My sneakers screeched on the hardwood of the basketball court as I pulled up short of Le Ral, who was guarding me in practice today.

“You can’t touch this, Le Ral. No chance.”

“Keep talking, pretty boy,” he barked back. “You are not getting to the hole.”

The Frenchmen was cocky as hell and I liked it when he guarded me because he toughened me up. He was a solid few inches taller than me, but my wingspan was longer than his and I was solid muscle. He, on the other hand, was more of a lanky type build.

I faked left, then dribbled right. Le Ral was a half step behind me as I took off in the air and slam dunked the ball with authority. He jumped in vain to block me.

“Fuck!” Le Ral yelled.

I let out a primal yell. “Told ya I would get by you.”

Coach whistled at all of us to a stop, clapping his hands a few times and said, “Fellas, let’s call practice here. Good work today.” He pointed to me. “Spiros, I don’t know what the hell you had for lunch today, but can you let us all know so we can get some of that? Thanks.”

There were a few sniggers from the team but it had been evident today that I was on fire. I felt unstoppable, unbreakable. Even Tony Le Ral, who was a year older than me and sure to get drafted by either the NBA or signed by a Euroleague when the year was up, couldn’t do anything with me.

I knew what had given me my razor edge, but I’d never tell: I was pumped up for my little friend date with Amy tonight. Even more so because I hadn’t seen her since our interesting conversation yesterday morning, which had been kind of off the wall but not in a bad way. I was looking forward to hanging out at home with her again last night but I’d had late practices and when I got home early evening, according to Maria, Amy had turned in early. Then this morning, she’d been gone before we could have breakfast together, which I wouldn’t have minded and having another oddball conversation.

Sometimes you just know that you have an explosive chemistry with someone, and with Amy, that was the case. Ever since I’d first seen her, walking into the kitchen still half asleep and sexy, I’d wanted her. She had these tight, perky tits, and a great ass that I knew was going to feel absolutely amazing to grab. But these past few days had been enlightening. Usually, I just focused on the superficial and hooked up with girls that took a mutual interest in me. It didn’t go that much deeper. I didn’t really make any attempt to get to know them beyond the very basics. We didn’t have meaningful or off the wall conversations. We didn’t talk about ourselves in finite and uncomfortable terms. It was just very safe—especially for me.

Amy wasn’t safe. She had fire, personality and she spoke her mind. I liked that. A lot. More then I thought I would. I was still inexplicably drawn to her even knowing she wasn’t a safe choice. Maybe if we weren’t living in the same space, I could be more casual but the more I got to know her, the more interested I became. Other girls hadn’t even blipped on my radar since Amy came into the picture. Nearly a week of foregoing sex was the longest dry spell ever.

There was just one problem. She could admit a mutual attraction but continued to refuse to admit that we wanted each other like a couple of virgins on prom night. Convincing her to just relax and have fun with it was proving diffiult. She was almost as stubborn in denying me as I was about getting her into my bed.

Since Tuesday, my head had been spinning, trying to figure out what Squirt’s deal was. What kind of girl stands outside your room—watching you in the most intimate thrusts of self love, saying her name—and then says that we were still going to be ‘just friends’?

It put me on edge but taking my frustrations out in practice was apparently useful instead of distracting. I mean, what the fuck was up with this girl? A friend date? Was that even a thing? I am not the guy that girls friend zone. On the contrary, I’m the guy they put in the fuck zone.

Plus, she’d left her panties outside the door for me. No way she hadn’t done that on purpose, which meant her little pact was nothing but a defense and not meant to be taken seriously, just as I’d thought. Was she really going to play pretend that she didn’t want me to give her the Chandler Spiros treatment for the rest of spring semester?

She was only kidding herself if she thought she could hold out against me. Tonight, I would break down her defenses just like I broke down the defenses of any team that we played.

I was up for a challenge. Hell, I liked a good challenge. Squirt was the best challenge I’d ever had. And what made her think that we couldn’t hook up for the next two months? She made it sound like it’d be a one-time thing. With her right next door, a ‘one-time romp’ would never happen.

The team grabbed their stuff from the benches while the coaches and staff lingered behind. The university’s basketball court was regulation size and newly built, clearly catering to the influx of student athletes—specifically, basketball. And Spain was the epicenter of Euorpean basketball at the collegiate and professional level, with the sport’s major organziations headquartered right here in Barcelona.

My athletic scholarship was even paying for this Euro Prep Program, which was organized by the European Basketball Academy, and geared towards USA college athletes interested in playing ball in Europe. But leaving UNC and during winter and spring semester when the season was just starting had not been easy. I wasn’t the star player and never would be but I was pretty damn good so my coaches had been fairly pissed at me. But the opportunity to study abroad, right now, had been too important to pass up. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do once I graduated—either redshirt and have another year to figure shit out and consider the NBA or skip that and maybe join the European league that a few of my teammates back at school had been talking about. It was another reason I’d come here, and I knew the language fluently because of my mom so it was almost like kismet.

The guys razed me about my game while we all walked towards the locker room, especially Le Ral. While I was friends with all the guys on the team, Le Ral and I had become the closest and was making my decision about my basketball career that much clearer. He was already getting a lot of interest from teams in the Euroleague and would have his choice of teams to pick from. Tagging along with my new best friend might be fun since I had so little to really go back home to.

After I showered, Le Ral and I chatted as we sat on the locker room bench while we toweled off.

“You want to go out tonight?” he asked, giving me a look.

“I would… But I have a date tonight.”

He smirked, like he’d already known the answer. “Let me guess. With Amy, that short little ball of fire who was at the bar the other night?”

“How’d you know?” I asked as I toweled off my hair.

“A Frenchman knows when love is in the air.” He grinned. “I could just tell by the way shorty looked at you.”

“She is short and also hot as fuck,” I replied, pulling on my jeans. I slipped a white t-shirt and light sweater over my head, tied my shoes, and stood up. I grinned, almost stupidly. “And she’s cool man. Way cool.”

“Awwww. Look at that. So cute.”

I punched Le Ral in the shoulder. “Fuck you.” I smiled.

“Well, let me know if you are up for anything after you hang out with her tonight.” Le Ral squinted and nodded, like he’d had some kind of realization. “And hey, didn’t you say she wanted to stay ‘just friends’?”

I nodded back. “That’s what she said. But she wants me. I know it.”

La Ral just shook his head as I made my way to the exit. Just then, my phone buzzed and I got a text from Amy.

Amy: Hey sorry, can’t hang out tonight. I forgot to text you earlier but something came up, ttyl

TTYL?

What the fuck was this?

I was confused as a monkey doing alegebra.

I fired back a text: What are you doing?

Amy: Friend’s birthday party…

Chandler: Where is it?

Amy: idk, gotta go get ready, ttyl

Again with the fucking TTYL? I thought about her turning in early last night—had that been about her avoiding me and planning a way out of our date? Why else treat me like I was some kind of plague all of the sudden? I wasn’t angry, but this hot-cold thing was new to me. I knew she really believed that if we hooked up that things would go down hill, and I saw her logic but it could end up being fun instead of bad. What was wrong with fun? Especially with each other?

Had I hallucinated opening my eyes and seeing her writhing in my doorway, hand on her pussy as she pleasured herself while she watched me doing the same? Was I Mugatu over here taking crazy pills?

I stopped short of the door, turned and yelled to Le Ral, “Hey, date’s canceled. Let’s hang tonight.”

He was just standing up. His face spread into a grin. “Now that’s what I like to hear. Guys’ night.”

“Guys’ night it is.”

Amy was driving me crazy. Nuts. I’d never tried this hard over a girl. I’d never had to chase a girl before, and here she was…just blowing me off for no reason. Screw that. I could blow her off, too but…it bothered me. It really bothered me she didn’t want to hang out when I’d been looking forward to it all day. Even if my end goal was to get her in my bed, it wasn’t like I was going to maul her at the bar. It was like I’d done something to turn her off. I shook my head at myself. I knew I was just projecting and Amy was the type to tell me what was on her mind. So her friend’s b-day party was more important, no big deal. Telling myself that a few times didn’t make me feel better.

Whatever, I told myself. Another night. No big deal. Nothing a little drinking therapy wouldn’t cure.