7 years later - {COMPLETED}

Chapter 48

Steph woke up in his bed naked, the light from his phone blinding him as he squinted trying to see the time. He jumped up seeing that he slept in and was now late for shoot around. He ran to his closet and got ready quickly before running out of his room.

"Where are you running off to?" Steph stopped and turned around to see aria lying on the bed under the covers still.

"I gotta get to shoot around" he walked over by the bed and kissed her lips. "I'll be back in an hour" she nodded then he left running out of the house and to his car. He sped off to practice then ran into the facility with coach yelling at him for being late. Ignoring it he went to the locker room and got dressed, he noticed a white envelope in his locker and opened it to see Ayesha's wedding invitation. He just rolled his eyes and went back to getting ready. Once he was ready he grabbed the invite and walked into Ayesha's office.

"I don't know if this is a pity invite or what but I don't want it" he tossed it onto her desk then left before she could say anything. She sighed trying to hold back her tears and went back to work.

Practice didn't go well for Steph he couldn't focus, he kept missing his shots and layups and couldn't defend. He decided to stay after to get his shot right before the game but even then he couldn't get it.

"You better get it together before our game bro" Dray said walking on the court.

"I know I just can't seem to get my head straight"

"Because of the whole wedding thing"

"Yeah man I mean I wanna be happy for her but at the same time I can't because I know it should be me not him" Dray nodded "and on top of that I'm pissed because she actually thinks I would ruin her wedding, we've been best friends since kindergarten and she doesn't want me at her wedding"

"I know I'm sorry man"

"I just need to clear my head"

"Yeah and do it fast so we can win this game tonight" steph nodded walking back into the locker room to get changed.

Getting back home he walked into his house and went straight to the kitchen to get something to eat. When he got there he saw aria standing by the counter making a sandwich, he sighed.

"Ar you need to leave"

"Why, I was hoping we could have some more fun" she smirked

"Just please leave, it was a mistake bringing you here In the first place" she crossed her arms.

"Seriously Steph you just brought me over here to have sex with you then just push me aside right away?"

"What did you expect That's what we are were fuck buddies now please leave"

"Fine but you know I'll be back"

"No ar don't I mean it this time" she rolled her eyes and walked out the door grabbing her stuff on the way. Steph just shook his head and ate the sandwich aria made before she left. Doesn't wanna let it go to waste. After eating he decided to take a nap to get ready for the game.

"Hey honey what are you doing here?" Carol, Ayesha's mom asked when she opened the door and saw Ayesha.

"I wanna talk to you about something" she said walking further into the house. after practice Ayesha went straight to her moms because she just didn't know what to do anymore.

"Is everything ok?" Carol asked walking over to the living room.

"Not really no" she replied sitting down

"What's going on?"

"It's Stephen"

"I knew that was going to be a problem"

"Yeah I did to but not this big of one?"

"Why is it such a big problem?"

"He's trying to ruin my engagement because he thinks I still love him and so I didn't invite him to my wedding and he was pissed so I gave him one then he said he didn't want it"

"He doesn't want it now because he probably thinks that it was just because you felt bad"

"I guess"

"And you should have invited him in the first place, putting aside all the relationship stuff you guys were still best friends for the longest time, we were family friends, it doesn't matter if you guys dated or not"

"I know but I just couldn't have him ruin my wedding"

"Do you really think he would do that?"

"Why do people keep saying that?"

"Because you know him better then that" she rubbed Ayesha's back as she cried "do you maybe think that there's a chance you didn't want Steph at your wedding because you still love him and instead of him ruining it you would because of him"

"I don't love Steph anymore I love Jalen" Ayesha got up. "People need to stop telling me who I love"

"Ok I get it but before you get into this make sure you love Jalen more then you love Steph, it's better to back out now then getting a divorce because you made the wrong choice" Ayesha closed her eyes and sighed before walking to the door and driving back to her house so she could eat before the game.

Steph was getting in his car to drive to oracle for the game when he got a call from his mom. He got in and connected the phone to Bluetooth before talking.

"Hey mom"

"Hi how you doing?"

"Fine Why?"

"Well I got the invite from Ayesha so I just thought I would call to make sure you were ok"

"You got an invite"

"Yeah it came in the mail today"

"Wow ok"

"What?"

"Just surprising that my family got one and I didn't"

"She didn't invite you?"

"No she said she doesn't want me ruining her wedding"

"I'm sorry baby"

"Yeah I gotta go, I'll talk to you later"

"Ok good luck tonight"

"Thanks" he hung up. He couldn't believe this, she invited his family.

He got to oracle and went straight to the locker room and got ready for warmups. His warmups didn't go well it took him forever to make his half court shots and couldn't make any other shots on top of that. Tonight's game wasn't going to go well.

"Hey man you good?" Dray asked sitting next to Steph in the locker room.

"Not Really"

"What happened?"

"She invited my family man" he raised his eyebrows.

"Damn" he didn't know what to say he was just as shocked as Steph.

Just like warmups Steph couldn't make any of his shots in the game. They were currently down heading into the 3rd. Steph was hoping that he could step it up and focus but he couldn't seem to get his groove, layups were the only way he was getting any points tonight. Steph was going in for a layup when someone came up from behind him to block it. When they were falling back to the ground stephs ankle fell to the side causing the guy that blocked him to step on it and make it worse. He landed on the ground in pain with the game still going on, luckly klay notices and took a foul to stop the game. He got up and started limping off the court and going straight to the locker room to get checked out.

Ayesha came in behind him along with the assistant trainer. They diagnosed it as a sprain and that he would be ok with a little rehab. When finished Ayesha went back out for the rest of the game leaving Steph in the trainers room to rest/ice his ankle. When the game was over Ayesha walked back in the room to check to see how he was doing.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm fine" he said rudely. Ayesha just stood there for a while waiting for more before pressing her lips together and turning around to leave.

"Inviting my family Ayesha, really?"