09 | The Living Years

                                    

                                          
2003 ― Tree Hill, North Carolina
After what happened with Nathan, Whitey discontinued basketball practices until further notice. And since there was no basketball, for the time being, Brooke also discontinued cheer practices. Brianna thought it was nice not to have cheer practice. She loves being a cheerleader, especially since she cheers with her sister and best friend, but she also liked having extra free time. 
During the times that they would have been practicing, Nathan and Brianna took advantage of having extra time to spend with each other. Nathan reassured Brianna that their relationship was not about sex for him. He told her that whenever she was ready to take that step, he would be there and be ready to take that step with her.
She really appreciated that. 
He also told her that when Whitey continues practices, he doesn't know if he's going to go back to basketball. One of the reasons had to do with his father. Nathan finally told Brianna the entire story of what caused him to collapse during that game. And then, over the past weekend, he and his dad went on a weekend trip, and it didn't end well. 
The trip was originally planned for Deb and Dan, but then they got into a fight, and Deb wanted a divorce, so without telling Nathan, Dan made it seem like the trip was always supposed to be for the two of them. Nathan said as they were playing golf, they got into a big fight, and Nathan told Dan that by granting his mom a divorce, he'd be doing her a favor because no one will ever be happy with him around. Brianna agreed with him, but she let Nathan vent, and when he was done, she hugged him and said she would be there for him, no matter what. 
Then Lucas, Nathan, and the rest of the basketball team went to the river court and played a fun pick-up game with each other. It was refreshing for Brianna to see the guys playing together and having fun instead of fighting with each other. But now the weekend was over.
Time to get back to reality. 
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"Did you finish The Little Prince?" Brianna asked Nathan as they were sitting in the tutoring center. It had been a few weeks since Nathan's collapse during the game, and Whitey was about to resume practices again. Nathan had expressed to Brianna that he still wasn't sure about what he wanted to do. And he mentioned that his family is all in counseling together since his mother expressed her want for a divorce.
"No, I just rented the movie. This book is stupid." Nathan said as he sighed, and Brianna frowned. She understood that he was under a lot of pressure. Whether to resume playing basketball, his mother wants a divorce. His father is... Dan. She didn't know what to do to help him.
"Nate, you're not going to pass French if you keep renting movies," Brianna said. 
"Well, it's not like I have a lot of time to just sit around and read." Nathan snapped slightly. Brianna didn't take it to heart because she knew it wasn't her that Nathan was frustrated with. She frowned as she looked at him.
"Are you ever going to tell me how it went?" She asked. Brianna had to move the time of their session and switch Nathan with another one of her students because he had therapy this morning and was going to be late for school.
"The therapist asked me if I really wanted to play basketball or not." He said.
"I remember we talked about it a little bit, but what did you say to her?" Brianna asked.
"I didn't know what to say. Nobody has ever asked me that question before." Nathan said, and Brianna nodded. She understood. All his life, Nathan has been trained to be the best basketball player he can be. He was conditioned, he was molded. No one ever stopped to ask him if basketball was what he wanted to do. It was just expected of him.