You sighed, your eyes locked on the orange ball that continuously hit the wooden floors of the gym you were in. Up and down, up and down, up and down. Then it went flying through the air, slipping through the net with a satisfying swish. This is what your afternoon had come to. A dead phone, bored, and eyes locked on your boyfriend, Chenle, while he played basketball.
You let your mind wander. What was the appeal of basketball? Any sports in general, honestly. Running up and down a court, throwing a ball around and bouncing it, you didn't get it. It was honestly worse when Chenle watched the games. 2 hours of men running back and forth, shooting a ball, but getting differing points for every throw, it didn't make sense! At least watching Chenle wasn't that bad. Only because he was cute.
"Ohhhhhhh!" Chenle cheered, "did you see that? Half court shot, babe!"
You blinked, painting on a smile, "yeah, so good! Amazing."
His face fell into a look of unamusement, "you didn't see it. You lied."
"I was thinking about basketball," you answered with a shrug, trying your best to get comfortable on the metal bleachers.
He turned to you fully, eyes squinted with suspicion, "but you don't even like basketball..."
"I know, it's weird to me too."
He passes the ball back and forth between his hands with a pensive look, "would you perhaps be interested in learning to play?"
Your first instinct is to tell him no, but you keep your mouth shut. What do you have to lose? "Why not?"
You stand from the bench, groaning softly as your knees crack from being seated for so long. You walk up beside him, feeling your heart practically melt at the poorly concealed excited smile on his face, "so walk me through what you already know. Like are we getting into a one on one or..."
"I know there's a ball, a court, and most points wins."
His face falls into a blank look, "so nothing."
"Then we'll start with the basics. I'll just teach you how to shoot, that seems easiest. Okay, so points from this line always equal one point. Points from this area and this semi circle equal two points," Chenle explains while you walk around the court to each point, following his finger as he point to the various areas, "points from any other area are three points. Easy."
You nod along, taking in his words. Finally you come to a stop on the free throw line. Chenle hands you the ball, "we'll just practice shooting from here. Watch my form and then you can try."
You watch as he adjusts his stance, feet shoulder width apart. His elbows come in, his eyes are locked on the hoop, and then his arms come up with his wrists flicking down. You nod, beginning to adjust your own stance before copying what you saw. Your elbows come in, arms come up with the ball and then the ball goes out and straight down with a hollow bounce... 3 feet away.
Chenle smacks a hand over his mouth and clears his throat to conceal a laugh. "Your form was great, baby. You just need some more power behind it," he smiles as he retrieves the ball and passes it back to you.
So you try again with more power. The ball goes sailing over the backboard. The next time, you try again with the ball making it halfway to the hoop. Another shot, another miss. 3 more shots, and 3 more misses.
Your eyes are locked on the net, bouncing the ball a few times to get the feel of the ball in your hands. That's what you see the professionals do when Chenle watches them. You go through the motions, the perfect stance, the arms, and the flick of the wrist. The ball goes sailing through the air in a near perfect arch and hits the rim. It goes swirling around and around before it falls through the net with a satisfying swish.
Your eyes widen and Chenle runs around the court hooting and cheering before coming up to you and picking you up to spin you around. "You did it! Baby, that was basically perfect! You should go pro! We gotta get you in the league!" he cheers with a dazzling smile.
Your feet hit the ground as you smile brightly back at your boyfriend who stands before you with rosy cheeks and a cheerful smile, "I have to admit, that was actually pretty fun. I think I get it now."
"I knew I'd get you on the bandwagon some day. Now I have even more reason to go to more games. We're going to have a blast!"
You wrap your arm around his waist while he leads the two of you to the door, chatting your ear off about his favorite players and basketball stats. You smile at him, you could listen to talk about anything forever. Even stuff you don't understand.
