What Changed Your Mind

Typical Meetups

I'm Alex avery, and this is my messy love story.

My mom was very social but she always stuck with a main group of fellow moms. Those of which had kids themselves. And those kids became some of my closest friends over the years.

Our usual group was Sam (a year younger than me but didn't act like it, an athlete and one of the toughest girls I know), Anthony (he's a hard core lover of basketball, he cleans up nicely and my boyfriend), Ben (same age as Sam but almost the opposite personality), my brother Jack (smartest of us all, athletic but lazy and 2 years older than me), and then of course, Tanner (Sam's big brother, he's the popular, funny, athletic, descent grades kind of guy) every one wanted to be around him all the time.

Except of course, me. I was always too shy. I figured that since he was going off to college soon it wasnt worth getting to really know him. Of course we looked out for each other, but that's just what our group did.

It's a typical summer day and we start off with the usual. Waking up at 7am to get ready for the IBA, our daily 6 hour basketball camp. We were all pretty crazy about the sport with the exception of our two elders. Jack played tennis for varsity as a freshman and sophomore year, and Tanner was on the rugby team. Both of which aren't going to be joining us at the camp.

When I arrive to the field house, I see Sam, Anthony, and Ben waiting for me at our usual spot on the bench. Coach B high fives me as I walk in and I immediately steal the ball from his hands. He laughs saying "you got me there Alex but u better watch ur back during practice. I might just sneak up on ya"
I chuckle back, knowing I'm ready for whatever he throws my way.

"ALEX! You wanna hurry up!" calls Sam. I swear the girl has no patience at all but I love her.

When I get there I get hellos from everyone and a peck on the cheek complete with a hug from behind from Anthony, my perfect boyfriend.
"Well hello there Tony" I say as I give him a peck back. He smiles at me but I duck out of his arms knowing I still had to get my shoes on. He sighed.

Sam and Ben were already warming up for a while by the time Tony and I got out there.

Practice went just fine and we finally got to lunch break. That was when coach got out a megaphone and yelled my name out. "ALEX AVERY FRONT AND CENTER" I cringe. This can't be good.

My friends send me off with laughs. They clearly know what's going on here.

"What seems to be the problem here coach?"

"O I'll tell you. I believe a certain somewhat stole my ball and used it this morning. You didn't think I was gonna let that slide did you?"

Oh yeah...

"So what... Exactly... Am I gonna have to do?" I asked hesitantly. Let's just pray it wasn't conditioning.

"You and I are going to engage in a little competition. Around the world if you will." sounds easy enough. I just have no chance at winning. This guy was the star of his college team.

------- after competition------

Here I am. Dripping with sweat. He meant around the world basketball with a twist. After every shot you missed, you had to run a whole lap around all of the courts. Since I was a point guard, I didn't miss that many but for those that I did it was torture.

After every lap I came back for another shot exhausted, and more likely to miss. He missed 2 shots while I probably missed 20.

I came back to Sam to receive a congratulations and my lunch. I've never been happier to see anything else in my life.