Bounce Back

Chapter 47

Ryan's POV

The basketball season was getting further and further in and soon enough it was Christmas. The Bruins had finished the non-conference games unbeaten and six days off over Christmas before the conference games started.

Tyler and I were both on the same flight home but that wasn't very surprising. For the first time in weeks we were in the dorm room at the same time for a while as we packed. I couldn't help but notice the taping still around his ankle. The North Carolina game had been two weeks ago and I would have thought that it would have healed but he hadn't stopped playing in that time.

"Are we going to go to the airport together?" I asked him.

"I guess that it makes sense," I said.

I was already late at night and we were heading out early the next morning so we wanted to head to bed early. He shoved the last of his things into his bag and headed into bed before I did. I had a couple last things to do and when I was finished I noticed that he had already fallen asleep.

Despite not talking at all since we broke up I knew that the last couple of weeks had been stressful for Tyler. No matter what class you were in the last two weeks of classes were tough and large assignments were due. Classes actually finished on the 15th but we both had to hang around because of basketball, making campus very quiet.

I knew that Tyler had been doing extra credit work with the time and even before that I had noticed the stress in him. I hadn't had much time to think about it yet since I was doing my own extra credit work.

Alex had gone home as well so I hadn't talked to him in a couple of days. He knew that I was going home and we were hoping to talk over Christmas but if it didn't happen it didn't happen. At last I climbed into bed and fell asleep.

I woke the next morning to my alarm. I wasn't pleased to be awake but I knew that I had to get moving. Tyler was already out of bed and we didn't talk until we were both organised.

"You ready to go?" he asked.

I nodded so we both headed to his car. The whole drive was silent and as soon as we got to the airport and out of the car Tyler put headphones in and disappeared into the queue. I saw him later as we waited for the flight to board.

The flight wasn't too bad. I could see Tyler a couple of rows in front of me and that he still had headphones in. After we took off I put my own ones in and dozed for the rest of the flight. I was excited to land because I knew that Mom and Dad were going to be there and I hadn't seen them since I started college.

At last we were allowed off and I wasn't the only one walking faster than normal. I had to pause for a minute to find my parents and in that time I noticed that Tyler had found his Mother. She had wrapped him in a tight hug and his head was resting on the top of hers.

I couldn't help but glance at his face and how sad he looked. She said something but I wasn't close enough to hear it and it wasn't my conversation to hear anymore.

At last I spotted my family in the crowd so I stopped looking at Tyler and headed for them. They both hugged me tightly.

"Do you have any bags?" Mom asked.

I shook my head so we headed out. I glanced at Tyler one last time before looking away and focusing on my family.

"How is college?" Mom asked.

I started blabbering about everything that I had done. I couldn't stop myself talking about it but my parents didn't mind.

"It sounds like you really like it there," Mom said.

"I love it a lot."

We pulled up in front of our house and we headed inside. I dumped my bag in my room before joining my parents in the kitchen.

"How is Tyler? I saw him at the airport," Mom asked.

"Fuck, I forgot to tell you. We broke up a month ago," I said.

"Oh Ry, are you alright?" she asked.

"I will be."

"Are you still living together?" Dad asked.

"Yeah."

"Are you sure that it is a sensible idea?" he asked and I knew that Mom was thinking it.

"Neither of us are in the dorm room that much so we actually don't see a whole lot of each other."

"How come you broke up?"

"It's a long story and I don't quite want to talk about it yet," I said.

"Just remember that you can talk to us if you want to," Mom said.

I nodded and realised that I had promised that I would go and visit Jordan as soon as I arrived and I could see the text messages from him piling up on my phone so I decided to head out to see him since he was another person that I hadn't seen in months.

I found him in his room and as he saw him come in he wrapped me in a tight hug.

"Look at you," he smiled.

We then began to catch up. I had managed to talk to him a bit so he knew about my break up and didn't ask about it.

"Are Drew and Morgan in town as well?" I asked.

"I'm pretty sure so. We should catch up with them as well," he agreed.

I lay beside him on his bed as we began to talk.

"I know that you don't want to talk about it. But how is it going with Tyler?" he asked after twenty minutes.

"It's still awkward and I still don't really know why we broke up but I don't want to ask him about it because it would mean talking about it with him," I admitted.

"I was hoping that you are Tyler would last because you were good together but it doesn't always work out," he mused.

"What about you? Have you found anyone?" I asked, trying to get the conversation away from me.

"No. I mean there are a couple of girls that are nice that I'm friends but I don't have the time at the moment," he said.

"Same as me. Too busy doing actual work," I laughed slightly.

He hummed beside me and we returned to talking about other things and it was nice to be home with friends and family again.

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The Wise One