24. Ben
BEN
Watching Jolie come was beautiful, and I can’t stop thinking about it.
Which is why I really shouldn’t see her again.
Dammit. I shouldn’t have said yes when she asked me. I should have stuck to my decision and told her she’d come once and that was enough.
But it’s not enough.
I want to show her how to come in a myriad of ways and… I really shouldn’t.
She’s not my girl. She’s more like my student, which seems deranged when I think about what I’m tutoring her in.
Shit, this entire arrangement is insane.
So why the hell do you keep thinking about it?
Closing my eyes for a second, I tune out as Coach gives us the rundown before the game. It’s not an official one. We play Lennox every year before the season starts. We usually lose, and I’m sure tonight will be no different, but we’re here anyway.
I wish we weren’t. The entire bus ride over, all I could hope was that my ex-girlfriend, Mandy, wouldn’t be at the game. I haven’t spoken to her since she dumped me at the lake house. It was fucking brutal, and I’d finally managed to stop thinking about her by the time school started.
And now I’m thinking about Jolie.
Fucking great! What was my one rule for this year?
No women!
Just focus on the game. Mandy won’t be here. She doesn’t even like basketball!
The thought comforts me, and I tune back into Coach’s pregame speech. He seems a little more fired up than usual, and when I open my eyes, I share a surprised look with Darian, who is now fighting laughter.
“And I want you to crush these guys! We’re gonna win, we’re gonna win, we’re gonna win!”
“Yeah!” Sawyer punches his fist in the air, and we all crack up laughing.
Because Coach is hardly the motivational speaker.
In fact, I’ve often wondered how he kept this job for so long.
I mean, sure, he goes through the motions, and we run the drills we’re told to during practice.
Last year, we played the way people expect us to, and we came in last. Shit, the year before that, we actually came second to last, so we’re only getting worse.
But Coach didn’t get fired or told to leave.
He must be besties with someone on the board or the director of athletics.
Or no one at Nolan U gives a shit about basketball because hockey and football are king and queen of the school. It’s like they’ve forgotten we exist.
Unless you remind them… the way Jolie’s article did.
“We can win this, you know,” I murmur to Darian.
Mac scoffs and looks at me as though I’ve just lost my mind.
“I’m serious.” I frown at him. “Let’s prove Jolie right.”
“Who’s Jolie?” Sawyer ties up his wayward curls into a stubby top knot.
My insides clench as I realize how easily I just dropped her name… like I know her.
Because you do!
No, not really.
Shit.
I swallow and quickly cover. “She wrote that article about us in the school paper. And she’s right, we’re a good team.
We just have to start believing it. We play better at practice than we do at games.
We’ve got to stop choking when it matters and just relax.
” My speech seems to be turning heads, and I glance around, squirming a little at all the attention but deciding to just fucking finish anyway.
“Let’s just pretend that this is a practice game.
There are no stakes. No pressure. We’re just out there having fun. ”
“This isn’t an official game, so there are no stakes,” Darian tells us.
“It’s Lennox. They beat us every fucking year.” Mac’s blue gaze is piercing, daring me to disagree with him.
So I do. “Not this year, man. Let’s go win this thing.”
“Okay.” Jimmy nods, turning abruptly and heading out to the court.
We all follow him with Coach bringing up the rear. He doesn’t give us any special directions and takes his usual seat, ready to sit back and endure the game.
Although, there’s definitely something different about him tonight.
He doesn’t lounge back like usual—he’s sitting forward.
As I catch the ball, dribbling it a few steps before passing it off to Sawyer, I notice out of the corner of my eye that Coach is actually following our moves, perched on the front of his seat like he actually might stand up and pace a bit.
So weird. I have no idea what’s up with the guy, but I can’t focus on him right now. The referee calls our attention, and we set up for the tip-off.
“Let’s play some fuckin’ ball.” Mac smirks, then laughs when the ball is thrown into the air and play begins.
The Lennox crowd is loud and obnoxious, booing when we score, cheering when the home team gets the ball through the hoop.
I manage to tune out most of it, focusing on playing. Just having fun with my basketball bros.
And Jimmy obviously is too, because he’s on fucking fire tonight.
The minutes tick by in a rush, and the points tick over in the right direction.
I’m a sweaty mess by the time we reach the fourth quarter. We’ve been playing like warriors, Jimmy shining brightest of all. It’s like he’s just let all his inhibitions go and is out there doing what he does best. The crowd suddenly doesn’t exist, and he’s going for it.
“Nice!” I slap him on the shoulder when he runs past me.
He just made a slam-dunk that even had the Lennox crowd cheering for a second.
Yes, it was impressive.
Tonight, we’re seeing something from Jimmy Li that the public have never witnessed before. I don’t know why he keeps his skills on lockdown so much. It pisses Darian off, but the guy is smiling tonight.
“Yes, we’ve got this!” Sawyer’s clapping, hyping us up as we near the end of the game.
It’s close.
63 Lennox, 61 us.
We actually have a chance of winning this thing. The tension in the air is electric. The Lennox crowd is holding its breath. I rest my hands on my knees for a second, catching mine while we reset.
Sawyer’s right.
We have got this.
We can beat Lennox.
And we fucking will.
Jumping into action, I ignore the fact that we’re the weaker team. That we’re shorter and that Lennox has a stronger basketball program than us. That everyone in this crowd can’t believe how close this game is, but they still think we’ll lose.
Dribbling the ball downcourt, I fire it off to Jimmy, who pauses by the outer circle and goes for a three-pointer… which swishes through the net perfectly.
“Yes!” Sawyer raises his fist as the scoreboard flicks over to a sweet 63–64. We’re in the lead.
“That’s right, boys.” Coach is walking along the sidelines clapping.
Holy shit. He’s on his feet.
Mac actually laughs, shaking his head when he notices.
But it seems to fire him up. For once, Coach seems genuinely invested in our results, and it makes me want to deliver.
And I’m obviously not the only one feeling this way, because Sawyer does a killer block, passing the ball off to Adonis, who runs it downcourt like the fucking Flash and throws it up so Jimmy can jump and slam the ball back through the hoop.
63–66.
Yes! A three-point lead with less than a minute on the clock.
“Let’s go, let’s go.” I clap, sprinting back down the court to run defense.
Mac’s already there, jumping high to slap the ball away, but the guy gets around him, just managing to slip the ball into the hoop.
Shit.
65–66.
So fucking tight.
With only seconds to go, we take back possession and head for the Lennox basket. We need to seal this thing! Sure, if we lose, it’ll only be by a point or two, but that’s not good enough. We want to win. We want to fucking win for a change!
Sawyer fires the ball my way and I snatch it, dribbling it down the court and looking for Jimmy. He can finish this thing for us. But, shit, I can’t get the ball to him safely. I have no choice but to run for the basket myself, only to be charged down by a Lennox giant set on annihilating me.
I hit the floor and slide back along the polished surface just as the whistle blows.
“Foul!” the referee shouts. “One free throw.”
“What?” The Lennox player balks, arguing with the referee while my team celebrates with laughing cheers, and I set up for my free throw.
Holy shit, talk about pressure. There’s fourteen seconds left on the clock. Even if I make this, they’ll still have time to drive for the other end and throw a three-pointer to win, or even score inside the arc.
Wiping my sweaty forehead with the back of my forearm, I set up on the line, bouncing the ball and willing myself to get this. I have to make this shot.
My heart starts thumping, so I pull in a calming breath.
And for a second, all I can think about is a girl with pretty gray eyes who believes my team is more than what everybody thinks we are.
Blowing out a breath, I raise my arms and take the shot.
Hell yeah.
Nothing but net.
“Fuck yeah, Evers! Wooo!” Cash cheers from the sidelines while the on-court players jump into action.
The game’s not finished yet, and we are all over their next attack.
Darian manages to block the ball, falling over as he throws it to Sawyer, who quickly fires it off to Jimmy. He races down the floor, dribbling around one player, then going for a quick jump shot.
The buzzer sounds, and I start cheering before the ball even makes it through the hoop.
“Yes!” Raising both my arms in the air, I laugh as the scoreboard flicks to a very sweet 65–69 in favor of the Nolan U Cougars.
Holy shit.
We just won our preseason game against Lennox.
That never happens.
Sawyer lets out a triumphant roar, jumping all over Jimmy, who gives him a shy smile, then ends up grinning when Mac murmurs something to him.
“Fucking yes!” Darian’s jumping on me now, and I piggyback him over to the other guys so we can celebrate together.
The crowd is obviously in shock, filing out of the arena with stunned whispers and a lot of head shaking. Coach is chatting with the guy from Lennox. I don’t hear what they say, but facial expressions are telling me something serious just passed between them.
And I find out what that is about five minutes later when we’re back in our locker room on a high.