13 | the brick wall

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CHAPTER 13

I watched in amusement as Cora's mouth dropped open slightly.

"You want me to play basketball with you?" She repeated slowly, the tone of her voice displaying her confusion.

I nodded, the corners of my mouth twitching. "That's the plan."

The confusion that had been clouding her features gave way to a new emotion, one that had her eyes blazing with determination and brows drawing together.

"Okay then. Prepare to get your ass kicked." She said, completely flooring me when she finished with a confident smile.

I mirrored her earlier reaction, my mouth dropping open slightly at how sudden the change in her attitude was.

Damn. My girl was competitive.

I ignored the voice planting seeds of doubt in mind, wielding negativity and scepticism instead of a spade and shears.

She's not your girl. She would need to be willing to date you for that to happen.

Instead I turned her words over in my head, letting a wide grin slide into place.

Whether she knew it or not, agreeing to play my sport with me meant that she was willing to get to know me better.

"Someone's cocky." I said, teasing her lightly.

"Nope. Just sure of myself." She said with a shrug and a smile that concealed secrets - the ones that I had a feeling were the reason for her sky high defences.

My eyebrows raised. "You might change your mind after getting onto the court with me, gorgeous."

Her lips quirked up at the corners in a way that told me she was resisting the urge to burst out laughing. "Who's the cocky one now?"

I winked, doing my utmost to keep my eyes on her face and stop them from straying to her choice of outfit for the night.

I lost the battle with myself, finding my gaze level with the green material.

My eyes trailed a path around her body, noticing the way her dress moulded perfectly around her and the soft curve of her hips.

If I stared any longer there was no guarantee that my self control wouldn't dwindle completely, so I abruptly changed my view back to her face.

Since the skin that spread from her cheeks down to her neck had grown slightly pinker in colour, I guessed that I hadn't been as subtle as I thought.

The roar of conversation travelled through to the kitchen we were standing in, increasing in volume as people drunkenly stumbled in.

I was about to ask Cora if she wanted to go someplace else, preferably somewhere that I could hear her voice without others layered on top of it.

My train of thought was interrupted once I realised that one of the room crashers was Jake, and that he was with a girl who bore a striking resemblance to the one next to me.

"Ivy!" Cora greeted, happiness written all over her face.

By now, I had realised that this must be the sister that she threw this party for. It was clear how close they were.

"This is Gabriel." She said, gesturing in my direction.

I watched as Ivy's expression switched from curious to knowing. "Nice to meet you." She said with a sly smile.

Before I had time to question the reason for the change in her demeanour, Ivy was introducing Jake to Cora.

"This is Jake." Ivy said, briefly turning her head to meet his eyes, which had been on her the whole time.

This was great.

Jake had been busting mine and Danny's balls over we acted with Lucy and Candyfloss, but now I had something to repay the favour with.

Cora's brows furrowed, showing that she was beginning to make the connection between me and him. "Jake, your friend Jake?"

"I guess you could call him that." I said like I was considering it, earning a light punch on the shoulder from the subject of our discussion.

Conversation flowed between the four of us, jumping between topics that had no relation to each other.

"Have you ever had anybody important request one of your paintings?" Jake asked Cora when we started to talk about our jobs.

"Not yet-" Cora began, before I interrupted with a smirk. "That hurts, gorgeous."

Jake rolled his eyes at me. "I said anybody important."

I faked sadness, placing my palm over my chest and letting the corners of my mouth droop down.

We continued like this for another hour, finding that all other noise had faded into the background.

Having no distractions meant that I was able to focus more on the people I was sitting with.

I had never seen Jake as taken with anyone as he seemed to be with Ivy, even though she wasn't really returning his advances.

It was a strange mix between wanting him and not wanting him, and it was written all over face.

I had a feeling that there was something more there - maybe she shared Cora's fear of letting people get too close.

Eventually we forced ourselves to stop talking and get up, groggily making our way through the house.

If I wasn't experiencing it firsthand, I would've laughed at the way each of our faces became distorted with horror.

Apparently while we were speaking, a hurricane had hit the house.

At least, that was the only feasible explanation for the destruction that lay before us.

Dirt and debris had been replaced by cans and broken glass, injured casualties by the people passed out on the floor.

I noticed Cora bringing her hands over her mouth, letting out a quiet gasp.

"How did this happen, there weren't even that many people!" She said frustratedly.

I held the tip of the swollen bin bag between my fingertips, still struggling to understand how it had been filled so quickly.

Candyfloss, Ivy, Jake and I had whirled through the rooms, trying to reduce the mess. Danny and Lucy had emerged from one about halfway through, chipping in to tidy up.

The hardest job was managing to wake the stragglers up and convince them to leave the house, when most of them were too disoriented to form so much as a sentence.

Once the house looked fairly presentable again we all collapsed onto the couch, taking a well deserved rest.

I had always thought that a long basketball practice was the most physically demanding way to pass time, but I now had a newfound respect for cleaners.

Cora shooed us all out shortly after, but not before I had convinced her to meet me the next day for the game she had agreed to.

It was in times like this that I was thankful for the dimples that I could shamelessly flash whenever I wanted something.

It was as if she melted everytime they made an appearance.

- - - -

The buildings that made up my University's apartment complex acted as a backdrop while I lazily dribbled the ball on the ground.

They were doing a lousy job of shading me from the hot weather, forcing me to take off my shirt and wipe the sweat gathering on my face.

I avoided the glare of the sun by holding my hand to my forehead as a makeshift baseball cap, eyes scanning my surroundings.

Wild, curly hair swam in my vision as Cora bounded up to me.

"Candyfloss." I greeted, watching her face light up in the same way that I knew mine had.

"Hi Gabe." She uttered softly, the sparkle in her eyes brought on by the sweet smile she was giving me.

Heat spread through me as I realised that she had called me by a nickname and as much as I wanted to think so, I knew it wasn't because of the sun.

She squinted at the ball in my hands, her wariness a stark contrast from the confidence she showed me at the party.

"Having doubts?" I asked her teasingly.

I ate my words as soon as she hit it out of my hands, moving so fast that I had barely registered what was happening.

Her legs moved gracefully within the leggings she was wearing, propelling her short frame high enough to shoot the ball into the basket.

"Told you you'd be getting your ass kicked." She said with a proud smile after the ball had passed through the net, walking back to stand in front of me.

"I wasn't ready." I huffed in mock anger.

She threw her head back slightly and laughed, completely free of worry and inhibition for the seconds that it lasted.

I willed my eyes away from the delicate slope of her neck, instead focusing on the fact that she was slowly opening up to me.

The wall she had built between us was coming apart, brick by brick.

The thought made me smile, along with her attempts to defend against me in spite of the many inches that I had on her.

When she asked who won about 40 minutes later and I told her that I had lost count instead of admitting that I had scored more baskets, I knew I was screwed.

The sun disappeared behind the clouds that were dotting the blue of the sky until the weather fitted the description of the average day in London.

Cold. Cold. And more cold.

Rushing inside before we froze to death, I watched as she seated herself on the large black couch that made my living room feel ten times smaller, turning to face me with her hands resting on her chin.

"Want a tour?" I asked with a mischievous smile.

"Sure." She said, but I could sense the hesitancy in her voice.

Without giving her time to second guess herself, I laced my fingers with hers and pulled her up.

She took her time letting her gaze travel over each corner of my apartment, cutely focusing on the bobbleheads that lined my kitchen counter - replicas of my favourite players - and the guitar that lay on the rug at the side of my living room, a souvenir from my attempts to learn as a headstrong teenager.

Her eyes found the oak wood that served as the entrance to my bedroom before returning back to me.

I remained silent. She had to want to come in of her own accord.

Because she couldn't be anything but unpredictable, Cora completely surprised me by firmly pushing on the door and entering it.

I could feel more bricks falling.

Her head turned with her eyes, travelling over every part of my room.

She paused on the trophies scattered across my shelf, her fingers lightly trailing the wording inscribed over the golden paint.

"They're from basketball tournaments." I said, answering her unspoken question.

Nodding in response, her gaze found the blank spaces on my dark walls.

"Is that why you wanted a painting?" She said, using her head to gesture towards them.

"Yeah." I said shortly.

What I didn't tell her was that I also asked so that I would have an excuse to see her again.

Although she was slowly growing more comfortable with me and letting her guard down, there was still no guarantee that she wouldn't just slip away, so I needed to do everything I could to prevent that from happening.

Even if it meant getting a wrecking ball and knocking down that wall of hers myself.