The One That Slipped Away

by LaShawn Vasser

  Mia bit her bottom lip. She wasn’t sure if he meant his words, but they were what she’d always wanted to hear. “If that’s the case, and you remember this moment, I’ll be here in the morning.”

  Harrison could see the passion in Mia’s eyes and knew it wouldn’t take much to finish what they’d started. His blood was boiling. There was no hiding the fact that he wanted her because the towel loosely wrapped around his waist gave it away. He didn’t really want to hide it either.

  Over the last year, out of respect for his relationship with Liberty and his friendship with Mia, Harrison had fought against how he felt for Mia from the moment they’d met. He was tired of fighting it. If he were honest, Harrison was more upset at the betrayal of his two friends than the betrayal itself.

  He’d been drinking but hadn’t consumed so much alcohol that he didn’t realize the timing of this moment sucked. Harrison kissed Mia softly on the forehead, pulled her robe back up on her shoulders, and slid her off of him and into the crook of his arms.

  Several hours later, they fell asleep on her couch with Mia still nestled close.

  Chapter 9

  When the game clock ticked down to its final seconds, Sheena yelled at the top of her lungs along with the rest of the Puma crowd. “Another win in the books! That one-two punch of Roderick and Harrison is going to make this an exciting football season!”

  Mia whooped and hollered in celebration, too, as they made their way down from the stands. “Oh my God. Did you see that last play?”

  “Girl, yes! My man ran it in for the touchdown, of course, I saw it.”

  Mia ignored that comment because Roderick was everybody’s man. He wasn’t claiming anyone. “Yes. That catch was incredible. I thought for sure we were going to lose after the quarterback went down, but when Harrison came into the game and threw that Hail Mary pass to Roderick my heart was in my throat the entire time it stayed in the air. I didn’t know he was that talented!” The thrill of the game was still pumping through her veins.

  Knowingly, Sheena grinned. “Interesting. I didn’t know you knew very much about football. It looks like somebody has been studying up.”

  Mia tried unconvincingly to explain herself. “It’s good to know about the activities going on around you, that’s all.” She almost couldn’t contain her own smile.

  “Girl, your mom has been head of this school for at least ten years. You’ve been to more Puma games this year than you have at any time ever. I wonder why? Harrison maybe?”

  Mia rolled her eyes. “You asked me to come, Sheena. I thought it might be fun to get out and take a break.”

  “Riiiiiiiiiight. You’re not fooling anybody. You are hot for that man, and I ain’t mad at ya.” Sheena laughed.

  They walked toward the team just like all the other groupies and hangers-on so that Sheena could chat it up with Roderick. Mia was a little uncomfortable about that. She didn’t want to be seen as one of those girls.

  Sheena pointed over to him. “There’s Roderick.” Then frowned in disgust. “Look at those THOTs all over him; it’s sickening.”

  Mia craned her neck to see. “Yeah, there are a lot of women over there.” She would never say it out loud to Sheena, but she couldn’t imagine having to deal with any of that. “You go ahead and make your way through the crowd. I’m going to go sit over there on those bleachers.

  “Are you sure? Harrison is close by. Don’t you want to say hi?”

  “I’m good. I’ll talk to him at some point.”

  “Mia Jamison, don’t you let these women scare you off. I may not be Roderick’s only one, but I’m his main one. They know to get out of my way when I’m around.”

  “I can’t imagine anyone getting in your way Sheena.” Mia teased her. “Seriously, no one is scaring me off. I’ll be fine sitting over there waiting for you. If something changes and you end up leaving with Roderick, just text me.”

  “Nope.” Sheena grabbed Mia’s hand and dragged her along. “You are coming with me to congratulate Harrison! The backup QB just made it to the starting line-up.”

  Mia and Sheena were caught up in the crowd and were being jostled about. The excitement of the students and faculty couldn’t be contained after winning the game and hadn’t let up. The players were still on the field high fiving and congratulating each other but making their way closer to the tunnel that led to the locker room.

  There were still several hundred people standing around, and they lined both sides of the tunnel walls waiting for the players to walk through.

  “Mia!”

  She turned around to see who had called her name. It was Eric Thompson, a guy from her humanities class. Mia waved and quickly turned back around. She didn’t really want to get into a conversation with him. He’d been hitting on her all semester, and she wasn’t interested. Sheena was preoccupied talking to someone else she knew.

  Somehow, Eric managed to get through the crowd in record time and tapped her on the shoulder. “Mia?”

  She closed her eyes, scrunched up her face, and muttered to herself, “damn.” Then turned around and offered him half a smile. “Hey, Eric.”

  He stood in front of her licking his lips and rubbing his hands together. Was that supposed to turn her on? All Mia could think was, did he need some lip balm or lotion?

  Mia would never say Eric wasn’t attractive. He was tall with mocha-colored skin. He could be considered a Morris Chestnut carbon copy, but he just didn’t do anything for her. It was probably because his confidence was out of control and crossed over into ridiculously arrogant.

  “I didn’t know you were coming to the game. You should have told me. I would have scooped you up. I just bought a new truck, and it would have been nice to show you both off.”

  Mia stuffed her hands in her front pockets. “Oh, wow.” Did he really just put her in the same category as a truck? He may not have known it, but that wasn’t the best way to impress her. Mia didn’t say what she was really thinking though. Instead, she congratulated him. “Congrats on the truck, but I’m here with my cousin . . . sooooooooo.”

  “I’m sure she won’t mind if you let me take you out to grab a bite to eat.”

  “Well . . . umm . . . I really can’t. I promised her that she and I would hang out.” His wolfish grin creeped Mia out.

  He craned his neck around her. “Really? It looks to me like she might have other plans?”

  Mia turned around to find Sheena hugged up with Roderick. Slowly, she faced Eric again. “Look. Honestly, I think I’m just going to go home. It’s been a long day.”

  Eric’s smile faded. “You got a man or something?”

  Mia wasn’t trying to be rude, but she wasn’t interested either. She also wasn’t going to lie. She tried to be as polite as possible when she smiled and responded. “Eric . . .”

  “Oh. I get it. They told me you think you’re too good for us.”

  Mia’s face dropped. “What? Who are they?” The color drained from her face when she turned to see a few of the women who had given her problems on campus clustered together.

  One of them laughed and nudged another one on her side with her elbow. “Girl, give me my twenty dollars. I told you Mia wasn’t going to say yes to Eric—fine as he is. She’s always acting like she’s too good to hang out with her own kind.” Mia hadn’t known she had an audience, but apparently, they stood around in a circle watching the entire exchange and taking bets.

  Quietly Harrison walked up behind Mia. He hadn’t seen everything but enough to get the gist of what was going on. He circled his arms around her waist and pulled her back to his front. Mia jumped as she turned to see who was behind her. She only relaxed a little when she realized it was him. He placed his lips on the side of her neck and kissed her just above the vein that was throbbing out of control.

  Mia’s heart was about to beat out of her chest. She wondered what he was doing. His eyes twinkled as he winked at her. “Hey, babe.” He said it out loud. His lips moved slowly from Mia’s neck to
her ear scorching every bit of skin in between before whispering low enough for only her to hear. “Just go with it and giggle like you like it.”

  Harrison may have been pretending, but his public display of affection was setting Mia on fire for real. After that night six long months ago on her couch, Mia couldn’t deny she’d wanted to experience that magic with him again.

  Mia turned around in his arms. Eric might not have even been standing there. Breathlessly, she let out a little laugh just as she was told.

  Harrison gazed deeply into her eyes like none of it was an act. Mia could barely breathe, and her lips parted slightly. When the tip of her tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip, the movement captured his full attention. The next thing she knew, he’d lowered his head to capture her mouth in a soul-stirring kiss. Mia’s eyes fluttered closed as her hands snaked up his chest to wrap around his neck. It was too bad his football pads were keeping her from pressing her body flat into his, preventing her from taking full advantage of the moment.

  She wasn’t sure how long the kiss went on before the sounds of their names being shouted about infiltrated the moment. Neither of them wanted to pull away, but when Harrison did, he looked up into an irritated Eric’s face. He hadn’t left. “My girl and I have some celebrating to do, so no, she won’t be going anywhere with you, ever. Do I make myself clear?”

  Eric shrugged like he didn’t care and hadn’t been embarrassed. “It’s cool. I didn’t know you two were a thing.”

  Harrison’s eyes were hard. “Now you do.” He threw his arm around Mia’s shoulders, and they walked arm in arm into the tunnel.

  She looked up at him. “You didn’t have to do that.”

  “I wasn’t going to stand there and let him insult you. It was either the kiss or hit him. I’ve got to admit, kissing you wasn’t so bad.”

  Mia touched her fingers to her lips and whispered. “It wasn’t so bad?”

  Harrison joked to get them back onto familiar, friendly, territory. “Yeah. It was alright.” He removed his arm. He hadn’t realized it was still wrapped around her. The truth of the matter was her kiss almost dropped him to his knees, but he played it off. “You want to grab something to eat after I get out of the shower?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I’d like that. And, Harrison, thank you.”

  “In the famous words of Sheena, anything for you, babe. I’ll be out in fifteen-to-twenty minutes.”

  Harrison walked away into the locker room followed by Roderick, Big Tony, and a few other team members. Sheena came out of nowhere and was suddenly at Mia’s side. “Wow.”

  Mia’s eyes followed Harrison until he had disappeared, but she continued to stare after him.

  “You two turned the heat all the way up out there. You didn’t even tell me you two are a thing.”

  Mia made eye contact with Sheena. “We’re not.”

  “I think the only people who believe that lie are you and him. After that kiss, I’m not even sure if you two believe it.”

  This was one time Sheena might be right.

  Chapter 10

  The party was in full-swing when Mia and Sheena walked in. The lights were low, music was blaring, and the house was packed wall-to-wall with students and athletes, everyone seemingly having a good time. “I can’t believe you talked me into coming.”

  Sheena wiggled to the rhythm of the music. As they made their way deeper into the house, she spun round and grabbed two red plastic cups of beer from off of a table, then handed one to Mia. She leaned over to her ear. “Here. I can’t believe you came.” Sheena took a drink out of her cup. “I’m sure it has something to do with Harrison.”

  Mia rolled her eyes. “Why can’t I just want to enjoy some of my college experience?”

  Sheena smirked and took another drink out of her cup. “Yeah, right. Okay.”

  “I hate when you do that.”

  Sheena put a hand on Mia’s shoulder. “Look. You need to either piss or get off of the pot. Harrison is that guy every woman wishes she could be with, and you should go for it. Unlike all the chicken-heads he’s been hanging out with, I’d be willing to bet, Harrison would give them up for you. If he knew how you really felt about him, I think he would take you seriously. For a while there, people already thought you two were a couple, especially after that kiss at the football game. Then, y’all went back to dancing around each other.”

  “Here you go . . . “

  “No. Listen to me, Mia. You might not have much time left. He’s getting some serious interest from teams in the NFL. If you think you’re having problems now, the ‘women,’ and I use that term loosely, who see dollar signs when they look at him, are going to be even worse.”

  Mia shrugged. “I’m sure you’re right about women coming out from under every rock. But, Harrison isn’t interested in me, at least not in that way. He’s having way too much fun kicking it with all the skanks on campus.”

  Mia never told Sheena about their one and only experience a couple of months ago. They’d almost made love, but she stopped it—hoping when they woke up the next morning, with clearer heads, they could pick up where they left off. Harrison hadn’t remembered what had happened between them. Mia was crushed even though she knew it was all for the better.

  Sheena laughed. “Skanks? And you say you’re not interested.”

  Mia couldn’t hide her laughter. “Yeah, skanks!”

  “Finally, some truth. Okay, I’ll grant you that Harrison does seem to be amassing quite a body count, but he’s not like Roderick. That jerk. I’m glad I’m over him. My point is you’re not even his girlfriend, yet he treats you like a princess. It seems like everyone knows there’s something special between the two of you except y’all.”

  Mia thought about what Sheena was saying but didn’t see it the same way. Mia hadn’t forgotten about how he made her feel. She thought about it almost every night.

  “Even if what you’re saying was true, which it’s not, my parents would die. Harrison is an athlete. They don’t have much respect for them.”

  “No. Let’s call it what it really is. Your parents want you to marry a carbon copy of Uncle Ellis—a black doctor or lawyer. They’d lose their shit if you came home with mixed grandbabies.”

  “That’s not . . .”

  “Not what? True? Girl, bye. You know Uncle Ellis and Aunt Avery would freak out if you brought Harrison home. The bottom line is, I know you take great pride in making your parents proud, and that’s admirable, but it’s your love life. You have to live with the choices you make.”

  “I’m ending this conversation. We’re at a party. I want to have some fun. Maybe I’ll even find a guy and hook up with him.”

  Sheena didn’t believe that for one second. “Wait . . . before you skip off and find someone to get your freak on with, can I ask just one more question?”

  Mia took a sip of her beer. “When have you ever not said what you were thinking?”

  “I’ll take that as a yes.” Sheena wiggled her eyebrows up and down. “If Harrison were black, would you have already made your feelings known?”

  Mia swallowed deeply. It wasn’t something she really wanted to think about. “That’s . . . the silliest . . . thing I’ve ever heard.” She couldn’t maintain eye contact.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Sheena turned and pointed. “Speaking of the devil. Number 6, Harrison Haughton caught in the embrace of Sasha Bankston. I bet she doesn’t have any problems hooking up with him.”

  Mia turned around to see Sasha all over Harrison. Her stomach was in knots. It was something she’d grown used to over the past couple of months, but it didn’t make watching him with other women any easier. Mia put on a brave front. “Harrison is a big boy. He can take care of himself.”

  *****

  Mia was at the Student Lab tutoring a student when her cell phone rang. It was Harrison. She ignored it and would call him back after her session was over. Maybe. She was still stewing over Sheena’s words from the party the night before
.

  Twenty minutes later after her session ended, Mia checked her voice messages. The call came from Harrison’s phone, but it wasn’t his voice she heard on the message but Big Tony’s.

  “Mia, it’s Big Tony. You need to get down to the Athletic Center. Harrison’s been hurt.” Her heart stopped. She didn’t bother to gather her things. She just grabbed her purse and ran out of the Student Lab.

  Mia probably broke all kinds of records getting to the Athletic Center. She burst through the double doors.

  She ran into several of Harrison’s team members milling about. She was out of breath. “What happened? Is he okay?”

  “He was hit pretty hard in practice. We’re all waiting, but I hear he may have torn his ACL.”

  Frantic, Mia rubbed her forehead. “What does that mean?”

  “Hopefully, that’s not the case, but if he has, it could be the end of his football career.”

  “Oh my God.” Mia covered her mouth.

  The mood in the room was somber. All eyes looked up when the team trainer came out to talk with the coaches. The room was so quiet you could hear the ticking of the clock on the wall. “Sorry, coach. It’s the ACL.”

  Mia’s stomach dropped.

  Chapter 11

  It was chilly outside when Mia jogged up the stairs to Harrison’s apartment. She knocked on the door but didn’t get an answer. She knew he was home because she’d talked to him a little over a half an hour ago. She knocked again. After not getting a response, Mia pulled out her key that he’d given her in case of an emergency.

  She cracked open the door. “Harrison? It’s me? Mia. Are you here?” She could see his keys and cell phone on the kitchen table. Slowly, she walked into the apartment and called out his name again. “Harrison?”

  Mia crept around the corner and found him sitting on his bed.

  “Hey. Did you hear me calling you?”

  He didn’t answer.

  He sat motionlessly. “Harrison? Are you okay?”