Part 153: Chloe's Point of View Two years later "LET'S GO HARVARD!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Zach had the ball and was dribbling to half court. We were both in our senior year of college, it was winter. And you know what winter means: basketball season. Zach has been starting point guard since our freshman year. He actually retook his freshman year in college just so he could graduate with me. I was shocked, he was gone a lot because of late practices, but it was alright with me. I had practice right after my classes, and it lasted for about 3 hours. Zach's practice was directly after mine, we only got to see each other briefly in between. A quick kiss and a 'Have fun at practice. I'll see you later?'. At the end of the day, I'm here for him to come home to. The arena erupted into a fit of applause. I looked up to see Zach on the ground, waiting for one of his teammates to help him up. They can't get up by themselves if the whistle is blown, a rule from their coach. I was starting to think college basketball was more intense than the NBA. Then again, this was the championship game. We were lucky to have it be a home game, number one team in the league. I don't think they had lost a game yet. Zach sat awkwardly on the floor until one of his teammate stuck out their hand to him. He grabbed onto it and was launched forward. Zach walked up to the line and got his feet set. Two shots. He must have gotten fouled shooting. I saw a flash of a white jersey. My eyes shifted and I met a pair of brown orbs. A sparkle was evident in them. This is what he loves. This is what he wanted to do. I knew that, but he denied it. His hand raised and he blew me a kiss. As quickly as he had faced me, he turned away. The ball was in his hands. He bounced it twice, spun it in his right hand, one wrist flick, and a swish later. I heard Josh and Colton yell from behind me, they had flown out to see his game. "YOU GOTTA DUNK THAT SH*T!" Josh screamed. Colton clapped his hands together, a large smile across his face. "Go Uncle Z-Z-Zach!" He had trouble saying Zach, but he got there. I smiled and turned back to watch as another swish came from the basket. Zach's eyes found mine again and he winked. His teammates always teased him for already being married at 23. He knows they're joking, they like me. Only for my cooking. I always make the team cookies, for after the game, and bring them oranges for halftime. Oranges = Energy. The buzzer rang, signaling it was halftime. My eyes traveled to the scoreboard. 52-50 Harvard. I bet Coach was going to flip out anthem in the locker room. I sighed as I got up, grabbing the bag of oranges on my way to the boy's locker room. I walked in, it reeked of man. Sweaty man. Zach popped out from behind the wall, causing me to jump and almost drop the oranges to the floor. He caught them in his left hand as his right hand held me close to him. "Ew, Zach. You're all sweaty. That's gross." He kissed my cheek and chuckled. "You know you like it." A smirk spread across his face. He patted his lap with his hands. "Come on baby. Come sit." The guys all awed. I heard one 'cough' while saying whipped. Zach's head spun to look at the guy. "Maybe if you could keep a girlfriend for more than a week Jake, you'd know what it feels like." Jake raised an eyebrow, as if to ask what the hell he was talking about. "To be in love, you idiot." The guys in the locker room all laughed and patted Zach on the back. He grabbed my hips and pulled me over to him, until I was sitting down on his lap. "You're still sweaty and gross." I said while facing him. He lightly kissed my lips. "PDA!" All of the guys screamed. I could see Zach wave them off out of the corners of my eyes when I opened my eyes for second, still not breaking away from the kiss. He pulled away and smirked playfully. "Get used to it." He whispered into my ear. The coach walked in and noticed me in here. "Ah, Chloe. Nice to see you, always a pleasure." He seemed very stressed out. I'm always in here during halftime. I almost laughed but I bit my tongue. "All right guys. Let's get down to business." I suggested a few things and told the coach what I thought they should run, he seemed to love my suggestions. I knew all of their plays by heart, Zach and I studied their playbook together, and I would quiz him on it. They were playing again, there was a minute left in the game. We were up 98-95. One three pointer and the other tema would be tied with us, making the game go into overtime. I was sitting on the bench, the coach had asked me to basically be his assistant coach for the night. I stood up and walked over to where he was pulling out what little hair he had. The other tema had just gotten the ball and went in for a layup. Swish. 98-97. I put my hand on his shoulder. He towered over me, as did everyone on the team. "Have Zach hold the ball." I glanced back at the clock. 25 seconds. The coach looked at me like I was crazy. I nodded my head and looked back at the court. "Trust me. They already have too many fouls. Each foul they get now, he'll get to shoot two shots. Zach doesn't miss foul shots. Just try it. And if he gets in trouble, have him pass to Ben, and then give it back." He hesitated for a minute and then looked back toward the court. "TIME OUT." He called. The ref looked at coach and blew the whistle. 23.5 seconds left. "Time out white." He glanced back at coach. "Full or 30?" He asked. Coach turned to me and I made the sign for a full timeout. The teams gathers around us. Zach's arm wrapped around my waist. He was incredibly sweaty. "Go ahead Chloe." He gave me the floor. I took his clipboard and turned to Zach. "Okay, what you're going to do," I pointed to Zach. "Ben, pass the ball in to Zach. And then Zach, you're going to hold the ball. Don't dribble unless you have to. Ben, stay by him just in case he gets in trouble." I turned to the rest of the guys. "The rest of you, set up and run triangle, like we're going in for a play." They all nodded. "Team." They chorused. Back to the court, I watched in horror at how violent the other team was getting with everyone. Zach especially. He kept getting shoved, and almost pushed to the ground. He caught himself and got up to grab the ball. His defender fouled him intentionally when Zach held the ball against his hip. "RED RED." Their coach called out. Red red was a common term, saying to intentionally foul someone. It would be a technical foul if the coach told them to foul them, so they use code words. The defender shoved Zach, he fell back onto his butt and flew at least ten feet. The whistle blew and he was at the line again. Both shots, swish. 100-97. Other team's possession. 15 seconds on the clock. The ball was passed in to their point guard, but Zach stole the ball and started dribbling along the three point line, randomly like he was going to run a play, but it never happened. I watched as the clock ticked down and the buzzer rang. They won the championship for the first time in years. A large grin spread across Zach's face as the whole team ran out to lift him up on to their shoulders. I ran out to give him a hug, but Ben lifted me up so I was on his shoulders right next to Zach. He smiled and kissed my cheek. Through all of the screams and applause, I heard Zach's sweet voice and felt his hand find mine, lacing our fingers together. "We did it baby. We won."