fists clenched. She knew that I wouldn’t let her go off alone. She was always wandering off, and I always had to get her. She knew I’d come for her. It was a trap. Still, I couldn’t let her get hurt. Hot or not, the boys could have been killers for all we knew. Knowing our luck, they probably were.
Without any more hesitation, I ran over to meet Andi.
“What the hell are you doing?” I asked. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“Not everyone is a killer or rapist, Beth,” she said.
“No. Not everyone, but I’m betting that you’d have a hard time picking out the differences and identifying one from another,” I responded, my tone hardened.
“Yeah, yeah,” she said.
“Hey there,” one of the guys said. A big smile on his face as he wandered up. He licked his lips as he approached, his eyes wandering up and down my friend.
Gross, I thought to myself. Men who did that were pretty easy to predict.
“Hi!” Andi said.
“What are you guys up to?” hot lips asked.
“Just out for a walk,” Andi replied.
“About to leave,” I said. I forced a smile, but I knew it was obviously fake. “Nice to meet you guys.”
“Wait!” hot lips said. “You don’t have to leave yet.”
I was thanking Jesus that there was a fence around the court that separated them from us. God, how I hated Andi at that moment.
“What’s your name, beautiful?” the blonde guy next to him asked me.
“Yeah,” Andi said with a smirk in my direction. “What’s your name?”
She wagged her brows at me, and I wanted to punch her in the face.
“Elizabeth,” I said.
“Lizzy,” the blonde one said. “Hot.”
“No,” I said. “Elizabeth.”
“Oooh,” he said. “Sorry, Elizabeth.” He exaggerated my name, and it almost immediately pissed me off.
I didn’t like the way he looked at me, and I didn’t like the way his friend looked at Andi. All in all, I’d say that it was rounding out to be a crappy afternoon after all. My calm mood was shattered, and I wasn’t happy. I was about to say something, but I was interrupted.
“Ugh,” I heard one of them grunt. It had been the one wearing jeans. He stepped forward and tapped his blonde friend on the shoulder.
“She said Elizabeth. Not Lizzy. Not Liz. Not Bethy. Not any other thing you’ll pop out of your mouth. Elizabeth. And it can be said without an attitude,” he said.
My mouth fell slightly open. Not enough to draw immediate attention, but I was definitely shocked.
“Thanks,” I said.
He turned to me, his short black hair shining in the sun and his dark eyes immediately holding me captive. His skin glistened with sweat, and I could not take my eyes off every flawless feature he had.
“You’re welcome,” he said.
“You’re no fun, Jax” hot lips said.
“No,” Jax, formerly known to me as hottie hero, countered. “I just think you’re a punk that doesn’t know how to treat women.”
“Ouch,” Andi said, laughing a little.
“I think the two of you should leave,” the fourth guy said, coming to stand by Jax.
“Yeah,” blondie said, smiling at us with a smug grin. “You heard him.”
Thank God, I thought to myself.
“No,” the fourth guy stated flatly. “I wasn’t talking to the girls. I was talking to you.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” hot lips said.
“I’ve warned you before about acting like that. It’s bullshit. Any time a girl is around, both of you act like you’re going to pounce on them. I’ve had enough of it. Leave,” Jax demanded.
Both men turned and stormed off, mumbling some childish and jerky things to one another about Jax and his friend.
“I’m sorry about that,” Jax said. “I don’t know if you caught my name or not, but it’s Jax. And this is my brother, Alex.”
“I’m Andi. This is Elizabeth. She’s recently very single.”
I turned to Andi, my eyes wide as I stared at her with disbelief.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
I sighed heavily. It was a split-second decision, but I decided that I didn’t know Jax. I didn’t know Alex. It didn’t matter what they thought of me. I loved Andi, but I needed to set her straight right then, or her behavior in trying to pimp me out would only get worse.
“What?” Andi asked.
“He yelled at those men, but you weren’t helping the situation. You came over here when I wouldn’t because I lack the confidence to. Thank you for trying to help, but it was only this morning when I walked in on my boyfriend of three years in bed with another woman. I don’t need another boyfriend. I don’t need a beneficial friend. I just need my friend. These guys could be rapists for all you know – no offense,” I said that last part turning to Jax.
He had a small smile on his face. “None taken.”
“But my point stands. Those guys were creeps. Is that the kind of guy you want to get the attention of? Because just rushing up to a group of strange men you don’t know and flirting with them is exactly how you get the attention of douchebags. Again, no offense,” I said.
“None taken,” he said, stifling a light laugh.
“I’m sorry!” Andi said. “I just do not want you stuck like I was all year last year.”
“I’m not going to be,” I said. “Now, thank this man for not letting you get raped by Creepy McFuckface and his friend Dildo Prickens.”
“Dildo Prickens?” Andi asked.
“Andi!” I said.
“Yes, Mom!” she said with an eye roll before turning to Jax and Alex. Both men were standing with their arms crossed, each one fighting smiles. “Thank you. I’m sorry that we broke up your game.”
“You’re fine,” Alex said. “No need to apologize. They were assholes, and we were pretty sick of it.”
“He’s right, they were jerks. Don’t worry about it,” Jax said.
“Wanna play?” Alex asked.
“Us?” I asked incredulously.
“Yeah!” Jax said. “You guys should play with us. He sucks, so it’s just not much fun to kick his ass all over the place.”
I laughed. “Well, while I doubt that, I can personally guarantee that you would kick my ass all over that court. If you lifted me and sat me inside the basket with the ball… I’d still miss.”
The deep laugh that escaped him was genuine. Something that I hadn’t heard in a long time, and I found that I really liked the sound of it. Alex had also found it humorous. They were both very attractive and had great senses of humor. Unlike the other two, I liked them.
“Then maybe we should teach you how to shoot first,” Alex said.
It was obvious that Andi wanted to stay. To be honest, I did, too, but I felt nervous about it simply because of how I met them in the first place. At that point, it was very awkward. While he seemed very kind, I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea about us. Andi wasn’t exactly the way she portrayed herself sometimes. She just tried too hard, and it came off the wrong way—like it had then.
“If you have somewhere that you need to be, or are just kind of uncomfortable because of what happened, we understand,” Jax said.
Damn him. He was beautiful and compassionate. I must have been making an expression that gave away my unease.
“I don’t know if either of you have talent enough to teach me, but we can see. Luckily, Andi is pretty good,” I said.
Andi’s head nearly exploded with excitement. It was obvious by the way she looked at me.
“Yay!” she exclaimed.
“I’ll take the pro,” Alex said with a smile.
Andi jumped and clapped her hands excitedly before heading around to the opening in the chain-link fence.
“I’ll take you,” Jax said in my direction. “Don’t worry. I won’t let them beat us.”
I laughed. “You’ve never seen me play, but let’s see what you can do.”
As I made my way around the fence, I took a deep breath. I was nervous. Social anxiety was kinda my thing. As far as talking goes, I did fine, but I had low confidence around large groups of people and men in general. It didn’t even have to be a “hot” guy. Just any ol’ guy would do. Jax, however, was nowhere near being just “any ol’ guy.” My heart was fluttering as if I were about to get up on a stage and sing in front of hundreds of people.
Anxiety… You can bite me. Thank you.
“Okay,” Jax said as I walked up. “We are going to start off with some basics.”
His dark skin glistening in the sun was very distracting, but I did my best to avoid every curve of every visible muscle.
“Go ahead and show me what you can do,” Jax said, mimicking my words from earlier.
Across the court Alex and Andi were shooting around at the other goal. Jax handed the ball to me, and I stepped forward. He stood, watching me intently. His dark brown eyes studied me from head to toe. Shaking away the nerves, I bent my knees and took my shot.
Shocker…
I missed.
Without hesitation, Jax grabbed the ball and came back to stand in front of me.
“Okay,” he said, a smile spreading across his face. “The bad news is that you’re right. You’re pretty terrible. The good news is that it should be totally fixable with some posture changes and patience. If you want to learn, that is.”
“Actually,” I said. “I’d love to. I love sports. I was on a basketball team when I was a kid. I wanted to play so badly, but I sucked so much that I quit for the good of the team.”
He laughed. “I pride myself on being an honest man. I’d have to say that was a noble, and wise decision on your part. That being said, I’m betting they lost a large portion of the humor and cuteness when you left. That’s a shame.”
I couldn’t stop smiling. He’d called me cute. More importantly, he’d called me funny. He was very sweet.
“Thanks,” I replied, not knowing what else to say. Taking compliments wasn’t exactly a strong suit of mine.
“Sorry,” he said before handing the ball to me. “Okay. Back to the task at hand.”
Jax moved to stand next to me and lowered his position a little.
“Stand like this. Feet about hip-width apart. Good. If you have a hard time shooting directly in front of you, and it feels uncomfortable, turn a little to the side. Which is your dominant side?”
He gave me simple instructions, and I did my best to follow and get into a proper stance. Once he was finished helping me stand properly, he stepped in front of me.
“Lift the ball like you’re going to take a shot,” he said.
I did as he asked, and he placed both of his hands over mine.
“If you hold the ball with both hands even on the left and right sides of the ball, you actually have less control over where it goes. Hold it more like this.”
He moved my hands so that my right hand was behind the ball and my left just under the front. I knew to shoot like that, but it had always felt unnatural. I guess it felt a lot different as an adult because it was just fine. Jax stepped back and out of the way.
“Okay,” he said. “Let ‘er rip.”
I jumped and took the shot. It hit the right side of the rim and bounced around a couple of times before falling out.
“Damn!” he said with a smile on his face. “That was much better! Good job!”
I could tell by the look on his face that he was genuinely excited for me, which in turn, made me even more so. The smile on my face was unstoppable. Just like before, when I tried to run for the ball, he was faster. He’d bring it back with a smile and encourage me to shoot again. It was a lot of fun being around someone that enjoyed smiling as much as he did and was as sweet as he was. Before I knew it, a half hour had passed. My face hurt from smiling and laughing so much.
“Jaxon,” Alex said. “We have to get out of here.”
Jax pulled his phone from his pocket and checked the time.
“Damn,” he said under his breath. “I’m sorry. We have to head out.”
“Oh!” I said. I tried to hide the disappointment on my face, but I didn’t think my smile looked as genuine as I meant for it to. “I had a lot of fun. You guys have a great day!”
He stalled for a moment, his mouth opening twice as though he were about to say something, but didn’t.
Please ask for my number. Please ask for my number. Please ask for my number.
Though I gave it my best, I couldn’t help being attracted to him. With all the fun we’d had, I didn’t want to see it disappear completely.
Finally, he smiled and spoke, pulling me from my thoughts.
“You, too,” he said before turning. “Oh… I had a lot of fun, too.”
Damn, I thought.
With no more than a nervous wave, I turned and walked away. Andi ran up to me, and I was immediately worried that she would make a huge deal about the guys and the fact that I didn’t get his number. Instead, she was quiet. I risked a peripheral view of her, and she had a large smile on her face as well. Apparently, it was just as fun for her as it was for me. Good. I had hope that she would leave me be.
“You’re suspiciously quiet,” I said as she put the car in reverse.
“I figured you wouldn’t want me to nag you about anything,” she said.
“Liar,” I replied. “What is it? You liked him, didn’t you?”
Her face lit up again. “I did. I couldn’t help it. Alex was so polite and sweet.”
“Jax was the same,” I said. “They have awesome parents. I’d assume so anyway. They are both very respectful, which is quite rare these days.”
“I know! Alex was amazing. I would love to see him again,” Andi said.
“I know the feeling,” I replied.
It was the truth. Unfortunately for me, I allowed that opportunity to pass me by. Though I regretted it, I knew that it was for the best. The last thing I needed was to be approaching anyone, especially that soon. It was mind-boggling to me that it had even occurred to me. Then again… It was nice to simply talk to someone and have them be interested in what I said. Maybe I wasn’t so crazy after all.