Page 25 of Hello Forever
Axeldental to Caxtastrophe: (Insert smack talk about how you’re going to losebig,etc.)
Caxtastrophe to Axeldental: Bring it, smacktalker.
Axeldental to Caxtastrophe: You can betonit.
* * *
Nothing could have keptme away from that game. Playing against Axel would probably be the highlight of my fall semester. That was pretty sad, but as with everything else in my life, there was no point in dwellingonit.
I couldn’t even concentrate in the library that afternoon. I kept looking out the window, watching the sun slowly advance toward the horizon. When it was finally dark outside, I quit pretending I was studying. I packed up my stuff and headed over tothegym.
Naturally, even before the teams showed up in the gym, the outcome was predetermined. PhD candidates versus hardcore jocks?Please.
But I was eager for this drubbing. I’d lose a million to zip if it meant playing basketball with Axel onemoretime.
When I reached the gym, though, my eager eyes did not find Axel. Trying not to feel disappointed, I dropped my gym bag on the bleachers and peeled off my fleece jacket. Then I checked my phone onemoretime.
Nomessages.
“Can we all go out beers after this?” asked my teammate, Jason. He dropped his jacket onto the benchbesidemine.
“Sure. Let'sdoit.”
Jason was a few years older than I, and just the sort of laidback human who made playing on this team fun. Technically he should have been ineligible for the graduate school team. At our one and only team practice last week he told me he’d graduated from the architecture program last semester. But nobody gave a damn if he wasn’t a card-carrying grad student anymore. This was the most casualleagueever.
Going out for beers afterward sounded like fun. I didn’t have a lot of cash to throw around, but this team and the occasional night out would make my cloistered life in Henning morebearable.
“We might need more than one beer to staunch the bleeding,” Jason remarked, stripping off his sweatshirt. “Looks like the athletic department picked up a new player. Don’t recognize that guy fromlastyear.”
“Yeah?” My blood pressure spiked, and I gave all my attention to changing into my gymshoes.
“Oh yeah. I’m sensing our scoring chances just went down a few notches. But, hey,” Jason muttered. “At leasthe’shot.”
My pulse kicked up another notch, because now I was positive that it was Axel who’d walked in. That “hot” comment clearlydescribedAxel.
And wasn’t it funny that I’d never realized Jason was gay? My gaydar was terrible. Because it never got anypractice.
I heard the familiar sound of the basketball bouncing confidently off the floor, and knowing it was Axel warming up made me feel warm everywhere. I used to love playing one-on-one together, because it allowed me to really focus on him without anyone’s scrutiny. I could watch his beautiful body move, and I could get as near to him as I wanted while we fought for the ball. And nobody ever thought it wasstrange.
“Come on,” Jason said, slapping me on the back. “Let’s take ourbeating.”
When I stood up, my eyes went immediately to Axel. The sight of him in a basketball jersey and shorts practically knocked me over. I couldn’t help but watch his muscular arm casually work theball.Damn.
He lifted his chin in a subtle greeting. Then he turned his back on me and shot, sinking a perfect three-pointer.
Showoff. I buried my smile as the volunteer ref blew his whistle. “Let’s go, ladies,” he called. “I have a dateafterthis.”
“Well, let’s not keep her waiting,” growled Boz, the big ex-football player on the athletic department’s team. He couldn’t jump for shit, but he was big enough to get in the way at all the worst moments. He and Axel lined up for the tip-off, and I wondered how they got along at work. Boz looked like a meathead, but Axel had told me he was a good guy. And there was something jolly about his demeanor that suggested he might not have any time forintolerance.
Not everyone in the world was a dick like my father. But growing up in his house made me mistrustful, and I didn’t know if I’d ever getoverthat.
I was still puzzling over this when the ref tossed the ball, and Axel won the tip-off. Of course he did. He batted it to their boss—an older guy—who passed to Boz. Axel moved into position to receive the ball, so of course I lunged in toblockhim.
And just like that, time rolledbackward.
We jockeyed for position. I leaned in, trying to cover Axel’s stretch with my slightly longer but less-skilled reach. He huffed out a laugh, and I felt myself grow younger. We were fourteen again and innocent. There was nothing but the polished wooden floor, the ball, the hoop and the squeak of rubber as we vied fortheball.
Our team got the ball away from Axel, and play raced to the other end of the court. Jason passed to me, and Axel was like a wall on wheels. Everywhere I turned, he thwarted me. Finally, he fouled me as I tried to breakthrough.
