When No One's Watching

“I bet she’s fine,” Tanner assured me. I furrowed my brow in worry. The school day had passed and I hadn’t seen Kendra.

“She’s my best friend, Tanner, my only best friend,” I had been trying not to think about it, but with each second that passed I grew more anxious. Tanner gently rubbed my back, and he pulled me into a hug. I returned the hug half-heartedly. “I’m going to go to practice now,” I told him after pulling away. Tanner nodded and waved before I trudged off to another day of practice.

All through practice I kept thinking of Kendra and wondering where she could be. After missing five lay ups, coach’s patience ran out.

“D’Aunno! Over here! Now!” The other girls stopped to watch me as I walked off of the court. “I never told the rest of you to stop!” Coach shouted and the team went back to running drills.

“I have had enough of your slacking in the past few weeks.” Coach firmly stated, making me want to shrink back into my jersey like a tortoise in its shell. “I’m going to have a talk with your parents, and until this gets sorted out, you may leave.” I stood there in shock as Coach left to finish drilling everyone else. Sorting her words out in my mind slowly, I figured it out. I was “off” of the team until I got myself together, and in the meantime, my dad would get involved. Great.

I walked back to the locker room alone, feeling the eyes of my teammates on me. I had never felt so disappointed in myself and so scared of what my dad would say. Coach’s words stung, even though she merely stated the truth. Hardly paying attention, I clothed myself and blindly walked out into the hall. My eyes were starting to blur. Why weren’t things the way they were supposed to be? In my frustration I kicked the nearest locker, but I only ended up hurting my toe, and I cried out in pain.

“That’s what you get for messing with school property,” I heard a familiar voice say.

“Finn?” I asked without even looking. I turned and he smiled.

“The one and only” he replied.

“Wait, what are you doing here?” I asked, “I thought the night janitor shift didn’t start until…well, night” Finn let out a low chuckle.

“I’m here to pick up the schedule for this month; I need to figure out when I’m working for Paul’s as well,” he answered and we began to walk towards what I presumed was the janitors office.

“Oh,” I replied, unsure of how to react due to the frustration still running through my veins. Finn got his schedule and looked at me quizzically.

“You look kind of out of it today. Are you alright?” he asked. I fumbled for words and mumbled a few times but nothing coherent passed my lips. “Do you want to go get coffee? We can talk about whatever’s bothering you, that is, if you form words correctly”

“Shut up,” I said quietly, smacking Finn on the shoulder, “And yes.”
“Okay cool, we can meet at Paul’s then,” He responded and I just nodded. What did I just agree to?

- - - - -

“Hey,” I greeted Finn shyly as I entered my favorite store. He responded with his bright grin and a nod.

“So where do you want to start?” He asked me, sitting down in an armchair.

“Where do you want me to start?” I asked, sitting down as well.

“Anywhere you feel comfortable,” Finn said. Strangely, I felt comfortable telling him anything, so I began.

“You already know how my dad expects a lot from me, and well, I got temporarily kicked off of the team a few hours ago because I was performing poorly due to the fact my mind was completely taken over with worry because I haven’t heard from my best friend in days and Tanner keeps telling me it will be alright and it wont be!” I ranted.

“Maybe you should look on the bright side of this,” I started to refuse, but Finn held up his hand and continued, “You haven’t heard anything bad about your friend, and although not knowing is torture, it’s better than knowing something bad has happened. And maybe a break from basketball is what you need. I don’t know about this Tanner guy, but he isn’t handling the situation right.”

“You don’t know anything about him,” I shyly defended my boyfriend.

“You’re right, I don’t, but I do know that you’re not happy with him right now, and that doesn’t make me like him very much,” he replied calmly.

“What are you saying?” I asked cautiously. Finn leaned forward in his chair so our noses were almost touching. A firey feeling took over my gut and my head seemed to be spinning. I could smell his cologne now. I could see the slight stubble on his chin and the pureness of his blue eyes. Nothing could have prepared me for this moment.

“I’m saying that I hate seeing you distressed. I want to see you happy,” Finn spoke in a low whisper. He pressed his lips to mine gently. The heat between us was so intense it was almost unbearable. Finn broke away before I could reach my own senses. “I want to be the one to make you happy.”