Twenty Six

DOMINIQUE

“I don’t remember basketball being this complicated.” Oliver groans loudly as I duck past him to his hoop and toss the ball through.

Leo whoops in delight as I grin. Oliver sits on the floor of the basketball court with his arms on his knees.

“Dom won this round, you owe us dinner, Ollie,” Leo says and throws a bottle of water toward me and I catch it.

“Thanks.” I nod at Leo in gratitude and uncork the water bottle, throwing my head back and taking big gulps.

The boys and I come here every other weekend to let off some steam by playing basketball. It’s an indoor court and I made sure to pay off the management so we don’t get uninvited and unwanted guests. Oliver and I were on the same varsity team back then in high school. I was their star player, and basketball was the one sport I was good at.

“Remind me not to play one-on-one with you again, Dom.”

“Come on. I’ll go easy on you.” I say, grinning at my friend who’s still breathing like he ran a marathon.

“I guess we get to c