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“Camels have insanely long eyelashes to protect their eyes from the sandstorms in the desert. Yours are insanely long, too. That’s why I asked. It was a joke. About your camel eyelashes.”
Cassie looked at her friend blankly. “How did you know that?”
Aria shrugged her shoulders. “I used to want to be an exotic animal vet.”
“So what happened to that dream, huh?” Cassie asked. “Why are you a bartender in your dad’s bar and a Thunder dancer?”
Aria smiled sadly. “That’s a story for another time, kid.”
Cassie started to push her friend further, but as soon as she started to ask another question, they both heard a knock on the door.
“Saved by the knock. I thought you said you could drive yourself,” Aria said, turning and heading into the living room toward the front door. “I’ll get it so you can glance at yourself one last time to see if you’re decent.”
“He insisted on picking me up!” Cassie stuck her tongue out at Aria’s back, hating the fact that her friend was right. She wanted to take one last look at herself to make sure she was presentable. Oversized pink and turquoise OU long-sleeved shirt for the cooler weather, a pair of black leggings and white Converse sneakers. Cassie thought it was the perfect outfit for her first trip to The Science Museum. Running to her room, Cassie grabbed her bag off her bed and walked into the living room.
Jamal was standing just inside the door wearing a pair of gray Under Armour sweats and a t-shirt with an alligator who was standing on two legs, dressed like Darth Vader and holding a light saber. Under the gator were the words Darth Gator, Gatorland, Orlando. A Thunder cap was turned backwards on his head.
“Nice shirt, Muscles,” she said with a grin.
Jamal quirked an eyebrow her way. “Muscles?”
“That’s my new nickname for you. I get Bambi. You get Muscles.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“I think that works, daddy-o. Especially since your muscles are so big,” JJ, decked out in an OU softball jersey, grey skinny sweats and a replica of her dad’s Thunder cap perched on her curls, said as she patted her dad on the back. “That’s a good thing, cuz nanny said you used to be super skinny!”
Cassie snorted, trying to hold in her laughter. Whatever the man was back then, he was sonotskinny now. His muscles had the definition only someone who was in constant athletic motion could get. If he wasn’t in any underwear ads for Calvin Klein right now, then the company was sure missing out. Jamal Jenkins was the definition of eye candy and Cassie was pretty sure plenty of women in NBA arenas all over the country unwrapped him with their eyes night after night when the Thunder played on their court.
-------------------------
Jamal gave his daughter a small push. “Hey, you. That’s not nice,” he said, his facial expression belying his words. “I wasn’tthatskinny!”
JJ shook her head. “Yeah, yeah, you were. Nanny showed me pictures. You werewayskinny, daddy-o. But don’t worry, you were still cute.”
Jamal rolled his eyes. “You’re ruining my game, sister,” Jamal whispered, bending down to whisper in his daughter’s ear.
“What game?” she said in a not-so-quiet response. “You didn’t even put the moves on her when she was lookin’ hot like that Egypt lady.”
Jamal frowned as he heard Cassie and Aria laugh from the couch where they had perched themselves to listen to he and his daughter’s conversations. He turned around to face them. “What’s so funny?”
“The thought of your gangly, skinny ass as a teenager, that’s what,” Aria said, popping her sucker out from her mouth. “I bet you were so goofy looking.”
Jamal acted like he was stabbing his heart with an imaginary knife. “Your words cut deep, Aria,” he said with a wink. “But I am glad you’re here because I need to thank you.”
“For what?” Aria asked, a confused look on her face.
“For providing your friend here,” he said, nodding his head Cassie’s way, “With thatamazingHalloween costume. Truly, it was a work of art. Name your reward and I shall supply. I’m like a genie. You just get one wish instead of three.”
“Hmmmm, let me think,” Aria said, a mischievous smile on her face. “Anything?”
Cassie gave him a warning look. “Are you sure you want to do that, Jamal? You don’t know the lengths my friend here can go to get what she wants.”
Aria stuck her tongue out at Cassie, eliciting a giggle from his daughter. “I know what I want,” Aria said to him. “And it’s easy to get.”
“What is it?”
“Five boxes of these,” she said, taking the sucker out of her mouth and holding it up for him to see.
“A box of suckers?” he asked incredulously.
