Lunch Dates

Part 3

Nanon was annoyed to see a text message from his former basketball coach that morning. Mr. Reyes wanted to talk to him about returning to the team. Nanon's first reaction was to ignore the message and pretend he didn't receive anything but his conscience bothered him.

Mr. Reyes has coached him before in the Under 19 team and he was really nice.

Besides, I have nothing to lose, might as well just talk to him, he thought.

The biggest problem was, the coach's office was inside the gym and he would have to see the other players again if he chose to go.

Whatever, Nanon thought, deciding to ignore whatever Arm will say the next time they meet.

Inside the coach's office, he and the coach talked about the same things they discussed when Nanon first decided to drop out from the team.

There was nothing new that they haven't talked about but Mr. Reyes still wanted him to go back to the team. This time though, the coach mentioned what happened in the locker room the previous day.

"I don't want you to feel uncomfortable or anything Nanon, but I believe in you. I believe you will do great things in basketball. And your sexuality has absolutely nothing to do with it. Do you remember me asking anyone of you if you guys were straight or not? Never, right?

"That's because it doesn't matter. What matters to me is your passion and dedication to the sport that we both love. And you have that, Nanon. You have that in loads. So I won't just sit down and watch you give up on your dreams like this just because of some bigoted teammates," Mr. Reyes said with a sympathetic expression on his face.

Nanon was overwhelmed with the coach's kind words and replied, "Thank you very much, coach. But I really don't want to make anyone uncomfortable with my mere presence. I might cause more harm than good in the team."

Mr. Reyes patted Nanon's shoulder. "You're too kind, Nanon. But that's not right. As long as you're not doing anything wrong, you should be free to be who you are. Again, you are very much welcome in our team. And if I ever hear about anyone harassing you, I'll cut them from the team no matter how good they are as players. I don't have any space for bigotry in my team, OK? Please think about it. We still have a few days before the season starts. You've been training with us all summer and you played really well during the pre-season. You're always welcome here, remember that."

"Thanks Mr. Reyes. I promise to think about it."

With that, he left the coach's office.

---

Nanon was rushing to exit the gym when he heard someone shout in pain which was followed by a commotion. When he turned to check out what happened, he saw Chimon lying on the floor, wincing in pain.

He immediately rushed to where his friend was and half-carried him towards the bleachers."I'm okay guys, Nanon's here. Besides, it's just leg cramps. Please get back to practice," Chimon told the other players who have crowded around them.

"Where's Kuya Luke?" Nanon asked, talking about their team physical therapist.

"I don't know," Chimon answered.

"Wait, I'll call him," said Nanon. He and Chimon were both seated on the bleachers and he was massaging Chimon's leg after stretching it.

---

Ohm was doing free throws on the other end of the court when he saw what happened. He was about to go and help Chimon when he saw Nanon already there first.

He watched closely as Nanon was tending to Chimon's leg.

Flashbacks of all the times he and Nanon got injured and took care of each other came flooding in. He was so used to Nanon being around all the time, taking care of him that he found it weird to see him taking care of someone else.