31 | moon and stars

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CHAPTER 31

A gust of wind whipped across the landscape, waking it up with sound.

The heavy pounding of my trainers against concrete. The crunch of leaves as they left their branches, fully in tune with the autumn weather.

The horns of the cars stuck in the 7 am London traffic and the faint sound of music, most likely because one of them had their windows rolled down.

I had broken into a light sweat by the time I reached my door, panting a little as I unlocked it.

Only when I did, it wasn't what I had been expecting.

"Honey, I'm home!" Danny was sprawled across my couch with an obnoxious grin on his face.

Jake was standing at the other end of the room, responding to Danny's statement while he messed with my bobbleheads lined on the counter. "It only works if you're the one coming in."

My gaze switched back to Danny to see him frowning. "Are you sure? I could've sworn it works both ways."

Jake shook his head. "Nah, I think—"

"What the hell are you guys doing in my apartment?" The conversation paused and their attention fell onto me.

Danny shrugged. "We got bored."

Jake's head lifted briefly. "What he said."

I let out a sigh, making my way into my room to kick my trainers off. I didn't even want to know how they'd gotten in in the first place.

When I re-emerged, they were still there.

Of course they were.

The run I had just been on had wiped me of the effort that it would take to kick them out and if I was being honest, I didn't really mind the company. But they didn't need to know that.

I just sat down on the small section of the couch that hadn't been invaded by Danny's limbs, crossing my arms over each other.

Jake's grin was teasing. "I can't believe you've not kicked us out yet."

I gave him a small smile of my own. "Don't tempt me."

Danny's eyes shifted from the television and onto me. "You know, Coach missed you while you were gone."

"You sure about that?" My brows raised. "I could've sworn he doesn't experience human emotions."

Jake snorted. "He doesn't. He just grumbled something about us playing worse when you're not there."

I couldn't stop the cocky grin that found its way onto my face. "Told you I was his favourite."

Danny's eyes narrowed, ever the competitive one. "He didn't say that."

"He didn't have to." I shrugged, the smile growing when he elbowed me in the ribs.

When I looked at Jake I saw that his attention was elsewhere, following his line of vision over to the bobbleheads that he had been standing next to when I came in.

He stood up, walked over to the counter and picked one up, turning to face me. "I realised that I've never asked you why you have these. He shivered. "It always feels like they're staring into my soul."

I smiled as my memories took the question and ran with it, a blurry film reel that played in my head while I answered Danny. "They were my Dad's. I'm not sure why he liked them so much."

I didn't tell him that they'd grown on me a little over the years, their big heads and tiny bodies oddly calming to look at.

He set it back on the wooden surface, filling in the blanks on his own.

Jake and Danny already knew about my Dad. I had a feeling that it would be hard to keep anything that big from them. To say they were tenacious was an understatement.

Jake sighed once he had made his way back to the couch and sat down. "It's my turn to volunteer after practice today. What am I even supposed to do with them? I hate kids."

I bit back a smile. I knew first-hand just how much of a pain those particular kids there. At least I'd had Cora to help me.

That smile I had been biting back appeared on my face at the thought of her. I knew I looked like an idiot, but that was the furthest thing from my mind at that moment.

Damn. After so many months that I'd lost count, she'd finally put aside all her reservations and agreed to a date with me.

None of that 'just friends' bullshit.

A date.

If that wasn't reason enough to smile, then I didn't know what was.

She was finally going to see first-hand how perfect we were together. About flipping time.

"Dude. What the hell are you smiling at?" I was broken out of my thoughts by the sound of Danny's confused voice, his eyes following my gaze to the wall at the back of the room.

"Nothing." I had to work hard to feign nonchalance, my lips falling back into a thin line as my thoughts lost themselves in the room's air. My eyes returned to his, bearing no hint of why I had been distracted. Or so I thought.

His brows furrowed at my response for a moment before his facial expression changed completely, as if something had clicked. His eyes began to gleam with mischief and a goofy grin slid into place.

I didn't like where this was going.

"You know, you haven't told us anything about Cornwall yet. What was it like, going by yourself?"

The emphasis he'd placed on 'yourself' was all I needed to know that he was fully aware of the fact that I'd gone with Cora, but I decided to play dumb.

"It was great." I met his gaze head on.

He smirked. "What did you do there? Alone, of course."

"Well—" I began to answer.

Jake was grinning when he interjected. "Gabe, we know you went with Cora."

I shook my head with a half smile, amused at their antics. "No shit, you assholes."

"Seriously though, how was it?" Danny folded his arms in a sign that I had his full attention.

I smiled. "Pretty damn good."

Jake frowned. "I need more than that, man."

At the risk of sounding like any more of a twat than I already did, I held back some information. Namely the fact that I'd asked her to doodle on my hand during the journey back and actually enjoyed it.

In my defence though, it was less to do with the drawing and more to do with the fact that it forced her into sitting in my lap.

In short, I told them everything from my mum's reaction to her to the fact that I would be meeting her for a date tonight.

Danny clapped me on the back when we stood up together. "Good for you, bro."

Jake said something to that effect with a smile, but something about it felt off. I called him out on it, asking, "You okay?"

He nodded slowly, but his eyes told a different story. "Yeah."

Danny made his way to the door, hand paused on the knob. "You guys ready to go? Practice starts in ten minutes."

We nodded in sync, leaving after he did.

I reached into my pocket for my keys but Jake got there before I could, twisting a key I didn't even know he had into the door of my apartment to lock it.

I shook my head in disbelief. At least I now knew how they got in.

- - - -

"Madden!" The slaps on the back came one by one, each member of the team welcoming me back in turn.

The last welcome was from Coach, somehow in exactly the way I was expecting. "You're lucky I'm not kicking your ass for the way you up and left us."

I grinned. "I missed you too, Coach."

He rolled his eyes. "You know what? Let's start with suicides just for Number 6 over here."

A chorus of deep groans fell across the court, each person moving into position reluctantly. I had never hated the number on the back of my jersey more.

No matter how fit I thought I was, suicides humbled me every time.

It always started off fine - an easy sprint halfway down the court and back - but by the tenth one we were all out of breath and cursing Coach under our breath.

As I downed the water in the bottle I had sandwiched between my palms, it was obvious that this time was no exception.

When he called us all back into the centre of the court, panting and winded, there was the hint of a smile on his face. I forgot. Coach's favourite entertainment was watching us struggle.

A few seconds later when we had all mostly recovered, Coach began to speak. "I wanted to talk with you guys about the league." He cast his eyes around the room, briefly meeting those of each and every player.

I already knew the basics. We had spent the last few months playing in a league of basketball teams up and down the UK, and had so far made it as far as the quarter-finals.

"We've been playing well. I'm sure that's not news to you." Coach paused, and the silence in the room was deafening. "The problem is that we're going to have to do a heck of a lot better than well in our match next week. If we win it, we'll be in the cup finals."

A series of whoops filled the room, each player amped up and suddenly rearing to go.

Coach looked stern. "The last time that happened was five years ago. We can't afford to lose."

Bryce, a fourth year university student and the team's captain, reassured him. "We won't, Coach."

Coach smiled. Or at least, his mouth stretched in what was the closest thing we'd ever get to a smile from him. "Good."

His arm stretched out to section us off. "Burns, go to that side. Madden, that side." Each person was put on a side, divided until each team was equally split in terms of ability.

The teams worked so well because the strongest players - the ones who had been here the longest and had the most experience - mixed with the weakest players - first years with all four years of experience ahead of them and an excitement that most of the fourth years had lost.

The sound of Coach's whistle rang through the air like a bullet, made even more intense by the scuff of trainers against the floor as one player from each team jumped for the ball.

My team won it, that same player passing the ball to me.

I shot down the court as I dribbled the ball, narrowly dodging an incoming defender.

I looked up to be met by the realisation that there was no chance that I'd be able to pull that again, since a fourth year who we'd nicknamed 'the wall' for obvious reasons, was standing directly in front of me.

I had to act fast, deciding to set it up for another member of my team to score with ease.

Those same whoops from earlier found their way back into the hall as the points for each team grew, eventually becoming neck and neck.

Danny was the difference between a win and a loss, scoring a basket for my team in the split second before Coach's whistle blew again.

"Nice." Our palms collided in a handshake.

Coach stood stock still, his whistle bouncing against his chest. "If you boys play like that, then we're losing for sure."

That mood in the room dropped immediately. Apparently, what had felt like a good game was actually far from it.

But then Coach's arms uncrossed, the stern look on his face becoming something more neutral. "I'm just winding you up. Go home. You played well today."

The energy returned once more, fizzing as we left through the door.

"Thanks Coach," was echoed by each player as they went on their way, the only commonality in our routines after practice.

Some players went straight home, others to the changing rooms and a few to the gym downstairs, choosing to exercise for a little longer.

I was part of the group that left immediately to go home today, mainly because I had an incentive.

When I jammed the key into the hole and the door swung open, I made a beeline straight for my bathroom.

Water drenched me from top to bottom, unknotting my muscles as I showered. I didn't know anything about the soap that I was using - 'Sage and black tea' if the label was anything to go by - but I lathered it on with extra attention to detail.

How I looked and smelled was one thing that I could control, and I needed everything to go without a hitch.

A polo shirt found its way onto my chest when I was done, probably something to do with the way her eyes danced over my body the last time I wore one.

I threw on the first jacket I could find once I had jeans on, a leather one that was hanging by the door.

My keys clinked in my hands as I locked the door behind me, stepping out into the evening.

I had one more stop to make.

- - - -

The beeps of self-checkout machines as people bagged their orders was my only indication that the supermarket was still alive.

The people themselves were far from it, trailing through the store so slowly that I wondered if some of them had been there the whole day.

"Please place your items in the bagging area."

To be honest, I wasn't complaining about the subdued nature of the supermarket that evening. It meant that I could actually hear myself think.

My feet carried me around the aisles, stopping in a particularly colourful one.

There were too many fragrances floating in the air at once, all from the flowers peeking out from the bouquets they were tightly wrapped in.

Since when were there so many types?

I left the aisle as quickly as I came for two reasons. The first, that the smell was overpowering in the worst way and I needed to be anywhere else.

The second, that flowers were boring.

Overdone and overplayed. Quite often meaningless, too.

Cora deserved far better than that, and I was determined to give it to her.

I was too busy weighing the options in my mind to notice when I bumped into someone, a river of dark hair cascading down her back.

She spun around and I had to resist the urge to groan. There was a certain peace that I'd been enjoying in the weeks that she'd left me alone, and I could sense that it was about to come to an end.

"Gabey! What are you doing here?" Jenny's face lit up as she waited for my answer, smiling a megawatt smile.

I couldn't bring myself to be directly rude to her, my mother's scolding voice ringing in my head, but I couldn't help the curtness of my tone. "I live 5 minutes away."

She smiled, but there was something almost catlike about it. "Oh, I forgot about that. It must be really easy to have people over, living in the dorms and all."

I shrugged, slightly wary of where she was going with this. "I guess."

My eyes found the time inscribed at the bottom of one of the checkout machines.

6.50pm.

I had a whopping ten minutes to get to the aisles that held the items that I'd decided on, buy them, leave the store and get to Cora.

That meant that I didn't have time for whatever this was.

"I need to go, Jenny." I said, catching a glimpse of the way her face fell a little as I turned around.

I had barely even made it a stride before her small hand latched onto my arm. "Wait."

I turned around against my better judgement, albeit with a little irritation. "What?"

A strand of her hair found her finger as she twirled it, big eyes blinking up at me. "I thought maybe we could—"

I wasn't a saint, and there was only so much I could handle. This was past it.

"No. And the answer will still be no the next time you ask me." I snapped. "I've tried to be subtle but you're not taking the hint, so here you go."

I started to turn back around, my last sentence delivered firmly. "Goodbye Jenny."

I almost felt bad.

Almost.

That had been a long time coming and to be honest, I was too preoccupied with thoughts of Cora to dwell on it.

Please place your item in the bagging area.

I quickly bagged the items that I'd dashed to get after I left Jenny, satisfied with what I had decided on.

I made my way outside, and the first thing I noticed was the way the buildings on the opposite street faded into the grey of the evening.

It was a beautiful sight, and I was glad that it had chosen to show itself today of all days. The universe was clearly on my side.

The second, an emotion that hit me head on. Some kind of awareness.

What had happened in there meant something a lot bigger than I was willing to admit to myself.

Until then I had been stringing Jenny along, teetering on the edge of telling her to screw off for good.

Since I clearly didn't feel the need to do that anymore, it was obvious that something had changed.

There, in the car park of the supermarket, how I felt about Cora became as clear as the sky refused to be.

This was a hell of a lot more than what it started out as.

Curiosity. Interest. A need to know who the girl was behind the wall.

I'd experienced each of those things, and yet the feeling hadn't lessened.

It was all-consuming. So strong that it set her at the centre of my own sky, doing the job that the absent moon and stars should have been. All without even realising that she was doing it.

Bloody hell.

I love Cora.

I don't know what to say.

Pretty sure those last few words speak for themselves. I'm going to go cry now.

On a lighter note, I had to work really hard to stop myself from calling this chapter 'the epic highs and lows of uni basketball'

lmfao ifykyk