by Kizzie Hayes
After they had showered and changed in the dressing room, they drove down in their vehicles, Johnson in his silver Lexus ES, downtown to a classic restaurant. It was a field's day for the boys, and he couldn't deny them that, though he was exhausted.
After the game went into a sudden death overtime period, Minaj promised Sammy that if Johnson scored the winning shot, she would take him out on a surprise visit to the restaurant where his mom worked. And when he did, Sammy looked at her momentarily with a wide smile caressing his innocent face and embraced her. The boy was nothing but sweet.
Carren was taking orders from a couple who seemed too engrossed with touching and staring flirtatiously at each other, than having their orders served when she noticed them they walk in. Her knees almost buckled but she remained calm.
*****
Her eye widened when she saw Minaj and Sammy walk in, but she tried as hard as she could to remain composed and not get too excited until the couple was done making their orders. She trailed their movements from the corner of her eyes until she saw where they were seated.
When she had delivered her pending orders, she walked over to their table.
“Hey baby,” she crouched and kissed Sammy on his forehead. “I wasn’t told you were coming.” She shot Minaj an accusatory stare.
Minaj smirked. “I had a promise to fulfill."
“So, how did the game go?” Carren asked her son anxiously.
“Johnson was amazing!” Sammy demonstrated beaning a wide smile. And he went on for over thirty seconds telling his mom an exciting summary of the game. He was still thrilled.
“Wow! I missed it.”
“You have no idea,” Minaj teased.
“Yeah? So, what will you, my ange,l have?” she opened Sammy’s order menu for him to pick from.
They both placed their orders, and she excused herself, ruffling Sammy’s finely cut kinky pitch-black hair playfully. She had asked the barber the previous day to blend his hair neatly by the sides like Johnson's haircut, and Sammy rocked it better. It was so difficult to restrain her happiness as she went on to get their orders served. He was the one glow in her life, and his presence gave so much delight than any ecstasy a man’s touch would make her feel.
Before she got to the serving table, Johnson and his friends walked in. Unconsciously, she could feel there was a change in the atmosphere around the restaurant. It felt like the air was slightly electrified, but it wasn't until she turned that she notice the personality who took his seat with a charisma that showed elegance. There was no mistake, it was Johnson.
Her heart skipped a beat, she froze and her eyes widened with astonishment. She turned immediately at Minaj, who was already staring at her with a knowing smile. Minaj nodded when her eyes asked her the question she couldn’t shout over the distance.
Sammy backed Johnson's company and so didn't know his hero had walked right in, let alone know he was two tables away from him. Minaj signaled to come over quickly and break the good news to Sammy. Involuntary, Carren stared at her outfit as if she was inspecting whether she was presentable enough. She was wearing a black pencil skirt, one of many that Minaj had given her from her collection after Minaj complained most of her clothes were not even worthy of attending a funeral ceremony. It was a big exaggeration, but she got the message.
“Come over already. You look just fine.” Minaj mouthed to her from the distance when she noticed the concern on her face.
A fellow waitrons colleague with a blond ponytail was taking orders already from Johnson's table, and she was all smiles. Not the usual polite smile they displayed to every customer, even the annoying ones. The one she was wearing appeared to have a mission.
Carren took a deep breath, picked up her orders and she paced quickly, but steadily toward Minaj’s table. Carefully avoiding the faces on Johnson’s table that faced her. Her feet felt weak as they stepped over the tiled floor begging for support. Carren couldn’t understand why she was feeling so nervous to see the star player who her son looked up to. And as much as she tried to stay composed, her heart kept beating fast and she could barely feel her legs anymore. He looked so much more handsome than the pictures she had seen.
“Take a deep breath Carren,” she admonished herself in a whisper.
Carren couldn’t understand what was wrong with her. She wasn’t even taking his order and she was feeling all breathless.
Someone was delivering wines to their table.
“Here you go sweetheart,” Carren set down Sammy’s order of chicken wings and Chinese rice, one of his favorites, in the best composure she could manage. Minaj had ordered shrimp boiled rice and tomato sauce instead.
“Gosh I’m famished,” Sammy said and dug the fork into his meal.
"Me too," Minaj restrained a laugh.
As soon as he entered the restaurant, the young beautiful African-American with golden brown skin and pretty little eyes caught arrested his attention. But unlike other waiters, she wasn't looking down his way. Instead, it seemed like she avoided looking toward his table deliberately. She intrigued him in an extraordinary way.
Since his breakup with his ex, he had not paid any attention to any lady, neither has any raised his eyebrow. He was just focused on his game and determined to complete a successful season that was on the path to making history, but the raven-black haired lady was something. Something that charmed him.
After trying and failing to make eye contact, he gave up and tried to get her out of his head even as the wine he had taken was having its toll on him. He had drunk enough, any more and he would be officially drunk.
He was pretty exhausted and just wanted to have a good bite, say cheers to his friend and drive down to his apartment in Crown Heights.
He closed his eye to gather his thoughts together and focus back to having fun with the boys.
“Yo, Johnson. Where the hell are you?” his brother asked him teasingly.
“Leave him the fuck alone,” a teammate, Michael, retorted. “He’s pretty exhausted from the game. He will come around when he’s ready.”
“Or he has been eyeing the waitress with athletic legs waiting two tables behind us,” Nelson joked and Michael and Junior turned to peer at the lady he was talking about.
Michael whistled and looked back, “Damn! Look at those sexy legs…she’s hot.”
Junior was still not sure who he was talking about. “Which of them exactly?”
Michael rolled his eye at him.
"Nigga, you blind or what?"
“W-hat?! They both look hot to me.”
"Yeah? Which of them looks a waitress to you, numb head?”
“Guys...” Johnson’s agent, Brown, who had been silent the whole time, tried to draw their attention to something but they were carried away with their chatter.
“My bad. Missed that part of the memo. But I doubt Johnson can a lay a finger on any other pussy until he’s over Anastasia. And I don’t see that happening soon. Right?” He looked at Johnson who still had his eyes closed but seemed to wince at the joke. The player started to laugh sinisterly, but no one joined him. It was an ill-timed joke.
“No ooo,” Michael and Nelson both disapproved.
“Are you drunk already? Please don’t ruin today, man,” Nelson warned politely with a serious tone.
“Come on, that was a good joke.”
“Count me out of this.” Then Michael raised his free hand and sipped wine with the other.
“Junior…quit already. Please.” Nelson frowned gravely.
“Whoever thought my nigga brother here,” he pointed at Johnson, “would lose such a good pussy every guy on his team wanted to fu…” he continued to say but didn’t finish when a fist rammed into his face.
Johnson retracted his hand to deal his brother another blow.
“Johnson!” Brown stood up abruptly and tried to stop him in time. ”There’s a kid be…”
But it was too late. The kid crashed into the floor as Johnson's elbow knocked him off his foo
t in the split of a second.
The boy’s fall was loud enough to draw attention from around them.
A woman shrieked two tables away from theirs.
“Fuck!” Junior cursed holding his bleeding nose tightly. “You broke my fucking my nose,” he cried.
Johnson shook his hurting hand and looked at the unconscious boy on the floor. He looked at his agent dazed and confused. From the corner of his eye, he caught the waitress he had been admiring all evening running toward the boy looking visibly shaken. The look in her eyes was dread and her beauty blended with an agony that told him she wasn’t an empathic citizen, but the mother of the boy.
“Fuck me,” he mumbled still unsure of what to do next.
Some consumers in the restaurant who recognized Johnson and his teammates brought out their phones and started recording the commotion when Brown moved swiftly to save his client.
He instructed Nelson and the rest to get Johnson the hell out of the restaurant. It was in his interest too to save Johnson's fast rising career that had just resurrected from being damaged by the unfortunate incident.
Johnson kept peering over his shoulders as his teammates dragged him out of the restaurant. The hurt he felt in his heart to have brought such anguish on a mother, one he even admired some minutes ago, was more than anything he had ever felt before. Anastasia betrayal didn’t hurt him that much.
Carren was living a nightmare. Her boy was hanging on to life by a thin thread thanks to his role model.
A moment that should have been memorable for her little boy turned out to be otherwise. The accident could have been avoided if Sammy’s mentor had managed his temper better. But now it seemed he wasn’t a true hero after all. Sammy might have seen Johnson as a cool and good guy to look up to, but at the moment her initial attraction to him melted away like snow under the intense stare of the sunlight.
Sammy was unconscious for over ten minutes before he was resuscitated. Carren was in tears as she watched her son groan in pain with an ugly contusion sitting like a villain on his forehead.
It took a while, but he recovered slowly over the days after it was ascertained in a free clinic that he didn't sustain any internal injury as Carren feared.
Minaj was more irate about the incident and pressured Carren to press charges. She, too, had grown a sudden hate toward Johnson. Still, for some reasons, Carren couldn't just get herself to do it.
Since the day of the incidence, Johnson had become more miserable than ever. He kept chiding himself for agreeing to walk away after he had nearly killed a little boy and one of his fans. After he heard that she didn’t accept the financial assistance Brown offered her, he felt even more guilty and grew more restless.
He couldn’t take her off his mind. The look in her beautiful agonizing eyes haunted and attracted him at the same time, so much he couldn’t sleep peacefully. It was a matter of time before he started to take out his frustration on those around him. The first was his brother who, even after apologizing to Johnson, still got kicked out of his brother’s house.
The next was his teammates during training sessions and then, at last, a faceoff between him and Kyle that nearly led to a bloody brawl.
Still, she never left his mind.
A week after the unfortunate event, Carren was preparing dinner after she had picked up Sammy from Minaj’s place on her way from work when a knock rapped at the door.
Carren walked over to get it, and curiously Sammy followed behind. No one visited them besides Minaj, and she never knocked. Not ever.
When Carren opened up the door, she froze before she returned to herself a few seconds after. Right there at her doorstep was Johnson, the superstar looking so sober and remorseful.
Carren flushed her initial expression down the drain and creased her forehead. “How can I help you?” she cocked her head and made sure he knew he was not welcome. She also prevented Sammy from knowing who was at the door. But it was only a matter of time before he figured that out.
For some seconds Johnson was speechless, and he couldn't get himself to stare her in the eye. He opened his mouth to say something, but not a word fell out.
“Sir?” Carren tilted her head and gave him a disdainful questioning stare. “I asked how can I help you or have you come to finish up what you started the previous day? You know you shouldn’t be here right?”
Sammy finally figured who it was when he peeped through her arched elbow. He tapped her on the arm. “Mom,” he stressed. “It’s Johnson Brown. Please be nice.”
“So? He almost got you killed. Don’t forget that.”
“It was a mistake,” Sammy pleaded.
"You are going to say something or what?" she hissed at Johnson after a few seconds of uncanny silence.
Johnson tried again to say something, but as he looked into her beautiful eyes, not a single word came off. His mouth just hung open like a doughnut mouth, and he winced out of embarrassment. No woman had ever rendered that speechless in his entire life.
Annoyingly, Carren shut the door in his face and left him there standing outside like he was a stranded stranger. As she shut the door, it felt like she was shutting herself out too. Part of her wanted to give him a chance to explain himself, but she couldn't expose herself to another violent man like Sammy's father. That was the reason she was in the mess she was in now. Another part of her warned her to look beyond his good looks and Sammy's endearment to him and protect her sunshine every way she could.
“Mom…” Sammy started to protest her action.
“Don’t mommy me right now. Okay?” she wagged her finger gently at him as tears welled up her eyes.
"It was an accident. And he came to apologize. You should hear him out at least."
Carren sniffed in and brushed off a tear from her face. “Baby…we are not having this conversation okay? Now go back to your reading and let me finish dinner,” she said before going back to finish up her cooking in a silence that served as an extra ingredient to her cooking that evening.
Johnson put his hands into his jacket pockets and walked away defeated, but that was not the last she was going to see him.
He had come to apologize and check on the boy but his emotions and feelings—he didn't even understand—got the better of him. He deserved to be treated the way she did, but something about her intrigued him the more and won’t just let him give up easily.
Things got even worse as the days went by.
Johnson performance in the Islanders games nearly nosedived, like he was deliberately driving on a reverse gear on being prolific in front of the opponents net. That worried everyone on the team except Kyle, but Nelson was worried the more. He partially blamed himself for insisting they celebrated that day and took it upon himself to help his friend find happiness back.
Carren and Sammy weren't on good terms either after the night his mom shut out Johnson out of their apartment and Minaj wasn’t helping out either. She still pressured Carren to press charges and get Johnson to settle her in a large amount for elbowing a kid while being drunk in a public restaurant but Carren still refused.
The idea was tempting, and Carren knew Johnson would likely settle if she pressed charges to protect his career, but she was not ready to ruin her son's happiness because of some cash. Like a charm, Sammy had gotten more attached to keeping up Johnson after the accident, and it puzzled her. But after her relationship with her son turned sour, she was ready to give Johnson a chance to apologize, and have her son back.
*****
Carren stepped out of the restaurant, after being done with her morning and afternoon shift. She paced across the stone-paved floor toward a grocery store a few feet west of the restaurant to purchase some milk and other things. She hadn’t walked less than thirty seconds from the restaurant entrance when she noticed a familiar broad-chested figure step out from a red Mercedes-Benz C-Class. There was no mistaking; it was one of Johnson’s friends. He had come with him to the restaurant the day of the accident. He was wearing a ne
atly ironed white shirt that was tucked in into a black jean and had black shades on. Carren wondered whether he needed it for disguise or as icing on his impressive outfit. His sleeves were neatly folded up to his strong and muscular arm, and she noticed a neatly drawn tattoo of three different rectangular shapes with a poem written between the first two and last two lines on his arm. It looked cute.
As she neared the red C-class, he removed his dark shades and approached her. When she saw him approaching, she slowed down her pace until they met somewhere near a row of benches.
He looked apologetic but less remorseful than Johnson looked the other night.
“Miss Carren, we ow…”
Carren cut him off. “Not stalking me now for your friend, are you?” she tilted her head upward to stare him directly in the face with a determined look.
“We wouldn’t do that.”
“Then what are doing here when you have a game tonight?”
Nelson restrained a smile. She knew about that game, that meant a lot.
"To apologize.” He stared away his gaze from locking with her eyes. “Johnson...m-myself and the rest of us are profoundly sorry for our mischievousness the other day.”
“Mischievous?!” Carren lost her temper and fumed. “You call that…mischievous?” jammed her finger into his chest to her surprise. She turned toward the restaurant and turned back. Individuals around were beginning to give them a stare. She restrained herself from going further and placed her palm on her forehead, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Johnson nearly killed my boy,” she muttered.
“I’m sorry. It was all my fault.”
“No,” she looked at him and didn’t hide her displeasure, “stop taking the fall for your friend. He should be the one apologizing for his tendency toward violent and uncontrollable temper.”
“You have a wrong first impression of him,” Nelson said.
“Do I now? Maybe I should file charges against him then we can figure that out.”