The applause in the United Arena was not long in coming the moment the game reached its end.
"81-96" was the score that could be seen on the stadium's big screen, giving a comfortable victory to the Chicago team against the Cavaliers under the command of Kyrie Irving. Down on the hardwood, the players shook hands and patted each other on the back while reporters invaded the court to interview the players and know their opinions about the game and their expectations for the season. The most memorable photo of the entire encounter was that of Derrick Rose patting a young Kyrie Irving on the back, who found himself with his hands on his hips trying to regulate his breathing after playing almost completely the whole game. Approaching slightly, Derrick said some brief words in Kyrie's ear, which could not be heard by the press surrounding them.
After that, Derrick slowly moved away, directing himself straight toward the locker rooms while he was immediately surrounded by a circle of reporters and cameramen who did not stop pointing microphones at his face, and flashes did not stop firing through the hundreds of cameras.
"Derrick, Derrick, over here," were the words repeated by the hundreds of reporters in his direction, who wanted to do nothing else but reach the locker room to then abandon the arena.
"What are your perspectives for this season?" one of the reporters launched that question among the hundreds of voices heard at that moment.
"Do you think you can lead the Bulls to win another ring this season?"
"How is your knee doing after your ACL surgery?"
After much effort, Derrick finally managed to reach the players' tunnel, where the security guards of the place prevented the mob of reporters from entering, managing thus a moment of peace for Derrick. Opening the locker room door, he immediately took a moment to sit on his chair before pulling his phone out of his sports bag and turning it on.
As soon as the phone turned on, the sounds of hundreds of notifications were not long in coming, which was already a custom for Derrick. The first thing he did was eliminate the hundreds of notifications he had on Instagram, which probably were from models or gold diggers, to open the chat with his girlfriend and know how his son was doing. After that, one message in particular captured Derrick's attention, since that person in particular rarely contacted him.
Coach: Good game today.
It was a simple message that Derrick read as soon as he opened the chat, leaving him briefly stunned, without knowing whether he should respond to the message or simply ghost it and act as if he had never read it.
Coach: Tomorrow early my team is going to train at the Berto Center.
It was the next message Derrick received on his phone, and after a few seconds without obtaining any other message, he knew that was all. Leaning back against his chair, Derrick took a few extra seconds to see the messages again before turning off the screen and letting himself be plunged into his thoughts. He knew there was a reason for the coach to send him a message after so much time, and he also knew that he found himself in the city at this moment.
"Well, maybe I can go and take a look," Derrick murmured to himself in the solitude of the locker room. Tomorrow was his day off, so maybe going and giving a look at his coach's team's new players was not a bad idea.
Immediately after that idea settled in his mind, the locker room door was opened again, and the rest of the Bulls team players entered amid laughter to begin changing clothes.
"Yo bro, you abandoned us out there," Carlos Boozer said in jest while he removed his jersey, which was damp with sweat, and tossed it without looking toward a corner of the room.
"I didn't want to keep dealing with the reporters' questions," Derrick said while he grabbed his towel, ready to direct himself to take a quick shower to dress and go straight home to rest. Without saying any other word, Derrick left the locker room with the rest of the players conversing while he retired briefly.
Back in the stands, the Wildcats team, seeing how little by little the stadium was emptying, decided to stand up as well to go rest at the hotel.
"The game was mind-blowing," said one of Willie's teammates, remembering also how at one moment of the match the stadium cameras pointed directly at the stands where the team found itself.
"All right boys, it's time to return to rest," Calipari said, standing up and brushing invisible dust off his pants and buttoning his coat next to Orlando, who was sitting at his side. The entire team, standing up, began to direct themselves straight toward the nearest exit while they still kept murmuring among themselves about the best moments of the match in question.
Giving one last look at his phone, Coach Calipari smiled imperceptibly upon seeing how his message had been seen by one of his former disciples. Immediately, the entire Wildcats team mounted into the vehicle that had taken them to the stadium to direct themselves back to the hotel to rest.
15 minutes later.
Upon arriving at the hotel lobby, the majority of players already disposed themselves to direct themselves toward the elevators, ready to return to their rooms to be able to rest before the training session the team would have first thing in the morning before their game at night.
"Before anything, one last warning," Calipari said, making the majority of the players stop to be able to turn and see the coach.
"If I find anyone outside their room or if they disappeared, there will be serious consequences," Calipari said seriously, looking especially at the most rowdy players like Willie, who shrunk slightly upon seeing the look his coach gave him. After that notice, everyone immediately went up to their rooms without talking back, not wanting to know the kind of punishment they would suffer if Calipari discovered them outside their rooms.
Along with Julius, Aaron went up to his room to then proceed to dress and prepare to sleep, with both already lying on their respective beds. With his phone in hand, Aaron began to chat with his mother after having sent her the photos he had taken in the stadium along with moments he had recorded during the game. The photos he had also passed to Hannah, but it seems that she had not seen them yet since the notification that she had seen them did not appear. Lately, conversations with Hannah had become sporadic and almost always were brief, since the distance and Hannah's demanding schedule at Columbia made their moments become somewhat scarce.
Turning off his phone, Aaron decided to leave his phone on his nightstand and lie back with his hands beneath his pillow while he looked at the ceiling in total concentration.
"Are you still awake?" asked Julius, who also found himself with his gaze lost on the ceiling, unable to find sleep.
"Yeah," was the only word Aaron pronounced without even raising his sight, as if the ceiling were the most interesting thing in the world at those moments.
"Tomorrow we play against Michigan," was the next thing Julius said, hoping that a conversation would soon help him find sleep to be able to be ready for tomorrow. Upon obtaining no response, he instinctively turned his head only to see how Aaron kept being awake and with his gaze still fixed on the ceiling, as if he were tucked into his own world inside his head.
"Hey, are you listening to me?" Julius asked while he extended his arm and gave a light poke to Aaron's body, gaining thus finally the latter's attention.
"Yeah, yeah, I was just thinking about the game we just saw," Aaron finally told him, sharing the thoughts that were revolving through his head.
"Don't even tell me, brother, it was spectacular," Julius said, while inside he imagined himself being on the hardwood with hundreds of people chanting his name as he rose in the air and slammed the ball that gave his team the victory in a playoff final. After that, he was crowned MVP of the finals while receiving the Larry O'Brien trophy, consolidating his legacy as one of the greatest players of all time and reaching the Hall of Fame. Thinking about that, he also could not help but think about the millions he would earn and the hundreds of models and influencers with whom he could spend his free time.
"Hey Julius, did you hear what I told you?" This time it was Aaron's turn to direct a look at Julius, who had a silly smile on his face, knowing what he was thinking inside his head.
"Yeah, yeah, I was just thinking about tomorrow's game," Julius responded to him quickly once he came out of his thoughts.
Thinking that it was best to sleep, Aaron turned off the light of the lamp that illuminated the room, leaving the room completely in darkness and closing his eyes to finally be reached by Morpheus and fall asleep.
With the sound of the alarm clock, Aaron opened his eyes suddenly, almost as if by magic, before standing up and beginning to stretch on the room floor while he still could hear the snores coming out of Julius's mouth. Despite the high volume of the alarm, Julius did not even flinch; he simply turned sideways on the bed to keep sleeping for more time.
Rolling his eyes, Aaron immediately directed himself to the bathroom to take a good shower to start the day, knowing they had 1 hour before having to go downstairs to meet with the team for breakfast and then direct themselves to the training center that the Bulls lent the team for the practice before the game.
Coming out of the shower, Aaron immediately approached Julius's bed and began to shake his friend, hoping to wake him up so that he would get ready quickly for breakfast. "Come on, get up," he said, to shake him even harder but without obtaining a response.
"5 more minutes," Julius murmured among dreams, without giving signs that in 5 minutes he was going to get up from bed.
With resignation, Aaron directed himself to the small table there was in the room, where there was also a water pitcher with two glasses in case they were thirsty at night, and Aaron without any hesitation filled a glass before returning to his original position.
"Last chance to get up," Aaron told him, putting the glass right above his head, but upon obtaining no response, he knew he had to do it.
"Splash" was the sound heard the moment the glass emptied straight over Julius's face.
"Holy shit!" Julius cursed, waking up suddenly while he passed a hand over his face to remove the water from his eyelids and glare at his friend, who was trying by all means to hold back his laughter.
"Again? Are you serious, motherfucker?" Julius could not help but say while he finally stood up, not wanting to keep in the bed, which found itself damp from the water Aaron threw on it.
"You didn't want to get up," was Aaron's simple answer while he picked up his sports bag and prepared to abandon the room, not disposed to listen to the same speech Julius had given him the other times. This was not the first time Aaron woke Julius up that way, nor would it be the last, since he better than anyone knew that Julius was a very sleepy person by nature.
As soon as he came down from the elevator, he immediately directed himself toward the buffet breakfast the hotel had to grab a plate and serve his food to sit with his teammates who were already downstairs.
"Julius didn't come with you?" Andrew asked, surprised upon seeing how Aaron was the only one who had come down without any sign of his other friend.
"Let's just say he had a little wet accident," Aaron said while he held back his laughter, and his teammates looked at him surprised while they kept having breakfast
Authors thought
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