One more day. On Sunday Jessica arrives and then everything changes.
I continued to lay in my bed. All of these questions are going through my head. How is she? Is she nice? Who will talk first? Will she even care if I'm here? Why am I even thinking about this?
I looked at the clock on my dresser. It was nine thirty. I'm here in bed thinking about things that I really did not care about while the day was wasting away. Thinking about it was not going to change the events of tomorrow. I'll wing it like I always do. In fact, I might not be in the house when she gets here anyway.
"Yeah. I'll meet her on my own time." I said to myself while I was stretching. I was getting ready for the day. My last day.
I got up, took a ten minute shower, put on some basketball shorts, my high school basketball shirt with my favorite black and white Nikes and went downstairs. I went to the kitchen and got a bowl of cereal. After that it was time for the ten o'clock SportsCenter. A usual start to the day, but I still did not know what I wanted to do.
The hour passed relatively quickly. Nothing really new in the world of sports either. I just began to flip through the guide looking for something else to watch. Nothing was on of course. Just the same reruns as always. I decided to put it on Avatar the Last Airbender series. That is my go to show to watch. That show seems to be always on. If this was my last day to myself then this sucks.
I heard my dad coming down the stairs. Eleven is the usual time my parents wake up. I will never know why they wake up so late. I also heard the water running so I guess my mom was getting in the shower. If she was getting in the shower in the morning that meant she had something to do. She always took showers at night once she finished with all of her work and stuff. I wonder what she had to do today.
"Good morning, Ray" my dad said as he walked into the living room.
"Eh." I said. It meant to be 'hi', but that's how it came out because I was bored.
"You got any plans for today?" my dad asked as he went to turn on the air conditioner like he does every time he wakes up In the summer. The air conditioner is not even that great. I try to tell him to get a new one, but my dad says to turn a fan on with it. He is so cheap. At least when he wants to be.
"Unless someone calls me, nope." I told him.
"I got some errands to run, want to come?"
"Um… nah, I'll pass."
"Ok." he said then left. He was not mad or anything. He used the 'ok' as a confirmation. He already knew I was going to say no. I rarely go with him on his errands. The only time I do is when I want something for myself. Right now I had no money so there was nothing I could get.
Thirty minutes later my mom came downstairs. She was wearing her favorite sundress, a blue one with a white flower at the bottom and white shoes. She must be doing something nice today for her to wear this stuff.
"Honey, do you have tea made?" my mom asked as she was headed to the kitchen. She did not even acknowledge my presence. I did not mind. She seemed preoccupied.
"Yes. I also made breakfast. I've made eggs and grits. You want some?" my dad said.
I knew I smelled something good! It is not even breakfast, it is brunch. It is basically noon. My dad never makes me anything anyway. He says I am at that age where I could feed myself. That gets on my nerves.
"No breakfast today. Connie and I are going to have lunch at one." my mom said. That's what she was doing today? She was just going on one of her girl's days with Connie. They probably were just going to shop and gossip all day.
"Where is Ray?" my mom asked.
"He is in the living room." my dad answered.
"He is? Good morning Ray!" my mom yelled from the kitchen.
"Mom, it's the afternoon." I replied.
"Same thing. Are you doing anything today?"
"Nope."
"Please try to get out the house. The sun is shining real bright outside. It is a nice day."
"I'll try." I said.
We heard a car honk outside.
"There goes Connie." my mom said. Bye Ray. Bye Rick" then she kissed him on the cheek.
"Bye Sarah." my dad said. My mother grabbed her tea and left. I continued watching the third episode of Avatar that came on.
When it was over my dad came into the living room. I guess he finished breakfast the same time the picture ended.
"Alright Ray I'm leaving." my dad said.
"Yeah." I responded.
"There are some things in there for lunch."
"I know."
"You should leave the house too. It is a nice day."
Yeah yeah. Goodbye, dad."
My dad turned and left the house. I turned off the television and sat up on the couch I was currently laying on. Here I was… alone in the house. Other than my mom leaving this has been a normal Saturday. The whole day was running like clockwork. For some reason that irritated me. Any other time would be fine, but today was different. At least it was supposed to be different. This was my "last day". It was supposed to be exciting or something. All it was turning out to be was boring like any other day. I guess no matter how things change tomorrow it will still be the same as yesterday.
I got up and went outside for some air. It was a nice day. It was not too hot and there was a light breeze. The only thing was that I had nothing to do out here.
Then the phone started to ring.
"Well it's about time." I said. "Hopefully." I went back inside and answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"Yo bro, what are you doing?" a voice asked. It was Dashaun.
"Absolutely nothing." I responded.
"Want to go play some basketball?"
"Anything bro."
"Pause." he said and snickered.
"Shut up. When we doing this?"
"Pause." he said and this time he laughed. He was getting on my nerves. "Now is fine. Just come get me from my house."
"Aight." I said. "The usual spot?"
"Yes. Raymond Park."
"Damn I love that name." I said. The name of the park was just a coincidence, but I still like to think it was a memento of my greatness.
"Shut up. It is your turn to bring the ball too."
"Whatever. Give me ten minutes to make a quick lunch."
"Ok. See you later."
"Yeah peace." Then I thought of something. "Wait. You are not doing this to bother me…"
The line went dead. I already knew what topic he was going to bring up. Right now I did not care. I finally had something to do for the day.
I went into the kitchen to see what was actually in there for lunch. Nothing really in there to make my mouth water or anything. I just grabbed a pepperoni hot pocket. A hot pocket is quick, easy, and good. I threw it in the microwave for two minutes and fifteen seconds. In that amount of time I went to go get my basketball. That took exactly two minutes. I got the hot pocket out of the microwave and wolfed it down. They say wait two minutes, but I never do. I was about to leave, but remembered about my jug of water. I never go play basketball without it. I got that and left the house. This may be a productive day after all.
When I have a basketball while walking I always dribble. It is a good way for me to work on my ball handling. Every little thing could help your game. Dribbling to Dashaun's house is a great time to do it. It gave me ten minutes to work on my moves. On one block I would dribble side to side. The next I do a mix of between my legs and behind the back. I don't do much spin moves because I don't want to look like a complete idiot. When I'm a minute away from Dashaun's house I do a light jog.
When I got to his house I just started to work up a sweat. I was not breathing hard or tired however. I ranged the doorbell and a couple moments later Dashaun came to the door chewing something. Guess he was just finishing up his lunch.
"Calm down, buddy. Don't drain yourself before we even get to the court." he said and then took a sip of his water. "I need you fresh when I beat you. I want no excuses."
"Don't worry about my conditioning. I could beat you while I'm at fifty percent." I said.
"Whatever. Let's do this!" He ran down the steps and took the ball out of my hand. He started dribbling up the street.
"You put air in this? It feels nice."
"Yeah. I put a little air in the ball."
We walked a block. It was really quiet. No one said a word.
"She is coming tomorrow, isn't she?" Dashaun said.
I was shocked. He just came out and said it. More importantly, he was right too.
"How the hell did you know that?!" I yelled.
"Well, my friend, I guessed." he said with a smile.
Damn. Why do I always fall for that? Even though I was in a lose-lose situation. If I were to say no then that would have just meant that I did know when she was coming.
"You also seemed too eager to leave the house. I knew something was up."
"You've been thinking about this too much." I told him.
"Ray, this is like the news of the year. 'Girl moves in with a desperate boy'. This is first page material."
"I'm not desperate."
"Sure buddy. I've given this subject much thought."
"You can't give the subjects in school this much thought?"
"School is not important. This is important. I actually care about this topic."
"I could tell. If it don't have breast or involves a sport, mainly basketball, you don't care about it."
"You know me so well. So back to business. Have you figured out what you are going to say to her?"
"Do we have to talk about this? Can't we just enjoy a nice day of b-ball like always?"
"I want to talk about it. This is the most interesting thing I've heard in weeks."
"Well I don't want to talk about." Though I kinda wanted to talk about it at this point.
"Then I'll talk and you listen."
"Fine Dashaun. Since you want to talk about it, you have until we get to the park." That will be five minutes until we arrive at the park.
"So what are you planning to say?"
"I'm not planning on being there."
"You can't hide from her forever. Eventually you will have to go home."
"I know it is unavoidable. I just want to wait it out a bit."
"There is no point in doing that."
"I have my reasons for doing so. My parents like doing stupid things then I will meet her on my own time when I'm ready."
"So you are sticking it to the man?"
"Pause and yes in a way."
"Well you still need an opening line for when you see her."
"I plan on saying nothing."
"That's no good. Remember? Your first girlfriend possibly?"
"Remember I don't know anything about her and I do not want to do this."
"There are things you can learn about her. Not really relevant to your first move." He just forgot about the part where I said I do not even want to do it.
"What if she is ugly?" I asked.
"What if she is beautiful?" he responded
"What if she is not?"
"What if she is?"
I stopped. I was not about to go back and forth with this guy like a child. When he gets heated about girls it is best to let him speak.
"If she speaks to you first then that most likely means she already likes you."
"Oh no. I guess she is not being polite." I said sarcastically.
"Yeah, but it is more than that. You got to read the signs."
"You need to stop reading signs." Especially the wrong ones.
"You also need to stay aloof. Just be like 'hey' or 'sup'. Leave her wanting to know you more. Or you could try to start a convo early. Both of you exchange greetings and information just talking the night away. When you do that however you must have jokes. Ladies love the jokes."
This guy is a joke.
"Or you could cut straight to the point. Be like 'I need your name and number beautiful'. You know something like that. Oh! Or…"
Blah blah blah. This guy could talk days about girls and scenarios about what to do to get with them. This is all this guy thinks about. Probably because he never had a girlfriend (well it was that one girl for a week, but I don't consider that a relationship). I started daydreaming to ignore him until I noticed we arrived at the park.
"Bro, you watch too much T.V." I said. "Now let's play some ball." I took the ball and ran on the court. Dashaun followed.
"But…" he started.
"No Dashaun. We had an agreement. Nothing but basketball now." He wasn't happy about it, but he does keep his word.
"So do you want to condition first or just go to shooting?" he asked.
"What would Coach Jackson say?' I asked.
We both looked at each other and said "conditioning" with a sigh. I threw the ball to the side and we began conditioning with five suicides. Coach Jackson loves to see how we play tired.
I like Raymond Park and not just because of the name. I liked the park because no one really went there. The reason being is that the smell around the park is horrible. No one really knows where the smell is even resonating from, but it is bad. Dashaun and I hated it at first, but now we are used to it. Now the court is basically ours. We used it to practice or just goof off. The court was also a couple of minutes away from our houses so it was convenient. Our small oasis in New Brunswick.
After we finished conditioning we shot fifty free throws each. Most of the time we come out here we do what we usually do in practice. Conditioning, free throws, and then we play a game. I made thirty-seven free throws and Dashaun made thirty-five. Now it was time for the real competition.
Dashaun and I love to compete. We love to win and hate to lose. We have that feeling in everything we do. In basketball we try to push and challenge each other. I think this is what makes us better for the actual season. When we play basketball we go at it. We do hard fouls and everything.
We decided to play four more games with the score limit at fifteen. I won the first one 15-12. Then he won the second game 15-10. Then I won again 15-13. He took the fourth he won 15-10. It annoyed me that we continuously go back and forth like this.
"Alright time for the time breaker." I said.
"Let's water up first." Dashaun said.
We went over to the benches to grab our containers. Not much water was left for the both of us. We were drenched in sweat. I'm pretty sure I had a bruise on my hand from Dashaun slapping me multiple times.
"Well now I'm out of water." he said.
"Me too." I looked at my phone to get the time. That's the only thing I could use it for because I didn't pay my bill yet. It was 5:30 already. Time just flew by.
"This is the last game." I told Dashaun.
"Ok. Let me win this real quick." he said.
"You are stupid." I checked him the ball and the game began.
It started off high tempo. No one wanted to lose so we were playing hard. After fifteen minutes (roughly) the score was 9-8 Dashaun.
Ten minutes passed and the game was almost over. The score however was tied at 14. There was no win by 2 either. It was my ball.
"I'm going to win, bro." I told him. We were both exhausted.
"Whatever. Let's do this." he had that look in his eye.
"Determination in those eyes. I like it."
He checked me the ball. I dribbled a couple times to get a feel of what I wanted to do. I drove right, but he cut me off. I backed up and tried a hesitation step. That did not work, he was right there.
"Damn. You don't quit." I said.
"Hell no. if you want this you got to work."
Yes I do. I decided to try a move I've been working on. I drove to my left. He did what I wanted him to do and followed. I stopped and stepped back at fifteen feet. He couldn't recover in time probably because he was tired. I rose up and shot. The ball hit the rim and bounced off. He got the rebound and took it back.
"My turn on defense." I said.
"No it's not." he responded.
Then I noticed where he was. He was at the left corner for three. That is his favorite spot on the court. I ran out there to defend his shot. It was too late. He pulled up and hit the three. Nothing but net. He won 16-14. When it was over he fell on his back.
"No celebration or smack talk?" I asked.
"I'm too tired for that," he mumbled. "Good game, bro."
"You too." I'll never deny that he could shoot the hell out of the ball.
I helped him up and we got our stuff to leave. I did not care that much that he won. That game was the most fun I had in weeks. Plus, I needed it. I was too stressed about the events tomorrow. When I played basketball I was able to zone everything out. Just out there doing the thing I loved.
We arrived back at Dashaun's house at 6:30. It was getting late. My mom and dad were probably home by now.
"You want something to eat?" Dashaun asked.
"Sure." I answered. I was hungry. My mom and dad probably know where I am.
We went into the house and straight to the kitchen. We both got some water first. Dashaun began to make us sandwiches while I went into his living room and turned on the T.V. The channel was on ESPN like always. Like usual there was no big news in sports. Almost dead during the summer. Only baseball usually. Dashaun entered the room with a tray with two sandwiches and two glasses of apple juice on them.
"Thanks." I said.
"No problem." He responded.
We sat and watched the rest of SportsCenter while we ate. We had discussions on topics and jokes on others. This is what we usually do while watching SportsCenter. We think we could be better GMs on most sports teams then the actual GM, but all sports fans think that.
SportsCenter went off and we had nothing to do. I was going to leave soon.
"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Dashaun asked.
"Nope. To tell you the truth I forgot all about it." I lied.
"What's her name? You know?"
"Yes. Her name is Jessica Kim." I told him.
"Ooo! Kinky." he said.
"Shut up, freak." I said.
"She is older. That is more the reason to try, bro. She is going to know what she is doing. If you know what I mean." There goes that perverted smile again.
"You are a sad, sad boy. Something is wrong with you."
"Do it bro!"
"I told you how I felt about this. I'm not saying it again."
Yea I know. Try to talk to her at least."
"I'll think about it. Let me sleep on it. "I looked at the clock. It was 7:30. "I got to go."
"Ok. I see you later."
"Aight." I walked to the door.
"Wait. Will you introduce me?"
"I'll think about that too. Peace." Then I left.
Introducing him to a girl? If she is pretty then he will fall in love. I know I said I don't want her here, but I do not want to subject her to that. Besides, who said we are going to be friends?
I dribbled a little bit home. I got back exactly at eight. My mom and dad were in the kitchen/dining room eating dinner. Actually they were eating dessert. They were eating apple pie with ice cream.
"Hey Ray." my dad greeted me. "You were at Dashaun's house?"
"Yes. That was after we played basketball." I said. "I ate at his house."
"We know. We did not make you dinner." What a gamble!
"There is pie and ice cream in here if you want any." my mom said. She was still dressed from earlier.
"Ok. Thanks."
I went upstairs and started a shower. It felt great. My body was aching from basketball. I spent an extra five minutes in the shower just letting the water run on me. I was sad when it ended.
I changed into my bedtime wear. After that I went to the kitchen and got some pie. I did not want any ice cream. I did not go into the living room because my parents were there reading like they can't do that in their room.
I ate with my music playing. The pie was great. Finished in two minutes then cleaned up.
"Time for some Xbox." I said to myself.
As I was walking by my parents they called me in the living room.
"Hey Ray. Can we talk?" my dad said.
All no, family talk time. I knew something was off. My parents don't read in the living room. I don't even think they read! I wonder what this is about. Like it was not obvious. I came in and sat down. I couldn't say no.
"How are you feeling about tomorrow?" my mom asked.
"Well, I still don't like it." I said bluntly. From the look on their faces they did not want to hear that.
"We thought you were starting to accept it." my dad said.
I started to laugh. These guys are something else. "I do accept it. There's nothing I could do about it. It does not mean I like it. Especially how the way you guys went about it. You guys couldn't even consult with me before making this decision. Then you guys tell me three days before she even gets here. Well right now I don't care. You guys could have fun with her without me."
They were silent. Nothing to say I guess. They know I am right.
"So are we done here? Good." I got up to leave.
"Wait." my dad said.
"Huh?" I replied.
"What are you wearing when she gets here?"
"Don't worry about that." Both of my parents looked confused. "I'm not going to be here when she gets here. Which I am assuming will be at like three."
"Actually probably five." my mom said.
"So I won't be here for the whole day."
"Wait Ray…"
"Not this time, Dad. You guys did what you wanted. Now it is my turn. I'll meet her when I'm ready. Goodnight."
I left them with their thoughts. I did not give them a chance to respond. It was my turn to make a decision for myself. I know I have been disrespectful since they gave me the news, but I have been frustrated. I've been frustrated my whole life. I just want them to see how upset I am this time. Maybe it will change something. I doubt it though.
I went to my room to play some Call of Duty. I only played for a good hour. I was dying a lot and just doing bad. I mainly got offline because I was dead tired. It was time to sleep.
I was getting in bed when something hit me. This may be the last time I could play the Xbox. I mean who knows what my parents will do. They could be like 'stop playing that game while she is here' or something like that. I did not know. For all I know everything could change tomorrow. My whole life could be flipped upside down. You'll never know when someone enters your life. Especially when that person is going to be living with you. Last day of life as I knew it.
I went to sleep. My final thoughts were of tomorrow and the next year with Jessica Kim.