"There's a woman watching us," Amélie said, with her hands braced meaningfully on her hips.

Lena dribbled the ball a little. It was old and made a sharp sounds as she bounced it against the concrete. She glanced around, expecting it to be obvious. She didn't see anyone outright staring at them, but that didn't mean Amélie was wrong. In fact, she was usually right about most things.

Lena circled around her, still dribbling the basketball. "Where?"

"Coffee shop." Amélie checked her, trying to get control of the ball.

Lena kept her at an arm’s length, playing defense.

Sure enough, through the weaving of the metal fence Lena spotted the coffee shop and there indeed was a stranger sitting out front watching them over the plastic lid of her coffee cup. People watching wasn't the weirdest thing. Lena and Amélie were in a public park, playing a very rowdy game of basketball after all.

It was weird that she was sitting outside considering how cold it was though. Lena was working up a sweat playing, but she was still chilly. Whoever this watchful stranger was had to be cold underneath her scarf and coat. Why not sit inside and gawk like the rest customers at the coffee shop did?

Distracted by the stranger, Amélie got ahold of the ball and chased it down to the other end to score a shot. Lena darted frantically after her to block. It was mid-February, and freezing, and no one wanted to be out in this weather which meant Lena and Amélie had free range to roam the court and use both hoops. It was a better work out for the both of them this way.

Amélie made the basket and the metal chains that made up the net jangled loudly in the cold. Lena bent over, bracing her hands on her knees for a second. Her breath turned the air in front of her face white. She didn't stand still for long, just enough to catch her breath. To keep the cold from getting to her she ran after the ball.

"I think she saw me," Lena said, keeping her voice low. "The lady looking at us? I think she saw me looking at her."

When Lena looked back over Amélie's shoulder the stranger was up from the bench, heaving a leather bag over her shoulder. Her coffee cup was in one hand and she was waiting to cross the street, making like she was going to come closer.

"Yup." Lena dodged Amélie's advances, trying to get around her to make it back to the other basketball hoop. "She's definitely walking over here."

They got another good minute or so of play in before their mystery admirer entered through the opening in the chain link fence. She walked right onto the court like she wasn't interrupting their game in the slightest. Lena and Amélie made eyes at each other and resolved to just keep on playing, and they would have, but then the woman called out to them.

"Excuse me!"

Amélie sighed loud enough for the woman to hear. Lena snatched the ball to stop it bouncing, tucking it under her arm. They both turned and gave the stranger appraising looks

"Excuse me, I'm sorry. I'm Emily. I'm a photographer. Would you..." She shifted the strap on her shoulder, showing off her leather bag. "...would you mind if I took a few pictures of you while playing?"

Oh. Well that was only slightly weird.

Lena shrugged and looked at Amélie who shrugged back. She realized then how ridiculous the two of them had to look. Lena was drawn up in gym shorts, a t-shirt with the sleeves hacked off, and her favorite pair of bright orange sneakers. Amélie was covered head to toe in black, Underarmor hugging tight to her body. They were definitely opposites here, and it was obvious. Lena wondered briefly if that made for good pictures, but then she realized she didn't really know about that kind of stuff.

"Sure," Lena told Emily. "Whatever you want."

Emily smiled then, and she had a really dorky sort of smile. Lena thought it was kind of cute for a split second before pushing that thought right out of her head.

"Thank you!" Emily said, pulling around her bag. She lifted up the flap and took out... some part of a camera or something. She started walking backwards, digging more pieces out. "I'll stay out of your way! Just pretend I'm not here."

So, they did. Lena saw out of the corner of her eye that Emily had set her coffee down and put together a camera out of parts. It had a strap that hung around her neck and she cradled the camera into her hands, holding the viewfinder up to her eye.

Lena and Amélie continued their game like there wasn't someone constantly snapping pictures over their shoulders. Sure, there was the traffic of cars going passed and a few people walking by, but it was mostly quiet. The sound of breathing, their feed thudding, and Emily's camera going off were the most prominent sounds.

Amélie was kind of kicking Lena’s ass, but that was okay because she did in most things. Lena did get an awesome slam dunk where she launched himself off the pavement and hung off the basketball hoop for minute, drawing up her legs and howling like a mad man. Amélie had smirked at her, and Emily's camera went clicking like crazy.

After another twenty minutes or so Lena and Amélie tired themselves out. Well. Lena was tired. Amélie never even looked so much as winded and Lena envied her. They were winding down, arguing good naturedly about the score when Emily approached them for a second time.

"That was great." She smiled. "Can I get both your names?"

She took out a pen from her bag and scribbled on the back of a card. ‘Lena Oxton’ and ‘Amélie’. Just Amélie. Emily didn't press for a last name and that was good because Amélie probably wouldn't have given her one.

"Can I see the pictures you took?" Lena asked hopefully, thinking of her slam dunk.

Emily nodded, stuffing the card with their names on it back into a pocket. "Oh sure, sure."

She turned her camera back on and stood shoulder to shoulder with Lena to page through them. Lena supposed she didn't blame her for not handing over her expensive equipment in a neighborhood like this.

The photos were awesome. They had been taken in black and white and Amélie looked like a cat, all feline and feminine and slinky in her black skintight outfit. Lena looked more aggressive and athletic than what she pegged herself to be.

There were a few ridiculous shots of her with her tongue hanging out that made her want to groan, but Emily smiled the biggest at those. There were at least ten shots of her hanging from the basketball hoop. The midmorning sun had back lit the photo, so the backboard and the net of chains and Lena's body were all black. Lena didn't know much about photography, but the photos looked good to her and that's what she told Emily.

Amélie had wandered off to grab the ball and guzzle down water. She was half way across the court and Emily and Lena were basically by themselves.

"I love your physique," Emily told her, which Lena felt a little embarrassed about for some reason, but she smiled anyway.

"Thank you?"

Emily laughed, and fished around in her pockets. "Here, take my card. The photos might be up on my website before the end of the week. There's a number on there, if you want you can contact me. I'm always looking for more models."

"Oh," Lena laughed and took the card to be polite. "I'm not a model."

"You don't have to be," Emily told her.

She clapped Lena on the shoulder and took her leave after that. She said thanks again and called good bye to Amélie who barely registered her with more than a nod. Lena watched her piece apart her camera to tuck back into her bag, and even pick up the coffee cup she had left on the ground as she walked off.

"Wants me to model for her," Lena laughed, repeating the words dramatically for Amélie to hear. She showed off the business card for her to see.

“Looks like she wanted a little more from you than that,” Amélie replied, raising up her eyebrow suggestively.

Lena laughed again, harder this time. “Pfft, you’re kidding right?”

Amélie definitely wasn’t kidding…

Already flushed from the exercise of shooting hoops, a new rush of blood filled her face. She was totally blushing. She glanced around trying to get one last fleeting look at Emily, to see her face again, to gauge if all of this could be true somehow.

“You really think she likes me?” Lena asked, going to grab her warm-up jacket out of her bag.

“Yes, you idiot. She obviously likes you.”

Huh. How about that. Lena smiled to herself. She had never modeled before but hey, there was a first time for everything. She was definitely going to have to give Emily a call.