“You’re more than welcome to stay and eat with us,” Marcus says. “We were going to order pizza and have a movie night to settle Stephen in. Although I definitely won’t judge you if you choose the Hamilton and a fancy restaurant.”
“You’re very kind,” she says, “but we’ll leave you boys to it, we know you’ve got training tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I say, moving to stand next to her and pulling her into a hug.
As much as I’d love them to hang out, it will be nice to just relax with Marcus and Jordan for a bit.
“Alright, we’ll leave you to it,” my dad says. “You’ve got a great place here, Marcus, thank you for letting Stephen live with you.”
“No thanks needed,” he says, “it will be nice to have the company.”
“Hey!” Jordan punches him lightly on the shoulder. “What am I?”
“You don’t live here,” Marcus chuckles, “even if you eat my food like you do.”
We make our way to the door, and when we reach it, Dad pulls me into a hug and whispers, “I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you,” I say, extending our hug that little bit longer than usual.
He understands better than anyone how hard I’ve worked to get here, and even though he does it all the time, having him say he’s proud of me is one of the best feelings in the world.
“I love you,” Mom says, pulling me into a hug of herown.
“I love you too, Mom.”
“Alright, sweetheart,” Dad chuckles, taking her hand. “You can still see him all the time.”
“I know, I’m just proud.”
I wave them off from the door before returning to the others in the kitchen.
“Sorry about that,” I chuckle, “I think they still see me as a kid.”
“Oh that doesn’t change,” Jordan laughs, “you’ll meet my mom at one of the games and see that she’s exactly the same.”
“Mine too,” Marcus says. “Anyway, pizza?”
“Sounds great.”
“I shouldn’t have eaten that last slice of pizza,” I groan, as Ted shouts for us to do another round of up-downs.
“No-one made you eat it,” Jordan laughs beside me.
“I know, I blame myself.”
“Faster, Choi, faster!” Ted shouts, causing Jordan to laugh even harder.
“I’m gonna die,” I mutter.
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Jordan says, “this is the best cure for a pizza hangover.”
“I’ll remind you of that next time you moan the day after getting third helpings of Bri’s mac ‘n’ cheese.”
“Nah, mac ‘n’ cheese is a different type of hangover, this doesn’t work for that.”
“How convenient,” I chuckle.
“If you’re talking, you’re not working hard enough!” Ted shouts.
