Sweethearts [1] || tom holland

Chapter 17: Wakanda Forever

February 15, 2017
Atlanta, Georgia

WARNING: Strong language

Three weeks of filming has finally earned me a break. And a well-deserved one too. Tom had gone back to London for the BAFTA Awards and now he was on a press tour for The Lost City of Z until the end of next week. So, now I was on my own and trying to make friends for myself. Not fun.

Luckily, my cousins Jack and Tommy were visiting from Birmingham. Being an only child, my cousins were the closest things to siblings that I had so we were fairly close despite the big age gap. Jack was 26, Tommy was 23 and I was 16 but we made it work.

The three of us were spending time at the basketball courts in the local Atlanta park. It was only a twenty minute walk away from the studios. I spent a lot of time in the park when I was stressed out or wanted some space from everything. Today we visited to park for some sibling/cousin bonding through a not so friendly game of basketball.

"Jack, stop fucking cheating, man," Tommy yelled across the court after Jack illegally gained possession of the ball.

"I'm not not, chill the fuck out, man," Jack whined.

"Language!" I yelled, getting between the two of them to stop a fight ensuing.

I grabbed the back out of Jack's hands and strutted to the centre of the court. I webbed my fingers over the ball and pulled it into my chest, ready to throw it.

"Come on, let's start again," I said.

Jack and Tommy stood in front of me, bending their knees and crouching slightly to get into position. They were defending the hoop and I was attacking.

The thing is, my cousins were professional basketball players years ago. They represented Ireland nationally and internationally through our gran's Irish heritage and went onto represent Ireland in the Olympics 2012.

So me trying to get past two former professional and Olympic basketball players with my amateur skills is as likely as it raining in the Sahara Desert.

I bounced the ball on the floor multiple times before making my move. I sidestepped to the left and tried to manoeuvre around Tommy, who was the weaker player in my opinion. But to keep his feelings intact, I've never told him that. He spread his arms out like an eagle and tried to intercept the ball but I dodged him and ran around him whilst dribbling the ball. I ran for the net and tried to get under it but Jack's 6'6" stature blocked me and I was stuck. I threw the ball in the air and aimed for the net but Jack whacked the ball with his giant hands and it was catapulted out of the court.

All three of us watched in slow motion as the ball smacked against a black man's head and sent him flying to the ground. I gasped and covered my mouth with my hands in shock. Tommy was laughing and teasing a red-faced Jack who did not find the situation amusing. The man's friend helped him to his feet and turned to us.

"Hey, yo, what was that about man?" The 30-something-year-old friend of the man who had been hit yelled.

"I'm sorry, mate, I didn't mean to do that," Jack yelled back.

I took a closer look at the pair of Americans and I realised that I recognised them. Then it hit me like the ball hit that guy. Or rather, 'that guy' was Chadwick Boseman, the Black Panther himself.

I ran over to the pair and began to apologise profusely.

"I'm so sorry, Chadwick," I said. "Jack knocked the ball out of my hand. It was an accident I promise."

Chadwick chuckled deeply and waved his hand at me.

"Ah, no worries, Ellen," he said. "We were just coming over to play on the courts but, err, I see it's been occupied."