Inside Melissa's apartment, Aaron was lying on the sofa, fully serving his punishment, while Mickey Mouse could be seen on the television. It seemed that since he couldn't leave the house except to go to school, he was now Mia's babysitter.
She was by his side, her eyes fixed on the phone screen, making gestures and trying to mimic everything happening on the TV screen.
For Aaron, it was more of a torture than anything else. Despite loving Mia to death, spending an afternoon watching a children's show talking about colors and shapes was something he never expected to do, let alone repeat.
Bored, Aaron took out his phone and opened his messaging app, looking for Drew's contact, hoping his friend could distract him or make his afternoon more pleasant.
Aaron:What are you up to, man?
That was the message he wrote, expecting that, as in previous times, Drew would respond as quickly as possible. But seeing that five minutes had passed and his friend hadn't even seen the message, he formed an idea as to why he wasn't responding.
"Whatever happened to 'bros before hoes'?" Aaron said as his gaze drifted to the ceiling, not wanting to keep watching the children's show.
Sighing, Aaron heard someone knocking at the apartment door. Curiously, Aaron headed toward the door since he wasn't expecting anyone; his mother and aunt would arrive later, and Hector was at the mechanic shop.
The moment Aaron opened the door, he was taken by surprise at who it was. "What are you doing here?" he asked, surprised, seeing the person standing in front of the door with a smile.
"I thought since you're grounded, I could come see you," Hannah said with a smile as she stood on her tiptoes and quickly kissed Aaron's lips before entering through the door straight into the apartment's living room.
"Hello, little one," Hannah said as soon as her eyes landed on Mia, who stretched out her hands toward her. Hannah couldn't resist picking her up and holding her in her arms while Mia giggled in response.
"I see she likes you," Aaron said with a smile as he watched the whole scene from the door, noticing how Mia's attention was completely on Hannah as she played with her hair.
"It's because she knows who her favorite person is, isn't that right?" Hannah cooed tenderly while Mia still had her attention fully on her.
"And what do you want to do?" Aaron asked, wanting to know what Hannah's plans were to pass the time. "I don't know what you want to do, little one," Hannah said toward Mia, who simply pointed at the TV, where the Mickey Mouse show was still playing.
"Well, it seems she wants to watch TV," Hannah said as she sat on the sofa with Mia sitting on her lap, her little face once again paying attention to the television screen. Aaron put on an awkward smile at that.
With no other choice, Aaron took his place on the sofa again while his arm went around Hannah, resting comfortably on her shoulder.
After what felt like an hour, Mia fell completely asleep on Hannah, her little face firmly pressed against Hannah's shoulder. "We should take her to her crib," Hannah whispered in a low voice, fearing she might wake the little girl.
Since Mia was going to stay there for a good while, Paola had left her folding crib, which Aaron had set up in his room. So, carefully, Hannah stood up and delicately placed Mia in her crib before tiptoeing out and slightly closing the door so that if Mia woke up, they could get there as quickly as possible.
"So, do you want to keep watching children's cartoons?" Aaron asked with a chuckle, seeing Hannah put on a look of horror at the thought of seeing another one of those colorful characters. "God, no," she said dramatically before returning to the sofa and lying across Aaron's lap.
With a smile, Aaron began to surf through the channels, looking for a movie or anything they both could watch until he hit ESPN. It seemed the show High School Basketball Showcase was just about to start, at which point Aaron quickly changed the channel.
"Hey, I want to see that," Hannah said with a pout, immediately snatching the remote from Aaron's hands and rewinding to get to the "juicy" part.
"And now, let's talk about this year's recruiting class," the analyst began to say with a professional smile on his face, while the screen began to show the top prospects of this class and the universities they had chosen to attend.
"Let's start by saying that the Canadian player Andrew Wiggins, who plays at Huntington Prep, just signed his letter of intent a few days ago to play at Kansas," the analyst said while Andrew's photo appeared on the screen, followed by his ranking and physical stats, before cutting to a brief video showing his highlights.
In one sequence, Wiggins had possession of the ball, facing the rim while a player was in front of him; but without losing his cool, he made a few fakes before driving straight to the basket, finishing with a jump shot.
In the next, Wiggins had been surrounded and forced into a corner, but with the shot clock winding down, Wiggins performed a step-back to launch a 3-pointer, ending the game with a victory for Huntington.
"It seems the Jayhawks got what is possibly the best shooting guard in this class, and these were the words of Bill Self, head coach of the Jayhawks." Immediately after, the screen showed an older man with a University of Kansas cap and a cordial smile directed toward the microphone.
"Coach Self, what can you tell us about Andrew Wiggins' choice to come to the University of Kansas?" the reporter asked with a microphone in hand before pointing it toward the coach.
"Well, obviously I can't deny that it's good news," Coach Self began. "We have followed Wiggins over these last few years, and during his official visit, we showed him the facilities and the goals we have for this coming season with him on the team," he continued in a diplomatic tone.
"And do you believe that with him on the team, the Jayhawks' aspirations to win in March Madness increase?" was the next question launched by the reporter.
"Of course. Furthermore, we shouldn't only highlight Wiggins but also that Joel Embiid signed his letter of intent with us," the coach said with an even larger smile, thinking he had not only the best shooting guard in the class but also the second-ranked best center.
"With Embiid's arrival to the team, does that mean you've pushed Aaron Reed aside?" the reporter asked this time, seeking to generate controversy with his question. Coach Self couldn't help but curse him under his breath.
"I can't deny that, like most teams, we want Aaron Reed; after all, a player with his talent is something commendable," he began, highlighting Aaron's strengths. "But we must also see that we aren't the only ones interested, and in my system, a more defensive center like Embiid fits better," Coach Self finished saying before leaving mid-interview, implying he wasn't willing to continue.
"What do you think of what that coach said?" Hannah asked, turning her head slightly toward Aaron, who had a serious look on his face.
"Well, he's not wrong in saying that Kansas wasn't among my options," Aaron replied, knowing Bill Self's coaching style, which placed heavy emphasis on defense—something that would greatly limit the creativity and offensive rhythm Aaron had shown so far. Of course, another reason was what happened to Embiid.
At the end of this season, Joel Embiid suffered a lower back injury in late March of the following year.
Experts and people began to speculate that it was due to the stress and the excessive training load Embiid suffered in his only season with the Jayhawks. But despite all that, it was a surprise that he was chosen as the 3rd overall pick in the 2014 Draft.
After that, Embiid's career was truncated by constant injuries, missing his first two NBA seasons with a total of 164 games lost. Consequently, Aaron had ruled out going there point-blank, fearing he would suffer the same fate.
"I see," Hannah replied before fixing her attention back on the screen, where they moved to the next segment showing a young African American man with his hair cut almost entirely short, looking directly and fixedly at the camera.
"Julius Randle," the analyst said, then showed the data and statistics for the number 3 player in this class along with his accolades.
"After leading Prestonwood Christian Academy to several state titles, the 6'9" power forward recently signed his letter of intent with the University of Kentucky," the analyst said, and then Julius's highlights were shown again.
In one play, one of the Prestonwood players is seen with possession of the ball, attempting a long-distance shot that ended up bouncing off the rim. While all the players prepared for the rebound, Julius drove straight into the paint to jump and grab the ball with his left hand, finishing by slamming it into the rim with forceful strength.
"It must be said that Randle is possibly one of the physically strongest of this 2013 generation," the analyst continued, talking about Julius's data and statistics.
"And speaking of Kentucky, we cannot rule out the other players who signed their acceptance letters nor the young roster that Coach John Calipari is forming," the analyst said, showing a list of players arriving at the Wildcats' team to play the next season in the SEC:
Julius Randle
Andrew Harrison
Aaron Harrison
"So far, the University of Kentucky already has three of the top 10 players of 2013, which will likely lead them to be number 1 nationally in the recruiting rankings once all players have signed their letters of intent," the analyst continued, showing graphs that showed how the universities of Kentucky, Kansas, and Duke were firmly in the lead regarding players.
"Now," the analyst began with an excited smile on his face, "let's talk about what is probably the most sought-after prospect currently." After those words were spoken, the screen began to show Aaron's profile along with his data and highlights from his seasons with the Monarchs.
Before the analyst could even begin his analysis and try to guess which team he would go to, the screen suddenly went black.
"Hey, I wanted to see that," Hannah said with a pout toward Aaron, who at some point had grabbed the remote and turned off the screen without hesitation as soon as he heard the analyst pronounce his name.
"They'd probably just say the same thing," Aaron said, not wanting to hear again how they tried to guess his college choice—something he had to make a decision on soon before it was too late.
"But still, I wanted to see it," Hannah said with a pout while making puppy dog eyes toward Aaron. "I think we've seen enough TV," Aaron said, not letting himself be swayed by such a tactic on her part.
"Then what do you propose we do?" Hannah asked curiously. A smile settled on Aaron's face before he leaned in and planted a chaste kiss on Hannah's lips, at which she melted.
Pulling away slightly, Aaron asked her, "Do you still want to watch TV?" to which Hannah simply let out a giggle. "Shut up and kiss me," she said, and they immediately returned to kissing.
At one point, Hannah ended up astride Aaron, with neither of them breaking the kiss.
They were so concentrated on the kiss that they didn't hear when the apartment door opened and two people entered with smiles on their faces—smiles that vanished upon seeing the two young people in the living room.
"Ahem," Melissa cleared her throat as she saw that neither of them had noticed they had arrived.
At that, with lightning speed, Aaron pulled away from Hannah, his face filled with panic as he saw both his mother and his aunt with their hands on their hips and serious faces, while Hannah covered her face, red with embarrassment.
"Uh, technically, I'm still serving my punishment," Aaron said with an awkward smile on his face as he saw that the two women did not find his joke at all funny.
Authors thought's
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