"Seriously, do I have to go?" I pout as Ava pulled me to the line of people.
"Duh, like come on Tate. You've been here for 4 years and haven't gone to one of the women's basketball games," She acts like it's such a big deal, "Matter of fact, you don't go to any sort of games. You don't have any fun and I'm gonna change that."
I laugh, "Really, I'm plenty of fun. It just consists of me in my comfy bed, covered up, watching TikTok all day."
"My point exactly," She says matter-of-factly.
I roll my eyes. Ever since I became roommates with Ava, she's made it her job to make me more social. I talk to people, just they happen to be out of state and I don't really talk to them, I text them.
"You remember that edit I showed you the other day?" As if I could remember, girl shows me like a hundred a day.
"You're gonna have to be more specific on that," She pulls out her phone.
"The girl with the blonde hair, there's braids in the front, that help," She clicks on a video in her favorites on TikTok, "This one."
"Oh, yeah. Why?" I'm genuinely confused on what this has to do with anything.
"Look at the jersey," I finally realize, and I'm guessing it showed it on my face because Ava says, "Exactly, that will give you a reason to watch."
I laugh. After I came out to Ava, she's been nonstop showing me edits of women. Some of them I knew, others I didn't. But her showing me an edit of someone from our school, that's another level.
"How do people even make edits of a college basketball player?" We start moving closer to the door.
"Well, maybe because people are obsessed with her and find their ways. Also, she's like the best basketball player of all time," She puts emphasis on her points by using her hands, "Plus, they show games on where ever people watch sports."
"Don't you follow the sport? Shouldn't you know where they watch it?" I ask her.
"Correction, I follow the players who are hot and talented, not the sport," I shake my head.
We finally make our way inside, sitting where our seats were. People crowding around us. I never realized how many fans our team had. I mean, I heard people talk about it but never pictured this. I watched as the teams warmed up, I saw the blonde that was in the edit Ava showed me, she was wearing the number 5. I saw a shorter girl wearing the number 2, and a tall girl with yellow and purple braids. Then I saw the prettiest girl I've ever seen. She wore the number 10 on her jersey, her hair up into a slicked back ponytail.
"You might wanna pick your jaw off the floor and wipe the drool off your chin," Ava said pulling me from my thoughts.
"What," I snap my head to face her, "Oh, shut up."
I slap her arm, causing her to groan and grab it, "Ow, I was trying to help you from making a fool of yourself."
"Also," Ava started, "The blonde, Paige, you can't drool over her. She's currently talking to someone."
She starts to point to herself, "Oh my god, seriously? Why didn't you tell me sooner? Is that why we're here?"
She shook her head yes, "At first, I didn't want to tell you."
I cut her off, "And what made you not wanna tell me?"
"I just wanted it to be ... I guess ... real. Like I felt like it was going to go somewhere."
"And you think it's going to go somewhere?"
"I mean she did ask for me to come to the game, but I couldn't come alone," She grabbed my hand, " I had to bring you."
The smirk she had on her face told me she was up to something, "Ava, what am I doing here?"
"I mean, I might've told Paige she could set you up with one of the girls on the team."
"AVA! Why would you tell her that ," I felt my face turn blood red.
"Tate, you're literally 22 years old, never had a girlfriend, and has never had their first kiss. At least you have chance for it to be a hot basketball player."
I gave her the dirtiest look I could give her, "Okay, and?"
"I'm just trying to help you a bit. I can tell Paige you're not up for it."
"No, it's fine, I guess. I have to learn to give people a chance, Including you and Paige."
She smiles ear to ear, "I mean, Paige already has someone down to go out with you, but I don't wanna tell you who it is yet."
"What, no. You have to at least tell me who it is," I beg.
"Why don't you try and guess, " Why does she play too much.
"Okay, whatever."
*******************************************
As the game went on, I pay attention to each of the players, but one kept catching my eye. Number 10, which I found out was Nika Muhl after her name was called at the beginning of the game.
I had named off a couple of the players numbers, getting nothing from Ava.
"44," She shook her head no.
"Ava," I start to pout, "Just tell me."
"I'm surprised you didn't say it first," she points to the players, "the one you've been drooling over the whole game. Number 10, Muhl."
I gasp, "No way, I can't do that."
"Why cause she's someone you're actually interested in?" I smack her arm.
"No, she's just so pretty. I wouldn't even be able to talk to her. Like, I would be a stuttering mess. I ... I can't, nope. No way."
Ava starts to laugh, "Oh you'll be fine. After you talk to her for a minute, everything will go smoothly."
Paige makes a foul shot, Ava jumps up yelling and cheering for her. I swear she's the loudest person in this room. Paige must've heard her because she looks into the crowd, finding us. She winks and turns back to the ref with the ball.
"Oh god, now I'm going to have to talk to Nika. I can't, I'm gonna leave now," I go to stand up, but before I could stand all the way up, Ava pulls me back down.
"Oh hush, don't overthink it."
"Too late."
A couple of minutes later, our team called a timeout, causing the girls to huddle with their coach. But in the back of the huddle I see Paige and Nika talking. While their talking, Paige starts to point in Ava and I's direction. Nika's gaze follows, meeting me. She smiles and waves. I send a small one back. She laughs and looks back at Paige.
"Aww, you're blushing," Ava jokes.
"Shut up, Ava, " I put my head into my hands.
I looked at the time left, oh god, there's 56 seconds left in the game. I feel myself start to freak out.
"Hey Ta, it's alright," She patted my knee.
"I know A, but I don't know what to say to her," I fidget with my fingernails, "What if she ends up not liking me?"
"She'd be stupid not to like you," She pulls out her phone, "here let me show you this."
She pulled up an edit of Nika, "Dude why are you showing me this?"
"To show you how hot your future girlfriend is, " She laughed, I rolled my eyes.
"I haven't even talk to her yet," I heard the buzzer go off.
"Well, you're getting ready to though, " She pulled me up with her to move through the crowd.
Everyone was cheering, UCONN just won 86 - 72. While everyone was celebrating, all I could think of was what I was going to say to Nika. This woman gives me butterflies and I haven't even talk to her yet.