“I’m guessing that’s not near here.”
Rowan chuckled. “No, not at all. At least an hour on the subway.”
“Damn.” Juniper tilted her head side to side as she kept piecing things together. “And you met Manny at school? Then started Climate Justice Collective and moved here with him.”
“That’s right–”
“Rowan!” She heard a deep voice rasp from down the block.
“Manny!”
Juniper watched Rowan collapse into the hug of her friend after he jogged the remaining few steps between them. They teetered back and forth as they squeezed each other. Manny was a few inches taller than Rowan with deep brown skin and a wide toothy grin. Juniper had worried whether Rowan’s friends would accept her, but even before speaking to him directly, she felt instantly at ease in his presence.
“Ugh, I’ve missed you, man.”
He still hadn’t let go. Rowan patted him on the back a few times as they finally separated.
“Manny, this is my girlfriend Juniper.”
Rowan held out a hand to bring Juniper closer to them. Juniper grasped it and joined them in their new circle configuration.
“ThatJuniper.” Manny’s eyes sparkled.
“I guess so,” Juniper laughed. “That probably means more than one thing.”
They dodged a couple people leaving the gym, so Manny held the door open for them to enter and laughed with her. “Yeah, you’d be right.”
With her hand on the small of Juniper’s back, Rowan led her through the gym toward the back where the basketball court was located. Juniper was introduced to several of Rowan’s friends who greeted her warmly, pulling her into hugs and commenting how excited they were to meet the woman that in some ways they already felt like they knew.
Juniper’s lips twitched from a suppressed smile when Manny gave her a knowing look. He leaned into her while Rowan was still caught up in conversation with another friend.
“So you see, you are quite literallythatJuniper.”
“I am seeing I am quite literallythatbitch.” She bumped a shoulder to the sky.
Cracking up, Manny threw his arm around her shoulder. “You’re funny, lady. I like you. I wish you guys were here longer. There’s so much more we can get into.”
She peered over at him and grinned. “I’m sure we’ll be back.”
“Manny, you remembered to bring me some shorts and a shirt, right?”
“For sure, for sure.” Manny let go of Juniper and held up a small tote bag he’d been carrying on his shoulder.
Rowan accepted the bag in one hand and pulled Juniper in to give her a kiss. “I’m going to go change.” She extended her arm past Juniper to point toward the bleachers, and Juniper turned her head to follow the motion. “Feel free to sit anywhere up there.”
Juniper nuzzled into her side and pulled away to scan for a seat.
“And if you don’t want to sit and watch, or if you get bored, just tell me.” Rowan drew her eyebrows together in concern. “There’s a million other things we could do in the city.”
Juniper slid her hand underneath the edge of Rowan’s short-sleeved button down and scratched her nails along the bare,firm skin of Rowan’s stomach. “I’ll be fine,” she whispered. “I want you to spend time with your friends. Besides, I want to watch you get sweaty.”
“As long as you help clean me up.”
“Win your game first.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Juniper climbed the bleachers a little less than halfway and settled in to people-watch. She surprisingly didn’t feel out of place. It was as simple as watching her girlfriend play a random pick-up game on a Monday afternoon after work. She watched the game’s organization slowly come to life below. Then she watched Rowan stroll out of the locker rooms in basketball shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt and clap hands with Manny. She oozed confidence as she stood with her hands low on her hips to talk about what Juniper assumed was strategy with the other players. Okay, it was as simple as watching hervery fucking hotgirlfriend play a random pick-up game on a Monday afternoon after work.
