"PII," the sound of the referee's whistle echoed throughout the stadium, signifying the end of the match.
With his feet firmly planted on the ground, Aaron finally let out a tired sigh and wiped the sweat off his face with the back of his hand in a clear sign of exhaustion.
"Phew, phew," were the sounds of his labored breathing after an encounter like that, but before even fully catching his breath, he felt someone immediately climb onto his back.
"We won!" Omar shouted on Aaron's back, raising a hand toward the ceiling in a sign of celebration, provoking exclamations from the public.
"Get off, man," Aaron grunted toward him while moving, trying to get his friend to get off him once and for all.
Without being discouraged in the slightest, Omar jumped off Aaron's back to continue celebrating with euphoria as if they had won the tournament and not simply the first game of the day.
Setting aside his excited friend, Aaron fixed his gaze on the players who were sitting on the ground or with their faces covered by their jerseys in a clear sign of defeat. Without thinking twice, Aaron immediately approached the player closest to him, extending his hand.
"Good game," was what Jeff heard while he looked up and found the extended hand of the player who had caused his team so many problems, especially in the last quarter of the match.
Without delay, he immediately took the hand extended to him and stood up quickly with Aaron's help. "You guys played well," was the next sentence Aaron said once Jeff was on his feet.
"You guys played better," Jeff responded with a bitter smile on his face, still savoring the defeat he and his team had suffered.
"Regardless, you made things difficult for us," Aaron gave a compliment.
"I appreciate the compliment," Jeff thanked him, "but obviously you guys played better," Jeff finished saying as he turned and little by little began to pick up his teammates to slowly leave the court.
Watching the Vikings team withdraw from the court, Aaron wasted no time and also headed toward his teammates who were still celebrating the victory.
"Guys," Coach Arbitello clapped, calling the attention of each of the players. "We must leave the court so the next game can begin," he said, then pointed with his thumb toward the other team that was in the tunnel waiting for the court to be vacated.
Without wasting a second, the Royals team immediately gathered their things and headed toward the locker room.
Passing by the other team that was about to enter the court, Aaron could notice out of the corner of his eye how some of the players had their gaze fixed more than usual on him, as if they were analyzing him—some with admiration and others with envy.
Ignoring all those looks, Aaron moved forward without looking back, wishing for a shower as soon as possible to remove the stickiness of the sweat on his body. Once inside and without wasting a second, Aaron quickly grabbed a towel and rushed to reach the shower quickly.
10 minutes later
"Much better," Aaron sighed with satisfaction, with the towel around his waist and heading straight toward his locker to take out his clothes.
Feeling the bench at his side creak under the weight of someone sitting next to him, Aaron didn't have to look up to know who it was.
"Bro, I'm tired," Omar sighed, leaning completely against his locker next to Aaron with a tired look.
"Better change quickly before you catch a cold," was Aaron's blunt response to his friend's exaggerated dramatization, who let out a huff and brought his hand to his chest.
"You worry about me?" Omar asked dramatically.
"I worry about the team being without a starter tomorrow," Aaron quickly responded, rolling his eyes without even biting his friend's bait.
"Sometimes you're boring," Omar said with a pout this time, while Aaron ignored him and took out his phone and began checking notifications.
One in particular caught his attention, so without wasting a minute, he opened the chat, revealing the person's name.
"Hannah: How was the game?" A simple question, but it caused a smile to settle on Aaron's face without him realizing it.
"Aaron: We won," was the first message he had sent, and just when he was going to continue writing, he felt someone's gaze on him, so quickly without wasting time, he locked his screen without giving the person a chance to read the messages.
"Who was it?" Omar asked curiously, seeing his friend's reaction and how he quickly turned off his screen.
"A friend," Aaron quickly responded, looking straight ahead without turning to see the face Omar was making at that moment.
"Uhum," was heard from Omar. "Sure, a friend," he finished saying while making air quotes with both hands, not fully believing his friend, who simply ignored him while finishing getting dressed.
Once already changed and ready to leave, Aaron heard the locker room door open and both Coach Arbitello and Artie entered through the door along with the rest of the coaching staff.
"Gentlemen," Coach Arbitello began, causing everyone's attention to focus on him. "First of all, congratulations on winning the game," the coach said, then began to applaud along with the rest of the staff.
Catching the mood, little by little the rest of the players began to applaud in a sign of celebration for the victory.
"But…" Coach Arbitello continued once the applause faded away. "That doesn't mean you should relax; after all, we still have 2 more games to play in the next 2 days," the coach finished informing the players.
"So now I need you to go straight to rest," Coach Arbitello said this time with a serious voice. "And I don't want to hear that any of you went out of the hotel or, worse yet, that you didn't spend the night in your rooms." The last part he said especially to the senior players, looking each one fixedly in the eyes, making them understand the seriousness of that rule.
Upon finishing saying all that, the coach simply turned on his heels and headed toward the locker room door, ready to leave, but as his hand rested on the doorknob, he stopped as if he had remembered something.
"Ah, right." As if remembering something, Coach Arbitello turned his head and his gaze fixed on one player in particular. "Barrows, stay at the end; I want to talk to you for a moment," was the last thing he was heard saying before opening the door and leaving the locker room.
Once the sound of the door closing was heard, the atmosphere inside the locker room was in complete silence while the gazes of each person in there settled on one player in particular.
"What are you looking at!!" Maurice barked toward each of the players, who quickly looked away while they set about changing quickly and leaving the locker room, leaving Maurice alone little by little.
Getting up from his place, Aaron quickly went out the door followed behind him by Omar, leaving Maurice completely alone.
"Dude, did you see the coach's face?" Omar whispered in a low voice, fearing someone would hear him, looking frantically to both sides.
"Yes," Aaron responded in the same low voice Omar used, fearing someone on the team would hear what they were talking about.
"Do you think…" Omar began before his words were stopped by Aaron's hand, which went directly to his lips in a sign of silence.
"It's none of our business," was the only thing Aaron said, not wanting to go into more detail, knowing it was best to avoid getting into conflicts that could affect the team's chemistry.
As they walked down the hallway toward the exit and straight to the bus that would take them to the hotel, a voice behind them stopped Aaron.
"Aaron!!" shouted Melissa's unmistakable voice, approaching quickly toward him, followed rapidly by Paola behind her.
"Mom," Aaron said quickly, stopping and heading toward the woman who was approaching them.
Once in front of both, a smile couldn't help but settle on Melissa's face as she saw her son in front of her. "You played wonderfully," was the only thing Melissa could say at that moment while one of her hands rested on Aaron's face and stroked it gently.
"Good job," was the only thing Paola could say at that moment while she extended a thumb up in his direction.
"Uhum," the three heard a throat-clearing at their side and their eyes settled on Omar, who was standing awkwardly to the side. "Aren't you going to introduce us?" Omar asked toward Aaron, who quickly remembered that Omar was at his side.
"Right," Aaron began. "Mom, Aunt, this is Omar," he said, pointing to the young man at his side, who raised his hand in a sign of greeting toward the two women in front of him.
"Omar, my mom and my aunt," Aaron continued, this time pointing to both Melissa and Paola respectively.
"A pleasure," Omar said this time with a friendly smile toward the 2 women in front of him. "Likewise," Paola responded toward the boy in front of her while Melissa simply nodded her head in his direction.
"Thank you for being my son's friend," Melissa said this time toward Omar. "I know he can be a bit serious and cold," Melissa began to ramble, causing Aaron to blush with embarrassment at that.
"Mom," Aaron said quickly, making Melissa stop her diatribe about her son.
"The point is he's a good boy," Melissa finished saying while giving a look toward Aaron, who sighed in relief knowing he wouldn't be humiliated further by his mom; but he didn't count on the person at his side and his knowing smile.
"You don't say," Paola began, directing a mocking look toward Aaron, who once again had a look of panic on his face.
"Aunt," Aaron began, trying to quickly stop whatever his aunt was going to say at that moment.
But turning a deaf ear to her nephew's plea, Paola decided to continue with what she was saying at that moment. "I remember when he was little he…" Paola began, seeing how Omar paid special attention to what she was about to say until a voice cut off what she was about to say.
"Here you are," Hector said, having finally found the group and making Paola stop everything she was about to say at that moment.
Relief quickly crossed Aaron's face while his shoulders relaxed involuntarily.
"Hector," Aaron began, heading quickly toward the man in question and grabbing him by the shoulders. "You know Omar," he said while pointing toward Omar, who stayed looking at Hector.
"You play shooting guard, right? You played well," Hector said, extending his hand toward Omar.
"Thanks, sir," Omar returned the greeting, not letting himself be fully intimidated by Hector's appearance.
Seeing that the boy in front of him did not feel intimidated by his appearance, Hector simply let go of his hand and joined the conversation the group was having before he arrived.
Noticing that time had passed and that they should already head to the bus along with the team toward the hotel, Aaron and Omar put on apologetic looks while apologizing to the group in front of them.
"We have to go," Aaron said a bit reluctantly as he approached and shared a hug with his mom and then his aunt.
"It's okay, call me as soon as you get to the hotel; either way, we are leaving too," Melissa told Aaron while they also said goodbye and each took their path toward their respective exits.
"Dude, now I understand where you got that face from," Omar said once they were far enough away from the group of Aaron's family.
"I know," Aaron said with an air of self-sufficiency in his voice.
"Your dad is lucky," Omar continued saying, without knowing that that comment erased all the good mood Aaron had.
"Maybe if you meet him you can tell me what he thinks," was Aaron's cold comment, causing the smile on Omar's face to be erased upon realizing he had messed up.
"Bro, I…" Omar wanted to apologize, but Aaron decided to cut him off, already tired of the same speech when they find out he doesn't have a dad.
"Don't worry, it doesn't affect me anymore," was the only thing he said while he kept walking undaunted toward the bus, followed closely by Omar, who decided to keep quiet for the rest of the journey.
Authors thought's
What did you think of today's chapter?
Don't forget to subscribe to my Patreon to get more than 10 chapters in advance! https://www.patreon.com/c/merchant17