Chapter 31

The next morning I texted decided to text Kris. I hadn't talked to her since the other day after practice. I kinda missed her actually.

Hey Kris

Hey Ave whats up?

Nothing. You wanna ball up somewhere?

Yeah we can meet up at the park near my house. Meet you there in 10.

I text Sara to let her know that I was going to hang out with Kris. She just said okay. I know she didn't really like Kris but at the same time she respected that Kris was my best friend. I loved her for respecting that. 10 minutes later I was getting my ass kicked by Kris.

"Ave what the hell are you doing?" Kris laughed.

"Whats it look like? I'm going to kick your ass with an awesome comeback." I said as sarcastically as possible.

"Just hurry up and turn the ball over." She said as she handed me the ball. I started to kick it in. I took the ball in my right hand, crossed over and went in for a left hand layup. I just looked over my shoulder and gave her a smug ass look. She she just put her hands in the air. We had played about 8 games. I won 5 and she won 3. After the last game we both just laid on the ground. 8 gams takes a lot out of you.

"So you have to admit that was a great comeback." I laughed.

"Yeah yeah shut up." I just laughed as I laid on the rough concrete. The sun was hot but the wind was cool. It was a perfect day to play basketball. As we lay there I couldn't help but ask.

"So did you tell her you were with me?" I tried to keep my voice as monotone as possible. After what seemed liked minutes she finally said

"No." That simple word made me want to leave. But I understood why she didn't. Mack was odd. She showed affection by fighting and yelling. I couldn't explain it. It's like the more they fought the more she could feel the how much Kris cared. It doesn't make sense. But thats how I understood it.

"Come on, one more." Kris said as she got up to grab the ball. As soon as I picked myself up off of the concrete I heard a car drive by. I ignored it. But then I couldn't. Because after it drove by it backed up and I heard a door slam. Next thing I heard was

"What the fuck." I groaned out loud because I recognized the voice. Kris looked like she was going to pass out. I put the ball on my hip and turned around. In front of me stood Mack. She was in work out clothes. She must have been going to the gym or something. She worked out at one of the gyms around here. At least thats what Kris had told me.

"Can I help you?" I said with the most sarcasm I could muster.

"What the fuck are you doing with my girlfriend? I told you to stay the hell away from her." I turned around to see if I was going to get any help from Kris, by the look on her face I knew I wasn't.

"Look I don't want to fight with you." I sighed. "I just wanted to hang out with my best friend."

"I told you to stay away from her." She said coming a little too close to me. In my mind I threw the ball at her head and kicked the shit out of her. But in reality I just said

"You don't get to decide that." I said it as calmly as I could, but my blood was boiling. My finger nails were digging into the palm of my hand.

"I'm her girlfriend. I get a say in who she hangs out with." She said stepping closer to me. She was a good four inches taller than me and it pissed me off to have to look up at her, but I did. I looked her dead in the eyes.

"She's my best friend. And just because you don't like me doesn't mean I can't see her." I hadn't punched her yet, so I think I'm doing pretty good.

"Doesn't matter. Stay the hell away from her." She then looked past me to Kris and said

"Come on Kris lets go." I watched as Kris followed her. At that I couldn't take it.

"Why the fuck are you so intimidated by me?" I shouted as they were walking away.

"What did you say?" Mack said turning around to come back at me. I still had the ball on my hip.

"I said why the fuck are you so intimidated by me?" I asked again. I could feel the grip on the ball. My fingers were on the laces. I don't know why but thats what I was focusing on. Not on mack, not that I could potentially get my ass kicked, and not on the fact that my best friend would always pick her over me, not on any of that but on the ball. How the grip was worn out to the point that it was smooth, because we had used it so much.

"I am not intimidated by you." She said through gritted teeth.

"Really because thats the only reason I can thing of as to why you hate me so much." I said digging my fingers nails into the ball now instead of my hand.

"I don't want you around her because everyone knows that you're in love with her. And it's pathetic. You follow her around like a little puppy begging for scraps." She said stepping even closer to me. I wanted to hit her. Even more I wanted Sara to be here to calm me down. But that wasn't going to happen. And Kris would never forgive me if I got into another physical fight with her.

"At least people knew I loved her. You treat her like a punching bag. I know how to treat the people I care about. And yeah I did love Kris. But thats over. I love Sara. And if you weren't so insecure about me stealing Kris from you, you would have seen that." Mack looked like she was about to punch me, but before she could Kris stepped in between us and said

"That's enough. Let's go Mack. Now." She said it so sternly that if I wasn't so pissed I would have actually been proud of her. I watched them get in Macks white jeep and drive off. I could only imagine the trouble I'd gotten Kris into. I just turned around and threw the ball at the back board as hard as I could. I watched it bounce off with a thud and then bounce back behind me. I walked over to the bench where id left my phone and keys. I grabbed my phone and sent Sara my location and said "come play with me." She just said okay.

When she got here I was laying on the ground again throwing the ball up with my right and catching it with my left and vise versa. She wasn't dressed to play. She was in jeans and a white v-neck with some black converse. She sat down at my feet and just looked at me.

"So you wanna tell me what happened?" she asked as I threw the ball in the air again. At this point I wasn't even really mad anymore, I was more just pouting.

"I hate them." I said throwing it again.

"Come on babe, talk to me." I caught the ball with both hands and just looked at her. She looked really pretty. I sat up and scooted closer to her. I went on to explain everything that happened in the last 30 or so minutes. I ended the story with a dramatic sigh and laid back on the ground. She grabbed my arm and picked me back up.

"Don't be like that." She said putting her hand on my cheek

"Look," she started. "I'm just glad you didn't start an actual fight. And I know you hate seeing her go through this, but she's a big girl Ave. And you cant protect her from her own decisions." I hate it when she gets all serious.

"I know your right but I just hate that half the time its my fault that she gets hurt. I'm always in trouble." I said pouting again.

"It will be okay." She said giving me a kiss on the cheek.

"When did you get so smart?" I asked rolling my eyes playfully.

"I'm only smart when you're being stupid." She laughed. I pulled her in close for a hug. She smelled like perfume.

"Where were you? You're not dressed for playing." I said just realizing that I probably interrupted something.

"I was actually about to head to the library to do some studying when I got your text." She said.

"Oh shit sorry babe. You should go study." I said.

"Its okay I can study tomorrow. Let's just go get something to eat. I'm actually starving." She said.

"Sounds good to me." I said as I got up and extended my hand to her. We walked to our cars to go to the nearest fast food place to eat. It was amazing how Sara always made me feel better. She was always there for me. I really did love her. I put my car in drive and followed Sara.