Page 18 of Full Court Crush

Amelia

Alatesummerbreezeblew through the metal mesh fence that surrounded the outdoor basketball court in the centre of Heath Park. It was a welcome relief from the incessant heat that had smothered Cardiff for the last week; August had decided to go out with a bang. The nearby play area was busy as children made the most of their freedom before returning to school next week. Amelia stood next to one of the old, weathered basketball posts, its red paint chipped and peeling. Rust blotched the hoop where it joined the heavy chain net. Lucy put up another shot and Amelia tracked it through the air. Catching it after its descent through the hoop, she bounced it back to her teammate. The chains rattled like an urban wind chime.

“What’s up, guys?” Lucy drew out the vowel sound as she looked over Amelia’s shoulder. Amelia turned to see Evie and TJ walking towards the court.

“Alright,” TJ said, slinging his bag down against the fence, making it rattle. Evie hugged Amelia and high-fived Lucy as she jogged past, chasing her own wayward rebound.

“Don’t you get enough of this during the week?” TJ said, before engulfing Amelia in a bone-crushing hug. Amelia wasn’t short by any means, but TJ still towered over her, his hugs a crushing eclipse.

“I’ve been doing a lot of nights. I missed the sun,” Amelia replied when TJ finally let her go.

“What’s with the court switch-up?” Evie asked, raising an eyebrow at Amelia. “Are you working tonight?”

“No,” Amelia said, crouching down to busy herself with re-tying her shoe. She sensed three pairs of eyes on her, and decided the other shoe also needed adjusting.

“It doesn’t matter what court we’re on, we’ll still kick your arses, so good luck,” Lucy said, chest passing the ball to TJ with a thump.

“Our record would state otherwise,” Amelia countered, finally standing up. They didn’t need luck.

“Usual rules?” Evie asked, and the others assented.

Amelia caressed the well-worn surface of the basketball under her fingertips, a spherical record of their friendly competition and the hours she had spent practising on her own. She bounced the ball on the tarmac. The cracked, uneven surface and occasional loose, chipped stone made ball handling more challenging and unpredictable. She checked the ball to Evie, who stood at the top of the arc and quickly bounced it back to her. Lucy hustled TJ as he darted to the side of the key and smothered his attempts to post up under the basket. Game on.

Amelia crouched low, dribbling the ball in a smooth rhythm. Occasionally, she faked a movement to the left or right to keep Evie off balance. TJ tried to break free of Lucy’s defence, but she adhered to his every move. TJ gave Amelia a slight twitch of his head. She faked left, harder this time, then stepped right, sending Evie in the wrong direction. Open, she sent a high, arching pass to TJ’s elevated waiting hands. Amelia used the split-second head start she had on Evie to run to where the baseline met the three-point line. TJ had his back to the basket as he tried and failed to pivot around Lucy’s physical defence. When he flung the ball in Amelia’s direction, she coiled her legs and sprang up before Evie reached her. The ball went high into the air for the first basket of the game.

“Oh, it’s on now,” Lucy collected the rebound and sent a bullet pass in Evie’s direction. In the blink of an eye, Lucy was back in the key and took a layup under TJ’s outstretched arms.

The quartet continued battling it out through the afternoon. Amelia and TJ took the first game, but Evie and Lucy quickly took the second with some impressive outside shooting from Evie. The third game dragged out, with almost tit-for-tat scoring, along with an increase in physicality and trash talking. Amelia and TJ were up twenty points to nineteen, and needed one more point to win. Amelia dribbled outside the arc. A made shot from here would take them to twenty-two points and send them tumbling back down to eleven, under the hybrid rules they had chosen to play.

TJ was fighting to get free under the basket, closely marked by Lucy, who had her back to him and arms outstretched behind, containing him, as she waited to try intercepting the pass. Amelia considered lobbing the ball to him, but she couldn’t get enough distance from Evie to be confident in its accuracy. She moved side to side, expertly dribbling the ball, trying to tempt Evie to try to steal the ball. She could use that as her opening to step inside the arc and shoot. But Evie clearly knew better. She mirrored Amelia’s movements patiently, like a predator stalking its prey.

“Tick tock, Amelia,” Evie goaded. Amelia took a step back to get herself more space. When she started another run inside the arc, Evie spoke again, almost in a whisper.

“What’s the matter? Are you waiting for Keira to run past?”

Amelia was already in her shooting action, but Evie’s comment surprised her enough that she took her eye off the basket for a millisecond. A millisecond was all it took. She launched the ball with too much force. Amelia’s eyes lingered on Evie, before she turned to witness the ball ricochet off the backboard into TJ’s waiting hands. He wasted no time and used his excess height to shoot over Lucy, scoring, therefore ending the game.

Amelia spun and walked over to her bag, picking her water bottle out of the side pocket. Holding onto the fence and gripping it tightly, she took a deep breath. The tightness in her chest commanded her to exhale and suck another rapid breath in, but she ignored it, counting to four in her head before exhaling. Her lungs, as if sulking, reluctantly returned to a normal, un-panicked rhythm. She took a sip of her drink.

“Nice work, pipsqueak.” TJ clapped her on the shoulder, nearly causing her to choke on her water.

“Mm hmm,” Amelia managed between coughs.

TJ left to needle Lucy about their loss. Amelia took another drink to try and ease the itch at the back of her throat, before sensing Evie’s subtle presence beside her. She coughed a few more times.

“Are you okay?” Evie asked after Amelia’s coughing fit finally passed, her tone sheepish.

“Yeah, fine. My water just went down the wrong way.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Evie said, eyes boring into the side of Amelia’s face. Amelia forced her features into a neutral expression as she tried to conjure a witty response. Evie ploughed on. “You know I was only joking, right? About the Keira thing.”

“I know.”

Amelia sensed Evie studying her.

“…but maybe it hit a little close to home?”

Amelia was saved from responding when Lucy trotted over to them.