Do you even ball? ~Lamelo Ball~

Chapter 52

Macy's P.O.V.

It's been about five weeks since I tore my ACL, and I am currently at the boys' game that decided if they get to go to the state championship game, or not. I am sitting by Lamelo's family, specifically Lonzo, with Paige on my other side. All I have to say, is that the boys aren't doing so hot. They are down by five, and I can tell that they are losing hope, considering that there is little time left, and it is the fourth quarter. Lamelo is obviously getting frustrated, and the coach won't take him out, not even for a minute, to calm down. I know that Lavar doesn't like it when they take him out, but the boy needs a break. I am getting frustrated just by watching them play.

I look away as I hear the buzzer go off, the final score being 87-80, and we lost. I look back at the court, and watch as the boys all walk to the bench, in defeat. I feel so sorry for them, they were all so set on going to the championship game, and now they can't. I get up, along with the Ball family, and head to an area to wait for the team. Zeke finds us and waits with us, he drove Paige and I here so he can't really go anywhere anyways.

After waiting for a few minutes, not really saying anything, we start to see some of the Chino Hills players walking over. A few players later, we see O walking our way. He gives us, mostly Paige, a sad smile, and then he hugs her. Aw, I feel so bad for them, they all look so defeated. I continue to wait patiently, letting O and Paige have their moment, looking around every so often for Lamelo.

"He might be a while," I hear from my side, I glance over and see O looking over at me with his arm around Paige. "He's really upset."

"Oh, okay thanks. Good job by the way. You may not have won, but you played your heart out," I try to boost O's mood, and give him a reassuring smile.

"Thanks, Mace," he smiles back, and goes back to talking to Paige.

A few minutes later, and still no Lamelo. Liangelo came up, but he didn't say anything about where Lamelo was, he didn't really say anything at all, actually. I watch as one of their teammates start to walk over.

"Hey, you're Lamelo's girlfriend, right?" he asks.

"Yea, why?" I respond.

"Um, he seems pretty down, and he's the only one left in the locker room. So, I thought that since no one else is in there, maybe you could go down and talk to him," the guy states, giving me a small smile.

"Yea, I'll go talk to him. Could you show me where the locker room is?" I ask.

"Yea, come on." I start to follow the guy to the locker room, after I tell Zeke I'll be right back, so he doesn't freak out because I'm gone. We walk for a little bit in silence, taking a few turns here and there, until we finally reach it.

"Here ya go," the guy says, pointing towards the door.

"Thank you!" I exclaim as he starts to walk away. He gives me a small nod and heads off. I take in a deep breath and push the door open, walking in.

It's silent, smells like sweaty boys, but overall is just a locker room. I look around for not even a minute, and I see a blank faced Lamelo just sitting there, staring at nothing. At least he had the motivation to change out of his uniform, I guess. I walk over to him and sit down. He didn't say anything, but once I sat down, he leaned his head on my shoulder and let out a small sigh.

"Lamelo, are you okay? I mean, I know you were so set on going to the championship game, but there's still next year. You had an amazing season, so think of it this way: At least you got this far," I finish, giving him a small smile. He still didn't say, or do anything. "Come on, Melo. Everyone's waiting for you out there," I try, with a different approach.

"I don't wanna go out there," he mumbles.

"Why not, you did great out there today?" I question. He had an amazing game, they didn't win but he still did great, so why doesn't he wanna go out?

"Yea, well my dad will say differently," he sighs. He lifts his head off of my shoulder and lets out another sigh, putting his head in his hands. "He's gonna be so upset at me. He's gonna say, "You could've done better, you coulda made more shots, you didn't play your best, and I'm disappointed." I don't wanna hear that, Mace. I already know I did all those things, I don't need him to tell me."

"Lamelo, I know your dad is all about basketball, but he should understand. You can't win every state tournament, let alone game, and it's not all on you. Everyone had their mistakes out there, this loss isn't all your fault. You did great, not every game can be perfect," I rub his back, knowing it calms him down.

"Mace, you haven't known my dad for fifteen years, or lived with him. He won't get mad in front of you guys, or anyone that isn't family, but once you guys leave, he sits us down and has a very heated talk with us. He might not yell, but he makes sure we know how disappointed he is, and I don't want to deal with that tonight." I let out a small sigh and try to think of something say, or someway to help.

"How about I spend the night tonight, then? Or you can stay at mine, Gelo can, too, if he wants," I offer, maybe they just need a break. He looks over towards me and slowly nods his head.

"Can we, please?"

"Of course you can! Anytime you need a break, my house is yours." A small smile forms on his face, and he stands up, pulling me with him.

"Thank you so much, Mace!" he gives me a bear hug, and kisses my forehead, "I love you."

"I love you, too," I respond, giving him a hug back. No more than ten seconds later, Gelo walks in with an annoyed look on his face.

"Come on, Melo, dad's in a hurry and he's starting to get angrier than he already is," he finishes, giving me a small, quick smile as a greeting.

"Yea, okay. We're spending the night at Macy's, by the way," Lamelo quickly says, grabbing his bag in the process.

"Dude, that'd be great and all, but I don't really think that dad will let us tonight?" Gelo hesitantly says.

"I don't care, if you don't want to you don't have to, but I am. I don't think I can deal with his lecture tonight, so he'll have to deal with that," Lamelo states, walking towards the door with me behind him.

"Whatever, I'm in," Gelo agrees, opening the door as we all walk out.

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(A/N)

Hey, sorry I didn't update yesterday, I started to but then I got busy. My second update today might be a little late, but I will have one. :)