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I mean, it was literally his dream come true to be playing for the Skyhawks. And considering professional football careers only lasted two and a half years on average, it was truly a blessing for him to have signed on for his sixth season regardless of how envious I felt knowing I hadn’t accomplished anything nearly as significant career-wise.
“Maybe Ishould’vetaken that drink from Darnell,”I thought, my stomach immediately growling in response as if it was letting me know that, without food, I didn’t even have the capacity for more liquor. And while I’d assumed it had only been loud enough for me to hear, I was a little embarrassed when Lance commented, “I don’t know why you went out with a nigga who ain’t even have the decency to feed you. Then again, we both know you’ve never been the best decision maker.”
At that, I couldn’t help but scowl as I told him, “You know what? It is entirely too late for this shit.” Then I put my heels back on so that I could finally cross the street, looking both ways just as Lance said, “Come take a ride with me, Yani.”
“What?”
“I said, come take a ride with me,” he repeated, the scowl on my face tightening as I turned around and asked, “Why?”
Amusedly, he explained, “To get you somethin’ to eat, man.”
“You get out of your car talkin’ shit, and I’m just supposed to assume you’d actually wanna do something nice for me?”
Instead of answering that question from a distance, he approached where I was still standing in the grass and very calmly asked, “Are you hungry, Briyana?”
He smelled so good that I was sure I would’ve said yes to anything he’d asked me. But thankfully, in this specific scenario, I could answer, “Yes” and keep my dignity intact.
Well…almost, the way my stomach immediately growled as if it was cheering in response to my answer forcing me to avert my eyes as Lance chuckled and said, “Then let’s go get somethin’ to eat.”
Without even confirming if I was down or not, he headed back towards his car while I begrudgingly followed, making note of the fact that,unlike Darnell, Lance hadn’t even cared to make sure I’d gotten in safely before he was already revving up the engine. And of course, because of what kind of car it was, I wasn’t at all surprised when he pulled out of the neighborhood and almost instantly started driving like a maniac, the fact that I was kind of into it making me realize that being in such close proximity to him was probably not the best idea.
It was too late now though.
Instead of being at my father’s house washing my makeup off like I should’ve been, I was watching the boy turned man I hadn’t seen in years whip his Batmobile through the streets of the city we’d grown up in together and getting turned on in the process, not even wanting to look away until he peeked over at me with his hand on the wheel and asked, “What?”
That snapped me right out of my trance as I struggled to come up with an explanation for why I’d been staring so hard, eventually landing on, “I meant that congratulations earlier. You should be really proud of yourself, Lance.”
“Thank you, Yani,” he responded with the cutest little smirk before correcting, “I mean,Briyana. My bad.”
Honestly, making him call me by my full name was more of a defense mechanism than anything since hearing his deepened voice say “Yani” was a little more sensual than I could handle. But the fact that it was also so personal made it hard for me not to grin as I told him, “You know, you’re the only person who’s ever called me that.”
“And I still think it’s a dope ass nickname even if you don’t like it anymore,” he argued, his defensive energy amusing me as I explained, “It’s not that I don’t like it. I guess I just got so used to not hearing it.”
“Well you’ll always be Yani to me,” he responded, making me tingle in a way that forced me to find some business so that I wouldn’t say -or do- something stupid. And that’s how I ended up going to my notes app to find the Instagram handle of the man who I knew would be the perfect distraction, literally swooning when the most recent picture he’d posted was of him and his son who’d gotten starter locs so that he could look more like his father.
As if he needed any help.
I mean, the boy was practically a spitting image of Darnell, so much so that I was confident he’d heard it from everyone he’d ever met in his young life. And lucky for him, Darnell had some damn good genes, one picture in particular of him on the beach forcing me to adjust in my seat as Lance asked, “That’s him?”
“Hm?”
“The nigga you went out on a date with tonight,” he clarified, the fact that he was even still on that making me giggle when I replied, “I already told you I didn’t go on a date, Lance.”
The look on his face said he still didn’t believe me, prompting me to share, “I actually went out with Nala. You remember her?”
“Nala with the fat ass and the freckles?”
“That’d be her,” I responded. “Her and Freddie Patrick have a daughter together.”
Like me, Lance must’ve also been surprised by that considering the way he sang, “Whattt? That’s crazy,” before asking, “How’d you end up linking with her?”
“Ran into her at the grocery store on some random shit,” I answered. “She insisted we catch up, and I needed a drink. So we made it happen.”
With a nod, Lance started grinning especially hard when he asked, “Remember when you used to lie to your parents and say you were staying at my house when you were really out here tryna be a hot girl with Nala’s ass?”
“You mean, the same way you used to lie to yours about being at my house when you were really out here humpin’ on ol’ girl?” I challenged, the mention making him laugh as he responded, “Shit, I think she might have a baby by Freddie now too.”
“You sure it ain’t yours?”
