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Both shoes were in great condition and would make for great gifts. But since he was asking for my opinion, I told him the truth. “I’d say you keep your shoes, bring him into the store with a reasonable budget in mind, and let him decide what he wants. He may want something he can hold onto and possibly resale later, he may want something he can wear right away, or hell, he may not even want anything for himself at all and instead wants to spend the money on a family member.”
Lance was already nodding along as I continued, “It’s still a good deed whichever route you take, and I’m sure he’ll be grateful regardless. But to me, it’s a bit more humanizing when the person you want to help gets to have at least a little say in the matter.”
“That’s a good point,” Lance agreed. And I could already see the wheels turning in his head as I told him, “But also, considering how today went, it’s clear you and budgets don’t go together too well, so…”
“Nah, that’s your fault,” he defended, stepping closer to me to add, “Shouldn’t be so good at what you do.”
I couldn’t help but grin in response to his compliment, the fact that he was in my face now reminding me to ask, “Since when do you wear glasses?”
“They’re blue light glasses,” Lance explained. “They help when I’m watching film for hours at a time.”
“So I interrupted you?”
Shaking his head, he took them off and answered, “Nah, I needed a break. There’s only so much you can pick apart about limited preseason play.”
“You guys start off the regular season with back-to-back away games, right?”
Amusedly, Lance responded, “Well, well, well. Look who’s been keepin’ up with the squad after all.”
“Oh, shut up,” I groaned with a little push to his shoulder, making Lance chuckle as he finally answered, “We’re headed to New Orleans this week for our season opener. Then we’ll have another out in Seattle before our first home game the following week.”
With an exaggerated smile, I told him, “Sounds…exciting.”
But for whatever reason, that only made Lance laugh again as he said, “You ain’t gotta pretend to give a fuck, Yani.”
“I mean, I do a little though,” I argued. “Just not enough to like, call myself a fan or anything.”
“But you do know I’ma get you to a game this season though, right?” he asked, taking a step closer towards me with his eyebrow raised like he was putting me on the spot to make a decision.
I didn’t back down, raising my eyebrow right back when I challenged, “Only if it’s in exchange for the shoes you already bought me.”
“Nah, those were a gift, not a bargaining chip. And besides, I got plenty of other ways to convince you.”
Just as my body began to react to what he’d said, the doorbell rang, saving me from melting into a puddle as I teasingly asked, “So… do you know who it is, or do you need to go put on a shirt?”
With a huff of a laugh through his nose, Lance shook his head as he went to go answer the door, leaving me to obsess over what other ways he planned to convince me to come to one of his games. But all my curiosity got redirected once I heard a woman’s laugh, my spidey senses tingling as I slipped out of the shoe cave and got close enough to the staircase to see who it was without being seen myself.
At least, I thought I couldn’t be seen until the woman looked dead at me and said, “Oh, my bad. I didn’t know you had company.”
Now that I’d unintentionally outed myself, I tried my best not to make things even more awkward as Lance peeked over his shoulder to see where I was at before deciding I needed to know this woman.
“Racquel, this is my friend, Yani,” he announced once I’d made it down the stairs. “Yani, this is Racquel. My trainer.”
The fact that he had on a shirt now told me he truly hadn’t been expecting her. But she also looked very comfortable in his space and in his face, something I made a mental note of as I stuck my hand out with a smile and said, “Briyana. Nice to meet you.”
While ol’ girl returned my handshake, Lance explained, “Briyana and I went to high school together.”
“Oh, so this is the high school friend you were telling me about,” Racquel said, the fact that I’d already been mentioned to her another thing I made a mental note of as she added, “And now she’s at your house.Again.”
My first thought was,“Why does she know that?”But instead of starting trouble with the woman who had some sick ass biceps and at least three inches of height on me, I explained, “I was actually just dropping off some sneakers.”
A low-pitched “Hm,” was her response, the forced ass smile she was wearing when she said it making it obvious that she didn’t appreciate me being here regardless of my reasons. But honestly, I didn’t care how she felt about it, amused by how pressed she seemed as Lance randomly asked, “Rocki, aren’t y’all still looking for more women to play in that flag football game your gym is putting together this weekend? Maybe Yani can fill a roster spot.”
The mention made me perk up as he turned my way and asked, “Yani, what you doin’ on Sunday?”
“Going to church.”
“Since when do you go to church?” he questioned with a frown that had me gnawing at my lip as I corrected, “I meant, watching church on TV. In bed. With my eyes closed, probably.”
