Page 63 of Fast Break
JT shares a grin with his weirdly smug cousin before he leans back across to me. “But I am serious, Quinn. Grades are really important to you and I don’t want to be the reason you don’t get into law school. So if we do have another weekend like this one, I want you to tell me if you need to study. I can just read or watch TV or go for a walk to see the ducks.”
“Or you could study too,” I point out helpfully. He just grins and shrugs at that apparently wild suggestion while I chuckle to myself.
However, a minor solution presents itself to me later that afternoon when I drive down my street towards home. One of my neighbours three doors down is rolling out a basketball hoop towards what is obviously a hard rubbish collection on the street verge. I pull the car to a stop and reverse.
“Afternoon, Mike,” I call out as I roll the window down. “Are you getting rid of that basketball hoop?”
“Sadly yes,” Mike replies. “The kids are all gone now and it’s just taking up space from the wife’s garden. Why? You want it?”
“Yeah, I do want it.”
“I’d love it to go to someone who’ll use it,” he says. “Gave my kids lots of years of enjoyment.”
“Well, I can’t say I will be the one using it but my boyfriend certainly will.”
“Jump out and help me wheel it down to your house then,” he grins at me. I don’t hesitate to park the car and then Mike and I wheel the basketball hoop down the footpath to my driveway.
“You want it here or out the back?” Mike asks.
“I’m thinking my mum will prefer it out the back,” I admit. “But I’m sure I can manage if you need to head home.”
“It’s no problem at all,” Mike returns. “Got to keep your boyfriend happy, huh?”
“He does love basketball,” I smile as we attempt to manoeuvre the hoop down the side of the house. We have a paved area out here that we absolutely never use so I know Mum won’t mind that a nice, second-hand basketball hoop has suddenly made itself at home out here. Especially if it’s for JT.
The two of us manage to move it into position and Mike shows me how to fill up the base with water to anchor it down before he shakes my hand and leaves.
I get the hose running to fill the base, suddenly excited to see what JT will think when he sees it.
***
JT is excited about the basketball hoop. Really excited. More excited than I could have really anticipated as I cover his eyes with my hands and walk us out to the backyard after school on Tuesday. He then proceeds to show me exactly how happy he is when he pushes me up against the wall and drops to his knees for me and thanks me in the best way he knows how.
“You are the fucking best,” JT says afterwards as he rises to his feet, leaving me a complete wreck.
“I got you a basketball too,” I tell him, nodding towards the new ball I bought from the sports store last night. He just grabs me around the nape of my neck and leans in to kiss me, forcing his tongue straight into my mouth while I’m still recovering. I like this forceful side of JT a lot.
I want to tell him how much I love him, but I just show it to him instead, letting him take control as he presses himself against me and kisses me with abandon out here in my backyard. He finally pulls back, those filthy lips of his now swollen and puffy and looking like the best thing I’ve ever seen.
JT presses his forehead against mine, excitement replaced with some new emotion weaving its way through the both of us as my heart pounds in a strange, new way.
“How are you so perfect?” he whispers.
“I’m not perfect. Just motivated strongly by a desire to make you happy.”
JT chuckles. “There you go being perfect again.”
“Well, let me be completely transparent and admit that I didn’t get the basketball hoop just for you,” I tease.
“No?”
“No. It’s just as much for my benefit because I get to watch you get all hot and sweaty and show off for me.” I slide my hands down his back to cup his ass. JT’s grin is real as he looks across at me, head cocked to the side.
“You want me to show off for you?”
“You know I do.”
“Okay then. Why don’t you go sit back over there and watch to your little gay heart’s content,” he smirks. He loosens his school tie before pulling it over his head and unbuttons the top two buttons of his shirt as my mouth dries out. He knows what he does to me and the smirk he shoots my way tells me everything.
