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For a second, my mind stayed with the fond memory of that particular Halloween, the grin on my lips coming easy as I thought about going Trick or Treating that year and being so proud to tell everyone,“No, I’m not dressed up as a football player. I’m dressed up as my dad.”But it was moments like that that also made him not being here to see me now hurt a little more, Bleu paying her respects when she said, “May he continue to rest in peace.”
Responding with a single nod, I looked around the room to see if there were any more questions. And after the silence lingered for a solid eight seconds, I leaned into the mic to give a polite, “Appreciate y’all,” before making my way out, only to double back a few minutes later so that I could find Bleu Taylor and tell her, “Man, thank you for always coming with somethin’ different.”
“It was either that or let you doze off at the podium,” she joked, the both of us chuckling before she asked, “Now when are you coming on my show?”
“Shit, whenever your people and my people set it up,” I told her, only to be caught completely off-guard when she smirked and followed up, “Do I need to be talking to Kiki Knight’s people too?”
Since Shakira really was my girl now, I didn’t feel the need to lie about our involvement. But I still couldn’t help the way my eyebrows bunched when I asked, “How you know about that?”
“I have my ways, Snoop,” Bleu answered. “But in the spirit of transparency, the mobile nail tech Kiki uses whenever she’s out on the East Coast is a friend of mine. And she said your girl couldn’t stop talking about you while she got her claws done this morning.”
“I guess that makes sense of why she sent me a picture when she was finished,” I commented with a grin, Bleu smiling back as she shared, “The glow in the darks are Kage’s favorite too.”
The mention of her NBA player boyfriend had me changing the subject a little when I said, “Speaking of him, I need to get back to Nashville and catch a Trojans game this year.”
I was already making a mental note to take a look at their schedule when Bleu very slickly suggested, “A return to your hometown sounds like agreattime to film an episode, Snoop.”
“Look at you,” I chuckled. “Already plottin’.”
“Tell me I’m wrong, though,” she challenged.
I couldn’t tell her that, because she wasn’t wrong. So instead, I just smiled as she continued, “But seriously. If you need help getting tickets or anything, let me know. I got people in high places over that way.”
“You got peopleeverywhere, Bleu.”
“That’s true,” she agreed. “But Iespeciallyhave them there.”
Taking her word for it, I nodded and told her I’d hit her up if I needed to. Then I made my way back to the locker room to get my stuff so that I could head to the team bus that was waiting to take us to the airport, the walk to the parking lot giving me a chance to check my phone where I found another text from Shakira that she’d sent almost an hour ago.
“You okay, Snoopy? Sorry about your game *sad face emoji*.” - Shakira
The use of the nickname that she only used when she was trying to be extra sweet made it hard for me not to grin as I typed out,“I’ll be aight. Wish I was coming home to you tho.”
With it being Halloween, Shakira was in high demand for paid party appearances. And because the holiday fell on a Sunday this year, folks had decided to just spend the entire weekend celebrating, giving Shakira a full schedule that started in Boston on Friday, sent her to Philly on Saturday, and had her in NYC making stops at two different spots tonight.
Yeah, my girl was out here collecting bags like a damn Brinks truck driver. But even with everything she had going on, she still found time to be worried about me according to her latest text.
“Don’t say that. Cause you know I’ll fake sick and hop on a flight in a heartbeat lol.” - Shakira
As tempting as it was to take her up on that, I knew it would’ve been selfish of me to actually do so. And since I didn’t even want to give myself a chance to convince myself otherwise, I quickly replied,“Nah, you stay put. Can’t have folks out here pissed off at the both of us for not showing up today.”
“Here you go *eye roll emoji*” - Shakira
“I’m just sayin’ *shrugging emoji*.” - Kendall
“Anyway *side-eye emoji*. Safe travels back to Houston, Mr. Dogwood <3.” - Shakira
Ironically enough, I was climbing the bus stairs as I typed out,“Appreciate it, Shake. You have fun and be safe tonight. I lov…”
Whoa.
Did I really almost just say that?
Once I found my seat, I was quick to delete the extra shit before I pressed send. But just because Shakira hadn’t received that part of the message didn’t mean it didn’t stay at the forefront of my mind for the entire bus ride to the airport, and then the flight back to Houston, and even on the drive home as I tried to figure out where the hell that energy had come from.
And why had it come so damn easily?
I suppose the answer to both was the fact that there wasn’t a whole lotnotto love about Shakira.
