When No One's Watching

Dinner at Panchero’s consisted of burritos and talk of the school’s sports teams, and how we thought our school would fair tonight at the game. I had completely forgotten about my fumbling of words earlier today in the parking lot, until Tanner brought it up, just as I finished my burrito.

“So, did you feed your lobster on time?” He joked. My face reddened.

“Ugh, honestly Tanner, I have no idea why I said that,” I admitted as calm as I could. I had gotten a little better around him since the lobster incident.

“It was cute,” Tanner commented.

“Really?” I asked, shocked.

“Yeah, it showed a different side of you,” He smiled.

“Yeah, I guess no one can be confident all the time,” I responded, watching him finish his soda.

“Except for me,” Tanner joked. I scoffed and we stood up to leave. As we neared the door, Tanner slipped on the floor, nearly falling. I burst out laughing.

“That wasn’t funny,” He scolded me, a little flustered.

“Your face was priceless!” I exclaimed.

“Humph,” Tanner grunted.

“So much for Mr. Confident,” I joked, grinning at him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Tanner said as we got into his car, and I saw a slight smile on his lips.

- - - - - -

Pulling up outside of the school building, I saw many cars already there, and crowds of students entering the gym. Some clad in orange and black, our school’s colors, and others in green and gold, the colors of the other team. We parked the car and Tanner and I started to walk towards the building, hand in hand. It felt nice to have his hand in mine. It was warm and comforting in the chilly air.

We found space to stand and cheer in the student section, and I began to be thankful for having the actual date with Tanner before hand. The cheering was a roar in my ears, thundering well above the small amount of students attending the game from the other school. Their small crowd of green and gold across the court from us wasn’t very lively, and it mostly consisted of the pep band and a few cheerleaders.

The game started and I noticed how well our school was playing. I had been so wound up in my basketball games and practices that I had neglected to pay attention to the guy’s team. By halftime, we were up by twelve and our team didn’t even seem tired.

“Do you want to get something to eat?” Tanner yelled over the noise as our school’s dance team and cheerleaders paraded onto the vacant court.

“Sure,” I replied, and nodded my head in case he hadn’t heard me. We wormed our way through the crowded bleachers and out into the hallway, where the concession stand was located.

“I’ll have a freeze-pop,” I told the cashier. She nodded and turned her attention to Tanner.

“And I’ll have a red Gatorade,” He added and went to get his wallet.

“Tanner,” I called his name, bringing his attention to me, “I’ve got this, you don’t have to pay.”

“But I want to,” He responded.

“Seriously, you paid for dinner, I’ll be fine paying for this,” I convinced him, smiling.

“Fine,” Tanner pretended to be mad by sticking out his lower lip, which made me laugh. The lady handed over my freeze-pop and Tanner’s Gatorade and I paid. I began to suck on the grape flavored ice and Tanner laughed. I looked at him.

“What?” I asked.

“You’re eating a freeze-pop,” Tanner stated, trying to keep a straight face, although it looked like he wanted to laugh.

“So,” I said cautiously, not getting the point.

“Only little kids eat those,” He stated, and I looked around, noticing a few kids all eating their freeze-pops oh-so-happily.

“Well I guess that means I’m still a kid at heart,” I replied smiling and sticking my tongue out at him.

“See! Immature!” Tanner exclaimed, jumping and pointing at me.

“And you’re calling me immature,” I said under my breath, rolling my eyes..

“What was that?” Tanner asked, raising one eyebrow.

“Nothing,” I replied quickly, flashing him a grin.

“Yeah, sure,” He didn’t buy it, and prodded me some more until I gave in.

“Ugh, fine, I said you’re immature,” I pretended to be annoyed. Tanner pretended to be hurt, but gave up that act and engulfed me in a hug, sending a spark through my body, leaving me at a temporary loss of words.

“Come on, let’s get back to the game,” Tanner suggested, taking hold of my hand once again.

“But I’m not done with my freeze-pop!” I protested, motioning at the melted, purple mess that was luckily contained in a plastic tube. I hurriedly finished it and watched as Tanner pretended to be impatient.

“You really should take drama,” I giggled as he pretended to check his non-existent watch for the fourth time.

“Yeah, yeah, lets go.” And we made our way back to the student section to watch the rest of the game.