Have you ever felt alone? Like there was nobody in the whole wide world to keep you company? Trust me, I've been there before. As a matter of fact 6/06/2031 was the day I felt totally left out. I was home alone and my girlfriend from of old had not been in touch for two weeks. And the worst part of the entire story was that I barely had anything doing. This scenario was enough to make any sane person go crazy. But hey, I did not let that situation get the best of me. Instead I learnt some really valuable lessons from them. For starters, everyone is bound to leave sooner or later. The more friends you have, the more painful that is going to be. I can't trust anybody. The only person I can really be certain of that will always stay regardless of the situation is me. Nobody can make me happy. I owe my happiness to myself. Nobody can actually hurt me unless I chose to feel hurt. Nobody can piss me off unless I decide to get pissed off. It's all within. I control my own emotions. Nobody can make me feel what I don't want to. I make my own choices. And I choose to be happy with or without the ones I love. It's time to set some ground rules...

With these thoughts in mind, I always began my day hoping for the best but expecting the worst. Funny how that sounds but you would understand if you had been in my shoes. Joey had called recently to let me know we would be balling the upcoming weekend. At least that gave me something to look forward to. Matter of fact basketball was the only thing that kept me going. The rhythmic bouncing of the ball as my sweat trickled down my face into my Lakers' Jersey, staring down my opponent as I searched for an opening was what mostly kept me sane.

Believe it or not, I had tried on several occasions to falter with the ball but it's like the ball was always glued to my hand. I felt the ball could synchronize with my emotions and it's rhythmic bouncing was in line with my heartbeat always.

"Sam we gotta go." Joey voiced out immediately cutting through my reverie. It was a good game. I was really on fire. I scored several three pointers and with the rebounds Joey took care of those. The cheers from the crowd was pretty deafening. The girls were swooning all over me; something I had pretty much gotten used to. They were asking for my autographs and were giving me all these looks, ready to tear me apart if they got the chance to. For some reason though I was absent-minded. I kept signing the autographs but I wasn't really present at the moment. For real I had no idea the number of girls I had given out my phone number to. Well yeah, turns out I was yet to find out. Joey drove me home. He had been the only one real friend I ever had. We'd been buddies since childhood and had balled in the same hood all our lives. Joey lost his virginity around the age of eleven. Well I lost mine a few years later. We both lost our virginity to these really hot Latino twin babes who happened to be in our hood at the time. I got bored with the one I dated and ended up cutting her loose. Joey held on to his girl though. Their relationship lasted a year and a half after my break up.

"You coming over to the club tonight? Shantel is gonna be there." Joey voiced out casually. "Naa man, I'm cool." I replied nonchalantly.

"You seemed a bit off today. You doing okay? Joey inquired. "Yeah bro, I'm alright." I lied. "Alright then, imma head out. Catch ya later bruv." He said as he sped off. Sighing, I turned around and made my way lazily to my apartment. I hit the shower and was in there for close to an hour. As the drops of water made contact with my skin, they slowly snaked their way down my body since friction was quite negligible for them to stay that long on my skin...