reached the little park and biked right up the walkway to the court. A few squirrels had to jump for their lives, but I made it to the court in no time. I was relieved to see my friends. From the looks on their faces, it didnât seem like the feeling was mutual.
âWell, look whoâs here,â said Deuce, doing a little crossover dribble.
âI see him,â said Mike, shooting a lazy jumper.
I leaned my bike against the fence. âHey, guys,â I said. âJust shootinâ around?â
âYep,â said Deuce. âDoesnât make much sense to practice for a three-on-three tourney with only two players.â
Heâd been taking shots at me all week. And Iâd been letting him because I felt bad. But it seemed ridiculous now. I just looked at him and kind of tilted my head, like, Really?
âSo why you here anyway?â said Mike.
They were both listening. Deuce even picked up his dribble, waiting for my reply. I needed to say what Iâd come here to say. I could give them a big speech, but it was so simple.
âSo, you guys know Junior has a job after school, and I barely see him these days,â I said.
âOkay, but I donât see what thatâs got to do with anything,â said Deuce.
âWell, today he came home early and we finished up a video game together. It was cool.â
Deuce started dribbling again. He wasnât talking, but the ball was saying, Get to the point. So I did.
âIt reminded me of how much I like just hanging out with him. It reminded me that weâre brothers, but weâre boys, too.â
âSounds like a real nice moment,â Deuce said. But he said it with a little smirk on his face like he didnât really mean it.
âLet him talk, D,â said Mike. Mike and Junior were tight. They had that big-guy bond. Still, it was time to make my case.
âWell, that reminded me of how much fun it is to just hang out with you guys, too,â I said. âI was sitting there just playing around with my bro, and I realized that the three of us donât really do that anymore.â
Deuce picked up his dribble again. He wasnât smirking anymore. He had a look on his face like he was remembering something. I just needed to make sure he was remembering the right things.
âItâs like weâve gotten so caught up in winning these tournaments â¦,â I began.
âThat we forgot to just play the game,â said Mike. âForgot to have fun.â
âExactly,â I said. âI mean, I knew you guys would be here today because Wednesday is practice. But come on, practice? We used to be out here just about every day. Because we loved playing.â
âYeah,â said Mike. âYou guys remember, we used to just come out here and mess around and play hoops until the sun went down?â
âI remember,â I said.
Now we both looked at Deuce.
âYeah,â he said. âI remember.â And then he smiled. âI mean, it was only a few months ago.â
We all smiled. It seemed amazing that weâd gotten so serious so quickly.
âI mean, I like the tournaments,â I said. âBut what I really like is hanging out and shooting some hoops with my friends. With you guys. Itâs why I started playing in the first place.â
âYeah,â said Mike. âAbsolutely.â
âIâve, uh, Iâve been kind of a jerk this week, huh?â said Deuce.
âYou know what?â I said. âI remember a lot of things, but that part? Iâve already forgotten.â
Deuce and I slapped our hands together, and we squeezed tight.
âAll right, you two,â said Mike. âBreak it up before you hug.â
We all laughed.
âWhat dâya say we just have some fun out here?â I said. âLike we used to?â
T he numbers were still a little weird. All those hurt feelings didnât feel far enough away to start