Page 5

“Of course, I miss you guys.” I replied and I really did. My grandparents were the backbone of our family. They ran a tight ship so we were all close and often spent as much time together as we possibly could. Not to mention, they were often on my side when it came to my parents, Sienna in particular.

“Good. We’ll see you soon and in the meantime we’ll get on the apartment.” Poppi announced. “Love you.”

“Love you too.” Ari and I sang in unison before the line disconnected.

As soon as we hung up, Arielle’s phone buzzed. She glanced at the screen, smirked, then put it on speaker. I looked over at the phone and saw it was her boyfriend Brodie.

"Hey you.”

"What’s up, baby?" his deep, familiar voice rumbled through the speaker.

Brodie had been Arielle’s man on and off for years, but he was also family adjacent. We had all grown up in the same circles, so he and I were tight too.

"Tootie here?"

"Yup." Ari replied.

"Good, now get dressed and come up to Jersey. There’s a party tonight."

I grinned. "Say less. First college party? I’m in."

"That’s my girl," Brodie laughed. "See y’all soon."

As soon as he hung up, I turned to Arielle. "I gotta go find the perfect outfit."

"Jersey about to get a taste of the Bradshaw girls."

"Damn right."

2

CREED LANGSTON

The sound of a bouncing basketball echoed through the walls as I sat on the edge of my bed, wrapping my wrist with athletic tape. March Madness was here. The energy on campus was at an all time high, and for the past week, it felt like the only thing anyone could talk about was Rutgers making it to the tournament.

For me, though? It was just another step toward where I needed to be.

"Yo you ready?"

I glanced up as Brodie stepped into my room, already dressed in a fitted black tee and sweats. His duffel bag was slung over his shoulder, and I could tell he was hyped for the night ahead.

"For practice or this party you keep talkin’ about?" I smirked, finishing the tape job on my wrist.

"Both," he grinned. "You know Coach gon’ run us like we in boot camp tomorrow but fuck it. We celebrating tonight."

"Y’all throwing a party ‘cause we made the tournament?"

"We celebrating ‘cause we them niggas," Brodie shot back, laughing.

I shook my head, standing up and rolling my shoulders. The season was everything. These next few weeks could make or break my career, and I wasn’t about to let anything throw me off.

"Where’s Don and Trent?" I asked, referring to our two other roommates and teammates.

"Already at the gym. You know Trent don’t play about his warmups, and Don said he needed to work off some stress before he ‘wilds out on the court’ tomorrow."

Sounded about right.

Donovan Roberts had a temper that stayed on ten, and Trenton Walters was probably the most dedicated dude on the team. We all had different personalities, but we made it work.