With or without you

Chapter 45

Walking into the gym Austin grabbed my hand again, but this time I didn't mind it. There are a lot of people here and if I hadn't been holding his hand we probably would have gotten separated. I followed as he led me through the gym and up the stairs of the bleachers. Gray and the other boys were already on the court warming up. Gray didn't even notice that we walked in, not that I expected him to, there are a lot of people here.

Once we'd gotten to our seats we didn't talk much. I was too nervous. Like Gray said, if they lose this game, they're done for the season. For the first time in a while, all I could think of was Gray. These last few games mean so much to him. I've never seen this team play before but I'm sure they are good since they're in they are in the playoffs or finals or whatever.

I watched as the boys stood around the coach listening to him talk even though I could tell that Gray wasn't listening. I was focused, ready. He was looking down at the ground, his eyes intense. The ref blew the whistle and the starting five started walking to the center of the gym. The two tallest boys got stood in the very middle and got in their position to jump. I felt my heart start to pick up the pace. I think I could feel Gray's nervous energy. I watched him bounce on his toes waiting for the ref to throw the ball in the air. The striped guy blew the whistle one more time, and then launched the ball in to the air. Here we go...

I can't watch this. It's too much. I can't handle the pressure, and that's because I'm in the bleachers. The first quarter looked like a battle field. The other team was fast, organized, rough. They had already racked up a lot of fouls just in the first quarter. By the second quarter they were already in bonus. We were keeping up, sort of. It was hard for our boys to keep up with the high intensity pace, but they weren't far behind. The score was back and forth, neck and neck.

Halftime. I could finally breathe for a second. We were up at the half 44 to 40. Two more quarters. That's it. I don't know how I'm going to be able to do this for the rest of the games. It's so nerve wracking wondering if they're going to win. Austin and I hadn't spoken the majority of the game. I couldn't speak. My mind was focused on Gray and only Gray. I watched him run up and down the court, fighting for his life, his team, for this win.

Fourth courter. I can't breathe. We're up 63 to 62. There's only two minutes left on the clock. We need to keep the lead. I watched as our coach called a time out. I don't know what he was saying but it was intense. All the boys were nodding their heads, listening to their every word. When they stepped back onto the court something seemed to shift. One of our boys threw it in to Gray from the half court line. He dribbled the ball down trying to avoid the defense that was coming at him. One minute, twenty-two seconds. Gray did a whole bunch of tricks and movements that I couldn't even really see. One minute. Gray passed the ball to the boy on his right that was at the three-point line. Then the boy started running along the three-point line to the other side, they started doing this over and over running along the line handing it off to each other. Twenty seconds. Theo was about to make the handoff again when one of the boys on the other team broke through our boys, stole the ball and started down the court. Gray took off in a flash and started after him. The boy was already going up for the layup, the ball was leaving his hand already when out of nowhere Gray jumped up and slapped the ball against the back board stopping the ball from going in. A second later the buzzard went off.

"Holy shit we won!" Austin screamed as we all stood up. I was so relieved that I felt the weight on my body lift. I didn't even have a chance to say anything because as soon as I looked up at Austin he put both his hands on my cheeks and leaned down and kissed my lips. I was in shock. I felt everything in my body stop, I couldn't tell if it was in a good way or not. Austin then pulled back and smiled at me then started screaming with the rest of the crowd. I felt my hands start to shake a bit. What happens now?