Page 6 of Falling for my Best Friend

T W O

- Aiden -

He was holding his dead arm with his opposite hand, looking pissed as hell. I could tell by the way he was walking that he’d dislocated his shoulder again.

I grabbed my table and set it up.

“Are you as sick of this as I am yet?” Tommy asked.

I turned around and patted the folding table. “I doubt it.”

He sighed and hopped up, wincing as he got situated. “Why is it always my right shoulder?”

“Cause that’s the one you always land on.”

His brow relaxed for a moment as if understanding the pain made it more tolerable.

“Relax for me,” I said, taking his arm from him.

“But I’m better with my right hand. When it comes to scoring a try, I feel more comfortable holding the ball that way.”

“Yeah, Tommy, I get that, but it wouldn’t kill you to practice more with your left.” I extended his arm out to his side.

He was obviously in pain, but he didn’t moan once.

“Ready?” I asked.

He nodded and clenched his jaw.

I pulled his arm out slowly until it popped back in place.

He put his hand on his shoulder. “Thanks.”

“Hold on. I’ll get you some ice,” I said, walking over to grab a pre-packed bag from the cooler.

“When you say practice more with my left, you mean cradling the ball?”

“Well, that wouldn’t hurt,” I said, handing him the ice. “But everyone knows you always go down on your right. If you’d switched hands at the last second, you might’ve been able to reach over the line.”

His face fell.

“Not that it wasn’t a great effort, but-”

“It’s cool,” he said. “I know you’re right. I was just desperate for the points so I was afraid to risk trying something new.”

I shrugged. “You can afford to take more risks on the field though. You’re one of the few guys who have the basics down.”

He nodded. “Thanks, Aiden.”

I grabbed a spare rugby ball from next to the sideline and showed him what I meant. “See if you cradled the ball in front of you instead of so far to your right side, you could keep your options open until the last second. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah.”

“And at the very least, it would be good for your shoulder.”

“I appreciate the advice.”

“Well, don’t just appreciate it. Take it,” I said. “Cause if this keeps happening, you’re going to need surgery, and then you’ll really be pissed.”

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