Rebound: A 2nd Chance

After eating some of the birthday cake with his parents and his uncles family Jason asked if it was okay for him to hang out with his friends at the local arcade that was only a few blocks away.

He had just gotten the text from Kyle saying that a bunch of the guys from the team wanted to celebrate his birthday even if it was just for a little bit.

Seeing that it wasn't too in the night yet Jason's dad agreed "Sure Jason. How about if you invite your cousins to go with you?

You can introduce them to some of your friends and show them around Riverside a bit. Just have Tory drive for you.

According to her dad she's not really doing anything right now and he has the van that you guys can borrow."

Jason smiled "She was going to go anyways. After she heard Kyle on the phone with Matt she kind of invited herself, not that we mind."

Jason then turned to Leslie and Nate "You guys want to come? I know it might sound lame to hang out with a bunch of middle schoolers but I think it'll be fun."

Nate agreed right away "Definitely!" He then turned to his parents "Is that okay?" His mom smiled "Of course its okay. It's not like you get to hang out with a cousin that you actually like all that often."

David nodded his head "Have fun, but don't let your cousin pay for everything. Just use the card if you guys need to."

Nate pumped his fist "Yes!" Jason chuckled after seeing Nate's reaction. He then turned to Leslie "How about you?"

She thought about it for a moment before giving him a nod "Sure. It sounds like a good chance to see a little bit of Riverside."

Jason put on a pair of all white Lebrons and a hoody as he lead Nate and Leslie over to his uncles apartment.

He knocked on the door and almost instantly it swung open "Hey Jaya!" Tory's excited face was beaming with joy.

She then noticed Nate and Leslie as she tilted her head to the side "Who're these two?" Jason responded "Nate, Leslie, this is Tory. We've been friends since we were little.

Tory this is Leslie and Nate. They're my cousins from my dad's side of the family." Tory's eyes opened wide after hearing Jason say that.

She walked over to Nate and began to inspect him closely. She nodded her head while occasionally grunting.

"Sure enough you do look like Uncle." Jason shook his head. He knew the truth about Nate and Leslie but he felt that it wasn't his place to correct Tory and tell her the truth.

He himself was surprised by the resemblance that Nate shared with his uncle David and his dad 'He really does look like uncle and dad.

If no one said anything they wouldn't doubt that he was his kid. Even I got tricked when I first met him. I would have never thought that he wasn't uncle David's son.'

Tory stuck her hand out "So you're the one that hunted Jaya down while he was in New York huh? Good job Sherlock."

Nate wasn't really sure how he should respond to Tory's comment but he shook her hand "Nice to finally meet you Tory.

Jason told me a lot about you while he was in New York. Plus he talks about you a lot whenever we're on the phone."

Tory's eyes shined with excitement as she asked "Really!? Jaya talks about me? What did he tell you? Come on now, don't be shy."

Nate nodded his head "He said that you're really good at fighting and that even guys are scared to go against you.

He also said that you're super buff and shredded and that you had a the kind of gorilla muscles that would make-"

Tory gave him a light chop on the top of his head as she frowned "Forget it. I should have known." She then walked over to Leslie and reached out.

"Nice to meet you. Just like Jaya said I've known him since he was in diapers. I'm his noona." Leslie gave a smile as she shook her hand "Nice to meet you Tory."

Tory then gestured for all of them to come into the apartment "Kyle should be ready soon. He just went to shower up real quick."

As the three of them made their way to the living room Jason turned to Tory "Oh yeah, my dad was wondering if it was okay for us to use uncle's van tonight."

Tory smiled as she gave Jason a thumbs up "No problemo. My dad left the keys with me and said it was okay to use it.

He had a feeling that we would do something for Jaya's birthday." After about ten minutes Kyle came out.

As soon as he saw Nate he walked over to him and high fived him "Yo Nate!" He then noticed Leslie sitting on the couch.

He turned to Jason with a slight smile on his face "Since these two are still here I'm guessing that the whole reunion thing turned out well."

Leslie looked at Jason with a frown on her face "You told him? I'm pretty sure that was family business."

Jason looked at her "It was. That's why I told Kyle about it. The two of us might not share any blood but he's my brother.

He's been there for me when things were tough and he's someone that I would trust to have my back. It's not like I was just out here telling everyone my family's business."

Nate could feel the tension beginning to grow so he stood up and nervously laughed "Come on guys. Let's not do this.

This is the first time that all of us can hang out with each other." He then turned to his sister "Kyle and Jason are super close Leslie.

Even back in New York Kyle was there no matter where Jaya went. Even I can vouch for him." Leslie looked at the three boys before letting out a sigh.

"Alright. Sorry about that Jason." She then looked at Kyle "Nice to meet you Kyle." Kyle nodded his head "Nice to meet you too.... I guess."

Kyle turned to Jason "Shania's not coming?" Jason shook his head "I invited her but she said that she was dead tired from practice."

He nodded his head before asking "What about Sammy?" Jason shook his head again "She has a video call with her dad and apparently it won't end any time soon."

Now that they were all there and ready the five of them left the apartment and got into the van of Tory's dad.

It was just a short drive to the arcade that Jason and the other guys from the team had agreed to meet at.

As they walked from the parking lot to the entrance of the arcade Jason was stopped by multiple people as they all dapped him up.

"Ay it's YB." "What's good Young Buckets." "Yo it's the hometown hero." Nate and Leslie watched as multiple went up and greeted Jason.

Kyle chuckled as he watched the two of them "You guys should get used to this if you're going to be hanging out with Jaya.

I can't really talk about everywhere else but at least in Riverside he's kind of a celebrity. Jaya's pretty much repping the whole city as a basketball player."

Tory nodded her head as she smiled brightly. The face that she had was like that of a proud mom "Everyone says that Jaya's the second coming of Tyreek.

And Tyreek is someone that everyone thinks can make it to the professional level and play in the big leagues."

Jason and the rest of them walked into the arcade. Nate pulled out his card and paid for some digital coins for them to use on the games.

The first machine that Jason rushed up to use was the basketball game. The hoop would move from side to side to up and down.

But Jason made it look easy as he didn't miss a single shot. Leslie watched in amazement as she witnessed his amazing shooting.

She had only heard from her brother that Jason was a good basketball player but she hadn't actually bothered to look at any footage of him playing.

To her it wasn't all that relevant whether or not he was a good basketball player. But seeing his skills in person had a different impact.

After a while the rest of the guys from the team started showing up. Jason introduced the guys to his cousins.

They all had fun as they played a variety of games and snacked on a bunch of different arcade classics like cheese pizzas and buffalo wings.

Leslie honestly didn't have any kind of expectations when she first agreed to hang out with Jason and his friends.

It wasn't that she wasn't happy to spend time with her cousin but she didn't think that she would have that much fun going to an arcade with a bunch of middle schoolers.

But something about Jason just made it so that everyone around him couldn't help but have a good time.

All of the boys were crowded around a machine as they watched Jason and Kyle play a dancing rhythm game.

They were all cheering in unison as they hyped up the two of them "AY! AY! YUH! YUH!" As Jason and Kyle hit the final step of the song all of the boys gave him a round of applause.

Jason smiled before using the sleeve of his hoody to wipe some of the sweat off of his forehead. He then looked at everyone around him.

"Alright guys. We've had our fair share of fun. I don't want to be the one to kill the vibe but we should all probably head home now.

We have a game tomorrow and being tired from partying at the arcade is no excuse to play with anything other than a hundred percent effort."

All of the guys said their goodbyes as they began to head home. Tomorrow would be an important game.

Not only were they trying to keep their record clean from any losses. It was the first time that Jason would be playing in front of his family from New York.