Declan
The next day
“Do I have to prove it?” Brandon asks.
“Of course, man. We’ve always played that way,” I say.
There are two ways to play the basketball game H-O-R-S-E. Proving your final shot or not. When you prove it the guy who makes the last shot to win the game has to make it twice, which is very challenging especially if it’s a trick shot.
And Brandon made the last shot, I missed, and now it’s up to him to “prove” his victory.
But no matter who wins on the basketball court today what I really want is a victory when I go to ask him the real question…the real reason we’re doing a male bonding activity today.
And I decided it would be best to shoot baskets somewhere open, in case things get out of hand when I tell him what I have to tell him.
And then I realized it would be better to do it at his house. That way if he gets angry he can just throw me out or ask me to leave. He won’t drive off anywhere angry.
And finally I came to the conclusion that I should let him beat me, but not make it obvious of course. If he wins he’ll be feeling all manly and superior and might be more open to what I have to say. Psychology 101 if you ask me, and doctors rely on psychology a lot. Placebo effect, anyone?
“Okay…for…the…win!” Brandon says as he heaves the ball backwards and over his head towards the basket.
“Oh!” he yells. “Nothing but net, bro! Chalk up another victory for the B-dawg!”
“Okay, ‘B-dawg’.” I say smiling at the name he’s suddenly given himself.
“How was that for proving it?”
“That was really good,” I say. “And I’ve got something to prove myself.”
“Well, I hope it’s not on the court because I’m unstoppable today,” he says grabbing the lemon-lime Gatorade he had on the sidewalk for me and tossing it to me before picking up the orange flavored one and guzzling down half the bottle. Big guys need big refreshment.
“It’s not,” I say.
I’m excited to tell him what’s happened in my life, but to be honest a bit nervous to tell him who it’s happening with.
“Then you just might be in luck,” he says.
“Want to grab a seat?”
“Whoa, this sounds serious,” he says.
“Very.”
“Everything okay?”
“Couldn’t be better actually.” I pause. “And that’s what I need to talk to you about.”
“Okay,” he says and I see the look of concern mixed with inquisitive interest on his face as we ease down onto the steps leading up to his house. After I get plopped down I take another drink trying to make my mouth feel not so dry, but it’s not working.
And the cottonmouth I’m experiencing isn’t from the basketball game. These are some of the biggest words of my life, up there right behind telling Bella she’s mine, and I need to get them right.
“I met someone,” I say.
“That’s great!” he says playfully punching me in the arm. “It’s about time.”
“Yeah, I know, huh?”
“Who is she? Do I know her?”
“Well, let’s say I didn’t actually ‘meet someone,’ but that I realized someone I’d known all along was the one for me.”
“A friends to lovers story.” He takes a drink. “But wait. Who do you know who could fit that bill? Let me guess.” He pauses again. “Dude, you’re chained to that office. I have no idea who it could be and I know you don’t see nurse Nancy that way, not to mention she’s married.”
“No, definitely not her. I mean she’s a great woman and all, but she’s married like you said, and there was never chemistry between us. Strictly work related, and she’s a great worker to have on my team.”
“Okay, so let me think,” he says. He stares off into the distance for what seems like an eternity but is probably no more than five seconds. “Man, I’m stumped. You got me.”
“Well, let me start off by saying this is the biggest moment of my life. Up until now it had always been your dad doing for me what he did and that includes both finding me a home and finding me a best friend, in you of course.”
“Awwww man, this girl isn’t making you soft already is she?”
“Not soft, you know me, but more thoughtful and caring…yeah, maybe. She’s so damn special, man. And she’s perfect for me.”
“Wow, you’re really in love. That’s great.”
“Yeah, it’s an incredible feeling. I feel it. She feels it. And I hope you’re going to feel it too.”
His head snaps back and his eyebrow on one side raises. “I’m going to feel it? This is starting to sound weird. You’re not…a swinger or something like that are you?”
“No, no, no. I’m a one-woman kind of guy. You know that.”
“Okay, I thought so, but your words and all this serious talk I had to ask. But man…you’re really making me wait. You’ve built up the anticipation enough. Who are we talking about here?”
“We’re talking about the most beautiful and perfect woman who’s been right under my nose this entire time, but I was never smart enough to realize it. Or maybe it was because she was still coming into her own…but now…now she owns my heart.”
I pause and Brandon says nothing. I can see in his eyes he’s completely clueless. Well, not anymore.
“Bella,” I say and it just hangs there in the air.
“We don’t know any Bellas,” he says. “I mean except…. Wait a second?”
I nod.
“You’re fucking with me?”
I shake my head.
“This better be a joke,” he says.
I shake my head again.
He stands quickly slamming the bottle of Gatorade on the concrete coloring the area orange and then he cocks back and heaves the basketball right at my face, but luckily I bring up one hand in time and block it.
“Get the fuck outta here,” he says. “What an asshole. Out!” he yells.
“Brandon,” I say as I stand up.
“Out!”
I make my way to the car, which I intentionally parked down the block a bit, but I make sure to keep an eye over my shoulder just in case he fully loses it, but luckily he doesn’t.
But I have lost something that’s been more valuable than anything in my life up until making Bella mine.
His friendship.
And even with a long history I know that once that is lost, that trust and that ability to always call each other our best friend and to mean it, that there’s no getting it back.
But back is not where I plan on looking right now. I’m forward thinking and I’m going forward with my plans for Bella and I regardless of what her father thinks about it.
That’s how much she means to me.
Everything.
Because without her I have nothing.