Page 41 of Courtside

David followed her, suddenly self conscious of how dark, howsterilehis space was. Now that Sage was in his home, something about her made it all seem lifeless in comparison.

“Ah, thanks,” he replied, moving into the kitchen and stashing his bag of takeout on the counter. He grabbed a few discarded wrappers and empty water bottles that littered the counter, stuffing them into the trash can. “It’s not much,” he added. For some reason, he needed her to know that his apartment wasn’t his best attempt at creating a home.

He watched as she walked slowly along the far wall of the room where his concert posters hung. She was turned away from him, and her long braid hung down her spine, almost reaching her waist.

“You like music,” she said. It was a statement, not a question.

David shrugged, and then realized that she couldn’t see his non-verbal response. “Yeah,” he said, and his voice felt too loud for the enclosed space of his apartment.

Sage looked back over her shoulder, flashing him one of her crooked smiles. “You’ve got good taste,” she commented, before turning back to her perusal.

“When I was up in Chicago there was tons of live music,” David commented. “I got to see a lot of my favorites.” He scratched at his beard. “Of course, having Lollapalooza every year was incredible.”

“I wouldn’t take you for a music festival guy,” Sage said with a laugh, lowering a wriggling Daisy down to the couch before walking across the room toward him. She approached the high bar counter, bracing her elbows against it and looking up at him with those eyes that were just so damn pretty-green. He meantgreen.

“I mean, I was never riding the rail like a maniac,” David said, “but I was known to bust out a tank top and tie a bandana around my head.”

Sage tried to contain her laugh, but only lasted for a second before she completely cracked, eyes wide as huge, gasping laughs shook her upper body. David felt her laughter loosen something in his own chest, and next thing he knew his own laugh joined in with hers.

This is what it could have been like.

The thought showed up suddenly, unexpected, but once it was there it was all he could think about as their laughter faded, both of them lapsing into silence.

He could have brought this vibrant woman home, and they could have stood there, laughing together. He could have rounded the counter and drawn her into his arms, backing her up until his body pressed hers against the wall. He could have kissed her — would have kissed her — until they had to break apart to catch their breaths. But he wouldn’t have let her go yet, instead maintaining the connection between their bodies by resting his forehead against hers.

David blinked away the achingly vivid image, finding Sage watching him. Her lips were barely parted, and he knew without a doubt that her bottom lip would feel perfect pillowed between his teeth.

“Can I get you some water?” he asked, needing to bring some space back between them.

Sage reached into her bag, pulling out the same hard plastic bottle he’d noticed she always had with her. “Can I refill this?”

“Sure,” David said, and he moved aside so that she could get to the fridge door. Once she was done, David opened the door and grabbed a bottle for himself. As he unscrewed the lid, Sage let out a snort.

He raised his brows at her, unable to hide his amusement when her round cheeks flushed pink. “What,” he asked, taking another sip.

“You realized that just about everyone has decided that single use plastic water bottles are pretty bad for the planet, right?”

David paused, lowering the bottle from his lips. “I might have heard that,” he admitted.

“So why still buy them?” Sage looked at him with that defiant fire in her eyes, anddamnif his body didn’t like that a whole hell of a lot.

“Honestly, they’re convenient,” he responded. “It’s a lame excuse, I know, but it’s easy.”

Sage shrugged at him. “This is pretty convenient, if you ask me,” she said, swinging her plastic bottle from one long finger. “Do you mind if we eat? I’m starving.”

“Yeah, of course,” David said, kicking himself for not immediately setting up their meal. He grabbed silverware from a drawer and tore off a few paper towels from the roll that sat on the counter. Picking up his salad, he looked between his small dining table that was covered in paperwork and the wide sectional. “Do you mind if we eat on the couch?”

“Not at all.” Sage followed him, choosing a spot on the far end, leaving about four feet between her and where David sat. It was a good distance, anappropriatedistance, to have between them.

She tucked her feet up under herself as she started in on her pasta. She twirled the long noodles around her fork, before stabbing a piece of grilled chicken on the end. As she took her first bite, she hummed, obviously pleased with the food.

“Is it alright if I put on some game tape while we eat?”

Sage glanced over at him. “Not at all.”

It only took him a second to set up his laptop and get the game up on his large TV. He kept the remote next to him, and grabbed one of the legal pads from the cluttered table.

They watched in silence for a few minutes. It was their third game of the season, and the other team had come out at the beginning with full court pressure. Monty was good with the ball, but he was getting pushed to the sideline where he couldn’t complete the cross court pass. It was getting picked off almost every time.

---