Somehow, once they left the sports center, Willie did a quick general tour around the entire university campus. "And guys, are you hungry?" Willie asked suddenly, while he looked at the time on his cell phone and realized that it was already late and just the right time for dinner.
"Yes." "Obviously," said two voices at the same time, these belonging to the two Harrison twins, who upon hearing that both had responded at the same time turned to start looking at one another, and a smile of complicity was reflected on the face of both.
"That was creepy," Julius said in a low voice next to Aaron, who simply shrugged his shoulders at that, assuming that that was the so-called twin intuition.
"Well then, let's go eat, I know the best place in the entire city," Willie said while he headed straight toward the exit of the university, at which the 4 boys followed him.
"I hope your car is cool," Aaron Harrison said while he saw how the 4 headed in the direction in which the university parking lot was located, looking at the rows of cars and wondering which of all of them would be Willie's.
"I only hope that it is spacious enough so that 3 people of over 7 ft can fit," Julius said while with his finger he pointed to himself, Aaron, and Willie, who were the 3 tallest people in the group.
And that was a valid point, because if it were just any sedan, 2 of them could go slightly uncomfortable in the front seats, while the person who went in the back would feel suffocated, and consequently the people who were around him in the back seats.
Because even though the Harrison twins were the smallest of the group, even so both measured over 6"6', which was also very tall, reason for which if the 5 wanted to move around, just any car would not be the best.
Following Willie, they realized that even though they were passing through the parking lot, Willie did not stop at any moment and instead kept going straight.
"Uh, aren't we going in your car?" Andrew dared to ask, seeing how little by little they were moving away from the parking lot. "Car?" Willie asked, puzzled, while upon seeing the looks of the boys and where they were passing, he could not help but laugh. "Hahaha," his laughter could manage to be heard throughout the entire place, causing even some students who were walking around there to stop to give an extra look in his direction.
"You guys believed… hahaha," Willie said, while every short while he stopped due to lack of air and kept laughing. "Guys, believe me, if I were paid to play, I would have more than one car right now," Willie finished saying while he took his hands to his pockets and showed them to the boys, demonstrating that they were empty.
That comment also brought to light another very uncomfortable and perhaps unfair topic for the majority of players who compete in any of the university sports.
And that is that the NCAA prohibits in any way any type of payment or sponsorship toward the players, which in Aaron's opinion is something hypocritical considering the millions that the NCAA moves for the broadcasting rights of the games.
If any player received any type of money or support, the NCAA would make sure to sanction him and even ban him for 1 or 2 years from playing, and if the responsible party were the university itself, the sanctions would be even stronger, leading even to investigations.
While they kept walking, Willie arrived at the bus stop outside the university and leaned with comfort against the post of the stop. "Now we just have to wait for our transport to arrive," he told the group while he pulled out his cell phone and began to send messages to who knows whom.
5 minutes later, the bus arrived, and Willie paid the ticket for the 5, and they entered and took a seat in the seats in the middle rows of the bus.
"And this is more comfortable than going boxed up in a small car, right?" Willie told the group while he looked through the window at the streets of Lexington passing by.
With the bus heading to who knows where, Aaron decided to pull out his phone, and a smile settled on his face as he started to type on the screen of his phone.
"Who is she?" Willie said suddenly in the direction of Aaron, easily identifying the reason why someone would have that kind of smile on his face. "Pardon?" Aaron asked, raising his head from the screen of his phone and directing a look of curiosity to Willie.
"The girl you are talking to, believe me, I know that smile that every guy puts on," Willie responded to him with a tone of sufficiency in his voice, indicating that he was quite an expert as far as the topic was concerned.
"It's my girlfriend," Aaron responded to him with simplicity, while his attention returned to the phone and he went back to typing frantically until a hand grabbed the cell phone before Aaron could even realize.
"Hey," Aaron grunted while he stood up and extended his hand forward, trying to take the phone away from one of the Harrison twins, who had taken the cell phone from him and was starting to read the messages.
"Aww, look at this, our friend is quite a Romeo," Andrew joked with his brother while he read the message in a loud and dramatic voice. "I miss you too, baby," he said it while Aaron Harrison opened the profile picture.
"Whew," he whistled low, looking with more attention at the photo in question. "Not bad, friend, she's cute," he responded to Aaron, who already had a dark expression on his face which indicated that he was about to hit someone.
"Relax, man, we were just curious," Aaron responded to him with his hands up while he extended the cell phone back, which was snatched from his hands by Aaron, who immediately afterward stored the mobile phone in his pocket.
After that, the atmosphere maintained a tense silence until they arrived at the city center, and Willie stood up and started to head toward the back part of the bus, being followed immediately by the 4 boys behind him.
Getting off at the stop, they started to walk a few streets until they arrived at a red-colored restaurant, and in the white logo, the face of a good-natured grandfather with his unmistakable mustache.
"Welcome to the best restaurant in all of Kentucky," Willie said dramatically, his hands up while he pointed to the KFC restaurant that they had in front of them.
"Seriously, this is the best place in all of Kentucky?" Julius could not help but say, with a lost gaze, wondering if it was a good idea to follow his senior or if he was just an idiot.
"I already know what you are wondering, this is nothing more than another KFC, right?" he said to the 4, who nodded in response, since that was what everyone thought.
"Well, you are wrong!!" Willie exclaimed, while he raised his voice a bit more to be able to give a more dramatic tone to his speech in question.
"After all, KFC was created after all here in Kentucky, reason for which the chicken here tastes different from the ones you probably have eaten until now," Willie told them while he began to take a few steps forward and entered the establishment.
The 4 then shared a look among themselves, having a debate about entering or not, but knowing that they did not entirely know the city yet, they decided that the best thing was to enter at once and see if indeed the KFC here tastes different than in other places.
Once inside, they were welcomed by the typical wooden tables and the decoration that was a symbol of the brand with the iconic white and red colors all around the place, along with an image of Colonel Sanders that covered the entire wall of a corner.
In the front, Willie already found himself in front of the counter while he began to place an order with total naturalness, which demonstrated that he was someone who used to frequent the place, and even the girl behind the counter smiled at him.
A while later, he returned to the group carrying with him a tray in which was a couple of buckets filled with fried chicken along with several nuggets. "I need someone to go and help me with the other tray, the fries and drinks are there," he asked them, it being Aaron who moved quickly to the counter, grabbing the second tray.
Finding a free table at the back of the local, the 5 took a seat and began to distribute the pieces among themselves. "Ready to taste the best fried chicken in the world?" Willie told them, looking at each one of them, who already held their pieces of chicken and began to taste them.
"Crunch," was the sound that came from the piece of chicken at the moment in which Aaron gave it a big bite, with the juices and the crunchy skin entering his mouth.
Aaron had to admit that the flavor was different from that of other KFCs he had tasted before, and it had something that made its flavor differentiate itself from that of other establishments.
"Wow, it does taste different than the one in Texas," Julius said, to then go back to giving another bite to the chicken, savoring it deeply.
"Pass me the nuggets," Andrew exclaimed with his mouth still full of fried chicken. "Leave the fries to me," said his twin Aaron, who also had his mouth packed with fried chicken.
Thus, between laughs, the atmosphere lightened up little by little, and they started to get to know each other little by little, breaking the ice among everyone, which was the main objective of Coach Calipari by making the boys go out with someone like Willie, who despite his indiscipline is a social sponge.
"Take advantage of the food, boys, after this we won't be able to eat things like this during the season," Willie told them while he kept savoring with zeal the fried chicken and the fries that he had in front of him until finally the buckets were left completely empty.
"Ah, now I am indeed full," Julius said while he took his hands to his stomach and tapped his belly in a clear sign of satisfaction.
"Same here, brother," responded Willie, who also took his head back, and a burp came out of his lips without any shame.
"And tell me, boys, what was it that encouraged you to come here to Kentucky?" Willie asked them with curiosity in his tone, wanting to know even more about his future teammates.
"The truth is that from among all the universities that offered me scholarships, Kentucky was the one that had the best program," Julius responded to him with simplicity, since from among the 4 programs that had offered him (Kentucky, Florida, Kansas, and Texas), the Wildcats program was the most solid and prestigious.
"Mr. Orlando had recruited me," Andrew said, raising his hand while his twin joined quickly. "And we had made a pact to play on the same team in college," he told him, to then extend his fist and bump it quickly with his brother's in a clear sign of fraternity.
After that, the looks of everyone settled on the last person at the table, who still had not explained the reason why he had come to Kentucky.
Finishing drinking his glass of soda, Aaron started to speak. "The truth is that in my case, Coach Calipari showed up at my door one day…" Aaron started, earning the attention of everyone present at the table while he began his story.
After that, he started to tell them the whole talk he had with Calipari when the latter suddenly showed up one day at his door, and how days later he had called him, telling him that he accepted to come to play for Kentucky.
"Basically, he demonstrated his sincerity to me by going all the way to New York, which was something that influenced my decision to come here a lot," he finished his story while he went back to taking a deep sip of his drink, leaving the glass empty.
After telling his whole story, he set himself to look at the time on his phone while he stood up. "I think it's already time to go," he told the group, who also saw the time and began to stand up while Willie sighed low.
"You're right, if you arrive late, the coach will probably kill me," Willie said while the 5 went out the door and returned to the bus stop to head back to their dorms and call it a day.
Authors thought's
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