5.

He still went to some of the games, even though he wasn’t in school, or on the team anymore. But it was still his team, still his friends playing in the games, still folks he knew that came to watch the games.

The first couple of games were hard to watch, wanting to be in there making a difference, crashing the boards, getting an occasional steal and fastbreak points. So for the first couple of games he sat up in the stands by himself, with his hands on either side of his face, bracing his head up, clapping every once in a while for a good play, but mostly just watching.

He noticed how much emptier the gym seemed now that he wasn’t on the court. When he had been playing he had always thought that the crowd cared about the game, wanted him and the team to play well. Now he noticed that the few people who came to the games, parents excluded, were there simply to see and be seen. They were mostly underclassmen, still at school because their parents worked late, and they didn’t have another ride after missing the bus. And then there were of course those couple drunk seniors simply trying to get away with being drunk at school, waiting for it to be late enough to show up at parties.

It was kind of depressing to be in the crowd now, but he didn’t have shit else to do, so he came and watched, and got in free with the student ID he still had, even though he wasn’t in school anymore. At the third game he went to a girl came up and sat down next to him. He glanced at her, then looked back at the court. “Didn’t you used to play?” She was an underclassman he knew, but wasn’t sure what year. A sophomore maybe. Cute though.

“Yeah. Not anymore though.”

“Why not, you were pretty good?”

“Yeah, thanks.” A pause. “It’s a long story.”

“Oh. My friend Marc is on the team. He’s number twenty-four.”

“Yeah, I know him.”

“He’s having a party tonight. I think his brother got him a keg. Are you gonna go?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there. I’m sure I’ll see you.”

“Good. Maybe you can tell me your long story.”

He looked at her now. She had innocent eyes, and one of those smiles he thought was perfect. He gave her a grin and a little laugh. “Yeah, we’ll see. I don’t usually like tellin’ long stories though.”

She stood up and started to walk back over to her friends. He could see her belly button and stomach between jeans and shirt, a shirt definitely not made for winter. Her navel was pierced. He kind of liked it.

“Isn’t it kind of cold out for that shirt,” as she walked away.

“I’ve got a jacket.” She turned her head and still had that perfect smile.

She doesn’t know what she’s getting into, he thought.

His team called a timeout on the court below.