Can The Player PLAY The Player?

Point 20.

Z.B

Aaron was acting weird.

I knew it and everyone else around him knew it. 

"You good, man?" Owen asked as the captain stood a few feet from us, ball in his head and sweat dripping down his body, but it was clear that his mind was elsewhere. "Huh?" Aaron raised a brow, seemingly snapping back to Earth. "Did you say something to me, Owen?" He questioned and Owen shot me a look of confusion and worry before turning back to Aaron.

"Yeah, I asked if you were okay," He replied and Aaron nodded before turning back to dribbling the ball aimlessly. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He didn't sound fine though and he didn't look fine. 

I knew this for a fact because he was avoiding eye contact with me. He even texted me and told me that I didn't have to wait for him and that I could drive on to school without him. It was very unnerving because even when he was still mad at me way back when, he always let me drive him to school. 

And if that wasn't the icing on the cake, I went to give him a hug, maybe ruffle his hair and perform our little handshake as that was our morning routine since sandbox days, but he just walked right past me without even flinching.

I wasn't going to lie at all. It hurt. I was shocked, confused, bewildered, yet sad all in one because what did I do wrong? 

Yesterday was fine between us after I dropped him off at his house. He didn't call me on Facetime to play COD with him like usual, so I texted him and I got no response. I wasn't even sure if I was the problem, but I knew Aaron. If he had an issue with someone, he was going to confront them about it and let them know how it made him feel. He never did the silent treatment thing, which threw us all off.

Even the coach was giving him weird looks because he called for drills without giving us our motivational warm-up of the day like he normally did. He just walked out of the locker room and blew the whistle, yelling for us to start running laps. 

That was a key indicator because he believed that powerful words could influence the will of others. If he said he believed in us, we believed in ourselves and this was true, for we always felt pumped and ready to kick ass every time. 

Coach Johnson gave me a puzzled look and I shrugged with a shake of my head. We were all at a loss, especially me because I was the only one he was staying clear of. 

"Aaron, make you sure get your head on straight," The coach demanded as he patted his head. "We have a game tomorrow night and we can't afford to have you off of your game," He said it in a stern manner, but even we could tell that he was bothered by the change in Aaron's behavior. He was always the same every day: a little mean, cursing with every sentence, brash and rude tone as he urged us to do our best.

Akito said nothing but nodded as Aaron blew the whistle again. "Alright, guys go shower," He waved a hand off, eyes looking everywhere but at us, his eyes switching through emotion like settings on a shower. He looked extremely confused and annoyed, but not with us. "Aaron, man, you good?" I stepped closer to him as our teammates descended in the direction of the locker room. He stopped me by putting a hand up, halting further steps without even making eye contact with me.

"I-I'm fine," He stammered without even giving me a mere glance as he stormed past me, heading to shower. I looked down at the place where his hand was previously at, pondering if it was something about me. Did I smell? 

I spent a good extra few minutes in the shower, making sure that I smelled good enough to eat before stepping out and dressing. Aaron was gone before I came out, so I just hurried up to meet Natalia and the gang at lunch.