“Yeah, we could arrange something,” Alani added.
Lauren felt like she was being awkward, forcing conversation because normally she didn’t say two words to anyone at these games. Besides hellos and goodbyes, she didn’t interact with the other mothers. Commotion on the field caused Lauren to shift her eyes back to her son.
When she saw the tussle between DJ and one of his teammates, she arose from her seat. The coach’s whistle blared as he rushed out to the field to break up the scuffle. Lauren wasn’t far behind him.
“DJ!” she shouted.
“Hey, hey, hey!” the coach said, as he pulled the two kids apart.
“He’s garbage, man! He dropping every pass, Coach Ny!” DJ shouted. “I’m sick of this dirt team!”
“Hey! DJ!” Lauren protested.
The coach turned to her. “I got it,” he said. He turned to her son. “DJ, give me 15 laps,” he said.
“This is bull...”
“Finish that sentence if you want to and watch what happens, DJ,” Lauren said, pointing a warning finger at him.
He gritted his teeth and began the laps as the coach blew his whistle.
“Let’s call it,” he said, disappointment in his tone as his eyes followed her son around the field. “A’ight, get in here, get in here. Keep it G on three...” The group of boys huddled together, joining their fists in the middle of the circle. “One. Two. Three.”
“Keep it G!”
Lauren smiled because she knew the phrase meant, “Keep it Godly.” He was a man of God. Ax ex-football star but also a pastor.
“I’m so sorry, Coach Ny,” she said.
“You good, Queen,” he replied. “He been different lately, though. A little aggressive. Everything good with him?”
Lauren shrugged. Her growing son had everything. He didn’t even realize how privileged he was, but she and Demi worked hard to give it to him. They weren’t always as present as they’d like to be because, in order to maintain the lifestyle they had given him, they had to work. “I think so,” she answered. “I just feel like I can’t keep up with thesechanging moods. Between him and his father...” She caught herself. She was talking too much.
“Yeah, well, I’ll straighten him out on the field, don’t worry about it,” Nyair replied.
“Thank you,” Lauren said, folding her arms across her chest as she watched her son run. “You really mean a lot to these boys. You’re like a celebrity around here.”
“That’s old news, man,” Nyair said, smiling sheepishly. “I ain’t been in the spotlight like that in a long time.”
“Yeah, well, us little people remember it,” Lauren said as she kicked at the grass nervously.
Nyair smiled, rubbing the side of his face as his dimples deepened.
“I’m not that guy no more. That guy had a lot going on. I’m just trying to do sum’n different,” Nyair replied.
“Different is good,” Lauren answered.
Lauren had to force herself to look away. Nyair was a beautiful man but not her man. Her man didn’t have two words for her these days. It made her seek something elsewhere. Here. In her son’s coach. She had never felt so pathetic.
“How your old man doing? He usually pulling up for practices,” Nyair said. She was grateful for the shift. She was sure he’d done it on purpose because the interaction was bordering on flirtatious.
“He’s good. Just working,” she said, making excuses for Demi’s sudden absence lately.
“Yeah, well, tell him don’t forget to put his work in at home. Money’s good, but if you lose the shit you working hard for, it defeats the purpose,” Nyair said. “He don’t want to do that. It’s a man’s biggest regret,” he said, voice changing ever so slightly, letting Lauren know he was speaking from experience.
“Demi’s a learn the lesson the hard way kind of guy,” Lauren said.
“That’s too bad,” Nyair replied, as he thumbed his bottom lip while staring at her.
