Court of Love

Chapter two

Aidan's POV:

The next day at practice was...interesting to say the least. I'm not sure how to describe it but everything just seemed off, well not everything, coach's face was still beet red from shouting at us, and everyone was drenched in sweat, gasping for air by the end, so no not everything was off. It was instead someone who felt off, and of course that someone was Curry, who else would it be? It wasn't as though he looked off, no he was still a bright ball of sunshine and cracking jokes with everyone around him, it was his performance instead, he missed almost every shot of his no matter the difficulty, he tripped up his dribbles, and when he passed the ball it would either fall short or go long, all the things that normally he was praised about now seemed to be the hardest thing in the world for him, as if he was still a little pubescent rookie picking up the ball for the first time. Then practice ended and everyone was directed, (more like yelled at, but what do I know,)  to pick up and go change.

"Curry!" The coach bellowed, "stay after practice!"

"Yes sir!" Curry said, seemingly resigned, he must have expected this.

I let myself feel some sympathy for Curry as he was about to experience the legendary beat down from Coach. Anyone who has had one, including myself on a few occasions, knows that it is something you never wanted to experience again, as it does leave more than a few holes in your pride.

I saw the coach's impatient glare from the corner of my eye and decided to just forget about changing, grab my stuff and get the hell out of there, that is unless I wanted to be caught in the crossfire of his yelling. It was only when I was in my car and already changed, (I had slipped into one of the school's bathrooms before I went to the parking lot,) that I realized I had left my phone in the locker room. Reluctantly I decided to leave the warmth of my car and step out into the cold winter air, quickly running back to the direction of the gym. When I got there it was quiet and I didn't hear the coach yelling, so the beat down must have finally ended. I opened the door and was surprised to see that Curry was still there and packing up his stuff.

"You good man?" I ask, explaining further when I caught sight of his confused stare, "about coach, I know his beat downs are not anything to laugh at"

"Ah, yeah I'm fine," Curry admitted, slipping off his basketball shoes and putting them into his backpack. "Anyway, why are you back here?" He questioned with a raised brow.

"I left my phone here like a dumbass" I replied, walking over to my locker.

"I can't judge you then since that's happened to me multiple times" Curry said chuckling.

"Hey, if you don't mind me asking, why were you so off today?" I asked hesitantly, not wanting to push the subject in case it made him uncomfortable.

Curry froze in place, his jaw tensed and his fists tightened around his bag. Then all of a sudden he untenses, turning around to sit on the bench, his head dropping into his hands. I am about to apologize when he starts talking in a hushed voice. "It's the anniversary of my parents death", his head then shoots up and looks at me surprised like he wasn't the one who just dropped all of his baggage onto me. The look of 'Why did I just tell him that' and panic were so clear on his face that there was no way in hell I could have mistaken it for anything else.

I stood there frozen in shock just looking at him with my mouth hanging open. "I-I-Im s-sorry for your loss" I turn my head away panicking.

"I- no- you- thank you" Curry finally settles with, also turning his head still looking shocked he admitted that and now back to his tensed state.

I'm not sure what makes me say it. Why do I feel the need to share something in return? Why am I overcome with the need to comfort him and take his pain away. But those thoughts don't matter because in the end I still end up blurting it out, "My dad left when I was 8 and my mom got sick a few years later, now I take care of my sister, she's only 3 years younger than me, since my mom needs medical support in the hospital" I turn back to Curry and see him staring at me with wide eyes, obviously thinking the same as I am, 'what the hell is happening here'.

Curry's eyes seem to soften, sending me an even softer smile, and letting out a huff of a laugh, "When I saw you walk in here, this was not the conversation I was expecting."
Chuckling I shook my head, "Neither was I, I came in here to get my phone but instead I ended up sharing my life story of sorts with THE Stephan Curry of all people."

"Hey, what's wrong with me?" Curry says, mock offended.

"Do you know how shocked people would be if they saw us having a civilized conversation right now?, not to mention the group of girls who ship us together?, they would probably have an aneurysm" I scoff, small shivers running down my spine at the mention of the fan girls.

Curry burst into laughter, holding his sides and throwing back his head. I soon joined in, letting our laughter and gasping breaths bounce off the locker room walls.

"I- I- *wheeze* I-I'm sorry t-that was just really funny for n-no reason" Curry breathes, gasping for breath in between words. Once he finally calmed down he stood up and zipped his backpack closed, turning to me he smiled and said, gesturing to the door "Want to walk together?"

"Sure" I smile back and walk through the locker room door, Curry swinging it shut and locking it behind us. "How do you have the key?" I question him as we start heading towards the parking lot.

"Coach gave it to me before he left so I can lock up" Curry shrugs, "Little weird but at least now I can walk with you instead of coach" he smirked, bumping his shoulder with mine.

"Yeah, exactly what I had planned" I say, rolling my eyes as I playfully bump his shoulder back.

This action soon caused a full out pushing war throughout the school, then a race through the parking lot to our cars. Laughing I pushed him one more time before walking over to my car a few spots away.

"You're still too slow to beat me Aidan" He smirked, opening his car door.

"Watch your mouth Curry, I'll beat you one day and when that happens you'll never hear the end of it" I scowl, but it quickly becomes a small smile when I look over and see Curry sticking his tongue out at me. "Wow, so mature of you" I laugh and open my car door.

"You act like we didn't just have a pushing match and a race," Curry says, raising his eyebrows.

I chose to ignore that statement and instead turned back around saying, "Goodnight Curry."

"Goodnight Aidan" he says, he then mumbles something under his breath but I couldn't quite catch it.

With one last wave I get in my car and start heading back home. The ride took awhile and I soon found my thoughts drifting back to Curry, more importantly what he said to me. I'm not sure what to think about him losing his parents, but I just know that I want to make him happy and laugh like that again. Which is weird, because we are supposed to be rivals not joking with each other and playing around. But if that's true then why did I prefer this dynamic to the rude and hateful one we had before? I sigh and push the thoughts away for another time, pulling into my driveway and shutting off my car.

Walking inside I went to the kitchen and heated up some leftovers for dinner. I washed the dishes then headed upstairs to shower and get rid of all the sweat from practice. With the hot water as a comforting blanket and the tiredness from the long practice I let my thoughts go and they once again drifted back to Curry. This time my thoughts aren't about his laugh or his attitude, no they are instead about his looks. Now I'm not the type of person who focuses only on how someone looks, but even I have to admit how hot he is. His pearly white teeth, his dimples, his broad shoulders and strong arms, his wide chest, his motherfucking globes he calls an ass, his long legs, his- IM SORRY WHAT AM I THINKING?!?!?!

'OK THAT'S ENOUGH OF THAT!' I think as I quickly step out of the shower and dry off, putting on old basketball shorts and an old shirt I turn off the light and crawl into bed, pointedly not thinking about what just happened. I eventually feel my eyes start to droop, but deep inside I know this is far from the last time these thoughts will make an appearance in my mind, so with that thought I groaned and slipped into the land of dreams.

(End of Chapter two) :]