Play No More (Player Next Door sequel) ✓

30 | Drama, not theater

"I promise you the moon!" That's what I think of with this adorable poster by @irisyuan_jello. Thank you! 

And HBD to @saras.greentea! I saw your comment on my Instagram that it's your birthday today, and wanted to give you the shout out :)

Chapter 30: Drama, not theater

Luke was the only person I knew who could lean on Chad's car without problems. His usually playful expressions were gone. His blue eyes had no glint in them. 

Luke was not playing around.

His body language was casual, but his words were not. "I'll give you three seconds."

I stood on the pavement beside Christopher Hayes. Hayes held a basketball under his arm, staring at the other guys with very little understanding. They hadn't given him any context.

One minute, he'd been playing basketball with Luke.  The next minute, the whole gang had shown up with a car full of drama.

Now Art was hiding behind the dark tinted windows of Chad's car. After Luke's warning, and without delay, he crawled out of the backseat.

He squinted up at the daylight and his face was already anguished. It was like watching a mouse venture out into a trap.

Chad reached in and grabbed Art by the scruff of his shirt, yanking him out faster. He didn't have the patience to count to three.

Art had given up on yelling by now and raised his hands in defeat, "I'll tell you everything I know, but it's not much."

Subtly, Austin pulled out his phone to start recording. He did it without drawing any attention, and I had to respect that he thought about getting evidence.

Art's scared eyes were entirely focused on Luke while he told the story. "Don't tell coach this, or I'll lose my scholarship. But some nerds asked me and a couple other guys on the team if they could buy our jerseys. It wasn't just me-"

"Ah man," Austin cursed, interrupting the most important part of this conversation - AKA the actual confession. "I wasn't recording. Can you start from the top?"

Luke gave Austin a confused look and Art seemed nervous to see a camera pointed at him. 

Chad shoved Art to keep talking.

"I don't know what happened to the jersey, ok?" Art said, "They bought it.  I don't know why they asked for it, maybe to impress girls or whatever, but they paid. Straight up cash."

"What's this?" Christopher Hayes asked, annoyed. "You're getting aggressive about dealing basketball uniforms? This is the preppiest sh*t I've ever heard."

A uniform dealer... yeah, doesn't have a ring to it. 

Austin summarized rapidly, while still recording Art's confession, "Someone broke into Millie's house and left a basketball jersey dripping in cat's blood on her bedroom door."

Chris slowly looked from Austin to me. He raised his eyebrows, "Carry on."

"I... uh..." Art continued, before breaking eye contact with Luke and staring at Chris. "OK, why is Christopher Hayes here? Isn't he the biggest competition we have for state championships every year?"

Luke shut that question down. "You're the last person to question loyalties. Keep going."

I exhaled, feeling my heartbeat faster than recommended. Maybe this is what exercising feels like but, if it is, I'll live longer without.

Luke had a firm grip on Art and was not going to let go until we got to the bottom of this. His expression was cold and unforgiving.

So, Art continued, "I didn't know what to do. When I heard you were going after my jersey, I panicked. It was never stolen Luke, I sold it."