Aaliyah James:She said go deep!
Rolling my eyes, I put my phone down and went to get ready for work. I was in distress, and those two had jokes. I sprayed conditioning tonic in my hair, gathered my locs in a half-up, half-down style, and then put on my clothes. My phone kept going off, so I picked it back up to read what I’d missed.
Nina Ford:Jazz let him go… ALL… THE… WAY!
Aaliyah James:Jazz said he could tackle her any day of the week!
Nina Ford:I know he’s impressed with Jazz’s ball handling!
Aaliyah James:Touchdown!
Nina Ford:It’s a game of inches!
Aaliyah James:Let’s play ball!
I laughed.Girl. Wrong sport.
Nina Ford:Aaliyah, no. You ruined it. That’s baseball.
Jazmyn Payne:Are you two done?
Aaliyah James:I am, apparently. It was between “play ball” and “goal” and I wasn’t confident about either.
Nina Ford:I have tears in my eyes. This was the laugh I needed this morning!
Aaliyah James:Same!
I shook my head. I was glad they’d had a good laugh, but I needed advice. I’d come to the group chat with a serious concern, and theywere making jokes. I was going to have to talk to them about my problem later.
Jazmyn Payne:I can’t stand either one of you.
Nina Ford:Jazz got a famous boyfriend and now she can’t stand us.
Aaliyah James:Can’t do nothing with money!
Still slightly amused by their commentary, I shook my head. “I can’t stand them,” I muttered, dropping my phone in my handbag and scooping up my workbag.
On the drive to work, I called Aunt Addy.
“Good morning,” she greeted me, sounding weary.
Alarmed, my eyebrows shot up. “Aunt Addy, how are you?”
“Tired.”
“Oh no, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Not that type of tired, sweetheart.”
There was a pain in my chest. “Oh,” I whispered, understanding what she meant. “I’m sorry about that, too.”
“Don’t be. Just tell me something good.”
“Um.” It was hard to think of anything good right in that moment.
“How’s Lamar?” she asked.
“He’s doing really well. If all goes according to plan, he’ll be playing in the game on Sunday.”
