The year Andrew
graduates and goes pro, and Neil stays behind to complete his last year at Palmetto,
they text each other A LOT.Since Andrew is not
really a talkative type, they mostly send photosThe first couple of
weeks go by with texting/skyping like couple of times a weekThen one night after a
long day Neil feels bad and goes to the rooftop. He misses Andrew so much, so
he takes a photo of the parking lot from the roof and sends it to Andrew without any words.Almost instantly he
gets a picture from Andrew and it’s a view of the night city skyline from his
rooftop with a greyish whiff of cigarette smock in the corner of the picture.(It makes Neil feel warm
and fuzzy, and Andrew ups the percentage)And so it begins.
Next morning Neil sends
him a photo of Andrew’s t-shirt he found in his laundry.And later that day a
selfie of himself wearing that shirt.Andrew sends him photos
of the court where he’s practicing and pictures of his new gear, and (after some
begging) a picture of himself wearing it.(Neil is hyperventilating)
(Andrew knows it – that’s
why he sent the photos: to earn boyfriend points with his exy-obsessed junkie)At some point Andrew
sends Neil a photo of some keys, and when asked about it says that they are the
stolen keys to his pro court(Neil comes to visit the
very next weekend)(They totally break in
there)One night at like three
o’clock Andrew is woken by a message sound from his phone and it’s a short
video from Neil where you can barely see his unimpressed face in the dark, but can
hear shouts and screams of the freshmen fighting in the common room.Andrew sends back a
picture of his knives and a question mark.Neil sends back a
laughing emoji.Next day Andrew sends Neil a
video of Andrew’s coach yelling at his team. It ends with him yelling at Andrew
for filming it and snatching the phone from his hands.It’s also the small
thingsLike steaming hot
coffee in an “exy is sexy” cupA sports journal with
Kevin on the cover with a mustache drawn on with a sharpieA black eye Neil got
from a stray ball with a capture “I hate this team”Andrew sends the picture
of the knives again, but with an exclamation mark this time.Ridiculous typos in a local
restaurant menuTwo buckets of
pistachio ice cream (Andrew comes to visit next weekend)A picture of a TV
screen with Andrew’s bored face on it from an interview after one of the games (with
an “I miss you” capture)Andrew just replies
with a percentage.The wall with team photos
from Foxhole courtAndrew’s feet thrown on
the back of the seat on the team busA photo of Kevin yelling
at his teammates during the warmup, from when they were having a match against
each other.A photo of Wymack looking
into the camera like he’s not being paid enough for any of this(This photo later goes
on the wall).A photo of a contract
Neil signed with a pro teamA photo of PSU library
Stacks of books and notes
and numerous cups of coffeeA calendar with days
crossed off leading to the graduationA photo of the road
ahead from the MaseratiThen again a photo of the
view from the Foxhole tower rooftopAnd finally a photo of
Neil, eyes wide open, throwing open the door to the roof to find Andrew
standing there with a phone in his hand.