Rebound: A 2nd Chance

As they were riding on the plane Jason turned his head over to the side where Kyle was sitting. Kyle had a bit of a somber air around him.

Jason asked "Ay what's with the long face bro? You still thinking about what's her name?" Kyle slowly turned his head to Jaya before letting out a sigh.

"Her name is Elizabeth. And yeah I'm kinda bummed out right now. We were talking the whole time while we were in New York but whenever I tried to ask her out to meet up irl she always had an excuse not to."

Jason patted Kyle on the shoulder "Hey, you don't know if they were just excuses man. She said that her parents were split and that she was flying over to see him right?

If she only has a few weeks to spend with her dad then it would probably be hard for her to take one of those days away from him."

Kyle ruffled his hair vigorously "I know that Jaya! I understand it logically and I get it up here." He then pointed to his head.

Kyle then pointed to the left side of his chest "But I just can't help how I feel down here! Even though my head understands everything my heart can't help but feel some type of way."

Jason sighed "Man. You got it bad bro." Kyle looked at Jason with a confused look "What are you talking about?"

Jason let out a small smile "You don't just have a crush on this girl. Looks like you really like her and I mean LIKE LIKE."

Kyle was stunned after hearing what Jason had said. After a moment he shook his head with an embarrassed smile on his face.

"I guess you're right Jaya. This is the first time a girl has made me feel this way. Sammy has a bunch of cute friends and they're all really nice... for the most part.

But none of them have made me feel the way that Liz makes me feel. When I'm texting her it's like a mixture of emotions.

Every text I get from her makes me smile and all of her jokes make me laugh but I also feel sad because I want to see her in person so much.

I want to see her smile and I want to see her beautiful hair. I want to hear her voice through my own ears and not through my phone."

Jason added "Well technically, even if her voice is coming through the phone you're still using your ears to-" Kyle interrupted him as he lightly punched him on the shoulder.

"You know what I mean!" Jason laughed as he rubbed his shoulder before apologizing "Yeah yeah I get you. I was just trying to crack a joke man.

Lighten things up you know?" Kyle finally smiled "Well I guess you did manage to do that. But that still doesn't give you a pass for being a smart ass."

Jason chuckled "Alright, I'm willing to settle for that. Look on the bright side. She said that she mostly lives with her mom in Cali.

You could probably invite her to watch one of our games during the season. That is unless she lives in one of the far parts of California.

I swear man. California is so huge that it could be a country all on its own. Just driving from San Francisco to Riverside is like seven hours."

Kyle let out a chuckle "At least we don't live in Texas man. One of my cosplay friends lives there and he says that he has to drive an hour just to go to McDonald's."

With a smile on Kyle's face the mood seemed to have been fixed as he and Jason began to talk about all the fun things that had happened during the span of their training camp in New York.

- - -

After a few hours the plane finally landed. Jason smiled as he looked out his window "Nothing like some smoggy LA air to welcome you back to Cali."

After getting off the plane Jason and all of the boys. They all dapped each other up as they said their goodbyes.

But despite the laughter and smiles that were present on their faces the mood around them couldn't help but be somewhat sad.

Jason smiled as he looked up at 3D. He patted him on the shoulder "Good to see you decided to slim down a little big guy.

It'll definitely help you out with your mobility on the court and it should be way better for your health. 

I get that you love playing ball as much as I do but you gotta remember that it's still just a game at the end of the day. Nothing is more important than your health."

3D let out a chuckle as he reached down and ruffled Jason's hair "Good to know that you know that. Maybe you should take your own advice one of these days.

I'll see you at the state tournament Jaya. Or maybe Nationals if you choose a school that's out of state. That means you better make some noise as soon as you get to high school."

Jason grinned "You already know bro. I don't know how to do anything other than make a splash no matter where I go."

After 3D turned around and walked away Jason turned to Danilo and Alex with a smile on his face "It's going to be a lot quieter without you guys around.

Think about what I said. I'm being serious when I say that I want you guys on my squad next season. If you transfer to Jefferson I swear you guys can play to your full potential.

You won't have to worry about any politics and you can just focus on hooping." Danilo smiled as he replied "For sure bro. It would be awesome to play with a guy like you."

Alex nodded his head before slapping his brother on the back "We'll talk about it with our folks. I'm with Dlo on this one. It would be great to play with you."

After the twins said their goodbyes to Jason and Kyle they turned around and left. Rudy walked up to Jason and started shaking him.

"Bro that's so unfair! You're recruiting the twins? If I didn't live all the way out in Sac then I would totally be down to transfer.

Think about it. With the combined powers of two MCs we would be unstoppable! It would be like Goku and Saitama joining forces!"

Jason laughed as he freed himself from Rudy's hold "You already know that our doors our always open to you Rudy. Right Kyle?"

Kyle laughed as he walked up to Rudy and slapped him on the back "For sure. Although I don't know if that was the best comparison.

You two joining forces would be like Goku and Vegeta teaming up." Rudy turned around and looked to Kyle with a angry expression on his face as he furrowed his brows.

"I better be Goku then Kyle." Kyle chuckled "Nah, you are one hundred percent Vegeta bro." After that the two of them began squabbling.

Jason smiled as he watched the two of them 'Nice to see that Kyle found someone else that's like him.'

Jason then asked "Are you getting of here Rudy? The drive to Sacramento from here is a pretty long one."

Rudy turned around to Jason and answered "Nah. This is just a stop. I have another flight that leaves in an hour. It'll take me straight back to Sacramento and my mom will pick me up from there."

Jason reached out and shook Rudy's hand "Well I guess this is where we split. Our parents our waiting for us outside."

Jason and Kyle both dapped Rudy up before turning around and leaving. After a bit of a walk Jason and Kyle made their way out of the airport.

As soon as they stepped outside Jason and Kyle saw their parents. Kyle ran up to his mom and pulled her into a tight hug.

"I missed you mom! The food in New York was good but it's nothing like your home cooking!" She simply smiled as she squeezed her son in her hug.

"I missed you to baby. I saw all the pictures and videos you posted. Looks like you and Jaya had your own fair share of fun while you two were away."

As those two were catching up Jason walked towards his parents with a smile on his face "Hey guys. I'm back."

As soon as he said that his mom rushed toward him and pulled him into a tight hug "We missed you so much Jaya!"

His dad laughed as he walked over and hugged the two of them "More like I missed you and your mom was worried nonstop about you.

She watched every episode that Nike put out and she would scream like an opera singer whenever she saw you.

I never saw your mom on her phone as much as she was while you were away. She would wait for anything new about you to pop up so that she could click on it."

After the hug Jason's dad looked at him with a warm smile on his face "So a million dollars huh? Looks like we'll have a lot to talk about when we get home.

After hearing his dad say that the image of Nate smiling as he waved goodbye to him and Kyle at the airport popped into his head.

Jason looked up at his dad with a nervous smile "Yeah..... We actually do have a lot to talk about hehe."