Dusk (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 18 - Floater

The second half was much different.

Stanford was on the verge of taking the lead, and they had two defenders on Rowan at all times. The rest of his team seemed slightly lost without him being able to take charge, and it showed five minutes into the half.

One of Rowan's defenders was grabbing his jersey, keeping him within arm distance. Rowan looked irritated, and kept pushing his hands away, but they'd just put them back.

"Is he allowed to do that?" I asked Erik, looking to the refs to see if they'd do anything, but their attention was focused on the players near the ball.

"Do what?" Erik said, with a pained expression on his face as he glanced at the scoreboard.

"They keep grabbing Rowan's jersey."

"Oh, yeah. I mean technically no but it happens all the time. Refs won't call it unless it actually gets in the way."

"Isn't it getting in the way?"

"Not really, they're just trying to get under his skin. Get him to foul or something. Happens every game."

"Oh."

"He's used to it though, it won't work."

It seemed to be working though. They were successfully keeping the ball away from him and he was clearly getting frustrated. The crowd could see it and the excited energy that'd filled the building before had diminished and filled with anger as fans started yelling at the refs.

One of his teammates tried passing Rowan the ball, but as he went forward to catch it his defender desperately pulled him back by his jersey and the ball flew into the hands of the opposing team. The crowd roared with anger and Rowan turned, angrily shoving his defender away from him. The player stumbled back before exaggerating a fall and the sound of a whistle blew as the ref called a foul on Rowan.

"First personal foul on Williams..." I frowned at the severity of the call and the fans continued shouting at the refs.

"Ah, shit." Erik said, watching Rowan. The frustration on his face was clear as day as he got back on defense.

"They didn't see them pulling his jersey?" Lucy asked him, looking conflicted.

"I guess not, but Rowans pissed. He usually doesn't let that shit distract him, not sure what's up."

Creighton was struggling. It was getting more and more obvious how much they relied on Rowan. They managed to get a few points in, though not enough as Stanford took the lead. I was nervously biting my lip, watching Rowan as Erik was commenting on every play in frustration.

The point guard took the ball up the court and passed it to the player on the wing, who took a shot but missed. Rowan went up to get the rebound but was again, held back by his defender who grabbed his arm. This time, one of the refs blew his whistle and called a foul, but Rowan turned with a furious expression and started talking to the player who'd held him back. One of his teammates came to his side and the refs started walking towards them.

"Oh no..." Erik stood up from his seat. "Shit..." I looked down and saw Rowan's defender say something back to him with an arrogant look on his face, before giving Rowan a sharp shove. That was all it took for Rowan and a few of his teammates to pounce on the other team, and soon enough the refs and coaches for both teams were trying to pull them apart.

"Oh my god," Lucy had her hand on my arm absently and we both stood up, looking down at the scene below with our mouths open.

"And a fight has broken out on the court..." The announcer's voice blended in with the cheers from the crowd, and I frowned at Erik.