Gap Year

Benched

Thursday, August 31, 2023
8:54 PM
Christie Pits Park

The ball was within Jax's possession, and everyone on the court wasn't moving. He's been in this same situation thousands of times before. And while Jonas, who was arguably the group's best defender, stood on guard, Jax knew he probably had it in him to make something work.

"Come on man, you can't just hold onto that ball forever," Jonas taunted.

Oh, Jax knows. He's well aware, actually. But right now, within these fleeting moments, he had a decision to make. Either hope by divine happenstance someone is open for a pass, or drive to the net and bank a (hopefully) safe layup, granted the ball doesn't get stolen if he goes with the former, and no one gets fouled if he chooses the latter.

"Just need to trip him out... that's how they all fold.." He thought as the ball bounced from the court to his hands, and back again.

"Alright then. Eight, seven, six..." Jonas counted down.

"I'll cross him to the left... I swear he never checks his left..."

"Five, four, three-"

Jax suddenly bound to his right, Jonas' arm quickly following him. Luckily, he knew that was bound to happen. In the heat of the moment, he swiftly spun to his left, the unlucky recipient of this maneuver ending up tripping as a result, giving Jax the perfect opportunity to make a beeline to the net. With everyone having no time to react to his sudden bolt forward, he smoothly ascended to the right of the net and lands a layup, his breath pounding as he lands on the firm pavement beneath.

"Yo, I'm grabbing some water, gimme five." He spoke, exhaust lacing his tone.

Dap ups and fist bumps were obviously shared on his way off of the court, even if these guys were facing off against each other and spewing out shit talk left and right, they're all still friends, homies, the guys, or as Jax likes to call them, "The Lads". It's all just friendly competition at the end of the day. Thing is, they've been hooping for almost an hour, and sometimes the spirit of competition can't outweigh the urge to take a rest. And theres no other rest spot than the court side bench for that.

Fountains at the Christie Pits always seemed to run dry for some reason, so whenever the Lads went down to this park, they would always bring spare water bottles, which is why Jax specifically reached for the second of three Gatorade branded squeeze bottles, the first one being depleted around half an hour ago. He clamped down on the bottle, and released "peak hydration", as he likes to call it, into his mouth, instantly feeling quenched.

"God, I still have no idea what to do during a break." Jax remarked as his posture shifted forward. You see, this specific thought of his almost always occurs whenever he hits the bench mid game, whether that be in an actual playoff game, or just at a park like now, whenever his rear end comes into contact with any ball court bench, Jax ends up absent-minded. He's too tired to reach into another bag pocket to grab his phone, so that's off the table. He's also already taken a water break, so no need to do that twice. And with those options already exhausted, that left Jax with one final thing to do to occupy his bench time.

Observe.

No kidding, he actually does that. While he obviously would have watched the game being played, this is just his friends playing, he knows how they play. In the instance when he doesn't want to watch the others play, he would just observe his surroundings, which include, but are not limited to; his school's gym, other school's gyms, whatever community centre he's playing in, or in this instance, whatever park he's playing at.