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Leaning into the screen like she expected a juicy answer, I could only imagine how much of a disappointment it was when I told her, “Honestly, we just weren’t on the same page.”
“About?”
“Well, she was a year older than me. And when she graduated the semester before I did, she expected me to propose right away. Like for whatever reason, that was how she saw shit going for us in her head. AndI… did not.”
Nodding along, Shakira followed up, “Did you love her?”
“I did,” I admitted. “But as a senior in college and an NFL prospect, I wasn’t ready to be anybody’s husband.”
“Because you wanted to be on some hoe shit first?”
“Nah, it wasn’t about that at all,” I chuckled. “I just knew if I really wanted to get to the league, then football needed to be my top priority during that particular period of time. And she didn’t take too kindly to that,so… we parted ways.”
It almost sounded too black and white to be true, but it was really that simple.
She’d given me an ultimatum, and I’d chosen what was best for me; a decision I still stuck by to this day that for whatever reason had Shakira amused when she commented, “I know her ass probably besicklookin’ at your Instagram.”
“Nah, I don’t think she even follows me,” I replied with a chuckle that had Shakira quick to call bullshit when she challenged, “And you really believe that means she’s not ever on your profile late at night, scrolling and fantasizing about what could’ve been?”
Rookie Year Snoop would’ve loved that. But now that I was going on my fourth year in the league, I honestly didn’t care either way, leading me to shrug as I answered, “I mean, I’m not sayin’ it’s impossible. But she seems pretty happy in her situation.”
“Wait. Soyouwere the one fantasizing about what could’ve been?”
The disappointed scowl on Shakira’s face made it hard for me not to laugh again as I admitted, “Man, I just clicked onto her profile one time when she was tagged in a picture with a mutual friend from UT.” And like she wasn’t fully convinced, Shakira responded with a groaned, “Mmhmmm. Lemme find out you tryna get that old thang back.”
“Nah, my full attention is with someone new,” I replied slickly, Shakira’s eyebrows raising as she questioned, “Is that right?”
“Mmmhmm,” I nodded, Shakira grinning when she playfully asked, “What’s her name? The new girl?”
For a second, I thought about toying with her simply because I enjoyed her dramatics. But instead, I used the opportunity to make it very clear where I was at with all this, licking my lips before I answered, “Shakira Knight, aka Kiki,bkaShaky.”
With damn near cherry red cheeks, Shakira teased, “But I thought we were just friends?”
“We are.For now.”
I thought it was the emphasis on our current status being temporary that had her smirking in response. But I quickly found out that wasn’t the case once she asked, “Do you send“You up?”texts to all your friends?”
“I was just tryna be considerate,” I told her, amused as I watched Shakira process that before she hit me with a follow up question.
“So I get the considerate“You up?”text, and your other friends get what?”
Chuckling, I asked, “Who said there were others?”
“Come on now, Kendall,” she sighed. “There’salwaysothers with you niggas.”
It wouldn’t have been fair for me to act like she had no reason to feel the way she did about my “kind”, especially given who she had history with. But I also knew that wasn’t at all how I operated, being sure to make that known when I told her, “That’s a fair point. But it’s not applicable tothisnigga.”
“Okay, Kendall,” she replied, her tone oozing with sarcasm that had me quick to defend, “I’m for real.”
“Then I suppose time will tell.”
Shakira was right.
For as much as I would’ve liked for her to just take my word for it, stuff like that wasn’t as simple as me just saying it.
It had to be shown,proven, over a period of time much longer than the few weeks we’d been talking. And even though the shit was honestly second nature as far as how I moved was concerned, I was still down for the challenge, genuinely looking forward to being able to show Shakira what I was really about.
