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Lance
SeeingYani on the sidelines had me charged up.
It was well before the actual game was set to start which was why her and my parents had access to the field. And while I was used to seeing them in my jersey, seeing Yani rockin’ my shit too just hit a little different, a big ass smile on my face as I abandoned the warmup work I was doing on the field to approach them all for hugs.
Of course, Yani’s lasted a little longer than the others. And once it was paired with a kiss, my mother couldn’t wait to give a long,“Ooooh”like the live audience on a television sitcom, making Yani giggle as she pulled away while my father proudly chimed in, “I know that’s right.”
My parents had always liked Yani,even after she’d ditched my ass, so it wasn’t all that surprising that they were instant fans of our relationship. But it was still cool to see them altogether like this as a unit -my unit- ready to support me for what was sure to be an exciting game since our head coach had finally decided it was time to give Snoop a real shot as the starting QB.
Allegedly, our usual QB1 was dealing with some lingering pain in his ribs after taking a bad hit last week. At least, that was the reported reason for why he’d only be on the sidelines to use in an emergency situation. But the fact that he’d looked just fine all week in practice told me there might’ve been something else going on; though I wasn’t trippin’ at all since nobody deserved this opportunity more than Snoop.
He’d been working his ass off in practice and had been doing his thing in games too whenever he got the chance. But since he was often put in position to clean up someone else’s mess instead of being able to blaze his own trail, there was usually too much for him to have to overcome and not nearly enough time for him to do it.
Today would be different though.
I could already see it in his eyes when I headed into the locker room to get dressed in all my gear and saw him sitting in his locker space with his headphones in his ears and a determined expression on his face, clearly in the zone as he got his mind right for his first career start. And since I didn’t want to disturb him too much, I just walked past and offered him a quick pound, the little nod he gave with it letting me know that he was about to do whatever it took to get us the W.
Which meant I was about to do whatever it took to get us the W.
Obviously, that was always the mission whenever I stepped on the field. But I knew us having that energy on both sides of the ball was where the real magic would happen. And once the game got going, it didn’t take much for me to be convinced that our former QB1 wasn’t getting his job back any time soon since not only was Snoop proving to be a great leader with his choices on the field, but he was also a great leader off of it, using his voice to keep guys engaged in between possessions and maintaining a high level of intensity that was lowkey contagious.
Truth be told, having him at the helm of the offense had me stepping my shit up on defense, doing everything I could to make sure all his hard work wouldn’t be in vain. And since I also wanted to impress Yani, it wasn’t all that shocking when I ended up playing what was arguably my best game of the season; one that thankfully resulted in our first win in almost a month and had me hyped as hell as we headed into the locker room to celebrate.
Now that his job was done, Snoop was back on his humble shit, acting all cool and calm when everybody started showing him love. But when I approached him, it was with an order for him to talk his shit since he’d earned the right to do so; though I shouldn’t have been surprised when he insisted that it was only one game and that there was still a lot of work to be done.
He was right.
There wasn’t any fun in that, but he was right.
So instead of forcing him to a place he wasn’t really trying to go, I respected his outlook and dapped him up as our coach joined us in the locker room for a quick postgame speech and then the delivery of the game ball to the person who’d had the best performance.
Once he started talking about things that only happened on defense, it was clear he was about to present it to me. But I knew it was really our QB who deserved that shit. So when Coach tried to toss the ball my way, I volleyed it to Snoop, the wide-eyed look he responded with as the ball fell through his fingertips making me chuckle as I teased, “I know you ain’t used to being on the receiving end, but come on, bruh.”
There was a murmur of laughter throughout the locker room as Snoop moved to pick it up. Then he held it in the air and said, “Couldn’t have gotten this without y’all, man,” the obvious emotion in his tone making everybody rush in with hugs and cheers that made him disappear somewhere in the crowd until it was time for us all to shower and meet with the media.
Since I knew I had Yani waiting on me, I was kind of annoyed that my session seemed to last a little longer than anyone else’s. And that annoyance only grew when I finally left to look for her and found her engaged in a conversation with Snoop, the fact that they were both smiling and laughing instantly making me feel a way as I approached them to see what was up.
Or rather, approached them to stake my claim, wrapping Yani in a hug and damn near inhaling her mouth when I pressed my lips to hers for a kiss that had her giggling as she pulled away to say, “Hello to you too.”
With a nod, I responded, “I see you’ve made a friend.”
It made sense that Snoop hadn’t seemed fazed by the PDA once Yani explained, “Kendall and I were just talking about some shoes he wants me to design for him.”
“Yeah, your girl is hard to get in touch with. So I figured I’d shoot my shot while she was here,” Snoop chimed in innocently; though I still couldn’t help muttering,“That better be the only shot your shootin’, nigga.”
“Lance, relax,” Yani replied with another giggle before turning her attention back to Snoop. And it was all business when she told him, “Kendall, I’ll be in touch at one o’clock on Tuesday to go over everything with you,” only reminding me just how poppin’ this Kicks by Bri shit really was once Snoop responded with an appreciative yet also relieved nod.
“Looking forward to it, Bri,” he told her before offering me a casual, “Good shit today, Hawk.” And with another dap, he was on his way, leaving me with an amused Yani who teasingly repeated, “Yeah, good shit today, Hawk.With your jealous ass.”
“Nah, I ain’t jealous,” I insisted, wrapping her in another hug as I told her, “That nigga sees the name on the back of your jersey.”
“Mmhmmm, so you say,” she groaned playfully as she pecked my lips with a kiss. And she was getting ready to give another until we heard a familiar voice say, “Hey, you two. Long time, no see.”
Once Yani saw who it was, I could immediately sense her irritation. But since I didn’t want it to seem like I was on any weird shit, I remained cool when I responded, “What’s good, Rocki? I guess it has been a minute.”
“You were incredible out there today,” she purred, the way Yani tensed up under my arm in response amusing me since I knew I wasn’t going for any of this shit. But it was good to see I wasn’t the only one with territorial energy; though I had to admit, Yani was keeping it together a lot better than I had.
I wasn’t about to give her a reason for that to change either, only being as polite as I needed to be when I replied, “Appreciate that.” And I suppose since Rocki could tell she wasn’t getting much more out of me, she decided to turn her attention to Yani.
