Love and Basketball (Lauren/You)

Chapter 14

Y/N'S POV

The ball dropped from my hands as James looked at me in confusion. "C-Camila?" I squeaked out with the head coach throwing me the basketball once more. He nodded his head while still looking at me with a confused expression. I tried to put a shot up like the name didn't affect me but the ball missed the hoop completely. "Uh, okay. I can still try to talk to her but I'm sure I won't be able to change anything." I scratched the back of my neck nervously, not expecting to actually reach out to Camila after everything we had been through. I knew the shorter girl still had feelings for me after all these years; she had been very explicit in telling me so after we had our one night stand. I knew this was only going to cause more trouble for me if I were to reach out to her and if I was seen with her; Lauren would flip her shit. Lauren. Another part of my life I very well could have fucked up for the rest of my existence.

I sighed and shook my head to rid of those thoughts as the head coach looked at me while holding the ball on his hip. I was thankful he hadn't passed it to me again because it very likely that the thing would smack me right in the face since I found myself out of touch with reality for the time being. I cleared my throat while scratching the back of my neck awkwardly. I certainly did not want to deal with Camila if I didn't have to. "In all this time I've been watching you play, I don't think I have ever seen you air-ball." James chuckled as he started walking over to me. It elicited a smile from me but I couldn't respond just yet. I hadn't found my ability to speak again. "In all seriousness, I don't know what's going on with you but don't worry about her. Do what you want for yourself, I just thought it'd be nice of you to stop by. It's up to you though." The head coach shrugged as he placed the ball against my stomach for me to take.

Once I did, he let go of the ball to make his way off of the court to who knows where. I was left alone with my thoughts that currently ran wild with no way of controlling them whatsoever. I stared at the court in front of me and let the ball fall from my hands where it bounced several times off to the side. I knew I had wanted to go visit this young girl but I also wanted to help make her full wish come true; I just didn't want to deal with Camila especially if she had declined the invitation before. What was going to make her go if I had asked her to? I was more worried about what kind of problems this would create for me. I placed the palm of my hand on my forehead in frustration as to what I wanted to do about the whole situation. I could just go by myself or I could try to convince Camila to go with me despite our past together. In the end I decided that I would go by myself at first and get to know the young girl.

If she wanted me to bring Camila then I would do my part; but if she was scarred from being denied by Camila once before, I didn't know if she would still try to meet the pop-star. I sighed and dropped my hand back down to my side so that I could walk a few steps to get the basketball I had previously dropped from my hands. I went back to taking some more shots to warm up and I was grateful that I didn't miss anymore shots as bad as I had done when James was here. I pushed myself to keep working until it was eventually time for team practice to start where I participated as much as I needed to. If I was being honest, I still don't think I was in the right head space to really focus on what I was doing even though I was able to do it the best of my ability. I managed to slip through practice unnoticed that something was wrong with me even if it wasn't that monumental. Then eventually, practice had ended leaving us to disperse amongst ourselves.

Of course, I had wanted to stay back so that I could continue to keep my mind off of the building problems that seemed to occur in my life. All of the other girls left the court along with the coaches to retire to the locker rooms where they would eventually head home for the night in preparation for the game tomorrow. I had nothing to do though, and I knew I would be left with my fleeting thoughts but that was something that I didn't want for myself right now. I wasn't able to handle the stress of anything other than basketball at this moment. That had to be my main focus; at least until the game tomorrow night. I shook my head to myself and grabbed a ball off of the rack before it was taken away by one of the team's trainers. I smiled in thanks before I was left alone on the court; silence invading my senses. It was almost deafening, and it became eerie once some of the lights had turned off higher in the stands; the court only in the light now. I sighed and shook my head once more before going on with my shoot around.