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Lance
We wereone game closer to clinching a playoff berth.
There were still two games left in the regular season. But as the current leader of our division with a game to spare, we were pretty much a shoo-in for at least a spot in the wild card round as long as we didn’t get tripped up over these next two weeks, the fact that both of the games we had left were against teams with losing records giving me a little more confidence even though I knew we’d be foolish to let our guards down completely.
I mean, all it took was a good day for them and a bad day for us for our playoff plans to get derailed. But since I knew we weren’t about to let that happen, I was already grateful to be in position to make some noise in the postseason; especially after that losing skid we’d found ourselves on not all that long ago.
I was also grateful that Yani had finally made her way back from Oregon, the meeting she’d set up with Nike somehow turning into a week-long attempt to woo her. And even though I thought that was a little odd, it was easy for me to assume that she was just stringing them along because she could, taking full advantage of all the good shit they were throwing her way before politely telling them no.
Or impolitely telling them hell no.
Truth be told, after the way they’d played her the first time, that energy certainly would’ve been justified. And I was already looking forward to hearing all about it once I pulled up to the airport to pick her up, the sight of her fine ass standing in the arrivals area making my heart beat a little faster as I pulled closer towards the curb before hopping out to greet her.
“You have no idea how much I missed you,” she sang as she rushed over to throw her arms around my neck in a hug, squeezing me tight as hell as I chuckled and responded, “I missed you too, baby.” And when she pulled back just enough to give me a kiss, it wasn’t long before we lowkey started putting on a show that left Yani moaning by the time I insisted, “Come on. Let’s get you home.”
Happily, she climbed into my car while I took care of her suitcase. And after sharing another sloppy kiss once I got in to join her, we were finally on our way,hand-in-hand, the drive to the crib serving as the perfect opportunity for me to ask her about her trip.
“So… how’d it go?”
“It went great,” she answered simply. “Really great.”
“And…?”
“And… they asked how soon I could start,” she filled in, that part making me chuckle a bit as I responded, “Of course they did. And I bet you had fun telling them you weren’t actually interested, huh?”
When she didn’t say anything, I peeked over at her once,then twice, before finally asking, “Youdidtell them you weren’t interested, right?”
“At first,” she answered quietly, dropping my hand before she went on to explain, “But then they started talking about their employee stock options, and all the great benefits that I currently don’t have on my own, and the bonuses they pay out on an annual basis. Not to mention, they were already offering well over the salary I’d expected them to. And it's freakin’ Nike. I didn’t think I cared about that as much anymore. But being back at headquartersjust… it felt like home, Lance.”
Wow.
I honestly didn’t know what to say, how to react, how to not... be upset. I mean, when she’d first brought it up to me, it didn’t even seem like she was really all that enthused about it. So to hear her be so passionate now was a crazy turn of events that lowkey felt like history repeating itself since there had been no discussion between us before her decision was already finalized.
And it shouldn’t have been like that.
Not that I would’ve been thrilled about it either way. But it still would’ve been nice to feel included, to have a say on it, to feel like I mattered. And not only that, but I’d also been under the impression that we were building a pretty solid home here together. But being at fuckin’ Nike headquarters was where she really felt that energy?
Since my mother had always told me if I didn’t have anything nice to say, to not say anything at all, I stayed quiet for the rest of the drive home. And once we got inside, I planned to stay that way until Yani got in my face and demanded, “Lance, say something.”
“What you want me to say?” I asked annoyedly, getting ready to move past her towards the living room until she blocked my path while answering, “I don’t know.Something.”
“Congratulations on the new job, Briyana,” I stated plainly. “There. You happy?”
“No,” she answered with a shake of her head. “But I sure wish you were genuinely happyforme.”
Frowning hard, I stepped closer to her and asked, “Why the fuck would I be happy about you,the woman I love, leaving me to move clear across the country…again?”
In my opinion, there wasn’t a single good answer to that question. But Yani still tried her best to give one when she reasoned, “Lance, you know how much a position like this means to me. Not to mention,youwere the one who encouraged me to hear them out.”
“Yeah, so you could clear your conscience about it. Not cause I thought you were actually gonna go for that shit,” I explained, honestly feeling dumb as hell for even giving her the idea. And even though I could only blame myself for that, that didn’t make me any less irritated as I told her, “But again, congratulations. I hope it’s everything you’ve ever dreamed of.”
With that, I finally moved past her towards the living room, plopping down on the couch to turn on some sports that I hoped would help to calm me down. But of course, Yani wasn’t going for that, stepping right in front of my view of the TV to ask, “Are you serious right now?”
“Deadass,” I answered, giving proof when I lifted the remote to change the channel which really seemed to piss Yani off.
“See. This is exactly why I was so cautious about us getting involved like this.”
“Cause you knew you were gonna be on some bullshit?” I asked, not all that surprised when Yani responded with a grumbled,“Oh, fuck you.”
“One last time for the road, huh?” I said more to myself than her. Though, from the immediate look of anger on her face, I could tell she’d heard me, her tone almost scarily calm when she decided, “You know what? I’m leaving.”
She was already moving to grab the suitcase I’d just brought in as I pettily replied, “Sounds about right.”
“I’ll be back to get the rest of my things later,” she said in a tone louder than before, prompting me to pop up from the couch so that I could yell back, “You sure you don’t want me to just ship them straight to Oregon?! What’s the address at headquarters?”
Her response to that question was a slammed front door that reverberated throughout the foyer, the sound of it only further adding to my irritation with the entire situation. And while pride made it easy for me to brush that shit off in the moment, lying in bed alone later that night had me questioning every word I’d said.
