ELIAS

It's my day off.

Well, actually, I called off a day to myself. I wanted to go somewhere, do something, but I felt as if I needed to stay indoors.

The rain had let up from this morning, and the sun was now shining. This would be the time when Rich and I would go outside, shoot some hoops, share some cokes, and just talk as I crushed him in basketball.

But as I look outside to my broken down basketball hoop, the rim rusty, and the backboard covered in dirt, I realize how long it has been since I played.

Ever since dad died, and Rich went to prison, I just threw myself into work. It was all I did. I hadn't requested a day off since the funeral. It had always been, 24/7, work.

I did enjoy the business. I knew dad had served it well, as his dad did before him, and I always knew I was the right fit for the business. I had always been vaguely interested in it, ever since I was a teenager. I never thought I would take his place though.

Rich, on the other hand, had been way more into sports than science and math. You honestly couldn't tell by the way I would whip his butt in basketball.

But that was about it. It was always me and dad going to Rich's game throughout the year. He loved to see him play, and I loved it too.

It had always been the three of us.

Until they both were gone.

Fourteen years.

I look at the clock and see it is almost lunchtime. I had thought about calling the office to come back in, but I knew they would say no. I already told them my reasoning, so they wouldn't let me.

Ha! Even though I was the boss they thought they were when it came to me.

Everyone was working today.

Except.

I pull out of my jacket the piece of paper I was given last week by Lu. It has her phone number on it. I dial it in to my phone, save it with her contact, then press the phone button.

She picks up almost immediately.

"Hello?"

I just about laugh. She doesn't know it's me.

"Hi, is this Lu?"

Silence.

"It's sir," I say, smiling. I almost say my other two names, which probably wouldn't be too good. But since she already looked me up, she's bound to know my name.

Question is, which one does she call me?

Dad never called me Jude. He hated it. Apparently, it was the middle name my mom gave me, and he didn't like it.

I preferred it over Elias. I wasn't sure why, but Elias never had a good ring to it. And everyone whoever knew that name only knew of my name and not who I was.

It wasn't like I was trying to be a different person, but it was different. People didn't know me as Jude, so it was like they didn't know me again.

"Sir? How did you... oh right. I gave it to you." I hear her laugh, and I don't know why, but I smile when she does.

"Yeah, sorry, you might have thought I was a stalker or something."

I can hear her smile. "No sir. Did you need something?"

"Are you busy?" I ask as I run up the stairs to my bedroom. I spy my sportswear and grab my shorts, a tank top and a pair of socks.

"Not particularly. Why?"

"Can you come over to my house?"

She's quiet, and I know she's hesitating.

"Deke won't be here, don't worry."

She laughs "I wasn't worried. What for?" She asks, and no doubt she wonders about my intentions. But to be honest, I like to hang around her. Lu seems to be a very down to earth person, and I need someone to be around right now.

She's perfect.

"I have something I need you to do with me. I know it's your day off today, and I realize I'm pulling you away from-"

"No, I'll come," she interrupts. "What time?"

"Um... now?"

"Sure."

"Yeah, just bring some sportswear. Wear your workout clothes, whatever, you'll thank me later. I'll text you the address."

I hang up. And get dressed in my own clothes I need and put on some tennis shoes.

Then I go outside and wait for her to arrive.

It seems forever until she pulls into my driveway, but when she does I go down to greet her. She parks in my driveway, and when she gets out, her eyes go toward my house. Her eyes are wide and her mouth agape.

"This is your house?" She asks, pointing to it.

I laugh. "Yeah. It was my father's, then when he died, I inherited it," I say the words, but I don't expect them to come out so easily.

Lu immediately dips her head, but still meets my eye. "I'm sorry. About your father."

I smile, leading her up the driveway to a set of stairs. I don't say anything about it, almost ignoring her apology. Sometimes I don't know why some people feel the need to apologize as if they had done something wrong.

She hasn't. She doesn't even know me.

Rich always said I wasn't good at apologies, or even recognizing when somebody else was. He always called me radioactive when it came to that sort of thing.

But I still didn't know why she said that.

I assume it was because she feels bad, but I'm not sure why.

Her clothes are what I expected her to wear. She has a pair of leggings on with a workout t-shirt. She has some tennis shoes as well. She seems ready.

"So? What are we planning on doing?" She asks, glancing up at me.

I smile. "Do you like to play basketball?"

She nods. "I have played. Why?"

"That's what we're going to do. One on one."

Her eyes seem to have a twinkle in them. "This is what you wanted me to come over for?" I nod at her, and she continues, "Why me?"

I lead her up to the court, grabbing the basketball and when I turn to her she is putting her hair up in a high ponytail.

Her question, I expected her to ask it. I want to answer sarcastically, but I decide to just be truthful. She was kind enough to come over here, to play a game she didn't know she was playing until she came over, with a man she didn't know very well.

I'm sure I seem questionable in her eyes. I'm sure she thinks I seem clingy, asking her to do things with me.

But I am lonely. I know it. I embraced it a long time ago. I haven't been in any romantic relationship since dad died. My brother was in jail. All the people at work just respected me, they didn't know me. I know a part of me longs to be around someone.

To not hide.

I go with the simple answer. "You were the only off of work today."

"Ah."

I see her smile.

"You play in high school?"

She nods. "I did. Two years. Junior and senior year. You?"

I shake my head. "I never played on a team. I used to shoot hoops with my dad and then eventually my brother. I always whipped them."

Lu cracks another smile. "You think you'll beat me?"

I shrug. "Yeah."

Before I can even think, the ball is out of my hands. I turn around to see her dribbling toward the hoop and shoot it. It goes right in, straight net. I didn't even move.

She tosses the ball to me. "Aw, sorry, I forgot to check it."

I grin.

The game goes quickly. When I imagined I would invite Lu over, I never thought she would be the one whipping my butt. But we ended our first game neck in neck until she got the ball from me and beat me.

"Rematch?" She asks, tossing the ball to me.

I nod.

This game goes a little slower. I'm tired, she's tired, but I am able to get the jump on her early in the game, and I am leading. She caught up near the end, but I still manage to beat her.

"Last game?" She asks, the neckline on her shirt soaked in sweat. I don't even want to guess what I look like. I know my face is beat red because I am panting so hard, while her face is clear.

I guess that's what happened when my mom was a redhead.

I suggest taking a break and getting water. She agreed so we quickly got some water from inside, and when I came back out with a refill she was already shooting hoops and getting every single one in.

She also gulped down her water as soon as I gave her her refill.

I learned something about her today.

Man, she is competitive.

"You start. You won the last game." Lu gives the ball to me, and the final game begins. I check the ball to her and shoot from the three-point line. It hits off the rim, and Lu runs for it. She grabs it and is almost half-court when she shoots it.

It goes in.

My head shoots to her, and she is just grinning as she walks back.

"How?"

She just gives me a toothy grin and checks the ball to me. We made the game a little longer than last time, going to thirty instead of twenty-five. I feel too drenched to still be playing, the sun beating down on me. But Lu seemed spry, I don't know how she has this much energy.

It probably has to do with the fact I haven't played in two years, while Lu looks as if she just played this morning.

My body has had enough when Lu got past twenty.

But I thought I gave a pretty good fight at the end of it, but I am more than ten points behind.

Just as she is about to make her last shot, I decide to play a little game she didn't know about.

I walk around her, and she doesn't seem to notice. She's just about to shoot her final hop, when I come at her from behind, pick her up and start running away from the hoop.

"Ah! Elias! Stop!" Lu screeches as she tries to escape.

I don't stop. I held her tight, laughing. I'm not sure how my legs kept going, but I made it to the edge of my property before I set her down. My legs feel like jelly.

Once she's free, she turns around, a huge smile on her face. "What was that for?"

I point to the hoop, where the basketball was laying on the ground in front of it. "The timer buzzed, so you didn't get the point. An immediate win for me," I say in between pants.

She just shakes her head, placing her hands on her knees. "Sore loser."

I just smile.

We start to walk back to the hoop, no doubt to finish the game, when I realize something. "You called me Elias," I state, stopping mid-step.

Lu stops, turning around to face me. "Sorry. I didn't think to call you sir at that moment."

I laugh. "No. You called me Elias. That's my name."

She looks sheepish. "My mom looked you up. That's how I knew stuff about you. And I know you liked being called Jude."

I shake my head. "No, you don't understand. I haven't had anybody call me that in a long time."

It seems weird, the name coming from her. I never expected it. I'm sure she didn't realize it until she already said it. She seemed to think I was mad at her. But honestly, I wasn't sure why, but I liked her saying it.

"And I'm sure you don't want me saying it again," she mutters, crossing her arms.

"No, it's okay."

She frowns. "But I thought-"

"Lu, it's okay. I think it's only fair because I call you Lu instead of Lucy. It's alright."

She seems stunned as I walk past her, heading for the court. I hear her walk fast to catch up with me. "You're okay with it?"

I turn to her as we walk in sync. "Yeah. But it's still sir at work, just so you know."

She smiles. "I figured."

We reach the court again, and Lu picks up the ball. She shoots it into the hoop, and that ends the last game. And I'm not sure why, but I am glad she won.

I'm glad she came. I feel like I finally have a friend after so long.

It probably isn't the same for her, but I could hope.

It is near dinner time when we end. I'm sure she wants to get back home to her mom, but I offer her a tour of the house.

She said yes. I was surprised.

I start with the kitchen. I had already shown her this when we went in for water, but I figured we were a little headed then, and she didn't get a good look at it.

Speaking of water, I hand her another glass. She takes it, muttering her thanks.

I never really liked the kitchen. I never spent time here. Rich was always the cook between the two of us, and even then it wasn't that big of an accomplishment. He usually burnt the food or forgot an ingredient, but I couldn't even read the recipe right.

Eating out was pretty much the only time I ate anything. I used the microwave in this place to heat up leftovers. It wasn't the greatest, but I wasn't going hungry.

I thought about hiring someone, but I wasn't my father.

"It's beautiful. My mother would love it. She's always wanted a big kitchen. She loves to cook."

I smile, seeing her face light up when she talks about her mom.

"You're close to her, aren't you?"

She nods. "Very."

I smile, watching her walk around the huge room. I couldn't help but see how she looked at everything. It was like in awe.

"Next room?"

She nods, turning her attention on me.

I show her the guest bedroom, the two bathrooms, and the two living spaces. Her face got brighter with each room.

This always seemed to be their favorite part. Every lady I ever dated always kept begging me to show her the house. I always knew how it would end each time I took her. She gushed about the house and how wealthy I was, it became her favorite part about me.

A true test of character for Lu would be how she reacts after she goes through the house.

"You have a beautiful home," she comments as I lead her up the stairs.

My heart just about sank.

Here we go.

"Thank you," I say, walking into Rich's bedroom. "This is Richard's room."

This is a room I would never label with anyone else. But since Lu knows about him, I don't see any reason to cover up the fact that this was his room.

"It seems like his," she says, then looks at me. "Sorry, that was flippant of me."

I shrug. "You've never met him, but you can tell?"

She nods. "From what you've said about him, and from when I saw him. I like to think I'm observant."

I smile. "It's a great quality."

We skip the two other bathrooms and walk past the two laundry rooms, as well as the master bedroom, which was mine. I don't want it since he practically died in that bed, but Rich told me to have it. So I did.

I open the door to my old bedroom, which is now a guest bedroom.

"Was this yours?" She asks.

I nod, surprised. I'm sure I showed it on my face because she cringed.

"Sorry."

I just laugh. "I love that you can do that? How'd you know?"

She points to the picture frames. "The picture."

I look at it and see my mother in the picture.

"Ah, so the gift is fake," I tease, raising my brows at her. She shakes her head.

"I thought it was a good guess. But no, I feel like dark blue would be your color." She points to my shirt, which is the same color as the bedroom.

I place my hands in the air. "That was pure coincidence."

She sighs. "You also wear a lot of blue at work, so..."

We move on, but the tour is over with. I lead her back downstairs. She says she has to get home to help her mother prepare dinner, which I understood.

"Thank you for inviting me. I had fun whipping you in basketball."

I laugh.

We walk outside, and I watch as she gets into her car. She waves as she pulls out of the driveway, and I keep my eye on her until she's gone.

For the first time in a while, I feel happier.