Voice Addiction

Chapter 2 (Adrian's POV) - Appeal to Probability

Chapter Two (Adrian’s POV)

Appeal to Probability

“Dude, we were on fire today!”

“Hell yeah! We’re gonna crush the other team next weekend.”

“Hey, Adrian, nice moves bro, you killed Jackson’s defense today.”

Adrian smiled wide at his teammates. “Yeah, I kicked your ass, didn’t I?” he mocked his friend, playfully punching him on his back.

Jackson scorned. “Dude, I let you do that. I thought it would be good for morale, you know?”

Adrian laughed. “Let’s see if you’ll still be singing that tune when I beat you again tomorrow.”

“Keep dreaming!”

It was a happy, tired, but enthusiastic, team that left the gym that late afternoon. Practices had been going better than ever and their hopes were up for the upcoming match. Even the Coach seemed to be satisfied – and he was never satisfied. He didn’t even spend his usual hour yelling at them in the locker room – and he always had something to yell about. Chad could even swear he had seen Coach smile during their training session – and no one had ever seen him smile before.

“Oh man, we are so gonna kill next game.” Chad sighed, relaxed, as they walked towards Adrian’s old car. “We couldn’t be playing better.”

“Yeah, they won’t even know what hit them,” Adrian agreed, looking for the car keys on his pockets. “We got this one, for sure.”

“Guys, what do I always tell you?” a deep, powerful voice spoke behind them. Turning around to find the voice’s owner, Adrian and Chad saw the team’s star player – their captain, Marshall. The tall, muscular, dark-skinned athlete looked intimidating with his furious expression and arms crossed around his chest. Adrian knew exactly what pissed Marshall off – he took the game pretty damn seriously and Adrian couldn’t blame him. Marshall was, there was no other word for it, talented. He had a gift. He was born to play basketball. He was strong, incredibly fast for someone so big and muscular and one hell of a leader. There was no doubt in Adrian’s mind that if someone was to make a future out of basketball in that team, it was him. And Marshall knew it.

“Huh… Don’t mix whisky with vodka?” Adrian mocked.

“Don’t make out with your sister?” Chad asked with a genuine thoughtful expression that made Adrian laugh.

“No and no, although yes, whisky and vodka definitely don’t go well together and, seriously, dude, don’t even look at my sister,” Marshall added, pointing at Chad with a menacing glare. “What I meant is, once you get too confident and relaxed about a game-“

“The other team already has the advantage, we know,” Adrian completed.

“Good. Then keep it real,” Marshall said before he smiled and let go of his captain mode. “Now, just between you and I,” he started, as he rested his arms around his friends’ shoulders, “we are gonna kick some serious ass.” The three boys laughed and Marshall continued, “Seriously guys, I can already see that championship title.”

They got to Adrian’s car but didn’t get inside. Instead, Marshall took three beers from his backpack, shared them with Adrian and Chad and the boys just rested against the car while enjoying the quick drink. Adrian thought this contrasted heavily with Marshall’s previous attitude but he shrugged it off. It didn’t bother him, on the contrary.

“A cold one never hurt anyone, especially after such a hard work out,” was his captain’s reasoning, like he had read Adrian’s mind.

“If Coach saw us right now, he would freak out.”