LaMelo Ball - By Ari

Six

The next day wasn't very good, but Nelly was basically glued to my side when I told her about the whole incident with LaMelo.

"Don't trip over a nigga," she'd told me while we were hanging out last night and I had just stared at her. "You have too much going for you to worry about that shark-looking ass boy."

"Oh, shut up," I chuckled under my breath at Nelly trying to dog on LaMelo in attempt to make me feel better. "We both know he's cute."

"Maybe. But if he's a douche, that makes him as ugly as any other dusty fuckboy at Chino Hills."

And that, was that.

As of right now, I twisted a chunk of my curls around my pointer finger as I finished the notes that were due next period, Chanelle picking around at her grilled chicken salad while we both chilled at a table for two over by a big bay window. It was a cloudy day and I couldn't help but stare up at the grayness, instantly dazing off and not paying attention until Nelly poked my arm with her newly-manicured nails. "Hey, look," she whispered and I turned my attention toward her. "There's Dumbass."

My eyes shifted to where she was gesturing and I caught the sight of LaMelo, grabbing a fresh water bottle from a vending machine and taking a seat with some boys. As I looked in closer, I recognized the group he was sitting with to be the same boys he was talking to that one day when LaMelo and I really began our friendship. Lifting an eyebrow, I turned back to my work that was plopped down in front of me, taking notes on some of the formulas I had to remember for math.

"He's staring at you," Nelly's voice was low and I suddenly closed my notebook with a little more force than I meant to, rubbing the sides of my head in slight frustration.

"Nel, you tell me to forget about him yet you keep pointing him out."

Putting her hands up a little in her defense, Chanelle shoved a fork full of lettuce into her mouth and while she chewed, she looked out the window at the courtyard. "Sorry."

We sat in silence and I fidgeted with the straw of my drink.

"Don't make it obvious...but what's he doing now?"

-

Later that night, I put my head in one of my hands as I flipped channels on my TV in my bedroom, none of the shows or commercials that I surfed caught my eye. I was bored out of my mind now that I couldn't hoop with LaMelo anymore, and my evening was filled with nothing but laying around and moping. On top of all of that, Mom forgot to go to the store so we barely had anything to eat besides some old ramen noodles and stale Cheerios. Other than those, I didn't have the energy nor the motivation to bake a casserole for myself.

A lightbulb flicked on inside my head as I remembered that OKC Thunder was playing the Golden State Warriors right about now on ESPN, so I frantically turned to a random sports channel with a content smile on my face, but it instantly disappeared when I saw no one other than LaMelo, sitting in an interview with his father!

My breath hitched in my throat in remembrance, since he said about a week ago that he had another interview on TV. I was frozen in place and I wanted to change the channel, but I couldn't. It was like my hand was paralyzed as I watched in pretty much horror at the sight of him. Hearing his voice made the memories of us hooping together, hanging out, and laughing together flooded my mind and a sudden unknown feeling washed over me like a tidal wave.

I listened into the conversation.

"Was it a surprise, that you got up to 92?" The interviewer questioned and as I realized they were talking about his 92-point game, the camera turned its lens to Melo, who contained the typical, laid-back expression on his face that I had missed so much already.

"A surprise? Well, I wouldn't say that. But I think it's pretty cool that I got up that high."

"If you would've known that you aiming for so many points before the game, how many do you think you would have scored then?"

LaMelo ran his tongue across his bottom lip to moisten it and smiled to himself. "Probably somewhere in the 100's."

The interviewer smiled and nodded his head, understanding what he said and thinking for a moment. "Let's talk about your school life. Since you've went viral, I'm sure there are a lot of girls who throw themselves at you."

The light-skinned boy laughed and his father smiled with pride at his popular son. "Yeah, I guess so. People that I haven't even been associated with for a while are trying to join my wave now and hit me up and I'm like, no. I don't need them in my life."

"Are you in a relationship right now? Or maybe talking to a special someone?"

My stomach was knotting and I felt like I wasn't even breathing. I ran my hand along opposite arm and once I confirmed that I was okay, I paid attention and waited with a baited breath for what he was about to say.

"Nah. I'm not really looking for any type of relationship right now, or at least not anymore."

My heart shattered.

"You don't even have a crush? Come on, LaMelo, you're good-looking, a star basketball player, and you live in the nicest state in the US. Let's be real..."

I didn't even listen to what else he had to say.

I grabbed the remote with a sloppy force.

I switched the TV off.

-

(A/N) i appreciate your guys' continuous praising comments and votes! you guys give me the motivation to write this story and i love ya'll so much. 💜