Most of the audiences of this basketball match were becoming crazy to watch the exciting game, as well as Winter. She managed to squeeze herself in the middle row of the left side of the court.
The whole left side burst in applause as their team marched out in the court, the cheerleaders screaming in unison. The entire time, Winter had a poker face covering herself. But her bored look was replaced by an enthusiastic one as soon as the opponent team made their entrance. Her pupils dilated as her eyes landed on a particular brunette who was looking particularly hotter than usual. She always knew that Zane had a well-toned and muscular body beneath those undershirts of his, and she admired that about him. Still, she was wonder-struck by his physique.
His black sleeveless jersey gave a good look of his bare arms, along with his broad and protruding shoulders. She could not remove her gaze from his biceps. She wanted to extend her hands and touch him, which would definitely creep everyone out. She slapped herself for having thoughts like that, earning a weird look from the girl beside her.
Winter turned back her gaze at Zane, who was already looking at her by then. He gave her a playful wink before jogging up to his team coach. Winter almost had a heart attack at his cute wink. The surrounding girls went bonkers, thinking the wink was for them.
Winter rolled her eyes and kept watching Zane intently. The coaches started giving their preamble speech.
The speech of the coach was full of energy and it made all the players more energetic as well as it made the audience crazy and excited to witness the game in an aggressive manner. Winter was feeling more energetic and anxious as well. Because her dating life was on the line. If her school team won, she would probably have to date Jake Bradley, which she didn't want.
It was not long before the game started. The first touch of the orange leather ball was exciting enough to get the crowd go almost deafening with cheering.
Zane's team got the ball, and the first basket was scored by himself, then the next, and the next as the first half of the game seemed to fly by. When it hit halftime, the score was tight and everyone, including the team players, remained tense, waiting, and desiring for a win.
The next half started with the whistle of the referee. It went by just as fast as the first half; then a roar of excitement went over them as Winter's school's team got the tying basket.
'Time out!" yelled the coach of their team. The players ran to the bench and tried to listen to how they would play the last one minute. Winter couldn't care less what was going on with her own team as her eyes remained trained on the opposing team. All that crisscrossed everyone's mind was the need to score.
While waiting for her team to return to the court, the smell of the refreshments was being blown into the already stinky and hot gym. The smell of the popcorn was appetizing, but Winter could not pay attention to that since she was too anxious to get that game fixed.
"Damn, why does this have to be such a neck to neck battle?" Winter muttered under her breath.
The whistle blew again. Winter knew that everyone on the opposing team was pressing hard, but their captain was working the hardest. A selfish part of her told her that it was probably because Zane wanted to win it for her sake, which was actually true. As the time was going short, Winter's heartbeat fastened. She wanted Zane to win, but Jake was nearby him, trying to tackle.
Pin drop silence covered the court in fear until the ball fell on the basketball ring. Zane threw the ball and his team won the game.
Winter released a breath she had no idea for how long she was holding. A big grin broke out on her face while the others on her side cried out. Zane looked at her way with his blue eyes, sweat covering his body, and flashed her a dazzling smile. Winter almost teared up. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to hug him.
Quickly, Winter sent him a text and got up from her seat before making her way out of the court, so she could meet up with Zane. As she skidded through the stairs happily, two girls bumped into her intentionally, spilling their juices on her top.
"Watch where you are going, bitch," said one of the girls.
"Oh, I am sorry," Winter quickly apologized, not wanting to mess with anyone from her school.
"Why are you even apologizing? It wasn't even your fault, you dumbass. I can't believe Jake would ask out a spineless girl like you," spat out the other girl.
"C'mon, he just wants her body, you know it," added the first girl.
Winter's eyes stung with tears. She pushed past them and rushed to the spot she was supposed to meet with Zane. Noticing that he was already standing under the tree shade of the garden, Winter wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and approached him with a bright smile.
"Hey, congratulations on the victory," she let out and Zane turned around to face her with a grin plastered on his face. She tried her best not to ogle him as he looked much hotter from up close.
"Thanks. You were my inspiration, after all." He let out a short laugh. "Now, that blonde parrot can't bother you anymore." Zane was much happier about defeating Jake than winning the game. "What happened to your shirt?"
"Oh, someone spilled juice on it by mistake," she replied, not wanting to admit the truth.
"You should change it quickly. It ought to get sticky."
"But I didn't bring any other clothes." She pouted.
"I can lend you my other jersey," he offered.
Heat rushed to her cheeks immediately. She averted her eyes and shyly nodded her head. Zane grabbed her hand and guided her to the stale and stuffy gym changing room. No one was there at the moment since everyone was busy celebrating the victory.
Zane took out his extra jersey from his locker and handed it over to Winter. "I will keep an eye on the door."
"Where am I supposed to change?" she asked cluelessly.
"Here."
"But you are here as well."
"I won't look, I promise." Zane turned in the opposite direction.
Winter bit her lips and started unbuttoning her top. She was thankful that she was wearing a camisole that day. She peeked over her shoulder at Zane before bringing the top close to her nostrils to inhale the familiar scent of his cologne. The faint scent of detergent made it clear that it was washed.
On the other hand, Zane was busy chewing on his bottom lips, wondering why she couldn't hurry already. It was hard to control himself, knowing a beautiful girl was changing right behind him.
The two of them were lost in their own fantasies, unaware of the footsteps approaching the locker room. As soon as they heard the click of the door, they jumped up.
Winter was right in the middle of taking off her shirt. She pressed the jersey to her chest and hugged Zane as protection. Zane was startled but played along, anyway.
"What are your guys doing?" asked one of his teammates that had entered.
"As you can see, we're in the middle of some business," Zane lied efficiently. Winter shut her eyes tightly and buried her face in his chest. She could feel the rush of blood to her cheeks.
"Oh, business," the three of his teammates snickered in unison. "Let us get a look at your girl." Winter and Zane both were experiencing the same kinds of thoughts—either to kill the others or to die themselves.
Zane covered her head with his hand and said, "I don't want you guys to see my girl's face."
My girl? Just those two words were enough to get Winter's heart to start a marathon. Being this physically close to him was embarrassing enough, and he went ahead and called her his girl.
"Is she all reserved for you?" they teased.
Zane nodded robotically. "Now get out, would you?" His teammates grumbled but walked out, nonetheless. They mentally took note to investigate the matter further.
Once they left, Winter moved away from Zane; as if staying close to him any longer would cause her to melt. The two of them struggled to get any words out of their mouth.
"Uh, I'm sorry. I thought I had locked, but—" Zane stopped talking as his eyes fell on her bare chest. He immediately turned around and rested his head on the metal frame and continued saying while blushing like a tomato, "I forgot the lock was broken. Sorry."
"It's okay." Her voice came out much firmer than she had expected, but her face was just as red as his was. She quickly took off her shirt and pulled the given jersey over her head.
"Are you done now?" Zane asked.
Winter was about to reply, but paused as she realized her arms were bare. One look at her scars and Zane would want to know where they came. She wasn't ready to see the disgusted look in his eyes just yet.
"No, not yet. Don't look." She panicked. Her eyes snapped towards his locker where she noticed a pair of tanning protection arm sleeves. She sighed in relief as she quickly pulled them over her arms. "You can look now."
"Why the heck are you wearing my arm sleeves?" Zane asked, unable to understand her reasoning to wear tan protection sleeves when the sun was almost on its way set for the day.
"They seemed interesting. Mind if I return them tomorrow?"
"Even if I do mind, you won't return them, would you?" he asked, and she flashed him her puppy eyes. He sighed. "Okay, fine. Now let's go before anyone else comes in."
As Winter walked ahead of him, Zane's eyes fell on the name of the jersey's back. His last name was imprinted on it. He pressed a hand on his mouth as the realization hit him. He was doomed if any of his friends saw Winter in that jersey. He was well aware that rumors would be flying around about him, but he would hate to get Winter's name involved in it. He grabbed her shoulder and blurted out, "I think you should go home for the day. You must be tired."
"Yeah, I need to congratulate Leon."
"You can congratulate him over the phone or at work tomorrow," he tried to reason.
"It would be rude to leave without letting him know." Winter was trying to look around for Leon amongst the crowd.
Zane threw his head back in frustration. "I didn't want to say this, but you have my name on your back." Winter snapped her neck at him at lightning speed. "You understand what that means, right?"
She gulped and nodded. "I will leave right away. See you—"
"I will drop you," he volunteered and started walking towards the gym exit. Winter followed him without questions.
As soon as they reached the parking lot, Zane was tackled in a bear hug. "Congratulations on the first victory of this season!" his sister screamed excitedly.
Zane managed to unwrap her arms around him and thanked her. "You are late," he said to her.
"You know what my boss is like," Ellie whined.
"Okay, thanks for the car." Zane flashed her a tight-lipped smile and snatched the keys from her.
"No," Ellie let out.
"Yes." Zane was already opening the door of her car. "Winter, let's go."
Winter gave a polite greeting to Ellie before rushing to the car, hoping Ellie wouldn't notice the jersey, but she did. "By the way, the jersey looks perfect on you, Winter!"
Without another word, Winter hopped in the passenger seat, and Zane drove off. The ride was quiet at first, but soon it was filled with their laughter. So much happened in a single day.
Once they arrived in front of Winter's house, they said their goodbyes. Before Winter could step out, Zane pulled her wrist and gave a light kiss on the cheek. "Have a goodnight," he said.
Winter felt like her soul had already left her body. She nodded and got out of the car. As soon as he left, she placed a hand on her chest, letting herself take deep breaths.
Maybe a kiss on the cheek was a normal custom around here, but to her, it was anything but normal, and Zane knew that very well.
