When did someone's trash talk blow up right in their face? #shorts #redditstories #reddit — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00When did someone's trash talk blow up
2. 0:01right in their face? For 4 years, nobody
3. 0:03in my girlfriend's family had been able
4. 0:04to take the trophy off one guy. I found
5. 0:05out why about 10 minutes after I walked
6. 0:07into the party. I found out I'd be the
7. 0:08one to take it 10 minutes after that.
8. 0:09Nadia and I had been dating almost a
9. 0:11year when she invited me to her brother
10. 0:12Owen's engagement party. On the drive
11. 0:13over, she warned me about one person.
12. 0:15"Just don't take Brody too seriously,"
13. 0:16she said. "He gets competitive." I
14. 0:17didn't think much of it. Then we walked
15. 0:18into the backyard and I saw the trophy.
16. 0:20It sat on the patio table like a shrine.
17. 0:21A spray-painted gold ping-pong paddle
18. 0:23glued to a wooden base. House champion
19. 0:25written across it in marker. Owen kept a
20. 0:26table in the garage and every party for
21. 0:284 years ended the same way. Brody
22. 0:30winning, holding it over his head,
23. 0:31reminding everyone nobody in the family
24. 0:32could touch him. I'd brought a worn
25. 0:33zip-up case with me, an old habit I
26. 0:35never explained. Nadia had raised an
27. 0:36eyebrow at it in the car and I just
28. 0:37said, "Old habit," and left it there.
29. 0:39Brody clocked it the second I set it by
30. 0:40the cooler. "What's that? A murder
31. 0:41weapon?" A couple cousins laughed. "You
32. 0:42actually play?" "Used to," I said, "back
33. 0:44in college. Haven't touched one in a
34. 0:45while." His whole face lit up. "College,
35. 0:47huh? Intramural champ?" He turned to the
36. 0:48group. "We got a ringer. Come on,
37. 0:50rookie. I'll spot you the house paddle.
38. 0:51Wouldn't want you embarrassing that
39. 0:52little case." The house paddle was
40. 0:54garbage, warped with the rubber peeling
41. 0:55off. I picked it up anyway. I wasn't
42. 0:56about to walk into my girlfriend's
43. 0:57brother's engagement party and humiliate
44. 0:59a grown man in front of his family over
45. 1:01ping-pong. So, I let him have his
46. 1:02moment. First game, I played it careful.
47. 1:03Missed easy returns on purpose. Shanked
48. 1:05a serve into the net. Let him build a
49. 1:06lead. He loved it. Narrating every
50. 1:08point, high-fiving his buddy Kai after
51. 1:09winners. I lost 11-8, close enough to
52. 1:11look real. Brody threw his arms up like
53. 1:12he'd won Wimbledon. "And that is why the
54. 1:14trophy doesn't leave this house." He
55. 1:15pointed the paddle at me. "Nice try,
56. 1:17college boy." I smiled and started to
57. 1:18set the paddle down. I was done. Then he
58. 1:19had to keep going. "What? One and done?"
59. 1:21He pulled a folded bill from his pocket
60. 1:22and waved it. "50 bucks says you can't
61. 1:23take a single game off me. Or are you
62. 1:25scared to lose in front of your girl?"
63. 1:26The backyard went quiet. Nadia was
64. 1:28watching. Owen, too. That last part did
65. 1:29it. "Sure," I said. "One game." I walked
66. 1:31to the cooler, unzipped the case, and
67. 1:32took out my own paddle. Nothing flashy,
68. 1:33just broken in and mine. Brody snorted.
69. 1:35"Oh, we're bringing out the special
70. 1:36equipment now?" It wasn't good for him.
71. 1:38First serve, I put enough spin on it
72. 1:39that it kicked sideways off the table
73. 1:40before he moved. Second serve, same
74. 1:42thing. Every ball I'd been dumping into
75. 1:43the net for 10 minutes started landing
76. 1:45exactly where he wasn't. 11-3. The
77. 1:46garage went quiet in a different way.
78. 1:48"Lucky serves," he muttered, wiping his
79. 1:49hand on his shirt. "Double or nothing.
80. 1:51Real game." By now, people had drifted
81. 1:52in from the yard. Cousins pulled out
82. 1:54phones, and Kai, his own best friend,
83. 1:55started quietly taking side bets. And he
84. 1:57wasn't putting his money on Brody
85. 1:58anymore. Second game wasn't close. I ran
86. 2:00him corner to corner, made him dive for
87. 2:01one that clipped the edge, and when he
88. 2:02slammed a ball back too hard, I just put
89. 2:04it away. 11-2. Somebody in the back
90. 2:05went, "Oh." the way people do when a
91. 2:07game turns into a lesson. Brody was
92. 2:08sweating now, and not from the ping
93. 2:09pong. All right, he was loud again,
94. 2:10playing to the room. You think you're
95. 2:11the champ? Trophy game right now. Winner
96. 2:13takes house champion. He grabbed the
97. 2:14spray painted paddle and slammed it on
98. 2:16the table between us. Four years
99. 2:17nobody's taken it. Let's go, rookie. He
100. 2:18didn't know he just bet a piece of
101. 2:19painted plywood against a guy who spent
102. 2:21two years on the college club circuit. I
103. 2:23didn't play intramural, I played
104. 2:24regionals. That old case wasn't a
105. 2:25costume. It was just the thing I stopped
106. 2:27caring because I got tired of this
107. 2:28conversation. I served first. He never
108. 2:29scored, not one point. 11-0. Halfway
109. 2:31through he quit trash talking and just
110. 2:33shook his head muttering, "No way."
111. 2:34every time the ball landed where he
112. 2:35wasn't. Owen was filming openly. Nadia
113. 2:37had a hand over her mouth laughing. When
114. 2:38I put away the final point, the garage
115. 2:40erupted. Four years of this guy lording
116. 2:41that trophy over everyone gone in six
117. 2:43minutes. Brody stood there holding the
118. 2:44warped house paddle, staring at the
119. 2:45table like it owed him money. I picked
120. 2:47the trophy up, tucked it under my arm,
121. 2:48and lifted his 100 bucks off the table
122. 2:50on the way past. Owen was laughing too
123. 2:51hard to even shake my hand. "Not bad." I
124. 2:53said, nodding at Brody, "For a rookie."