Page 49 of Always There Bayou
“See, now y’all in my business. Don’t do that,” I reply as I begin to change into my practice shoes.
We spent the next couple of minutes joking with each other before heading out to begin our training session. Since it was off-season, there weren’t that many players in the gym, which means that we had free range of all of the equipment without having to take turns.
I immediately went over to do a few sets of exercises that Cheyenne had recommended to me a couple of months ago. My back hasn’t been giving me problems lately, especially because I wasn’t overexerting myself like I had seemed to be doing this past season. It did come and go after certain strenuous activities, so I knew that it was only gonna get worse when the new season rolled around.
And that’s precisely why retirement has been on my mind lately.
I loved basketball with all my heart, and it had always served as an outlet for all of my pent-up emotions and aggressions. I laid everything I had out on the courts and always gave the game 100 percent and then some. But, I could tell that those days would soon be over, and I would rather leave on my own accord than fall the wrong way again, and then suddenly, I’m forced to stop playing before I even wanted to. That would be one of the worst feelings in the world.
I sat down on one of the benches and sighed as my thoughts began to blend. The longer I stayed there, the more the thought gnawed at me, aching to get out. It wasn’t long before I was admitting out loud what I’d been struggling with for the last few months.
“I think that I’m going to retire,” I say out loud, causing Harley and Simone to stop in their tracks. They turn to me with furrowed eyebrows. “I know I said this last year, but I really think that I’m done.”
“Wait, wait, hold on,” Simone says, holding her hands up as she walks over to me. “This isn’t some joke, right? Are you okay? Are you dying?”
“What? No, I’m not fucking dying,” I roll my eyes. “God, you have got to be the most dramatic person I’ve ever met.”
“Can you go a sentence without cursing?” she jokes. “You swear like a sailor. How unladylike.”
“Fuck you, Simone,” I say, flipping her off, and she smirks.
“Okay, enough of the bickering,” Harley interjects. She walks over to sit on one side of me. “What’s going on, Cory? Are you serious this time…for real? You’re not playing this season?”
I shake my head and proceed to explain the thoughts I’ve been struggling with lately, mainly about one day having to leave the game before I’m ready. They nodded in understanding and told me that they’d support my decision no matter what. It felt good to have friends to confide in. I felt a sense of peace, and I knew that no matter what I decided over the next couple of months, it would be what was best for me and my future.
After we got that talk out of the way, they asked me what I would do after I retired, and I told them that I wanted to open a new location for my clothing store,Non-Noble. Currently, I only have the one in the outlet mall, but I wanted another store closer to the city. Other than that, I would mostly be helping Denny and Lilah as needed. I didn’t mind. I thought it’d be fun.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll learn how to tattoo or create a sculpture like Denny.
“Hey, y’all! What y’all doing here?”
We look up to see Olivia Williams, the last player of our starting five line-up, walk in with Jessie. She speaks as well, and we all greet them. It wasn’t unusual that those two were together, because just like me, Simone, and Harley were tight, those two were just as close. If I’m not mistaken, they played in high school and college together back when they lived in Texas and became good friends. But whereas Jessie was drafted to another team at first, Olivia wasn’t drafted at all but had signed a training camp contract with the Bayou and worked her ass off to secure a spot. She’s been here ever since.
I watched quietly as Harley and Jessie became awkward around each other as usual. I mean, it’s not every day that you find out that one of your teammates was dating your sister and that they’d broken up. I knew that Lyric was trying her hardest to win Jessie back after dumping her right before their second anniversary, but Jessie wasn’t budging. Harley admitted that she wished she had never found out about it because it was hard to be impartial and pretend like everything was okay.
On one hand, she hated that her sister would play with someone’s heart like that, but she also hated that they’d dated in the first place. No, she was never mean to Jessie, but everyone could tell that there was some unresolved tension between them. I don’t believe that Harley was the type of person to hold a grudge, but she was quick to distance herself from the situation. I just hoped for everyone’s sake that Jessie and Lyric got it together. It was draining being an outsider looking in, so I could only imagine how it felt for those involved.
“Y’all ready for the next season?” Olivia asks, oblivious to how thick the air had gotten.
I mean…was sheoblivious, or was she doing the same thing Simone and I did, where we tried our best to ignore how awkward things could get in a matter of seconds? Either way, I was glad for the distraction from all of this, as well as my thoughts.
“Uh, yeah, I’m ready for sure,” Simone nods. “Once I’m married and fresh off my honeymoon next month, I’m gonna be unstoppable this coming season. The Does aren’t gonna know what’s coming!”
“I’ll never understand y’all’s beef with that team,” Olivia chuckles, shaking her head. “I know I haven’t been here as long as y’all, but the rivalry has been here almost as long as I have. What’s tea?”
“What’steais that they have some of the best players in the game. Even I can admit that it’s hard to compete with such a stacked roster,” Harley replies. “Don’t get me wrong, we got some dawgs on our squad, specifically the five of us sitting in this room, but the Does? Yeah, they lucked up and acquired more than a handful of all-around players.”
“That wasn’t luck. That was just the front office doing their jobs properly,” I added, and the others nodded. “Their team probably has the best chemistry in the league, and because of how well they work together, even the worst players are like B-Tier because of how well-oiled that machine is.”
“Damn, you sure you wanna retire for real?” Simone laughs.
“Wait, you’re retiring?” Jessie asks, saying something for the first time since her greeting.
“I’m thinking about it,” I shrug. “I still have a couple of months to decide what I want to do, but I’m leaning towards retirement more and more as the days go by. My back has been giving me more problems than ever lately. Also, I don’t know, I wanna do something different and see how it goes, you know?”
She nods but doesn’t ask any more questions. The conversation drifts on to more basketball-related stuff, and we eventually move over to one of the practice gyms to play a quick game. By then, a few otherplayers have arrived, and we soon have a 5-on-5 match going on. I’d missed playing basketball these last few months, and it made me wonder if that’s how I would feel every day once I retire. I shake the thoughts out. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
For the next few hours, we played a few more pick-up games before deciding that it was time to call it a day. After a quick shower, Simone, Harley, and I head to our respective cars and agree to meet up at a local diner to have an early dinner together. It felt good to chill with my friends after not seeing them as much these last few months. Since we’d all been occupied with our significant others, it left little time for us to chill like we used to. I made a mental note to invite them out more often.
