Office Hours

Back in Motion

I was sprawled on my bed when Luca barged in.

“Bro… I think I left my basketball boots here.”

“Yeah, beside the cupboard,” I said, pointing.

He grabbed them, tying his laces hurriedly. Just before leaving, he paused. “Hey… have you ever thought about playing again?”

“Of course I have, but I don’t know man…I don’t think Coach Marshall would let me back in, you know the drugs.I feel like I really disappointed him”.

Come on bro, that was in the past. You used to be co-captain, you can’t just throw that all away. You’re clean now, right?

“Yh of course I am” I said

“Then why not try Bro,” Luca said, “coach loves you. I just know he wants you back. He still talks about you sometimes and even compares other players to you, telling them how many times you’ve made the team win”.

“Really? I said in disbelief. “Yhhh” Luca nods.

“Just talk to coach alright” Luca says as he leaves.

I nodded slowly. “Alright.”

Luca left, but his words stayed longer than I expected. “I really did miss being on the court” Not so long I found myself pulling on my sweats and heading to the couches office.

I knocked and walked into the coach’s office, kind of nervous

“Ethan! How are you?” he asked, smiling warmly.

“I’m good… coach. I… I um actually just came to ask if I could play again.

He leaned back, smiling. “You’re clean now, right?”

“Yes, sir. All that’s behind me,” I said.

“Good but that doesn’t erase it”. Yes sir I said.

“Okay, but you’re not back in the team yet you’ll start with training, with the newbies. You’ll get Mandatory drugs tests every month, if any positive and this conversation never happens again”. He said sternly.

Yes couch, I said about leaving. He softened, looking at me directly. “I’ve missed having you around. The team hasn’t been the same without you.”

I smirked. “Thank you coach”.

“Training’s at 6pm. Don’t be late,” he said.

At evening, I showed up at the court, I kind of forgot how brutal training used to be. I was so stiff, my timing off. I wasn’t as sharp as I used to be.

Asher, the new co-captain, he smirked, tossing a ball my way. “Looks like someone’s sloppy. Guess all the drugs didn’t help your jump shots”.

I ignored him, but Luca jumped in. “Cut it out, Asher. He was better than you by far last year and will soon be, don’t forget it.” Luca is the captain of the basketball team, he always has been.

Training went on. I wasn’t the best anymore but I was moving again and I loved it. This was always kind of my safe place when everything was overwhelming. So it felt really good being back.

Days turned into weeks. My life became a kind of routine. Class,basketball, tutoring, basketball again, and the small things in between. And somehow, Miss Elara was a part of it.

If she saw me around campus, we would exchange pleasantries.

She even recommended some books for me to read and we would talk about the plot. Not for school work but because she thought I might enjoy them. I surprised myself by actually reading them, the books were actually good. It gave me something to talk about with her.

She would ask me what I thought, and we’d have disagreements and end up explaining our points, throwing around literary terms, the arguments made me understand it better. Literature, the course I’d always flunked, was suddenly a little easier.

One afternoon, I saw her struggling to hold the door to her office, with her laptop, a pile of papers, and her handbag on her hands.The door was about to close shut in front of her. Without much thinking I ran and held the door for her.

“Thanks, Ethan,” she said, smiling.

“No problem” I replied easily as I walked away.

As I kept walking, it turned out we were heading in the same direction. “Dough-licious” a pastry shop on campus.

“Uhh…You like this place?” I asked.

“Yeah… it’s where I get all my snacks,” she said, balancing her things.

“Same”, I said pointing to a tray cinnamon rolls. It’s so good, you should buy it.They’re like the only reason I come here.”

She smiled, taking a doughnut instead. “I’ll buy what I want to buy” she said jokingly with a small smile. The pastries were packaged separately for us. She ate it as we walked until she reached the class she was lecturing.

“Don’t forget to go over the chapters we talked about”she said as she entered the lecture hall.

“Yh I will” I said walking away.

Over the weeks, we became close in a small way though. I could talk to her, joke with her lightly, ask questions literature anytime. She would wave if she saw me like all the time.

Professional, yes. But familiar, and I liked it more than I should.

Life was still exhausting, back-to-back classes, training, and tutoring, but for the first time in a while, I felt… motivated again like I was finally moving forward and back in motion.