A Game of Basketball

“Hey dude, wanna play some basketball after school?” Tyler asked expectantly. His voice interrupted my thoughts. I was thinking of her again. As if Tyler could read my thoughts he let out a long sigh and whistled. “You’re thinking about her again aren’t you?” I couldn’t deny it; ever since the breakup she was the only thing on my mind. Tyler tugged at my shirt “Come on dude, you’ll feel better after playing some ball.” he said sympathetically.  I nodded and glumly followed him as he dribbled figure-eights while we walked down to the nearby basketball courts. Tyler was the only one who could ever really read me. I was labeled as “antisocial” at school, but somehow Savannah had been able to look past that. As we walked by the rugged Washington coast, memories of long summer days at the beach kept interfering with my effort to think about basketball, only basketball. To my discomfort, Savannah had entered my mind again, along with the days we had spent in the seldom-showing sun the previous summer.

Savannah’s long brown hair was glowing in the sun as glimpses of sunlight caught it’s shine. Her hazel eyes were pulling me in, intriguing me. “What are you staring at?” she playfully asked, nudging my shoulder. We were sitting on a blanket at the beach, burying our feet in the grainy sand. The complex patterns in the sand had reminded me of her beauty, and I had unintentionally started studying her. I gave her a half smile and said “I was just comparing you to the sand. It’s beautiful.” She gave me a combination of looks, a mixture of “What is wrong with you?”,“What?”, and “Umm..”. All of a sudden that had seemed like a very dumb thing to say. “Never mind, “ I said quietly. I could feel my cheeks start to burn. “that was a dumb thing to say.” She laughed and lifted my chin in her hands. “No, it was cute.” Savannah gave me one of her cute little half-grins and gently kissed my lips. I kissed her back, more passionately until she pulled away. One good thing about Savannah was that she always knew when to stop. Sitting up straight, I intertwined her hand with mine and then we both stared in to the vibrant sunset...

“What is wrong with you?” questioned Tyler impatiently. “You’re acting like some supernatural alien who is contacting their planet through telepathy! Snap out of it!”. “Sorry man.” I apologized. We walked onto the old courts and he passed the ball to me. I dribbled a few times then shot from the 3-point line. I swished it surprisingly and felt bad that I had doubted Tyler’s idea of basketball as an antidote to being lonely. He gave me one of those “I told you so” looks and as we kept playing, I started feeling like a professional player. Every time I made a basket it was like another memory of her left my mind. Savannah started to fade from my mind. Now I know how to get rid of unwanted memories and thoughts. Number one, don’t walk past the coast, and number two, play a game of basketball.