Sex, Love, and Basketball *Books 1 and 2* (Slowly Editing)

19. Needing Space

Sorry for any grammatical errors and mistakes. This chapter is unedited.

Daniella

"Pick it up Fuller! What's the matter with you?"

I wiped sweat from my forehead and ran to retrieve the ball that I had turned over. I was having a terrible practice, but it was only because I couldn't stop thinking about Nadia. It had been a week since her breakdown and she's been avoiding me ever since.

When she got herself together that day, she asked me to leave and I tried to protest, but she wasn't having it. I tried calling her and texting her just to check on her, but she didn't respond to anything. I wasn't expecting anything like this to happen between us. The last thing I expected was for Nadia to shut me out, but that's exactly what she's doing.

I miss her so much. A week may not seem like a lot, but I can't handle going this long without speaking to my best friend. I tried to ask Chastity if there was anything wrong with the girl, but she said she's been fine. I'm the only one she's pushing away. I don't get it. Everything was fine and now I feel like I'm losing my best friend. Well maybe I've already lost her.

"You have two minutes to get water and be back on this court." My coach said after blowing her whistle and rescuing me from my thoughts.

"Come here Fuller." The woman said giving me a look that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

"Ma'am?" I said approaching the woman cautiously.

"Are you okay?" The woman asked looking concerned instead of angry.

"Yeah coach. I'm fine." I lied. I wasn't fine. I was hurt, sad, and confused.

"Well I really hope you're lying to me because if you're fine and you're playing the way you're playing, you can get ready to ride the bench all season. That's not you out there on that court Fuller, so I suggest you tell me the truth." Coach Young said and I just looked down at my shoes because I didn't feel like my reason for playing badly was good enough.

"I'm fine. I'm just having an off day." I said figuring it would be best to just stick to my lie.

"Okay. You have like thirty seconds to get water. When you get back on this court, I don't want to see another turn over."  The woman said pointing a finger at me.

"Yes ma'am." I said jogging over to where the water was.

-

I was lucky enough not to turn the ball over again, so instead of having to stay after practice like I'm sure my coach would have made me, I rushed into the locker room once our coach let us go.

"Way to play out there Fuller." The starting point guard for the team said sarcastically.

"I'm not in the mood, Malaya." I said rolling my eyes at the girl. For someone that hated me, she was always on my dick. Figuratively speaking.

"You're not in the mood to play basketball. Not in the mood to argue with me. Something must really be wrong." The girl said continuing to bother me.

"Something is obviously wrong, so leave her alone. Why are you always fucking with her anyway? Are you that threatened by a freshman?" Raquel said surprising me by coming to my defense. That was new.

A couple of my other teammates laughed earning glares from Malaya.

"Calm down. Fuller knows I'm just playing." The girl said to which I just rolled my eyes. She wasn't just playing.

"Well she's not in the mood, so leave her alone." Raquel said surprising me yet again. I guess she really did mean it when she said she had my back.