Flagrant Foul (gxg)

Chapter 35

Oregon was a good team, and was ranked in the top 20 nationally, while we were in the top 10. They had some very good players, and they made it tougher than our other opponents had, but it didn't matter. We still won, 98-61. Leah had 21 points, I had 25, and Imani went off for 30. Several times, Imani whipped passes at me when I cut, and had it not been for my dad I might have missed them.

               When I was younger, and my father saw that I had promise as a basketball player, he really got me into boxing. Sure, part of that was so I could keep the guys that I was playing with down by the beach in check if they tried anything, but it also gave me really fast hands and good footwork. You have to work on your reflexes to block a punch, or to sneak a jab in through a small opening. So, while the passes that Imani was throwing were tough, I had no problems with them thanks to dear old dad.

               As we were rapidly finding out, teams couldn't stop us all. On some trips down the court, they would try to double team one of us, but the others would then be open, and we'd make them pay. The more we played, the more excited we got about our future together. Yeah, Imani was a junior and was graduating next year, but that still meant two years of this feeling, and maybe more if we got in more good recruits!

               It was great having my family in the stands for the game too. Skye had been to them all except the two away games, but this was the first time anyone else in my family had been to see me. My mom and uncle Ray had flown into Charlotte the night before and spent the evening with my grandparents. The four of them then drove up the morning of Thanksgiving to deliver the food to Leah's house so that it would be ready when we got there. 

               The cool thing after games now was that we were getting people asking us for autographs. For Leah and I, this was something completely new, though Imani had told us to get used to it. She'd been dealing with it since her freshmen year, and with our early success, we were getting that same taste of fame. Once we'd all signed some, we got to spend a little bit of time with the family before we had a quick congratulatory meeting in the locker room and got washed up in the showers.

               And then we were off.

               We had a caravan of sorts back to Leah's place since we had so many people going, and then a full house when we got there. With all of my family, Leah's parents, Imani and her girl, the roommates and friends we had 18 people at the house for the feast, and that meant four cars taking people back to the house. Once there, I helped Skye with the wings while my grandfather got to heating up the pork, my grandmother got barbeque beans going, and Leah's mom was making a big cauliflower casserole.

               We hadn't even eaten yet, and it was already my favorite Thanksgiving ever.

               "I like your girlfriend," my mom whispered in a not too quiet voice. I could see Skye smile, though she otherwise pretended not to notice.

               "She's amazing," I agreed. "Hey, do you think I can talk to you and Ray out back?"

               "Of course! Let me go grab him." I saw her walking over to Ray, who was watching the Thanksgiving football games with Leah's dad while the smoker did it's thing. I turned to Skye really quick and murmured to her. "I'm going to go tell them about Tegan, so if they look homicidal when I'm done, you'll know why."

               "They can join the club!" she snickered.

               I went out back onto the deck, enjoying the chill after having been working up a sweat during the game. A few minutes later, Ray and My mom joined me, and I sat down on one of the deck chairs, indicating the others so we could have a talk.