"I'm so happy it's getting colder," Ruth groaned, draping her body dramatically across Raffo's lap Thursday afternoon.

They were both celebrating her final chapter of what she thought was an impossible project. It would be awhile for the judges to read everyone's entries and come out with a winner, but she was thankful that she did it anyway. Somehow, she made the deadline with over 20,000 words, and she had Raffo there to encourage her the entire time. She did the damn thing when she didn't think she could do it.

Raffo chuckled, brushing her hair away from her face. "Tiny, it's only five degrees cooler than it usually is."

"Sas, I'll gladly take 70 degrees over 75 any day. Don't rain on my parade," she playfully stuck her tongue out at him.

Rolling his eyes, he responded with a, "Whatever you say. You up for a game now?"

She looked over at the court, taking in the few kids that were using the hoops on the other end, and eventually agreed. Rolling off his lap, she allowed him to get up first so that he could turn around and help her up because she was lazy and didn't feel totally up for a game. But he wanted to stretch his legs, so she'd indulge him. He brought his basketball, so the least she could do was play a few rounds.

"Alright," she twisted her neck to release a few cracks. She adjusted her joggers and cracked her back with a jerk of her hips. "What number are we getting to?"

He winced at the sounds, but didn't comment on it. "Thirty points?"

She pouted. "Thirty?" It wouldn't take too long, but she'd still rather lay out with him under the sun instead before she'd have to go home.

"Aww, you can do it, aiukli," he cooed, winking at her teasingly. A part of her soul melted into the broken concrete and slithered into the rocky cracks. "Thirty points and then I have to ask you something."

Her ears perked up at that. "Ask me something? Like what?"

"You'll have to get those thirty points and see."

Ruth put her game face on and fixed her exercise tank top. He just gave her a pretty good reason to get her head focused and leave behind the fluttering thoughts of curling back into him. "Get ready to lose, Leflore."

His smirk was cocky. "Game on, Semple."

The first thing Ruth noticed while they were playing, was that Raffo didn't play fair now that they were- well, somewhat something. Or on the rise of being something, she didn't really know what to call it. But anyway, she noticed that he used his pull on her to his advantage.

At one point while she was dribbling the ball, he came up real close behind her, his presence washing over her instantly. She stood there, dribbling the ball excessively while relishing in the brush of his fingers along her side or the skimming of his kisses along her exposed shoulder. At some point, his lips were against the side of her neck and the adrenaline in her body spiked.

Before she could adjust herself to his warm mouth, he was gone, taking the basketball with him as he scored an easy three points.

"HEY!" she protested, narrowing her eyes at him in accusation. "That was cheating!"

Raffo smiled wickedly. "Nope. You were distracted."

After that, Ruth made sure to avoid his grabby hands and eager lips every moment possible. She couldn't fall victim to his dangerous ways again. Not when she was so focused on trying to win. Because of her avoidance, she was able to score five more points for herself, leaving them at eighteen and twenty-one, Raffo leading.

Both were trying their hardest for the next twenty minutes, determined to beat the other. In the end, Raffo succeeded by two points, barely scraping by in his last basket toss. He wasn't by any means a sore winner, and Ruth, in turn wasn't a sore loser. Though he tripped her up once or twice with his touch, she still knew when to give credit. He was fucking good. But so was she.

So when he kissed her head and breathlessly told her that she played a good game, she felt like a winner anyway. It wasn't about winning or losing that day, there was nothing to really make a tournament over for once. So, content with that, the two of them went back to their abandoned belongings and feebly attempted to catch their panting breaths.

Ruth flopped on her back dramatically with her arms spread wide in a 'T' like formation, her eyes screwed shut against the brightness of the sun. The welcoming breeze that washed over her sweating body was well-received greatly in response and relaxing her sore limbs. Mother Earth was doing her a real solid in terms of cooling down.

"Fuck I'm tired," Raffo groaned beside her.

She cracked open an eye, peeking over at him with faux annoyance. "You did this to us, you know."

He tossed an arm over his face, trying to breathe evenly and relax from the exertion of playing just one game. She quickly admired the long, silk strands of hair fanning about him in a pretty halo. "I know, I know."

After taking a few more minutes to relax, they eventually rolled over onto their sides to face each other, leaving less than a foot of space between them. Raffo propped his head up comfortably on his hand, patiently waiting for Ruth to get comfortable as well as she laid in the triangular crook of her bent elbow, before he brought up whatever it was he wanted to tell her.

She was the first to ask about it, of course, because the woman was just too damn impatient.

"What'd you have to ask me?" she questioned bluntly.

"So impatient," Raffo chuckled, shaking his head.

"We already knew that." She rolled her eyes. "Now tell me!"

"Fine, fine. I was just wondering if you were busy Saturday."

Ruth tilted her head, curious. "I don't think so. Why?"

Raffo's fingers slid between the blades of grass adjacent to his broad chest, absentmindedly combing the shards between his knuckles. It took him a minute to respond, which she noticed was something he did whenever he was nervous to do something, and when he finally asked her what was on his mind, she was beyond ecstatic.

"OF COURSE I WILL," she boomed excitedly, practically jumping on him with her arms wound tightly around his neck.

He laughed out in relief, wrapping an arm around her back to hold him to her. "Fuck, I thought you'd say no."

"You thought I'd say no to a powwow?" she asked incredulously, moving back just a little to look at him with surprise. Why the hell would he think that?

He affectionately brushed back her flyaway coils. "We agreed to be chill with this, and being chill means not doing anything we don't usually do. And going to a powwow is outside of that deal."

"True," she agreed. "If it helps, I don't count that as a date. So it can still be casual."

"Okay," he muttered, relieved. "Want me to pick you up?"

"You can if you want to."

"I want to," he smiled. "I'll grab you at 12."

They exchanged sugary grins and glittering eyes.

"Perfect," she whispered, stretching forward to kiss the corner of his mouth. "Don't be late."

"Can't control Indian Time, aiukli," he teased, capturing her lips before she could complain about the use of the inaccurate word.

Being called beautiful didn't help, but then again, nothing ever did when it came to the handsome Indigenous boy in front of her.

So when he kissed her a little deeper, and his hands caressed her hot face with cool fingers, she let him. The sweet nickname she picked up overshadowed tiny, and she didn't mind it one bit. Their shared language meant more to Ruth than she could have thought possible. It was intimate, special.

And though they hadn't known each other for very long, and admitted to liking each other not long after claiming friendship, she knew there was something different about that connection. It ran deeper than them. It connected them through a bond that many don't get to share, and she wasn't going to take that lightly. She knew Raffo didn't just fall into her lap because she was praying for a boy like him to sweep her off her feet one day. She knew this was an ancient encouragement that gave her the best luck and nudge on her shoulder.

And she'd heed their ancestors rallying.

*****

notes: translation (from choctaw to english)

♡ aiukli - beautiful