Stay in Your Lane | Lonzo Ball

Chapter 52

Izzy

Zo and I woke up early the next morning and headed back to campus to get ready for class. Part of me thought that I would find my parents sleeping in my room, but that wasn't the case thank God. Just Chat who was on her way out to hit the batting cage. I planned on catching her up later.

He insisted on walking me to my first class. We texted throughout the day and had lunch together in the student union with Mani and Chat. Afterwards, we went our separate way for our last class of the day then on to practice.

When I left the lockeroom after changing into my practice uniform, I noticed Zo in the training room as I passed by doing exercises with the trainer.

I felt bad for him. He was out for at least two weeks to four weeks because of jealousy.  It sucked. Especially with us getting into the meat of our conference game that set us up for a tournament. My goal was to keep him positive. He'd be back in time for the last five games of the regular season, which meant he'd be more than ready for the conference tournament and the NCAA Tournament. He was gonna be fine. I just have to keep reminding him of that.

Our practice was pretty light because we had a game at USC tomorrow. However, that didn't mean that we didn't get an earful from Coach Close whenever we were screwing up. Thankfully, we ended on a high note and didn't have to bust out any suicides.

Zo was still in the training room when I went to go get ice. This time, a little more sweaty. I could tell he was being pushed and fighting through pain of the rehab but I could also see that he was extremely frustrated.

"Good work, Zo. I'll see you tomorrow morning, okay? Remember to ice, elevate and wear your compression sleeve tonight."

"Got it," he nodded, "Thanks man."

He wiped his face with a towel as John helped him back into his brace and handed him his crutches.

"Hey John, can I get some ice for shin? I'm bumped it pretty hard on the bleacher trying to save a ball."

"Yeah, let me log Zo's rehab stuff in the computer while it's fresh on my mind and I got you."

"Thank you."

It was just Zo in the treatment room sitting on one of the tables. His head was down as he mumbled something.

"Looks like you had a good workout," I smiled and stood in front of him.

He lifted his head and faintly smiled, "Yeah, I guess. My knee hurts like hell."

"It just happened a couple days ago, Zo and you worked it pretty hard. Of course it's going to hurt," I gently touched it, "everything's gonna be fine. We're gonna ice and stuff tonight. I'll do bands with you before bed."

"So that means you're staying with me tonight?" he grinned, gripping my waist and pulling me in between his legs.

"I think that you should come to my room tonight. Chat's starting to get jealous. We need a little girl time."

"That's fine," he said, "I'll be there in a little while. Mani and Jerrold wanna go grab something eat. I'll call you when I'm on the way."

"Okay, Chat's gonna walk with me. She just got out of practice. I'm gonna email that recording to  Officer Magby when I get to my room."

"Alright," he kissed my forehead and my lips, "see you."

"Bye."

Zo held on to my hand until it was out of reach. He's so extra sometimes, but in a good way. His fondness for me was growing as was mine for him and he wasn't ashamed to show it. It's been a long time since I felt butterflies and Zo was definitely giving them to me.