Star_Lee Johnson_To Be Great Series

by Blue Saffire

  After a while, Crystal asked to use the bathroom. I pointed up the hall toward where she could find it, before sliding my chair back to let her rise. I watched as she walked down the hall and could feel my breath squeeze at the sight of her bouncing down the hallway. We waited for her to return, before we continued the game. I made sure everyone was okay on food and drinks while we waited.

  When Crystal returned, she came right back to sit on my lap. Only this time, she went to switch sides, which sent me into a bit of a panic. To say I wasn’t affected by her sitting in my lap the entire time would be a lie, which in a matter of seconds she wouldn’t be able to deny as well. Switching her position lined her up with a big surprise as soon as she sat down.

  I knew the moment she felt it. She turned to look me in the face, a smile on her lips. I was truly embarrassed, hoping she didn’t say or do anything to let the others know of my situation.

  “Do you want me to get up?” she whispered in my ear.

  “No, not if you don’t want to. You’re fine right there,” I breathed in her ear.

  “Okay, I’m good,” she said, winking at me and letting her full ass settle against the heat pulsing beneath her.

  I placed a hand on her waist again, the other on her thigh. She didn’t seem to mind that either. I wondered what made her so relaxed and laid back that night, but I really didn’t care. I liked this girl, a lot. We continued the game, also continuing to take everyone’s money, until they all reached their thresholds for the night.

  When the game was over, I expected Crystal to get up and sit with her friends, but she didn’t move. She propped her elbows on the table, while listening and adding to the conversation. I sat staring at her the entire time. My mind started contemplating what I needed to do to get her to stay with me and let her friends go home.

  “Lee, may I use your bathroom?” Karen asked.

  “Sure.”

  “Oh, I’ll show you where it is. I have to go again,” Crystal chimed.

  I slid my seat back again, allowing her room to rise. I watched her get up and walk away. Karen whispered something to her, causing Crystal to turn and catch me watching her.

  While holding Karen’s hand, she backed her way down the hallway with a smile on her face, as I watched, smiling back at her. The front view was just as nice as the back, I seriously didn’t mind which way she walked. Once they disappeared down the hall, I knew I needed to collect myself.

  Everyone else moved to the living room to turn up the music and spread out to talk. I made my way into the kitchen to get a glass of water. I stood at the sink, trying to think of anything but Crystal. I started to run plays in my head, which helped a lot. Just as I collected myself and gained some type of focus, I felt small hands wrap around my chest.

  “Hey,” Crystal called over my shoulder.

  I turned to face her.

  “Hey,” I breathed back at her.

  She looked in my eyes and slowly leaned toward me. I felt the pull towards her, leaning back in her direction. We were like magnets, being drawn together. She lifted on her toes, her full lips meeting mine. I was gone.

  Crystal had me right there at that moment. I placed my hands on her waist, pulling her to me. She wrapped her arms around my neck, deepening the kiss as she tried to rise higher.

  The woman had a talented mouth. Her kisses were amazing. I don’t remember how my hands moved to squeeze her plump ass, pulling her closer to me, but they did. She moaned as my grip tightened, pulling a moan from me in response. I groaned when her sexy ass sucked my bottom lip into her mouth. I wanted to squeeze more, pull her closer, but someone clearing their throat drew my attention.

  I released Crystal, allowing her to slowly back away. Her movement had absolutely no hush to it, her eyes not peeling from me as her entire face lit up. I finally broke eye contact with her to see who had interrupted. I turned to see it was one of her friends, Nichelle.

  “I think maybe it’s time to go,” Nichelle said, with concern in her voice.

  Crystal licked her lips, while still staring at me, a laugh slipping free. “Maybe.” She moved back into me, kissing me softly on the lips. “Thanks, I had fun. I’ll see you later.”

  “See you later.”

  Her friends were lining up at the door. Nichelle stood there waiting for her, holding Crystal’s jacket. I walked her to the door to see them out. Crystal kept looking back at me, as they made their way out of the door. I noticed her friends pulling her along. My mind questioned what that was all about. She seemed like she wanted to stay. I would’ve told my friends to leave if she did.

  Once they were gone and the door was closed, I walked over to the couch, flopping down between Sean and Corey. I threw my head back on the cushion and released a long sigh. Crystal was the total package, everything I wanted. I reached up to touch my lips and laughed.

  “She’s the one,” I thought out loud.

  “Son, you’re not serious?” Sean bellowed. “Man, you need to watch these chicks. She gave you a little kiss and you ready to wife her. These girls are about the money.”

  “Man, she ain’t even know I played until yesterday. Not pro.”

  “Okay, you said earlier, she wasn’t into you?” he reminded me. “Maybe you being pro is what helped change her mind.”

  “Nah, man, she’s not like that. Shorty is ambitious she takes care of herself, she isn’t into that bird shit,” I explained, but what Sean said did start to register with me.

  Crystal’s behavior tonight was a lot different than usual.

  “Man, it’s the smart ones you have to be careful with. That one there is smart and beautiful. Definitely need to watch her,” Sean warned.

  “I hear that,” Brantley chimed in. “Ask my babies’ mamas.”

  “Man, Lee, don’t listen to them. I think honey is cool,” Corey said, shaking his head.

  “Yo, Lee, you goin’ to listen to Corey? He’s running from his wife,” Sean laughed. “What you need to do is holla at shorty with the eyes. Have a good time and forget about trying to wife, Miss. Bookworm.”

  “Well, I’m calling it a night fellas,” Corey announced.

  “I bet you are. The Mrs. is blowing that phone up,” Sean teased.

  “Yeah, well, I’m about to be out too,” Brantley laughed. “Crystal’s little friend, Melissa, wants to hook up.”

  “Oh!” Corey cheered and gave Brantley five. “My man is on his game, fellas.”

  I laughed at my teammates as they started to get their things and leave. I had a lot on my mind by the time they left. Sean had a point. Crystal hadn’t paid me any attention before that night. I wasn’t even sure she liked me. Yet, she was more than willing to be involved this visit. She said the night before she wasn’t into dating because she was focused. Which got me to wondering what happened? Man, I didn’t want to put her in the category with the gold diggers and groupies. I really liked her.

  That still didn’t change the facts. She went from ice cold to red-hot overnight. Sean had a point, she’s smart. If she wanted to play games, she would definitely know how. I have to be smart and protect myself. I’m a young quarterback, with a great contract. How do I know she didn’t know who I was from the beginning? She could’ve just been pretending she didn’t want to be my partner so I would chase her. These women are smart. I’m young, maybe I should stick to having fun for a while.

  One thing was for sure, I was going to clear all of this out of my head for the game this weekend. I didn’t have time to worry about Crystal or any other groupie. I needed to be focused. My mother was coming down from Connecticut for the weekend and I would make her the only woman I thought about for the next three days. She was the one I knew I could trust.

  Chapter 4

  Tipsy Behavior

  My weekend went great, I spent some real quality time with my mother and got focused on my goals. Most of all, I had a great game. I not only started, but we won. I was all over the papers.

  Having my mother there helped me
to stay grounded Monday morning when the calls started and the paper came. I was extremely grateful for that. My mom always reminded me where I came from and all the work it took to get me to where I was. She also helped me see that I hadn’t done all I set out to, so there wasn’t time to get comfortable.

  In the end, I decided to let ideas of Crystal go. I don’t need that kind of distraction, as she would say. She was my research partner and I needed to focus on getting my research project done and finishing my degree. Not trying to get with her.

  I sat in my usual seat, during class on Tuesday. My plan was to act like nothing happened and keep it moving. That plan fell apart the minute Crystal walked into class. She didn’t even look at me. She went right to her seat and took out her books.

  I watched her curiously, wondering what was up with her. I think we were the only group not sitting in the same proximity. I was frustrated the whole class. I took my notes and watched her out of the corner of my eye. She never even looked my way.

  After class, she collected her things and I decided to beat her out of class to wait. I stood outside where I knew she would pass and I would run into her. She came out of the class and walked right passed me, as she looked down at her phone. I jogged to catch up to her.

  “Crystal, you have a minute?” I asked.

  She looked up, startled, giving me a weak smile.

  “Hey Lee, listen I wanted to talk to you. I’m going to ask the professor to change my partner. You can keep all the research we’ve done and the topic,” she said nervously. “I want to apologize about the other night. I was so uptight about the organizer and my friends thought getting me to drink tequila would help. I didn’t mean to complicate things between us.”

  I stood shocked. I didn’t want a new research partner, she was working out fine. We were working well together. I knew something was different the other night. What she said made it all make sense.

  “Crystal, about the other night. Let’s forget it happened. I don’t want to get a new partner. We have so much done. I don’t think that would be fair to either of us if we changed now.”

  She searched my face, with a nervous look in her eyes. “I’m so embarrassed. Lee… I never do things like that. I don’t know what I was thinking,” she stammered softly.

  “It’s cool, Crystal. I can separate the two. This is about our project and getting a good grade. The other night was something else. No need to be embarrassed.”

  “Are you sure this will be okay?” she asked coyly.

  “Positive,” I assured her. “So I have an away game this weekend, but I leave Thursday night. I thought maybe we could work on the survey and have it ready. That way I can take you to meet my boy at his shop, before I go. You can get started on the sampling this weekend if you want.”

  “Okay, my class for tomorrow night was cancelled. If you want to meet up to work on the survey after your practice that would be cool. We can go to the shop too, unless you have time before you leave Thursday.”

  “Actually, I will be free after four tomorrow. We can work on the survey and I’ll take you to Kenny’s on Thursday,” I replied.

  “Okay, so I owe you dinner. When was the last time you had a real home cooked meal?” she asked, while smiling up at me.

  “What you mean? My chef cooks all the time,” I chuckled.

  “No, I mean some fried chicken, cornbread, rice and peas and some steamed vegetables?”

  “Man, my mom stopped that when I got the chef,” I laughed. “You throw down like that?”

  “You’ll see,” Her face beamed. “Is it okay to work at your place?”

  “Sure.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you at five. Is that good?”

  “Perfect, five at my place.”

  “Goodnight, Lee.”

  “Goodnight, Crystal.”

  I watched her turn and walk away. I couldn’t help thinking to myself how wrong Sean could be. Being next to Crystal once again made it hard to put her in that gold digger lane. She had class I didn’t see in other women. I thought the way she behaved the other night was something only her man would know about her. I was just lucky to see that side of her for the little while I did.

  I walked to my car and drove home. I needed to be alert for practice in the morning. I also wanted to make some notes for the survey and email them to Crystal before we met the next day. When I got home, I took some time to clean up and took a shower. I used that time to get all my mixed up thoughts of Crystal out of my head.

  I kept thinking how too good to be true Crystal seemed. Then, it hit me. It dawned on me that she wasn’t interested after all. She wanted to change partners to keep from being involved with me. All this thought I’d been giving her was unnecessary.

  I got myself together, made my notes, and went to bed. My goals needed to be focusing on starting, winning games, and passing my classes. I fell asleep running the playbook in my head.

  Chapter 5

  Conflicted

  The next morning, I shined in practice again. I decided to stay late after to workout a little extra. Besides, I had a three o’clock meeting and I needed to kill some time until then. The extra workout time had me focused and ready to handle things ahead of me. My meeting went great. I landed two endorsement contracts, which put me in a real mood to celebrate. I was kind of glad Crystal would be coming over to cook for me.

  When I got home, I still had time to shower and change, before Crystal arrived. I threw on a pair of blue jeans and a white button down. I had just finished getting dressed when she arrived, ringing the doorbell. I checked the mirror and ran for the front door.

  I opened the door to find her with her hands full. She had her purse, school bag, and grocery bags in her hands. I reached for some of the bags to help her out, as she came through the door.

  “Hey Lee, thanks,” she sang, as she walked in.

  “What’s up, Crystal?”

  “Am I late?”

  “No, you’re cool.”

  “Okay,” she breathed. “Today has been a little crazy.”

  This time I had the pleasure of a friendly smile from her lips. She looked gorgeous as always. A purple cable knit sweater hung off of one shoulder, paired with fitted black slacks. The sweater hid her curves a little, but everything about her remained attractive and appealing to the eye.

  I’ve noticed that her hair is always intact. That’s one of the things I like about her, she’s always well put together. Most girls that live on campus show up to class in pajama pants and school sweatshirts. I’ve never seen her look like that.

  I placed the grocery bags in the kitchen for her, turning to see her pulling off her sweater, revealing a black thin strapped tank top. Her face looked focused, as she moved, but she still had a light smile on her face. She set up her laptop on the bar and waved me over.

  “I figured I can cook and you can work,” she said, as she smiled up at me. “I have this great survey software. I saw your notes they were great. We can take those and make a survey super easy.”

  “Oh, that’s what’s up!”

  “Here, look through it. I want to get started in the kitchen.”

  She went straight into the kitchen, washing her hands and got to work. I didn’t have to tell her where anything was. She moved around the kitchen like a pro, finding everything she needed that she didn’t already bring with her.

  She started the rice and peas, before mixing the cornbread and popping it in the oven. As that was cooking, she started on the steamed vegetables. She moved quickly, seasoning things up and moving to the next dish.

  I tried to work, while sneaking to watch her. The software she had was great. I already had a sample survey in the makings. It was pretty much doing the work for me, as I filled in the questions it asked.

  As she washed the chicken and warmed the grease to fry it, she looked over at me. She pulled the cornbread out of the oven, looking just the way I love it. Not too light, not too dark, just perfect. Once she had the chicken breast fried
up, she came over to me to see what I had done.

  You couldn’t miss the energy that swirled through us. It was like electricity sparked through the air, as her fresh scent engulfed me. It was undeniable.

  I watched her, as she leaned over the laptop, scanning my work. I know we said we would keep things separate, but I wanted to kiss her again. I wanted to know if it was just the alcohol the other night or did she have interest in me. I wanted to get to know her more.

  She turned to ask me a question and without thinking, I reached for her face and kissed her. She didn’t resist. She turned her whole body to face me, placing her arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her in close. Crystal kissed even better when she wasn’t drunk.

  I could feel something between us. The corners of my mouth turned up into a smile as I kissed her. I let my arms close in to hug her tighter.

  “Wait, Lee,” she pulled away shaking her head. “I thought we were going to separate the two?”

  “I am. I like you, Crystal. I want to get to know you,” I panted.

  “I like you too, but I don’t think I’m ready for something like this,” she said softly. “Lee, I really need to stay focused. If we try to get to know each other, than I want to move a little slower.”

  “So, that’s not a no?”

  “No, it’s not a no,” she said and frowned. “I knew this was a bad idea.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. You just seem like the distraction I’ve been trying to avoid, but now I can’t.”

  She turned to go into the kitchen to finish up the food and placed it on plates while I thought about her words. She wasn’t saying, no. She was saying she wanted to slow down. I figured I could handle that. As long as she was willing to give me a chance, I was willing to slow down. I didn’t see how I could be a distraction, we wanted similar things. I felt more like she was the missing piece to my puzzle.