I read the article, and it highlighted Lamar’s agility, physicality, and ability to get to the ball. It mentioned that he’d been on the practice squad until his standout performance earned him a starting position on the active roster. It closed by saying that if Sunday were to be believed, Lamar “Hollywood” Anderson would be a star right now but a legend in the making.
“Aww, this article is great,” I said. “I’m glad he’s getting praised for how well he played. If he hasn’t seen it, I should—”
“No, not the article! That’s what Aaliyah sent when we were realizing you were dating a celebrity. Look at what I sent!”
I looked back at the group chat and saw the link from Nina. I clicked on it, and my eyes bulged. “What is this?”
I couldn’t process what I was looking at. I could see it, but it didn’t make any sense.
The social media post was captioned,Everyone is talking about Hollywood on the field, but I’m talking about Hollywood off the field! The man isn’t active on social media, but he’s clearly active in these streets. Out and about, potentially boo’ed up? Who is the Maryland Monarchs’ new superstar that they call Hollywood Anderson? What do you think? Sound off in the comments.
The photo attached was the group picture of me, Lamar, Nina, Russ, Aaliyah, and Ahmad. A second photo had cropped all of us out and just focused on Lamar. The post had two hundred thousand likes and thousands of comments.
I stared at the image. “This is the picture from—”
“Aaliyah’s party,” Nina interjected. “That’s the picture that—”
“Mecca took,” I finished her sentence. “Why would she post this?”
“I don’t know. I’m still waiting for Aaliyah to call me back and tell me if she cussed her cousin out yet.”
I clicked on the profile picture, and my brows furrowed. “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait… who is Lemon Drop?”
“She’s a content creator who focuses on good-looking men in sports,” she patiently explained.
“But Mecca took this picture. How would a content creator whoapparently lives in Atlanta have this picture?Wedon’t even have a copy of this picture!”
“Exactly. But here’s the thing, the picture is apparently everywhere. It’s been shared around. A lot.”
I was legitimately shocked. “What?”
“I don’t know the full extent of it, but one of the models I work with saw it on his friend’s social media page. It became a whole thing. I’ll tell you about that later. But I just wanted you to be aware.” She paused. “And prepared.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood up. “Prepared?” I murmured.
“I know you’re not big on having lots of attention,” Nina stated carefully. “And the internet is the internet.”
I looked at the number of followers Lemon Drop had. “There are millions of people who follow that Lemon Drop page.”
“Yeah.” She was quiet for a moment. “Are you okay?”
“I’m more confused than anything… about everything.”
“Figure out what you want, and then talk to him about it,” Nina advised. “If you want to be friends, tell him that. If you want to be more, tell him that. But you need to say something.”
“I will. I’m just…”
“Scared,” she guessed. “But, Jazz, real talk… whether you’re calling each otherfriendor not, you’re into him and he’s into you. And now that he’s the internet’s flavor of the week, there will be people wanting to know if he’s available. So you decide if he is or if he isn’t.”
“I wish,” I scoffed. Her confidence and decisiveness were admirable, but those things didn’t apply to my situation. “I don’t think I’m the deciding factor. His career is.”
I could hear the smile in her voice as she said, “You’d be surprised…”
My feelings for Lamar were real, and I didn’t need to be real with just him about that—I needed to be real with myself. The more I fought it, the more it fought me.
I’ll talk to him on Friday.
Wednesdays and Thursdays were Lamar’s longest practice days. Fridays were shorter days, and he usually got home at a morereasonable time. I knew I needed to have a real conversation with him, and I didn’t want it to be after a long day. So, Friday morning, I sent him a text asking him to call me when he finished practice. And then I proceeded to go over my plan in my head so I would be prepared.
