Page 63 of Don't Let Go

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Tyler

Three days ago, I kissed Rory. Actually, she kissed me. We sat in silence on the way home that night. She inched her hand close to mine, and her pinky brushed my skin. I wanted to kiss her, but she had this distance about her. It was almost like she wasn’t there if you looked into her eyes. She was lost in her thoughts.

We got home, and she unlocked the door and went straight to her room. I wanted to talk more. I wanted to talk about Paolo, why he brought up my deceased parents, why he threatened Rory’s family like that, and why he was doing drug deals. What else was he involved in? He mentioned his powerful grandfather, and Rory said her mother’s career could withstand whatever Paolo threw at them. What the hell did all that mean? Was I looking at this all wrong?

The bottom line was that Rory was single now, but I wasn’t sure how to ask her out. She kissed me, yes. She seemed to like me, yes. She opened up to me when we’d talk late at night on the window ledge, yes. Yet I felt like she was hiding something from me. Maybe it was too soon to do anything since her break up with Paolo was still fresh. Besides, if she rejected me being in the same house with her would be extremely awkward.

Tonight, we had an away game in Gilbert, so we were able to leave after lunch and skip our last two classes. I sat on the bus next to James. Christian and Bryce sat in the seat in front of us.

James smacked my back. He had this giant smile on his face like he was drugged by the Joker. “I’m so glad you’re on this team. You’re going to take us to the top!”

I nodded. “Hell yeah. I’m glad you guys wanted me. To be honest, not being able to play basketball made everything so much harder. Basketball was always a release for me. You know?”

Christian sat on the edge of the seat. He turned around and rested his arms on the back of his seat, looking at James and me. “Thomas was a good player, but the way you play.” He whistled. “I’m just thankful you’re on our team when we face Lincoln.”

It felt like someone stabbed me with a hot poker through the gut. “We’re going against Lincoln?” I hoped my voice didn’t reflect how much my insides were shaking. I haven't had time to imagine a game where my new world collided with my old one.

James hit my arm. “You’re as white as a ghost. We need to beat the Gilbert Rattlesnakes first.” James leaned forward and pushed Christian, making him almost tumble into the bus aisle. “Don’t scare the guy. We need his head in the game. If we lose because you scared him, I’m going to beat your ass.”

Christian saved himself and leaned against the back of the chair again, reaching for James to smack his head. “I’m not scared of you.”

The speakers above us crackled alive. “Sit down! Keep your butts in the seats,” the bus driver ordered.

Bryce snickered as Christian turned and sunk back into the ugly brown leather seat. “Shut up,” Christian hissed.

I shook my head and looked out the window. We were on the highway. There was nothing to see but cars, buildings flying by, and the desert landscape. Someone got fancy and made a coyote out of rocks. Why decorate the sides of the highway? Was it for the people who got stuck in traffic to admire?

James nudged me with his arm, taking me out of my ludicrous thoughts about desert artwork. “Ty, don’t worry about Lincoln. Just think about Gilbert and how we need to crush them to get to the championships.”

I licked my lips and clasped my hands together. “Will do. I won’t let you down.”

“Good. We’re here.” He nodded out the window to the high school parking lot we were turning into.

“Here we go,” I said under my breath.

We were at halftime, and we were up by six points. I jogged into the locker room and grabbed a fresh towel to dry the sweat from my brow. My phone blinked, letting me know I had a text. I sat on the bench as my fellow teammates talked around me excitedly as I read the message sent hours ago.

Good luck! Go show your Mustang pride!

I smiled, scratching my nose as I thought of a reply.

Thank you! It’s not the same looking into the stands and not seeing you in the band.

James whipped his towel in my direction. “Hey man, you’re doing great. Your free throws are on fire!”

Christian hit my arm as he walked by. “Totally. We need to keep this up and we’ll have this game in the bag for sure.”

“Then it’s off to the championships against Lin—” James punched Bryce in the gut, making him shut up. “Ouch! You dick.”

“I told you not to freak out, Ty!” James shook his head and hit my shoulder. “Sorry, man. Just focus on one game at a time.”

Ice chilled my veins when the thought of playing against Quincy and the rest of the guys came to mind. They were my team. They looked up to me. They were my family for almost my entire high school career.

I pressed my lips together, shoved my forefinger and thumb into my eyes, and rubbed them too hard. “Yeah. Don’t worry about me.”

We all pounded fists, and Bryce blasted rap music to get us all psyched to get back on the court.

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