me & tomfoolery

Contained | Mikal Bridges Short Story

I take this one seriously, this my hometown baby 🫶🏽

The world was just starting to make sense for NBA player Mikal Bridges. He had been with the Phoenix Suns since he was drafted and now had earned his spot in primary rotation, filling out the floor for key players, Devin Booker and Chris Paul.

Hot off a five game win streak, Mikal was able to rest for the first time in awhile. All he wanted to do was sleep. He spent time with his Labrador retriever, Sonny who as of right now was the only person he was responsible for.

It had been an oddly quiet day for him which wouldn't prepare him for the meteor that was aimed at his life.

Deep in his slumber Mikal laid peacefully with Sonny at the foot of his bed. Something in his heart said to wake up. Less than 30 seconds after blinking his eyes, his phone lit up grabbing his attention.

DLee 💪🏾

Mikal's new teammate and newest friend was calling him a little after 1 am. It must have been urgent.

"Hello? You good Dame?" The grogginess in his voice apparent.

"Umm... I'm sorry bro. I know you were catching up on sleep but I felt wrong if I didn't tell you."

Rubbing the access sleep out of his eyes, Mikal sat up. "What happened?"

"You got traded to Brooklyn."

Mikal's heart began racing. This is not what he expected to hear after helping secure five straight wins in Chris' absence. The line was quiet for a moment before the follow up question left his mouth.

"Who did y'all get?"

"KD."

32 hours later...

Running on autopilot for the last day, Mikal truly had no words for being traded from the place he called home for the last five years. It made him feel even lower that the opportunity to play with his basketball idol had been stripped away. Simply because that's who he was traded for.

"Pleasure meeting you Mikal. We're excited to have you in Brooklyn." Sean Marks, his new General Manager greeted.

The blessing was that Cam Johnson, who he referred to as his twin was also traded to Brooklyn. He wasn't completely alone in the move.

"This is crazy. The air is so different here." Cam was pretty observant and also young. He knew that this would be different for them, but he was optimist.

Countless calls and texts were flooding his phone and he tried to get to as many people as possible but it was an overload.

"Some of the team is going out tonight, you wanna go?"

"I'll catch y'all some other time."

One month later...

Mikal had been avoiding any unnecessary outings for the last month. Home, practice, home again. He had done the food shopping thing once and realized he did not want to interact. He was depressed and it was hard to pretend when he was battling the move.

Ben Simmons, his new teammate had been out on injury but he still made his way into the building and available for the new people on the team.

"Mikal, how you feeling today?" He asked giving his locker mate a handshake. "I'm cool, I won't complain. You?"

"I'm good."

Seth walked in, sitting on the opposite side of Ben. "Yo guys, I got those tickets for the Hercules."

"Damn how you get those?" Spencer Dinwiddie asked examining the tickets. "You know his wife has all the connects."

"True, Callie said she got these for free. Her friend is one of the Muses. Y'all got lucky."

The team continued to pack their belongings to head home after a long practice. Seth hung back to get a word in with Mikal. He observed the younger guy, and noticed he didn't stay to himself simply because he wasn't a people person, it was more to that.

"You staying home tonight or you coming out with us?" Mikal carefully evaded team outings for as long as he could, he knew he couldn't anymore.

"I'll come out with you guys."

••••

Cam Johnson and Cam Thomas were joking about something they probably shouldn't while the team tried sitting in their seats peacefully.

"Glad we got you out man." Nic smiled, "Thought you hated us" he joked further.

"Nah man, just taking awhile to adjust."

The intercom in the house of the theater announced that the show would begin in the next five minutes. Mikal took a look into the Playbill. He wanted to know if he would recognize anyone. He didn't but his eyes did land on a beautiful face.

Florence Taylor.

To him she sounded like an old movie actress and seeing all of the things she had done previously to being a muse, he couldn't want to see the performance.

"Flo I'm so proud of you!" Callie gushed as she gave her friend a hug. "Thank you Cal. I didn't think you were bringing a whole army" Florence awkwardly waved to the team as that stood by, seeming gawking at her.

"You did amazing! I need that autograph like yesterday." Johnson was first in line to get her praises. "Me too, that was incredible." Nic added.

"Thank you." Flo couldn't help but notice the standoffish 6'6 player. Mikal was on his phone trying to figure out what he would be eating for dinner. It was pretty late and if the thing he wanted wasn't available, he wouldn't eat.

"Oh, Flo! This is Mikal he's also new to the city." Callie introduced. Looking up from his phone, Mikal gave Florence another glance over. "My bad, sorry for being rude. Nice to meet you." He offered his hand to shake.

Florence gladly accepted, smiling back at him. "Pleasure meeting you as well."

After man photos, Florence was packed and ready to go home for the night. Her other cast mates wanted to go out and party but she needed sleep. Callie invited her out for dinner either the guys and some of their significant others.

"Some other time."
"I'll hold you to it!"

"Maybe coming to the open mic I'll be at next week?"

"How does that sound?" Seth of course agreed to go because his wife wanted to, other members of the team did as well.

"Mikal?" Callie wanted an explicit answer from him because she could see the mutual eyes going on between her friend, and her husband's teammate.

"Umm yeah, I'll come too."