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Aaron huffed as he sat in his usual seat in the bus. They’d just won an exhausting game against the UV Catamounts. It reminded him of their first death-match against them last season- he couldn’t believe how much they had improved over the course of a year.
Although he never showed it, he was pretty proud of his team.
At the start of the game, Kevin and Neil were starting stickers, Matt and Aaron backliners, Allison as Dealer, and Andrew was at the goal. They had gotten a 4-point lead within the first 20 minutes, which had secured their win early on in the game. Wymack noticed this, and seized the opportunity to send a few of the freshmen out for their first few minutes on the court.
Halfway through their 2nd half, though, the Catamounts started to catch up to them. Neil, Kevin, and Andrew got subbed back in, and absolutely destroyed them those last few minutes. So much so, that Aaron was very sure that next time he went on YouTube, there would be at least 3 compilations of their game cut only to the parts where Neil, Kevin, or Andrew did something jaw-droppingly impressive.
Of course, there were a few injuries. Specifically, Josten’s mark body-checked him the last 5 minutes of the game, bruising his right shoulder.
After a quick consultation with Abby, though, it was decided Neil could finish playing, much to the dismay of the Catamounts. But whatever, they still won.
Aaron watched Andrew and Neil get on the bus and sit in their usual seats, a few rows behind the rest of them. He eyed them and saw as Andrew began icing Neils bare shoulder with an ice-pack.
He looked away, there were more interesting things to be doing, such as contributing (arguing) to the conversation that the rest of his teammates were having about whether or not Nutella and cheese-itz were a good mix (Matt argued that the salty-sweet aspect was “to die for,” apparently.)
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About forty minutes later, when they were nearing Perimeter road, Aaron turned his head to see Andrew STILL icing Neil’s BARE SHOULDER.
Here, Aaron seemed to be faced with a moral dilemma. Either tell Andrew to stop before he gives Neil frostbite, or say nothing and let the events unfold. Aaron felt very compelled to turn his head right back around and act like he’d seen nothing. Actually, Aaron was 0.2 seconds away from doing just that when Bee’s voice popped into his head. He swears he hates that woman sometimes.
Aaron groaned and leaned back in his seat just as the bus pulled into Fox Tower, “Andrew, stop.” His brother raised an eyebrow at him. He also noticed that the team quieted down a bit. Aaron rolled his eyes internally and continued, “You’re going to give Neil frostbite.” Andrew put the ice pack down and Neil said, “Shit, that can happen? I thought you could only get frostbite from the col... Oh.” Aaron rolled his eyes, externally this time, and said, “Let me check outside if it’s bad.”
He silently cursed himself for doing this.
Aaron could hear Neil and Andrew bickering as the team stepped off the bus.
“Did you know that could happen?” Neil shout-whispered.
“No. Yes.” Andrew said, “You’re a big boy, Neil, you can handle it.”
Once they were off the bus, Aaron pulled out his phone and used the flashlight to inspect the area while the rest of the team got their bags and went inside. He poked at Neil’s shoulder and asked him, “What do you feel?” Neil shrugged, “Feels kind of tingly I guess.”
Aaron turned off the flashlight and started walking towards the dorm, and they both followed, “Frostnip. It’s not that bad, just soak your shoulder in water that’s about 100 degrees for like, thirty minutes until your shoulder starts to look red.” Aaron looked ahead and saw Dan standing at the entrance to the Tower, most likely there to make sure nobody needed an impromptu drive to the ER.
When he got to the door, Dan leaned in and asked, “Is something wrong with Neil? Should he go to the doctor or something?” Aaron shook his head and turned his head to see Neil rubbing his shoulder, probably trying to warm it up. Aaron sighed, “Neil, stop rubbing your shoulder. You’re going to make it worse.”
He saw Andrew rolled his eyes, “Careful, the doctor in you is showing." Aaron huffed and made his way inside the Tower with Dan a few steps in front of him. They all got in the elevator and didn’t say anything until they got to their floor.
When they got out of the elevator, Aaron looked at Andrew, “Andrew,” he started, “Make sure Neil doesn’t try to warm his shoulder until you have the water, because it’ll get worse if it’s re-exposed to the cold. When you’re done, put lotion on it and give him some kind of ibuprofen to reduce the swelling and pain.”
Andrew nodded and started walking towards their dorm.
Aaron then looked at Neil and said, “Go to Abby tomorrow if anything. Don’t bother me.”
He was about to turn around when Neil spoke up, “Aaron,” he said, “Thanks.”