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“Delivery,” I call out from the back of the bookstore, I make my way through the loading bay and into the storage room.
“Come on through,” Kal shouts back. I make my way onto the sales floor of the bookstore and feel a sense of relief that her mother is nowhere to be seen. Her back is to me as she fiddles with the espresso machine and I admire the lean lines of her back and neck.
She looks over her shoulder and smiles wide when she sees me.
Her hair is down today, and it looks like nothing I’ve ever seen. It’s wild, and long and thick and so many different kinds of curls in one. It’s fucking pretty and I could stand and look at it all day. Admire the slim set of her shoulders and the way her bright orange tank top clings to her slim waist. But I don’t want to linger in case her mother happens to come back. I remember how my mother treated her that night all those years ago. I wasn’t surprised she wanted me out of here yesterday.
“Hey, there. Morning.” Her voice is friendly today and I relax as I walk through the door
.
“Morning. Do you want me to put those over there like yesterday?” I nod at the stack of boxes in my arms.
“Yes, please.”
I put them down and turn to get more from the truck. I glance at the small black notebook on top and imagine her face when she finally turns around and sees it.
When I come back in, she’s picked it up and is thumbing through it. She looks up as I approach and her eyes are bright with tears, she’s grinning from ear to ear. My step falters. Her smile is like a punch of liquid sunshine. I want to see it again.
“Thank you so much for bringing this back to me.” She presses a palm flat against it.
“You’re welcome. As much as I’ve loved having it, it’s nice to be able to return something that was clearly missed.”
She closes the notebook, rests her forearms on the counter and leans forward giving me a very nice view. A small smile playing on her lips and a mischievous glint in her eye. “I heard they call you The Legend.” She drawls slowly.
I lean forward too, arms resting on either side of hers. “You been asking about me?” I ask with a smile.
Once she’s put some distance between us, she rolls her eyes but laughs. “You wish. I got a part-time job at Sweet & Lo’s. Some girls were in there talking about you.”
“You work at Sweet & Lo’s, too?” I’m surprised. I go in there almost every day and haven’t ever seen her.
“Just a few nights a week. You have this whole harem that come in and do nothing but talk about The Legend on the basketball court. Apparently, you practice with your shirt off.” She glances at my forearms.
“A harem?” I ask like I’m considering the word.
“Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but certainly a good group of them.” Her fingers twitch and I wonder if she wants to touch me, too.
“Oh you mean Joni and her friends. Yeah they come watch me play every day.” She steps back from the counter and moves her arms.
“That sounds like a total waste of time, to me.” She tosses her head and stalks around the counter, her nose tipping up as she approaches me like she intends to pretend she doesn’t see me standing there.
I nudge her with my shoulder when she walks past me. “Come on… you know you want me to show you. I look really good with my shirt off.”
She laughs at me. “Wow… I guess you believe your own hype?”
“It’s not hype. It’s all true.”
“Okay. Then tell me. Besides those girls, who else calls you the Legend?” She cocks her hip and crosses her arms, this time like she’s prepared to wait as long as it takes for me to think of an answer.
I went through a phase where I doubted that I deserved that nickname. But I don’t anymore. I’ve earned it with sweat, tears, time, and pain. So, I shrug.
“Everyone… I’m the baddest basketball player my school has produced in thirty years.”
“I guess if you go to school around here. I mean, can’t imagine the competition is that steep or anything. How do you do when you play the kids at Yates?”
She mentions the high school that was our biggest rival. “You must not follow basketball. ’Cause if you did, you would know we’ve beaten them every game we’ve played.”
“I bet you kiss your biceps in the mirror, too.” She quips with an amused scoff.
