“I’m good, baby! I promise!” She shook my shoulders, her wide eyes desperate to bring me back to Earth. She pulled me close to her chest so no person or camera could read her lips. “Reel it in before people think you actually like me.” Then she pulled back so I could watch her wink at me.
“I hope you know I’m not embarrassed by anything that just happened.” I rushed out. I was used to the memes and videos that circulated from my crash outs but this moment might circle around longer than my usuals. Not to mention this was fuel to the fire for everyone who were speculating Nola and I were hooking up.
I’d say we were equally blamed for the speculation. But it didn’t matter to me because it felt like we were making up for lost time. Lingering glances during practice, unnecessary excuses to touch each other during games. There also might have been a press conference where we had the giggles, Farrah sitting in between us and totally confused.
I wanted to love my girlfriend out loud, and I’d be damned if I felt bad about it.
Eventually the refs called a flagrant foul on Sarah and the Buffalos coach sat her out for the rest of the quarter. The game resumed as if we hadn’t just nearly come to a blow in the middle of a televised game. But before I headed out, Tashi grabbed my arm.
“Let’s take that heat and apply it to the rest of the team, Lee.” Then shot me a loaded glare that I knew I’d spiral over after the final buzzer.
“Tashi knows.” I told Nola as we stood off to the side of a barbecue truck, waiting for our food. The Kansas City downtown area was cute and populated with plenty of bars to hop around in. It was where we left half the team because I was dying to put Midwest barbecue to the test against southern eats while everyone else prioritized celebrating our three wins.
The smell of smoked meat made my mouth water but not as much when I looked at my girlfriend. Her platinum twists were pulled back in a low bun and she was wearing a vintage varsity jacket that blocked the wind when I stood pressed against her because my sheer top and cargo pants were doing nothing. There was something about my Tashi paranoia that had me giving zero fucks. It wasn’t a blatant warning nor an enthusiastic encouragement, but if neither of us had yet to be fired or receive emails from HR, I felt no restraints on getting cozier in public.
“She might be suspicious,” Nola countered, doing her best to ground me.
“And suspicious means she can take a hint.”
“I mean… it’s not like wehaven’tbeen dropping hints. You literally wore one of my t-shirts as your tunnel fit last week.” Nola smirked at me.
“It went so well with my boots!”
“It’s Miami in the summer, why did you bring them anyway?”
“Because fashion, duh.” I rolled my eyes.
“Right.” Nola drawled out.
“I might have to steal this jacket too,” I held the varsity jacket open, giving me a spectacular view of Nola with one less layer of clothing. There was something about how she looked tonight that was making me crazier than usual. I drank her in from head to toe, from the tight muscle tee she wore, to the little boxers that peeked out above her jeans. I bit my lip, an attempt to keep my inside thoughts inside.
“Bee…”
“I’m just looking!”
Making Nola flustered was one of my favorite things to do to her. It felt like a secret between us. That the Nola the world saw was nothing like the woman I got.
After our order was called, we sat at one of the benches nearby before returning to the bar with our team. Both of us chose to sit close on the same bench rather than across. Over the months we’d been together, I realized we gravitated like this easily. I didn’t set out to be the couple that sat on the same side, but the thought of sitting opposite made me ill.
“Are Sarah and Winnie going to roll through?” Nola asked while opening our order, I reached my hand in quickly to grab one of my fries.
“Probably not. Sarah is prideful and Winnie is in love with her which means she’s currently stroking her ego.” I shrugged, used to their dynamic of two.
“I wish I was still close with my college team,” Nola shrugged, “The culture was a little toxic though.”
Right before I opened my mouth to say more, two young Black girls approached us, “Holy shit! Nola and Brittney?” The one on the right with box braids yelped.
“Oh, hi!” I beamed and wiped off my salty fingers. I was definitely planning on saving those later.
“We were just at the game.” The one on the left, wearing cornrows, explained.
“Oh nice! Sorry for the show.” I grimaced to at leastlooklike I kind of regret my actions.
But I didn’t.
“Honestly, I’ve always wanted to see you crash out. It’s on my W bingo sheet.” The one on the right said like it could potentially be offensive to me.
“Well fuck yeah, I hope you’re close to winning.” Nola winked and both girls’ smiles widened.
