Playing Wright

Chapter 6: The Decision

Kyle...

I sat on the bench at the outside court, staring at nothing in particular. The voices of my friends sounded miles away.

The events of the past week were a lot, and I found myself having sleepless nights thinking about the decision I had to make.

I invited Paxon and Myles out to play some ball, hoping it would keep my mind off everything, but that obviously wasn't working.

"Earth to Kyle," I heard Myles' voice say.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts, and only now noticed my friends standing in front of me.

"Uh yeah?" I answered.

"What's going on with you man?" Paxon asked.

"Yeah, you've been kind of out of it since you got here," Myles added

This was something I was planning on keeping to myself, but what was the point of having friends if I couldn't talk to them about the stuff I was going through?

"Well, something happened a few days ago," I said and their ears perked up, "And it's kinda had my head going crazy."

"What happened?" Myles asked.

"Is it about that girl you met at the afterparty?" Paxon asked. "She was fine wasn't she?" He smirked.

"Not everything is about some girl Pax," Myles rolled his eyes.

"I actually didn't get to talk to the girl," I said, "She ran off before I got to the bar."

"No, you didn't, I saw you leave with her."

"Wait, that was the girl you were talking about? I thought you meant the girl in the gold dress."

"There was no girl in a gold dress."

"Oh there was, I know what I saw."

"No one cares if the girl in the gold dress exists or not," Myles cut in before looking at me "What happened?"

I sighed, ready to say the thing I never thought I would ever say.

"Anthony showed up at my apartment," I said.

"Anthony, your ain't shit dad?" Paxon asked.

"That's the one," I said.

"What the hell does he want?" Myles asked.

"Said he was sorry, and that he wanted to be in my life."

"'Bullshit!" Myles cursed. "Now he cares? When you're on your way to becoming the most valuable player in the whole NBA?"

"I was thinking the same thing too, but he seemed genuine," I said. "He even introduced me to his wife and said he wants me to visit Maine to meet his family."

"And you're gonna go?" He asked.

"I don't know man," I said, "It's a lot to process."

"I don't think you should," Myles said. "After all these years he's just now showing up? Like if it matters? Nah, screw him."

"So you wouldn't want to reconnect with your dad if he reached out?" I asked.

"Hell no! I want nothing to do with that man. He is dead to me," Myles said sternly.

Myles was my bully in school, and only when we became close friends did I realize why. His mother and his old friend/my other Bully's dad were having an affair. They were the ones my mom wrote her first big article on. Turns out his dad always knew about the affair and took out all of his anger on Myles. In turn, he took his out on me. It wasn't right, but I understood. He was always grateful that I never held it against him, it's why we're such best friends now.