Basketball is Not Life

Chapter Ten

Overloaded schoolwork made it, so I barely saw Parker at all. When I was at the house, it was a revolving door of basketball players. Basketball was all Parker thought about, well that and his dog Spartan, who he seemed to be infatuated with. We had fallen into a regular routine; Parker would wake early head out to the basketball court. Before doing so, he would open my door and deposit Spartan to my room, who would then jump into bed and fall back to sleep with me. I would then wake later, make breakfast for two, and leave his portion in the microwave or on the stove.

We lived around each other without driving the other one crazy. We never had deep-meaning conversations, never asked prying questions. And the few times Parker did, I just changed the conversation. Part of me wondered if I would miss living with Parker the following year. He was an easy roommate that picked up after himself. The perks of living at the house beat my imagination more than anything I could have anticipated for my first year at college.

As far as the bet went, he was crushing it, meaning most likely I would be attending every Michigan State game. I still did not know what his plan was to get me into every game. Otherwise, it was easy to be around someone when you had nothing to argue about because you kept to small talk. We both adored Spartan, so that was our safe, predictable topic when we were with one another. Parker would bring his phone out and show me a picture of Spartan sleeping or looking adorable on their morning walks together. The three of us hadn't taken another walk together since the first day of my living here. I had adored Spartan so much I had posted about him on my social media account, one that no one at Michigan State followed. I had changed my name Senior year of High School; it was no longer listed as Renee Renner.

Parker cooked a few meals; I had started him off easy on tacos and spaghetti. He had never boiled water for noodles before. Previously Parker had always made his mac and cheese in the microwave. When I tried to take over cooking meals, he stayed right by my side, seeing how I did everything. Parker ate almost everything I put down in front of him. Except for peas, that was the one thing he would not eat. Even if they were in pasta, he would not eat it.

"Just eat around it." I had said to him, annoyed. And he just pushed the bowl back my way and said, "Have it for leftovers tomorrow." And that was that he got up, grabbed a bowl of cereal, and left. That was fine, it was how I liked it.

Everything would have been fine if Parker had not walked in on me crying in the kitchen, sitting over a pint of strawberry cheesecake ice cream. I had added it to the shopping list once, and ever since then, there was always one pint waiting for me in the freezer. It was sweet because I knew he had actually gone to the grocery store and purchased it for me. It wasn't Rosita just picking it up for him.

Ryan had called me. He had been texting me off and on through the school year, and I had yet to text him back. They were usually one sentence stating how much he missed me. I would reread the texts when he sent them before bed and then delete them. It gave me great satisfaction to delete them. If only I could have deleted every memory I had shared with Ryan.

He called me, and I swiped the green icon, answering his call.

"Renee," he breathed; he didn't sound normal.

"Hi"

"It sounds so good to hear your voice." There was desperation in his voice. Ryan was always calm around people. He was the typical homecoming King, and I was homecoming Queen, but that was because we were a packaged deal. We were the It couple. Wherever he went, I went. At one point, I had loved him until he started to change.

"How is everything?" He asked me out of my own thoughts of us.

"What do you want?" Why had I picked up the phone? Would it be worse if I just hung up on him now? But I don't; I sit up in my bed, closing my Pre-Calc textbook, knowing there is no way I will be able to make sense of the numbers in front of me now.

"I miss you. I think you should transfer to Duke. I can't do this without you." My heart speeds up. I had defaulted away from Duke because of him. And even before he broke up with me, I knew that I would not be going to the same college as him.

"No..." There is noise in the background.

"Hey, babe," a girl's voice said. A kissing noise like if it was on his cheek or lips.

"Who is that?"He sounded weird because he didn't want to get caught on the phone. He was 

at Duke and already in a relationship with someone enough to have them call him babe. It made my stomach sick; I felt terrible for the girl.

"Look, I'll catch up with you later, Charlie." He clicked off, the line going silent.

I was two seconds away from erupting and asking him to never call me again.

I was now looking at my spoon full of delicious Strawberry ice cream mixed with the perfect amount of graham cracker pieces. I was not expecting Parker to walk through the front door. It was past ten o'clock, he had broken curfew. I was a complete mess. My hair hanging in my face, tears streaming down my face. Spartan, the loyal dog ever, was at my feet.

Parker stepped in and assessed the situation. Stepping as close to me as he could without touching me. "Ren," he said, it was the first time he called me Ren, and for some reason, the softness of his voice; and the look in his eye set me over the edge, and more tears fell out. No noise came out of me, just a shake of my shoulders to indicate that I was indeed crying, ugly crying. His thumb brushed across my face, removing the tears as best as he could.

He picked me up and carried me up the stairs. He didn't go into my room; he turned and walked into his room. Spartan behind us, I could hear his nails clicking on the hallway floor. Parker deposited me on his bed, sitting me under the covers. I had only caught glimpses of his room but had never been in it. I laid there thinking my strawberry ice cream would make an awful mess by the following morning. My eyes hadn't adjusted to the dark, and I had no clue what Parker was doing. The covers pulled up, and he slipped into bed next to me. I was wearing black yoga pants and a long-sleeve t-shirt.

"I'm not having sex with you," I said, a sniffle coming out of me.

"I know Ren." His arm rested on my shoulder and slid down to my wrist. His being there, this close to me, made me feel better. The person I had been trying to hate for the last few weeks had turned into my comforter. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked me, his voice low and soft. 

"No." I responded my voice shaky. 

He pulled me closer to him as if he could not get enough of me. Sleep over came us.