Chapter 16:

Night Without The Boys - Orange Ball

Road Trip with The Boys


“... And then we had instant noodles when the fireworks went off!” I said.

“Uh-huh,” Honda replied.

“There was hot dog, yogurt, and even cheeseburger flavour. They tasted unusual, but not too bad.”

“Ohh, I’ve tried those too. I still prefer curry.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Anywhere else?”

“We visited the shrine! I got a health protection charm.”

“Ahha, I bet it was because of that allergies thing.”

“Shut up.”

“Did you guys visit the Tokyo Tower?” he asked.

“Only for a little bit...” I replied. “But that’s a story for another day. What’s the plan for our grad trip?”

Thump. Thump. Thump.

A group of kids dribbled their ball down the narrow, paved trail from the playground to the basketball court. Cars would occasionally roll by slowly, held back by the park zone’s speed limit. Birds chirped and leaves rustled on this fine summer day—the same summer that was nearing its end.

Now who were these boys, talking on a bench between a playground and a ball court?

Well, you know one of them’s named Honda. He’s a Japanese friend on my basketball team. I was bragging to him about the guys who dragged me to Japan and saved my life on the plane.

The other person was me, Prius.

“Mm, we’ll be taking a plane to Vancouver,” Honda said. “And I guess we’ll chill by the seaside for ten days. We’ll probably party at some restaurants, the beach, go swimming. I dunno, seaside things.”

“Ah. Are we going to any fancy restaurants? Like the ones with multiple courses and super small servings sizes.”

“...We don’t have that much money.”

“Right.”

Honk!

I turned to see that one of kids in the middle of the street, picking up their stray ball. He was dangerously close to the car’s beaming headlights. Just one more meter, and a grave accident might’ve happened.

“I guess that also means we’re not driving?” I asked. “I really wanted to do a road trip there.”

“But that means we’d have to drive for multiple days,” Honda complained. “Plus, we’ll be staying nights in places that aren’t Vancouver. That’s such a waste of our trip time.”

“Come on. Road trips are fun!”

“We’ve been on enough of those boring bus rides for our basketball games!”

“No, no. It’s completely different,” I explained. “We have total freedom since we’re the ones driving! Bathroom breaks whenever we want, snacks and drinks are allowed.

“But it’s such a cramped space. Plus, there’s no internet when we drive through the mountains.”

“Well... we can talk and stuff,” I argued. “The small space feels very cozy and personal. It’s great for talking about things.”

“I don’t really get what you mean,” Honda shook his head. “But even if I was willing to give it a shot, there’s eleven other people on the team that unanimously voted for plane. There’s no one else who wants to drive that long.”

“...Fine,” I sighed.

I’ve always wanted to do a road trip to Vancouver, but I guess I’ll have to wait.

Would the boys be down?

Mm... probably not. We just came back from a pretty big trip, so I doubt Coco and Ravi can convince their parents for another huge outing. Well, it won’t hurt to ask.

Oh, wait... if we count my grad trip with the team, that means there’s only one week left of summer. We wouldn’t have enough time for a proper trip.

“...Prius? Hey.”

I snapped back to reality.

“What’s up?”

“The kids forgot their ball here. Wanna shoot a couple hoops before they come back for it?”

“Sure.”

Painted lines marked the concrete platform, setting boundaries for each hoop. Although it was a little small, it was still a basketball court—a place where I feel at home. Honda stood at the three-point line, took aim, and shot.

Bonk.

It rebounded off the backboard, and pathetically bounced on the pavement.

“Man. I should start practicing again,” he remarked.

“Haven’t been playing lately?”

“No, I’ve been pre-studying for university. I’m not like the guys who got sports scholarships.”

“Ah...”

“What about you?”

“I’m doing mechanics. So I guess I’ve been driving a lot. Does that count as studying?”

“Whatever you say buddy,” Honda chuckled. He passed the ball to me.

Walking over to the spot he was previously standing, I lined up the basketball’s markings with my middle finger.

I bent my knees...

Sprang into the air...

And flicked my wrist.

Swish.

“...”

“Show off,” Honda pouted.

“Just get better,” I retorted.

“Whatever man. We’re not gonna be playing anymore anyways.”

“Not even for fun?”

“Maybe. We’ll see how busy university gets.”

“Fair. Let’s shoot a couple more, then.”

Dribble, dribble, shoot. We aimlessly practiced our aiming, with no particular goal. My mind shut off, and muscle memory took over.

Swish.

As we warmed up, we began making more hoops. Shoes clacked against concrete, sweat dripped down my neck, and the hoop’s sound rewarded each successful shot.

Didn’t I meet Via in a place like this?

Right. It was immediately after a basketball game. Instead of heading straight to the afterparty, I decided to have a short chat with him. Such a small, insignificant decision—yet it had such a huge impact.

Basketball found me most of my friends. I had fun building comradery and fooling around as a team. What made it so amazing was that even outside of the sport, we were in our own friend group.

But things like hangouts and trips became progressively harder to organize with such a big group of people. As people started part-time jobs and invested more time into their dreams, we had less time for each other. I’m sure everyone’s uncertain about sustaining our friendships into adulthood, so we purposefully scheduled one last, major trip before we start university. Just me and my boys on the team.

It was to end our adolescence with a bang.

Swish.

“Finally!” Honda exclaimed. “You know, I spent hours trying to get this half-court shot as a kid. I never really got it until I joined the team in high school.”

“Well, you got it now.”

“Yup. It’s funny thinking that I joined the team for such a silly reason...”

“Do you regret it?”

Honda laughed.

“Of course not.”

Of course not.

There was a famous children’s author that once said:

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

At this moment, those words couldn’t be more true for me—I had a stupid grin on my face that I couldn’t wipe off.

“Well, I gotta go now,” Honda said. “It was nice catching up!”

“Yup. See ya!”

I watched as Honda ran across the court, down the trail by the playground, and away on the sidewalk. His back slowly shrunk into the distance until he was completely out of sight.

We’d only get to see each other a couple more times. After that, our group will scatter and it’ll get increasingly harder to keep in touch.

Well, at least I have my other boys.

They were the OGs who staved off my boredom in the past, and who came back to save me this summer. I was finally able to take my mind off of the future, and even had road trips to look forward to every single week.

Because of Via, the end of my basketball season – which was such a major part of my life – kickstarted my wanderlust and found me some new travel buddies. It felt as if I had started another sport in place of my last one.

Well, I guess I should head home too...

As I got up, I saw a familiar male figure in the distance. It was a slim boy with a basketball under his arm, nose deep into his phone. His hair was a lot messier than usual.

My phone buzzed. I picked it up and brought it to my ear simultaneously with the distant figure.

“Hey Prius, you wanna play ball? I’m at the court already.”

“Aren’t you on your camping trip?”

“I just got back. So you playing or what?”

“...”

“Prius? Hello?”

I hung up and started waving frantically.

“Via!” I shouted. “Call the others!”

o

“Hey bruv, you coming to the party today?” my friend said over the phone.

“Yeah! It’s at Brandon’s, right?” I replied.

“Yuup. That’s great man, I haven’t seen you in a while! What’ve you been up to?”

“I’ve got back in touch with some of my junior high friends, and we’ve been going on roadtrips. It’s been pretty great.”

“Aw, man. They funner than us? That why you haven’t been around lately?”

“Nah, my parents just don’t like me hanging around some parts of the city. You know how they are.”

“Really? That never stopped you before,” my friend remarked. “You always took the initiated.”

“Initiative.”

“Yeah.”

“Well...”

I couldn’t tell him it was because I was trying to imitate someone.

“It’s just how things are now,” I said. “My parents are cracking down a little harder because university’s coming up and all.”

“I see...”

Was it weak for me to blame these things on my parents?

“Well, I’ll see you tonight!” I said.

“Yeah! Oh, and just keep this between you and me, but...” he lowered his voice into a whisper. “...We’ll be playing orange tonight.”

“...Orange?” I asked quizzically. “Like... basketball?”

“Naw. Like the good stuff, you know. That thing we were talking about a couple months back! Brandon got his hands on a lot of it.”

“...Oh.”

“Yeah. But keep it on the quiet side, will you?”

“...Right. See ya.”

Click.

I was at a loss. In our friend group, I’ve always been the voice of reason... or at least, the conservative voice.

My parents are awesome. I love them. I want to respect their wishes. When they tell me to stay away from drinking and drugs, they mean the best. When they tell me to stay away from anything illegal—what reason do I have to disobey?

But a lot of my friends have different kinds of families. Guardians who condone, and even support, things that my own parents do not. Since this world is filled with such diverse groups of people, it should come across as no surprise that our parents could behave very differently as well.

...Still.

I didn’t exactly feel comfortable with what my friends were doing.

Sure, they were eighteen. And sure, I like them... but I wasn’t ready for this.

Now who was this young boy, conflicted between joining in with his friend group and honouring the commands of his parents?

You might have guessed—it was me, Ravi.

If it wasn’t clear enough, my high school friends enjoyed performing illicit activities. I did not.

Birds chirped outside the window. It was a bright and sunny afternoon, perfect for outdoors activities. Via was coming home today from camping, and the others... well, I’m not sure what they were doing. I told them I had a party today so we didn’t make any plans, but...

...Now I’m having second thoughts.

Ahh... what to do, what to do?

Aimlessly scrolling through my phone, I found myself browsing my contacts list. Was there a reason I ended up here?

...

I wanted to talk to someone.

I wanted to give up, cut all my ties, and sleep everything away. Maintaining relationships is hard. Looking for opportunities to hang out with people is hard. Obeying my parents while hanging out with my current crowd is hard. Finding someone who will listen without judging is hard.

...

Prius.

There wasn’t anything that made me stop at his name. It just happened to catch my eye. Without thinking further, I pressed the call button.

Ring.

“Hey Ravi, what’s up?”

“You busy right now?”

“I’m meeting with a friend later, but I can talk for a bit. Why?”

“It’s just... I need some advice.”

“You?” Prius laughed. “Let me guess, is it a girl?”

“No.”

“Really? You’re a lot smarter than I am, so I can’t imagine what advice I could give you.”

“It’s about my friends...”

“Oh, I have those.”

“They’re planning on using illegal substances at the party tonight.”

“...Oh.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“...”

The silence felt uncomfortable. I wasn’t even sure how Prius would respond – I realized I’ve never talked about these issues with him before.

“Has this ever happened before?” Prius asked.

“Kind of. My high school friends... have done a lot of things I haven’t been comfortable with.”

“What did you do then?”

“I went along with it.”

“Why?”

...

Why?

“It’s... embarrassing to say.”

“Dude, I’ve bawled my eyes out in front of you. It’s your turn.”

I took a deep breath.

“It’s because I wanted to be like you.”

“...”

“And Coco. And Via. You guys were popular and made friends easily. I wasn’t. The only reason I had friends at all was because you guys dragged me along all the time.”

“So how were you being like us?”

“I... tried dragging people along. Like you guys did.”

“Did it work?”

“I made a lot of friends, yes. There were never any problems socially since I hung out with a well-known group, and was passive enough to not cause any conflicts. But it was hard to maintain.”

“Because that isn’t you.”

“Yes.”

“You were tired of pretending.”

“...Yes.”

Prius sighed.

“So why didn’t you just stop pretending?”

“Because... I’d be alone if I stopped keeping it up. You need to hang out frequently to maintain relationships. Going on dates brings you closer to someone, the same way playing basketball brings you closer to your teammates. If I didn’t do the things they did, then we wouldn’t have been friends for long.”

“...But you don’t want to do them?”

“It’s not that easy!”

“I don’t understand, Ravi.”

“Your personality is just that way. You make friends more easily than I do.”

“...No I don’t.”

Thump. Thump.

It was my heart. Why was I so agitated?

I sighed.

“Listen man,” Prius said softly. “I don’t gravitate people towards me. And I don’t drag people along either—you got that part wrong. Think about why we’re friends in the first place.”

“...You guys are just likeable?”

“Is that why you were friends with us?”

“Well...”

“I think we were friends because we did things together,” Prius said. “We enjoyed the same things as kids, so we were close. The same way I enjoyed basketball in high school, and was close with my team because of that. Can you not make friends doing things that you like? Just to make friends, will you do things you don’t like?”

...

What did I like doing?

I liked going outdoors, playing games, going on trips. Are there friends I could make just doing those things? People who I can grow closer to by living how I liked?

There were.

“My friend’s here, I gotta go now,” Prius said.

“Ah, thanks for talking. I’m sorry for taking it out on you.”

“That’s fine. I took my anger out on you before, remember?”

“Haha, yeah.”

“Well you got it figured out now?”

“More or less.”

“See ya.”

Beep.

Scared of confrontation, I decided to update my friend through text. After writing and rewriting my news multiple times, I inhaled, and pressed the send button.

Ravi: I don’t feel too well, so I won’t be coming to the party tonight. Sorry!

It was the clearest way to convey my real message.

“I’m flaking.”

Might as well have said that. Ah, they probably won’t invite me to their hangouts anymore. A hollow uncertainty made its way into my chest. Was I going to be ostracized? High school’s over, so it shouldn’t matter... but it certainly wasn’t great, knowing that some of the relationships I’ve built might end up meaningless.

Blip.

I froze. A reply already?

Reading the message on my screen, I felt...

Numb.

It was a warm numbness that filled my uncertainties.

Via: I’m back from my trip