Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Jason and Kyle were at the foot of the bed sitting on the edge watching as some highlights from a recent game played on the TV.

One the side of the bed were Danilo and Alex as their attention was on the game as well. Rudy had his hands behind his head as he laid down on the bed.

Meanwhile 3D was standing on the side as the vein on his forehead began to throb. He clenched his teeth as he forced out his words.

"What are you guys doing in my room?" Jason replied without taking his eyes off of the TV "We just played a game 3D.

We hungry and we tired. Obviously we\'re all here to eat dinner man." Kyle\'s headful of short dreads bounced as he happily nodded his head "Yup yup. It\'s dinner time."

Danilo pumped his fist "Damn bro! Don\'t do em like that TP. Did you see that? He didn\'t just catch a body on that dunk. He caught two!"

3D sat his huge figure down on the only unoccupied bed in the room. The bed sank in against the weight of his hulking frame.

"So why are you guys here? You guys could eat at the restaurant or order room service from your room. You don\'t need to be here."

3D then turned to Rudy and pointed at him "And you! I don\'t even like you bro so why the hell are you in my room? You don\'t know me like that."

Rudy was scrolling through his social media on his phone when 3D yelled at him. Rudy laughed "Chill out tubby.

The whole eat a meal together thing does sound fun but unlike these guys I have a reason to be here. This is my room."

Rudy pulled out his wallet and he took a key card out from it. He waved it around as he held it in between his middle and pointing finger.

"This is my room too." Danilo busted out laughing and then started to clap his hands "Hahaha! Aren\'t you happy 3D?

Not only do you have a roommate but you guys are perfect for each other. Gotta hand it to Nike. They actually paired the two most annoying players in California in one room hahaha."

Alex had a slight smile on his face as he nudged his brother in the side with his elbow "You can\'t say stuff like that Dlo.

You can mess with 3D but we aren\'t that close to Rudy. He might actually get offended." 3D looked at them with an annoyed expression on his face.

"You guys don\'t know me like that either! Don\'t act like we\'re all friends now. We rode on the plane together and that\'s it."

Jason pulled a protein bar from the pockets of his shorts. He ripped the wrapper open before taking a bite out of it.

Without taking his eyes off of the TV Jason responded with his usual emotionless face and cold tone "Don\'t be like that 3D.

We\'ve been through the heat of battle together now at this point. It\'s the perfect way to start a friendship."

Kyle nodded before adding "Yeah 3D. Enemies becoming friends after fighting against a shared enemy is one of the basics of shonen."

Rudy added "Totally. The only thing that could make this an even more perfect shonen moment would be if you had some sort of devil or demon sealed away in your arm.

Then we find out that the only way to free you from your curse is to win a national title because the demon that\'s sealed in your arm is a huge basketball fan.

Ooh then your dead grandpa comes to the hotel just for you to discover that he didn\'t actually die! And that he had to go into hiding because of an evil organization that\'s bent on world dominatio-"

3D stopped Rudy as he was in the middle of his tangent "Stop stop stop! I don\'t even know what you\'re talking about by this point.

All I know is that you guys need to get out of my room because there\'s no reason for you guys to be here."

Jason finally turned his head away from the TV as he tossed the remaining half of his protein bar into his mouth before looking 3D straight in the eyes.

"Come on 3D. You want to spend this entire time in New York by yourself?

I get that we\'re here to focus on basketball and to improve our skills at the training camp but you have to let out some steam every once in a while.

All work and no play ain\'t healthy for you bro. Humans weren\'t designed to be able to focus all on getting work done. Sometimes you have to let yourself goof off and waste time."

What Jason was saying now was something that he came to learn after his jump back in time. In his past life all he had focused on was basketball.

His mind was fixated on the sole thought of making it to the pros and playing basketball on the professional level.

But thanks to that he ignored all the other aspects of life that he should have been enjoying. He didn\'t have any real friends other than Devin and Tory.

He dated a few different girls but all of his relationships were short term as the girls couldn\'t handle feeling neglected because all he focused on was basketball.

And although he cherished all the memories that he had made with all of his past teammates Jason realized that he wasn\'t close to any of them other than Devin.

As the years passed by Jason got older and older and before he knew it he was all alone. Tory had passed away from her unfortunate accident while Devin was traveling around the world as he received training from the company.

While his old teammates form UCLA would occasionally post things on their social media accounts and comment on each others\' posts Jason was the only one that they didn\'t bother to keep in touch with.

All he could do was silently watch from behind a screen as his old teammates congratulated each other on major life milestones such as getting married or buying a house.

And as much as he wanted to try posting or reaching out to his old teammates he just could never bring himself to do it.

Now Jason is trying to achieve his dreams of becoming a professional basketball player while also improving the state of his own private life.

3D went silent. The seconds turned into minutes as the silence continued while 3D looked to be deep in thought about what Jason had said.

Finally he sighed as he laid down on his bed "Whatever. I don\'t have enough energy to waste arguing with you guys.

Just order your food, eat, and get out." Jason cracked a small smile before slapping Kyle on the back "You heard the man. Let\'s try out the hotel\'s room service."

The boys all ordered from the room service menu. Jason ordered a double cheeseburger with fries and a large strawberry milkshake while Kyle ordered a chilly cheese hotdog.

Danilo and Alex both ordered servings of meatloaf with mash potatoes while Rudy ordered some ramen to be delivered to the hotel by a different restaurant.

3D ordered a double cheeseburger as well but he thought that it wouldn\'t be enough so he spent some more money out of his own pocket to order a super sized burrito from an outside restaurant.

After about forty minutes all of their food arrived. The boys all sat down in whatever spot they could find as they chowed down on their food while also watching games and highlights from that day.

The conversations went from who had the best handles in the league currently to what flavor of milkshake was truly supreme.

And as much as 3D liked to complain about having all of the guys in his room he was cracking the occasional smile and joined in on a few of the jokes.

As Jason was sipping on the straw of his strawberry milkshake he couldn\'t help but feel a warm sense of happiness as he saw all the guys sitting around like this.

\'So far so good. New York has been a blast so far. Ooh I should probably take a picture. I\'m sure mom would like it."

Jason pulled out his phone before turning the front camera towards himself and the other guys "Look over here guys. Let\'s take a picture to celebrate our first night together in the Big Apple."

Danilo and Alex both smiled at the camera. Rudy and Kyle were both doing a pose from something they called \'The Fusion Dance\' while 3D had an awkward smile on his face.

Jason put up a peace sign as he smiled brightly "Say cheese!" And so their first night in New York city came to a close.