Page 36 of Wingmen

He sauntered across the court in a pair of mauve basketball shorts, a Miami Heat jersey, and a bright pink pair of mirrored sunglasses, with a duffel bag over one shoulder and an iced coffee dripping in his hand. Behind him, the old folks were playing bocce ball under the elm trees, and some kids were actually using the playground equipment. It was a good time of day to be here – things tended to get rough as the sun went down.

Dustin had been practicing shots around the key. He caught the ball as Elliot walked up and tucked it under his arm. “To what do I owe the honor?”

Rodriguez gave him the sassiest look he’d ever seen as he took off his sunglasses. “You invited me?”

He dropped his duffel bag beside the court and sat to pull off his Converse. Dustin watched him pull a pair of brand new, bright red Air Jordans out of the duffel bag, and put those on instead. He was beginning to feel under dressed.

Elliot cast a disparaging look over Dustin’s t-shirt, gym shortsand beat up running shoes as he laced his sneakers. “Is that what you’re wearing?” he said.

“Yes? Is that whatyou’rewearing?”

“What’s Rush?”

Dustin looked down at his t-shirt. He looked at Rodriguez. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

Elliot finished and got to his feet. He bounced on his toes to test the shoes. “Fine, don’t tell me. So what are we doing?”

Dustin spread his hands with the ball in one of them. “What do you feel like?”

Elliot shrugged. He looked sulky and like he didn’t want to be there. “I dunno, this was your idea.”

Taking a small breath, Dustin said, “Why don’t we just practice shooting? You ever played horse?”

“Horse?” Elliot’s face was incredulous. “Not since I was like, twelve.”

“So, last year?”

Elliot rolled his eyes and skulked to the bottom of the key. “Fine. Horse.” He put up his hands for the ball. Dustin tossed it to him, and he bounced it once, scooped it up, prepped, and put it in the hoop. He did it all so casually he could’ve been holding his iced coffee still. It was beautiful; the ball didn’t even touch the sides. He captured it one-handed and sent it to Dustin in a single motion.

“Your turn.”

Goddammit the kid was so fucking…cool.

Dustin’s face heated, and he turned away quickly as he caught the ball. He took Elliot’s place at the bottom left corner of the key, bounced, scooped, prepped, and shot. Mercifully, it went in. As Elliot moved along to the next position, Dustin said, “Where’d you learn to shoot?”

Elliot caught the ball. “Tell me what your t-shirt means.”

Dustin scoffed and shook his head as the kid made a secondshot. He watched his wrist flick at the top of the arc, then stepped forward to catch the ball and tucked it under his arm.

“How about this? If you win, I’ll tell you about Rush. If I win, you tell me where you learned to shoot.”

Rodriguez folded his arms at the top of the key. Dustin could see him trying to work out the game.What does Bennet want? Why does Bennet want that?What’s the angle? Eventually, he shrugged.

“Fine.”

He let Elliot lead.Followed him into position and took each shot. It didn’t take them too long, and Dustin somehow managed to come out ahead.

Elliot snagged the ball on the bounce, spun it once on his fingertip, then tucked it under his arm. He faced Dustin square on and said, “Alright, you win. My friend Diego and I used to go to the court at the park near my house. That’s where I learned to shoot.”

Dustin nodded. “Rush is a band,” he said. “The greatest of all time.” He wasn’t obligated to tell Rodriguez that, but for some reason, he wanted the kid to know.

Elliot turned his eyes down and Dustin thought he caught a smile as he bounced the ball a couple of times. Dustin noticed the way one of the dark curls at the front of his head hid his eyes as he did, and wondered why the fuck he was noticing that.

“Real game now,” said Elliot. “First to eleven.”

Dustin hesitated. Dr. Wu would not approve. But he’d taken his rest days, the gym session this morning had felt solid, and the ibuprofen he’d taken before he came was working. He rolled his shoulder and shrugged. “Fine by me. But I’m handicapped, so take it easy.”

Elliot was faster than he was. He blew past on the first possession and laid it up off the backboard before Dustin could rotate. But Dustin was bigger. He caught it and answered with a hard shoulder into Elliot’s chest, backing him down the paint, using every pound of his two-ten frame to muscle inside.