Last night ended up being one of the better ones of my life.

I had finally gotten something off of my chest that had been bothering me for years: I felt lonely.

I had never imagined telling that to anyone, let alone a cartoon pony from a little girl's show. But I did, and it's honestly insane to me how much Rainbow Dash has changed my life in the few days that I've spent with her. I'm honestly grateful to have her in my life, and I'm worried that eventually I'll have to let her go.

At the team practice yesterday, I met this guy named Kenny who had been called up from the G League for the season. It was his first season in the NBA, just like mine, yet he didn't seem nervous. He was calm and collected and seemed pretty nonchalant about his first NBA game coming up. I called him.

He didn't answer, and I was sent to voicemail. "This is Kenny Beecham. If you're hearing this, it's cause I can't come to the phone right now. Leave a message and I'll get back to you." The phone beeped. I hung up. Then Kenny texted me, telling me not to call him now. Guess he had better things to do. It was Thursday, a nice one at that, with a clear blue sky and a light breeze.

Rainbow had slept in my room last night, and I realized I should probably put something soft on the floor so she didn't have to sleep on the not-so-soft carpeting.

So while she watched some TV(I put on a show from Netflix), I ran over to Petco and bought a large dog bed. It was the best I could find, and Rainbow probably wouldn't care anyway. When I walked into the house, it was the first thing she noticed. "What's that?" she asked, indicating the bag the bed was in.

"A bed," I said, taking it out. I went and put it on the floor in my room, then returned to her and said, "You can sleep on that instead of the floor."

"Oh, cool!" she said.

I decided to let her run around outside for a bit, and afterwards I found myself telling her to bathe, which thankfully I didn't have to explain to her. She really was like a dog sometimes.

Later on, my phone vibrated. It was a text from Billy Donovan, our coach, reminding me about tomorrow.

My first NBA game was tomorrow, at six, and I wanted to hit the gym early, so I couldn't stay up late. After a dinner that I mainly spent conversing with Rainbow, I went to bed. The last thing I saw before closing my eyes was Rainbow Dash curled up in the dog bed. I wanted to laugh so bad.

I woke up at 6:00 AM sharp the next morning, and was considering heading to the gym, but decided I didn't want to be gone when Rainbow woke up. I grabbed my laptop and headed to the living room, wanting to learn more about Rainbow or how she got here.

I discovered another instance of Rainbow in real life, but it was in the form of a fictional mini-movie called My Little Dashie. After taking a brief look at some of the show's other characters, I decided to call Kenny. This time he answered.

"What's up?" he said, sounding sort of groggy.

"You feel like hitting the gym today?" I asked.

"If by 'gym' you mean team practice facility, then yeah," he said. "I'm going at 7, you?"

"Same time, I guess," I replied. Guess I'm not gonna need to renew my gym membership at the end of the month.

I was surprised by how dedicated Kenny was to his workout. He still didn't seem nervous about the game, but he worked out like he was trying to be as buff as possible come game time.

It seemed like only a few minutes later that 4 o'clock rolled around. After an inspiring pep talk from Rainbow Dash, I headed to Oklahoma City, which was pretty far from Dallas, which was where I lived. Once I arrived, it was nearly six o'clock. I headed into Chesapeake Energy Arena, feeling hype as ever.

The locker room was a lot nicer than the college one. I put on my jersey, then my Thunder team shirt over it, as I was going to be benched for most of the game. It was a preseason game, so most of the rookies and called-up players will be on the floor. I headed out into the arena to loud cheers. I went and sat on the bench. The fans weren't cheering for me, they were cheering for the OK3. PG, Russ, and Melo.

The OK3 were pretty dominant for most of the first quarter, and when they came to the bench, I saw Terrance and Kenny walk out onto the floor.

In what, at the time, was probably the biggest stroke of luck of my life, Russell Westbrook's bench spot was right next to mine. The man was the face of OKC and had been for almost ten years, and I was a rookie. He sat down next to me. For a few minutes, we just watched the game. Then he said, "So you're a rookie, huh?"

"Yeah," I said, assuming that he was talking to me. "Any advice?"

"Try to stay locked in," he replied. "Don't let nothing else get into your head."

"Thanks," I said. Then I blurted, "Do you miss KD?"

For a moment, there was silence. I was internally kicking myself for asking. Then he said, "Sometimes. But things don't always work out."

"Don't I know it." I said.

Westbrook turned. "You got family issues or something?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "My mom never really supported my basketball dreams. She didn't come to any of my games. I try to talk to her sometimes, but she doesn't listen."

He nodded. "What about your dad?"

"I don't know," I replied. "My mom tells me he ran away to prevent having to be a father, but I feel like she could be lying. I don't know what the truth is."

I saw Kenny come to the bench, and Coach Donovan subbed me in. We were up by 18 points, and it was almost halftime, so nothing I did would really make a difference. I did my best to play good defense, and took very few shots on offense. I was nervous at first, but it wasn't that bad when I got into the game.

I won't bore you with the rest of the details. Key takeaways are that we lost to the Nuggets and I had a conversation with Russell Westbrook. All in all, I was feeling pretty good during the road trip back home, up until I started thinking about what I was doing. Taking a road trip.

Players in the NBA have to travel all the time to play road games, and I couldn't bring Rainbow with me when I had to go to another city. Now I wasn't worried about the situation as much. I was worried about how I was going to tell her.

Author's Note

Chapter 6!!

First off, shoutout to Kenny Beecham (aka King of the 4th Quarter). If you get the reference, you get it.

Second, I'm really trying to stay regular with new chapters, so please tell me if the quality decreases! I want this story to be as enjoyable as possible!

Shoutout to the OKC fans!