Old, New, Borrowed, Blue

Part 10: In Which Two Als Play B-Ball and Discuss Scary Things

"All right, Other Al. Here's how HORSE works. I'm going to make a basket and then what you're going to do is try to make the exact same basket that I made. If you can't make it, then you get an 'H', then I go again and if you don't make that one and you get an 'O' and so on 'til you spell 'HORSE'. But if you do make the basket then you get to go on and try to make a basket that you think that I can't make and I gotta try to make it. But if you spell 'HORSE' then you lose and you'll have to be punished in whatever way I deem fit."

"But," It was pretty entertaining to watch as Other Al stared at the basketball in his hands with a completely lost expression. "I'm not…"

"Don't worry!" She snatched it out of his hands. "I'll show you! Artie's absolutely terrible at this game."

You know, while she was pretty sure she was—if not in love, then definitely falling in that direction—with Artie, she had to admit that he was a terrible host. She'd been talking with Other Al this morning, while Arthur was taking a really long time in the shower, and had just kind of out-of-the-blue asked him if he liked watching his college's basketball team, because she'd heard their school had a pretty good one.

And he'd said that he'd never seen one. Not only that, but he'd never even played basketball.

Which had just left her staring at him in horror, because how the hell did you get through life without playing basketball at least once?

He'd seemed a little surprised by her shock and had continued by telling her that basketball wasn't particularly popular back where he lived and he'd never really had the chance to see a game since he'd arrived in the States. And she'd immediately stood up, grabbed his hand, and dragged him outside and toward the park.

Without telling Artie where they were going. Oops. She'd text him later. If she remembered.

"All right, so just watch me and do what I do. Once you get better at shooting, we can do a little one-on-one."

He hesitated for a moment and then nodded, watching as she lined up in front of the basket. Feet shoulder-width apart, body automatically settling into her usual stance. While basketball wasn't the sport that had really captured her heart—that honor went to baseball—she'd gotten pretty good at it. She turned and grinned at the boy. "See how I'm standing? You don't have to stand just like this, but something similar. Now, pass me the ball!"

Alcide glanced down at the basketball for a moment and then attempted to throw it in her general direction. Too far to the right, but she caught it without too much effort. Then she turned and lined up her shot, glancing over her shoulder to make sure he was watching. "Spread your fingers wide, rest the ball on your finger pads. Push upward, nice and smooth."

The ball left her fingers as she spoke and gracefully arced upwards and then through the hoop with a perfect swish.

She'd tried teaching Arthur how to shoot on a few different occasions, but he had absolutely zero talent when it came to anything involving balls. (Her inner twelve-year-old snickered at that thought and helpfully threw in that he was probably pretty talented with those kinds of balls.)

Alcide had retrieved the ball while her immature half snickered about the double-meaning of the word 'balls' and now was attempting to mimic her stance. She grinned and moved closer, grabbing his arms and pulling them into the proper position. "Like this, dude."

At least he wasn't complaining like Arthur did everytime she tried to make him play any type of sport. He just moved his hands in an attempt to better match hers and then sent her a look like 'am I doing this right?'

She pushed up on his arm, pushing it through the motion he'd make to shoot a basket. "Just like this and when you get up here, you push the ball so it arcs right through the basket like 'swish'!"

He nodded slightly and took a deep breath, body too tense as he moved into position, but he'd get better.

And while the ball didn't actually go into the basket, it was pretty decent for a first try.

"Dude, that was awesome! But you still get an 'H'! Now, we'll try from over here." She dribbled the ball over to the right side of the basket and set herself up for another shot. Another perfect basket. "So," she started as Alcide moved to take her place and settled into a slightly more relaxed position without being told. She reached out to correct his stance, but he definitely was a faster learner than Arthur. "What's it like being Artie's roomie? Does he snore or sleep-talk or anything super embarrassing like that?"

"Um…" He turned pinkish and remained silent as he took the shot. The ball arched toward the hoop and then bounced off the rim. Yeah, he was definitely better at this than Arthur. Her boyfriend would totally be whining about what a stupid game this was by this point. He was seriously the sorest loser she'd ever met.

She laughed and went to retrieve the bouncing ball. "Don't worry, bro. You can tell me! I'll just tell him that Francis told me! And that's an 'O' by the way. You're totally a 'HO' right now." She cackled as she moved to another angle and sunk another basket.

He was frowning when she bounced the ball toward him. "I don't think that he does anything like that."

Ally wasn't entirely sure that she should believe him, but she nodded and stepped aside. He took her place and lined up his shot. And she knew it was going right in as soon as the ball left his fingertips. "Great job! I think you officially just surpassed Artie in coolness."

Alcide flushed again and hurriedly ran off to get the ball that was rolling off toward grassy freedom.

Ally stood in place, tapping her sneaker against the blacktop as she considered whether she'd text Artie now or just let him come find them. Part of her wanted to tell him where they were so she could show off her basketball teaching skills, but part of her saw the opportunity that had been presented to her… And it would be a shame to squander it.

So she nodded to herself and instructed, "All right, now you try to make a shot that you think I won't be able to make."

He hesitated, glancing at the basketball hoop for a long while before taking a few long strides backwards. Basically the same shot he'd just made, but about two feet farther away. Which, you know, she could probably make with her eyes closed but at least he was trying.

"So," she began after he'd shot. The ball hit the backboard and bounced against the rim, spinning around the inside like a coin before falling through. "Has Artie talked to you about me at all?"

And the immediate look of panic that crossed his face at that question gave her all the answer she needed. He shook his head, though, hurrying over to grab the ball. "No, no. Nothing…"

"Dude, don't lie! What's he said?"

Yes, Ally knew she probably shouldn't be harassing her boyfriend's roommate to try to find out what sort of things he said about her when she wasn't there, but dude… Who could resist this sort of temptation? It was a golden opportunity. "Like, does he ever mention me at least?"

Alcide dribbled the ball a few times, slowly enough that she easily could've stolen it from him if she really wanted to. And then he passed it to her. "He just says that you're…um…" It was obvious he was making stuff up right now. "He's said that you're very pretty. And smart. And…" He faltered for a moment and then continued with "You're very good at sports."

She grinned. "Hell yeah I am! But Artie would never say that. Come on, tell me~ I won't let him know you told me anything."

Alcide looked like he was attempting to deflate. He nervously twisted at the front of his t-shirt and then hesitatingly began, "He's just said that you are his girlfriend and that you can be a 'git' sometimes. I am not sure what that means…"

"Aw," she dribbled the ball and then jumped, laying the perfect shot. Maybe with a bit too much confidence, because it ended up bouncing off the rim. "Damn it. That's an 'H' for me." She returned her attention to Alcide, who was watching the ball as it bounced off toward the grass. "That's boring. That's literally what Artie calls everybody. It's a British-way of calling someone an idiot."

Her companion blinked. "You don't mind him calling you an 'idiot'?"

"Neh, dude. It's like how he shows affection. Anyway…" Now she stopped, a thought coming to mind. Which she probably shouldn't be thinking about, because it wasn't something you just brought up with people. Especially people you didn't know.

But honestly, she'd be thinking about it for months now.

See, she and Arthur had been going out for a little over a year now. And granted, most of that time had been long distance, so there was an excuse. But…

Okay, the thing was, they hadn't done it yet.

They hadn't really done anything yet. They'd kissed and held hands and cuddled, but nothing more than that. They hadn't even really had a serious make out session… Which seriously made her feel like an awkward pre-teen. And what made it worse was that it was her fault that they hadn't gone farther.

There'd been a few occasions when Arthur had started pushing a little bit. He'd moved his hands down to her thighs, touched her boobs once or twice. But then she'd always pushed him off and he immediately backed away, apologizing profusely… Which had just been super awkward and dude, he was her boyfriend. That's what you did with a boyfriend.

"Uh, I've got kind of a weird question. But, you're a guy, so you know…"

Alcide stared at her, looking extremely befuddled by this whole conversation.

And this was super unlike her. She was the hero. She was super self-confident—some people might say over-confident, but those people didn't know what they were talking about—so why was she finding it hard to speak right now?

"Uh, so… It's kind of a weird thing to ask, I know. But, let's say a friend of mine was dating this guy." Yeah, that was a good way to ask! This way he wouldn't know she was talking about herself. "And they've been going out for like a year. And, you know, they're both totally cool dudes and the guy's super hot. So uh… I was just wondering… My friend was just wondering… When would this guy start expecting my friend to start putting out?"

And Alcide didn't respond, which just made everything more awkward. She stood there, staring at him and shifting her weight between her feet anxiously. And was about to just laugh it off and say she was joking when he responded with a very puzzled, "Putting out?"

Ah yeah, she'd forgotten he was Italian. English not his first language. Might not know all the expressions. "Yeah, you know. Do it. Make love. Sex."

"Oh." And he looked awkward again, although slightly less awkward than before. "I don't think you should be worrying about it, Allison. Arthur wants you to be happy, so I'm sure he doesn't mind waiting…"

"Dude, we weren't talking about me. Of course me and Artie've done it!" She laughed and there was no way it sounded at all self-conscious. "We've totally done it so many times. Haha, yeah. We have sex all the time. Tons of sex. Like rabbits sometimes."

And Alcide had the nerve to give her a very disbelieving look…

This was why she didn't talk about this with other people. How lame was it that she'd been dating Arthur for a whole year and they hadn't even moved past French kissing?

And when would Arthur start getting impatient? That's what was making her nervous. Arthur liked sex; she knew that. She'd stumbled across his porn stashes before and been more than a little intimidated by what she found inside. Especially when she'd considered the fact that not only did he have magazines filled with big-busted ladies, but there'd also been plenty of magazines with hunky, extremely well-endowed men. And how in the world was she supposed to compete with that? Plus he'd been sleeping with Francis for who knew how long and she'd heard plentyin the girls' locker room about how good he was in bed.

She'd almost asked her sister what she thought on multiple occasions, but… Well, it was embarrassing. Mattie had absolutely no problem sleeping with her girlfriend as Ally well-knew, which was really annoying by the way. It was just her that had the issue…

Alcide was still staring at her, although now he made a slight shrugging motion and walked off to collect the basketball. "It would probably help your friend if she went and talked to him. But he'd probably say the same thing."

She couldn't imagine talking to Arthur about it, though. Let him know how completely freaked out she was by the idea of having sex; she was just as freaked out by it as she'd been when she was dating her first boyfriend—and by first, she meant 'only other boyfriend she'd ever had'. He'd wanted sex within two weeks of dating. And she'd tried… Not actual 'sex' sex, but he'd managed to convince her to give him a blowjob.

And she really hated thinking about that. It'd been terrible. She'd felt self-conscious and she'd ended up gagging and he'd guilted her into continuing when she wanted to stop…

Probably part of the reason why the thought of having sex with Arthur made her feel like she wanted to puke.

And Alcide had returned, dribbling the ball slowly against the blacktop before he turned back toward the hoop and threw it upwards. Missing completely.

She had to laugh. "Not even close, bro."

There had to be someone she could talk to about this. Not her sister and definitely not Arthur. Somebody who'd be totally non-judgmental and would keep it a secret…

"And there you are! Do you know how long I've been looking for the two of you? I take a bloody fifteen-minute shower and you vanish with my roommate. What have you two even been doing?"

Okay, so she was pretty sure Arthur had just taken a few years off her lifespan right there. She'd jumped and then spun around to face him—and just missed getting smacked in the face by a renegade basketball in the process. Her quick reflexes managed to save her, as she grabbed the ball before she'd even been aware she was doing so. "Dude, Artie, what are you doing here?"

He was standing on the grass beside the basketball court, eyebrows lowered in a slightly-annoyed frown as he eyed the two of them.

"Are you harassing Alcide again?"

Psh, Artie never wanted to let her have any fun with his friends. She pouted, and was definitely not watching as a droplet of water ran from his damp hair and down his throat, along his Adam's apple… She hurriedly cleared her suddenly too-dry throat and forced a laugh. "I'm just teaching him a little b-ball. You wanna play? We've proved that it's not my teaching that sucks, it's just you."

Arthur immediately bristled, which had been the hoped-for response. And he immediately stomped out toward her, yanking the ball out of her hands.

And she immediately grinned. "All right! You and Other Al versus me. First to five wins!"

At least this was an area where she felt plenty self-confident.

A/N: Yay! So this chapter took forever to write, but here we finally go! And I'm actually rather pleased with it.

So, I'm going to be a little bit presumptuous right here and say that one of the things I've noticed while writing this story is that if I were going to say that this story has a "theme", it'd be about change. And how people respond to different life changes… Especially in the 'after high school' stage when you're basically like 'Wtf do I do now? How do I handle all these grown-up decisions?' (No clue, if anybody knows then you can tell me.)

So yeah, that's something I've been thinking about. It honestly wasn't an intentional theme, but the more I write, the more I'm like "Hmmmmm, I'm sensing a theme here and that seems pretty cool."

Anyway, next chapter probably will not take nearly as long because I literally have the entire thing mapped out in my head and I'm super excited to see y'all's responses because… I think the next chapter will first make you go 'awww' and then want to lynch me.

Very exciting. Can't wait. ;D As always, I love you guys so much! You make me such a happy Authoress!