- reese - 

"COME ONN, it's the opening game for the season! We haven't hung out with them since the party two weeks ago!" Grace whined, she'd been begging me all day to go to the women's basketball game against FDU. "You go, I have loads of homework." I dismiss her, I hadn't spoken too or seen any of them after that night, afraid that if I did, I'd continue falling for Kate.

"I know damn well you're lying, last night we grinded and finished all our shit. I have the tickets, I paid for them, we are going." She states, grabbing my arm and hauling me off the couch. "Its in an hour, go shower." Grace pushes me into the bathroom.

"I don't want to go!" I yell, trying to open the door which she clearly is leaning against. "You're going!" She yells back, I sigh in defeat after five minutes of bickering, turning on the shower and stripping off my clothes.

Once I finish up, I walk out seeing Grace and Tati in their black and yellow pinstripe jerseys. "Are we deadass wearing them?" I ask while laughing. "Duh, go hawks!" Tatianna claps making me smile and shake my head. "Alright, alright."

I open my drawer full of softball uniforms, picking up my pinstripe one, Iowa written in yellow cursive on the front, 18 plastered underneath it and 'HAWKEYES' written on the back, my number beneath it. A smile forms on my face as I lay it on my bed. I grab a pair of my black jeans, and my black sambas.

I quickly throw on some makeup as my hair air dries. "You almost ready?" Grace peeks her head in. "Yup!" I stand up from my desk, spraying my vanilla perfume three times and walking out. "I'll drive." Grace grins and grabs her keys making me roll my eyes. "Don't kill us." Tatianna and I say at the same time making me gasp. "Jinx! You owe me a soda." I poke her side making her pout, the three of us head down and into the parking lot, I get in the passenger seat and connect to aux, turning on Lana Del Ray.

"You excited?" Tatianna asks me from the back, clearly digging. "You two need to relax." I huff, annoyed with the constant questions about me and a specific captain.

We arrive at Carver, packed to the brim and the game doesn't even start for another ten minutes. "Holy shit." I gasp, looking around at all the students and family members. "Pretty insane right? Caitlin has brought some serious traction to women's basketball." Grace mentions, making me nod my head. "Just like Reese and softball." Tatianna winks making us all laugh.

As Grace leads us to our seats, I want to punch her face in. We're two rows behind the Iowa bench, not hidden whatsoever. I glance at the court, watching all the girls shooting around. "You are a sneaky bitch." I whisper in Graces ear with a glare. "Hmm?" She hums, but an obvious smirk on her face makes me shove her lightly. We sit in our seats, watching as Bluder calls the team over.

They all huddle up as Grace, Tatianna and I chat aimlessly, me looking over at the team every once and awhile, until Bluder releases them and Kate locks eyes with me, making me whip my head back to Grace. "Reese! Cmere!" Jada yells, I internally groan as the three of us stand up, walking down to the court.

"There you are, we haven't seen you in ages!" Jada ruffles my hair, Caitlin and Gabbie wandering over to say hello as well. "Sorry, super caught up with school work." I lie, adding a frown to make it more believable. I see Grace and Tati giving me the look out of the corner of my eye.

I hug Gabbie, Caitlin and Jada. It's nice to talk to them again, I didn't realize how much I missed them. "Im sure Kate wants to say hi too- YO Kate! Come here!" Gabbie waves over the blonde who I most specifically didn't want to interact with, dropping my head as Kate gives Tatianna and Grace hugs. "Uh, hey." I mumble as she awkwardly hovers by me, I wrap my arms around her shoulders, standing on my tip toes. The feeling of her arms around my waist gives me goosebumps. "Missed you Windsor." Her voice is muffled by my hair as she nests her head into my neck. I pull away and smile.

"You'd look better with 24 on your back." Gabbie winks making me laugh. "Next time give me your jersey then." I playfully wink back, not catching Kates glare as she looks between the two of us.

Suddenly, a boy who looks to be my age with a camera around his neck taps on my shoulder. "Yeah?" I ask. "Could I get a photo of you three for the Iowa instagram page? And of course the softball one." He asks, seeming very shy. I smile brightly as I say yes, Grace and Tatianna move to either side of me as we all wrap our arms around each other's waists, smiling. "Perfect, thank you. Good luck guys!" He says, giving Kate, Gabbie, Caitlin and Jada a thumbs up.

Next thing I knew, we were back in our seats, 5 minutes left on the clock. Iowa in the lead by a landslide, 98-41. Jada goes in for a layup, it hits the backboard and in, making it 100-41. I stand up and cheer. "AYEE, let's go Jades!" As I clap, she looks over at me and makes a heart with her hands.

Sydney draws a foul, making both of her free throws as Tatianna, Grace and I all clap for her. "You should've made me come to these earlier, I didn't know watching basketball could be so much fun." I say over the crowd to Grace and she rolls her eyes. "I tried!" Making us three all laugh.

The game comes to an end, 102-46 Iowa. The three of us shoot up from our seats after they finish the high-five line, running down onto the court as I jump into Jada's arms. "You did so good pooks!" I say into her ear as she laughs and squeezes me, gently putting me down on the ground and congratulating Gabbie.

I give Caitlin a hug, along with Gabbie and Kylie, finally Kate who's standing there, hair messy and falling apart, cheeks red as she huffs, clearly out of breath from excitement. I walk over to her, giving her a short hug. "You played great." I say, barely above a whisper before I pull away, Kate quickly tightening her grip and pulling me back in. "Can we talk? Please." Her tone comes off as almost begging, making my stomach twist and heat rush to my cheeks. "Uh, yeah of course. I'll wait for you." I whisper, untangling myself from her and saying congrats to the rest of the team.

"You coming?" Tatianna asks, tilting her head in confusion as I lean against the wall outside the change room. "Ill see you later, Kate wants to talk." I purse my lips, shrugging. "Okayy." Grace and Tati tease, walking away as they make kissy faces and run their hands over their bodies dramatically, I flip them off for good measure.

After a long 25 minutes of me aimlessly scrolling on my phone, the team rolls out, saying quick hello's to me and waving, I see Kate at the back and I walk towards her. "You're my ride now by the way." I smile lightly, trying to break the weird vibe between us. "No problem, you wanna get food?" She asks and I nod.

Once inside her car, she connects to her speakers and plays Taylor Swift. "You're a swiftie?" I ask. "Caitlin, she's rubbed off on me. But dont tell her I said that." Kate laughs, resting one elbow on her center console, the other on the wheel. God, how does one make driving look so fucking hot? I think to myself. My eyes take her in, her jawline, pink lips, soft eyelashes, nose, messy hair, biceps that are so obviously staring at me as they flex. "You good?" She asks, looking over at me.

"Yeah, yeah im good." I say a little too quickly, looking out the window. "Does Chipotle sound okay?" Kate says and I nod. The rest of the drive was quiet, she orders for us both after I tell her what I want, and pulls into the parking lot after we get our food. "So.." She mumbles, taking a bite of her food. "So." I repeat.

"Things have been weird between us." Kate picks at her fingernails, a habit I've noticed she does quite a bit. I reach over and clasp her hands in mine, making her stop. "We're good Kate, you didn't do anything." I tell her softly, she looks at me with her big blue puppy eyes that could make anyone melt. "Okay, but why- why are we so awkward. I felt like I did something." She frowns, looking genuinely upset at the distance I put between us. "I know." I sigh, trying to find words.

"It was me, just being weird." I finally spit out, making her tilt her head in confusion. "But why? You basically went ghost on us all." Kate looks down, I nibble on my bottom lip. "I just got scared, you guys are all so sweet and fun, I dont know. Change is hard for me, thats all." I say, sure, im semi-lying. But Kate doesn't know that.

"I get it, me too. Reese, we all adore you, don't ditch us again. Jada was nonstop whining about it and it was getting out of hand." She laughs, making me laugh as well. Everything this girl does is contagious. Finally, the layer of tension between us is lifted, our conversations going back to normal as we eat.

"Thank you for dinner and the ride, I'll see you." I smile, stepping out of her car. Kate suddenly gets out as well. "You coming in?" I laugh at her. "Just walking you to your apartment." She shrugs, guiding me to the door of my building by placing her hand on the small of my back. "I'll be fine Martin." I look up at her. "Just let me walk you Windsor." Kate using my last name will never get old.

"Goodnight, text me when you're home. Drive safe!" I yell at her as she walks away, closing my apartment door after she responds. When I turn around, Grace is standing in the kitchen with her arms crossed.

"And where have you been." She questions. "With Kate." I mumble, not wanting her to freak. "What?" She asks again. "Out with Kate." I speak up, Grace's jaw suddenly drops.

"For that long? What! We're y'all fucking in the back of her car?" After a long debrief, we finally go to our separate rooms, my bed calling to me after I change into one of my matching brandy sets and slumping into bed.