IT WAS NOW HALFTIME, rod wave elite was currently up by 21. caine's team was getting fried, but caine scored most of his team's points, so he was doing pretty good in cam's eyes.

donovan, one of nelson's teammates, missed his free throws, so they had to run during halftime.

after they ran, elyse ran over to nelson, and tapped his shoulder. nelson sent her a little smile before asking for permission from cam who was about to start explaining his game plans. "hey cam, is it okay if i hoop with elyse a bit" nelson asked cam.

"why not nelson, it's not like you're getting any fucking playtime anyway" cam joked.

"aw fuck you cam" nelson replied walking away with elyse.

there was 5 more minutes left giving them time to 1v1.

"alright first to 5 who's starting?" nelson asked holding the ball.

"rock paper scissors?" elyse suggested putting her hair in a ponytail.

"okay bet" nelson said putting his hands out in front of her.

"rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" they recited. elyse did 'rock' and nelson did 'scissors'.

"ha! my turn!" elyse said in a singsong voice while she grabbed the basketball from nelson's hands.

elyse gave nelson the ball back, so he could check it to her. once he bounce passed it back, elyse jabbed to the right and waited for nelson to step up. since nelson didn't step up, she took a three point shot. it swished through the hoop.

"BOOM" the crowd yelled as they saw the ball make it into the basket.

"damn okay, didn't know you were like that" nelson said smirking at her.

"2-0, you gotta step up bro"

"kay" nelson replied nonchalantly before handing her back the ball.

nelson came closer to her to guard her per request, so she started to bring out her signature ankle breaker. she did a cross move, then between, to a behind the back dribble.

as she did that the crowd watched intently, and nelson stumbled and lost his balance which gave her have an easy lay.

"NELSON SHE'S COOKING YOU" someone yelled from the crowd.

as nelson heard that, he smirked, fully locked in this time.

"3-0, you ready to lose" elyse taunted with a teasing sad look on her face.

"yeah alright" nelson said checking the ball back.

this time, elyse was going for a midrange shot, but sadly, it bricked meaning it was nelson's turn.

elyse checked the ball to nelson and he started dribbling to the right then started to go in for a layup, but then stepped back giving him an open midrange.

"YESSS GO NELLY!!!" they heard a girl yell from the crowds.

"nelly?" they both said but with different tones. nelson had a disgusted tone in his voice while elyse was amused at the nickname.

although he made that shot in, i bet you could guess who won at the end. elyse won! #girlpower!

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, good game elyse" nelson said holding his hand out with good sportsmanship.

"good game nelly" elyse said teasingly before shaking his hand.

while they were shaking hands, they stared into each other with a strong sense of compassion and joyfulness.

gosh they were even more beautiful in person. those bright, ocean blue, eyes.

her eyes are gorgeous. they remind me of chocolate. sweet, dark brown, eyes.

they stood there for what seemed like a while, but was only like 15 seconds, before nelson broke the eye contact.

"i'm gonna let you go back to your game now" elyse said still smiling.

elyse took nelson's ball back over to his stuff on the bench and nelson walked over to cam giving cam enough time to explain the defense they were playing.

elyse walked over back to her family with a red face.

"I SAW THAT" lina said to the point where only elyse could hear her.

"saw what?" elyse said pretending not to know what she was talking about.

elyse and her mom had a special bond too. lina would know if there was something wrong with her, if she was sad, and even if she saw a cute boy walk by.

"you and that boy, hm? do you guys have something going on? who is he anyway?" lina asked nudging elyse's arm.

"no, what? we're just friends ma! that's nelson, the one i'm always talking to." elyse said trying to control the blush on her skin.

"the blush on your face and the eye contact during that interaction you guys had over there tells me otherwise" lina said.

elyse just sat there wondering; well, overthinking. did she have feelings for nelson? would it ruin their friendship? did he feel the same way?

as she was thinking, nelson came over to their side of the court and got a technical foul for smack talking.

"4 fouls already! he might foul out." elyse worriedly spoke to her dad.

"yeah he needs to watch his hands and his mouth." her dad commented.

THE GAME ABRUPTLY ended to the ref blowing the whistle for all the players all to get off court. after, all the fans came running towards cam and his team. elyse got very overwhelmed in the crowd, so she just waited with her family outside the building.

"guys, this is caine, elyse's brother." cam said introducing him to the video.

"sup yall" he said a bit awkwardly to the camera since it was his first time in front of the camera.

"caine, how would you like to play on rod wave elite?" cam asked.

"deadass?" he asked shocked.

"pfft yeah! you had a great performance today, good ball handling, good defense, you had everything i've been looking for." cam said genuinely.

"it'd be an honor" he said.

"alright looks like you guys might be seeing caine next month in new york!" cam exclaimed.

ONCE THE CAMERAS turned off and rwe, cam, and caine, were brought to a room where they were no longer surrounded by fans.

"cam, my family's waiting for me out front" caine said about to leave.

"yo would you actually mind bringing them over here? i need to talk to your parents" cam asked.

nelson heard their conversation and immediately added on "oh yeah please tell them to come over" in an attempt to get to talk to elyse again.

"shut the fuck up nelson" lavar said as nelson rolled his eyes in response.

"yeah for sure cam." caine said. "nelson once she comes here, just know im keeping my eye on yall" caine whispered to him as he walked out the door.

nelson widened his eyes and raised his eyebrows at that.

caine came back with his family following behind him. elyse walked over to nelson while caine and his parents talked to cam about the new york situation.

"hi again" elyse said to nelson as she sat on the spot next to him on the small couch.

"sup." nelson said turning his attention from his phone to her.

"bro you did really good but you almost fouled out" elyse said laughing at him a bit.

"yeah we not gonna talk about that... so i said we could hang out after the game right? i got tons of time before my second game, maybe you'd like to go to the mall or something?" nelson asked a bit nervously.

"oh of course nelson! i could ask my mom to drop us off there cause caine has a game in a couple hours." she replied.

"great! anyways, i think we're gonna be here for a bit wanna go live?" nelson asked placing his phone against a water bottle on the coffee table in front of them.

"duhh" elyse replied scooching closer to be in the frame.

isa says!

ignore how unrealistically long the halftime is for an aau game...

sorry to the people who don't play or watch basketball😭

i'd love if people started commenting more because that's what actually gives me more motivation to continue writing!🙏