Spring

Chapter Thirty-Three

Sage Gibson

March would usually entail the end of basketball season. The only reason it doesn't for us is because we made State.

The tournament was huge. The hotel was even bigger. Marc and I were assigned rooms right next to each other because his father called and explicitly told Coach we weren't allowed to be roomed together. Luckily, Zayn was more than happy to trade key cards with Marc so he could room with Ethan, Jamie, and me.

We only stayed two nights and played in a handful of games. Coach tried his hardest to let a couple of the junior varsity kids play, but overall the seniors and juniors got most of the time on the court because some scouts were there from different colleges.

We lost our first game on our third day there, but even so, we still lasted a long while in the tournament. Even now, as we pack up our clothes to leave, I've got a smile on my face.

"We just lost a game and you're grinning like a maniac." Jamie scoffs from his bed, the pillow wall Ethan built is starting to fall apart on top of him and he doesn't seem to care.

"We made it decently far. Three days is longer than I thought we'd last." I shrug. "It's cool. I've never been to the state tournament before."

"Yeah, yeah, you're a cheese." Jamie rolls his eyes but he's smiling too. "I'm just glad we got to play some."

"Me too." Marc walks in from the bathroom, his arms full of our personal products that he made sure I remembered to pack. He drops them in my duffle on top of my already folded clothes.

"Shouldn't you be packing?" Ethan scoffs at Jamie, opening his mouth for the first time since we got back.

"Oh I'm always packing Cupcake, just let me know when you wanna see it." He winks and then laughs horrendously at Ethan's horrified face. Even I snort while Marc rolls his eyes.

"You disgust me." Ethan declares, turning his back on Jamie while zipping up his bag.

"Okay, okay." Jamie cackles and starts to sit up. "Anyways, I don't need to pack because I never unpacked."

"Your towel is still in the bathroom." Marc says, unimpressed.

"And two of your shirts are on the floor over there." I point towards the balcony door, watching Jamie's face fall a little.

"Shit, I forgot about those." He runs over to pick them up and then runs into the bathroom.

"Little slob." Ethan shakes his head in disappointment.

"Did you just call me a slut?!" Jamie shrieks as he reappears from the bathroom, shock evident on his face.

I cackle loudly as Ethan tries to defend himself. Jamie doesn't believe his words though and keeps looking offended. I'm still laughing as Ethan starts to yell that he wouldn't say such a thing.

"No. I can't even believe this." Jamie crosses his arms with a pout. "I thought we were friends E. That's just harsh."

"Okay Jamie," I try to pull myself together but just laugh more. "He-"

While dying in my fits of giggles, I look over to Marc in hopes he can save the dying friendship for me. He smiles fondly down at me and my stomach does that thing again.

"He really did say slob, Jamie." Marc says, reaching over to rub in between my shoulder blades as I start to cough from my laughter.

"Oh. Okay." Jamie drops the accusations and starts to shove his stuff into his bag. The boy simply refuses to fold anything.