by PN Books
The opposing team was taking advantage of the fact that I wasn't there. They kept trying to foul out Aaron, but he was making sure to sink every shot. He wanted to keep the small lead that the team had. So when they fouled him, he would go to the foul point line, look for my face in the crowd, and then nod. He was making me proud out there, but it still made me upset not to be out there.
At the end of the game, my team won. I watched as everyone cheered and screamed. We only won by a last minute throw by Aaron. The team carried him out and people ran down to the court to celebrate. I clapped and cheered, but I really wasn't into it.
"Are you okay?" Simone questioned. I didn't bother to answer. All she had to do was look at my face and know what was going on. "You want to get out of here?" I nodded. "Come on." She took my hand and led me out of the gym. We walked past the screaming fans. Some of them looked like they were going to approach me but at the last second, they backed away.
She led me all the way off campus.
"I'm starving." She said out of nowhere. "Although, maybe I shouldn't eat, so I can lose some weight."
"Why would you say that?"
"Well, look at my size."
"I am and you're beautiful. So, what are you trying to get at?"
"You don't think that I am too big?"
"Where is this coming from?" I shook my head. "When I look at you, I see you, this gorgeous woman. I told you when I met you, it was your confidence and beauty that got me. I don't know what's been going on, but you've been pretty distant lately and now this? Why are you talking like this? You are the same woman that says that to other girls that they are only skinnier than you and not prettier than you. Where is this coming from?"
It became very quiet as I waited for her answer. She kept sighing and running her hand through her hair. She put her head down and finally reached into her pocket. She took out her cell phone and started swiping through it.
"Do you go on the school's message board?" She asked me. I thought about it. I didn't even know the school had one.
"No. I don't really keep up with that stuff. All I do is go to classes and play ball." I stopped. "Or at least I used to play ball."
"Look at this." She handed me her phone. "This is a website and chat forum that a lot of the students that go to this school.
I read the topic and it said "Chubby Chasing Basketball Star."
"What is B-Wood thinking by dating that big whale? He is a good looking, great playing basketball star. He can have any woman that he wants. A guy like him should be chasing around cheerleaders or something like that, not her." One person wrote.
"Yeah I agree! I mean don't get me wrong, she is kind of cute. If she was skinny, she would be gorgeous, but he can do so much better than that."
The thread went on and on. Someone even had a picture of us together. I didn't think that I was already being watched. Here I was worrying about scouts when I apparently already had a following. I was about to disregard the whole thing until something caught my eye.
"I heard that he even got into a fight over that fat bitch. What a loser."
"I don't care about these people or what they think, and you shouldn't either."
"I know I shouldn't, but damn, this is everywhere." She took her phone back from me. I felt sorry for her. Here I was wrapped up in myself that I didn't bother to think about what she was going through.
"Come on, I got an idea."
I brought her to a local restaurant that was always packed with students. As we got closer to the restaurant, I felt her pulling away.
"I don't think we should be here." She whispered to me looking around.
“Why not?” I asked but I had a feeling why she was pulling away.
“I’m thinking about you, babe. What about you? What about the fact that you don't like being near campus during and after games?"
"I don't. I hate being on campus during and after the games. It’s nothing but people coming up to me. I don’t like that.”
"Then why are we here?" She quizzed while walking even slower.
"Because you are important to me and we gonna sit here and eat until you feel okay with us being seen together. I know that you don't like this situation because of the students, but fuck them. I’m not dating them, I’m not into them. I’m into you. We are going to eat a full meal and let them stare until you are good with it."
"I don't care about that." But I wasn't buying it. She was walking slowly and she seemed so nervous.
"No, you do." I walked up to the hostess and asked for a table for two.
Now that I knew that people were watching us, I actually saw people look over at us. Some were typing away their phones and others were just trying not to stare. Simone shifted in her seat. She was uncomfortable and it showed. As we sat down, I pulled out her chair and pushed it in. Then when I sat from across from her, I leaned over the table and kissed her. I heard some whispers and gasps but I didn’t care. I held her face tightly and kissed her. When I pulled away, she was smiling so wide and bright.
“How’s that?” I asked while I sat down.
“Not bad.” She chuckled. She then looked around looking for the waitress. “I’m starving.” She told me.
“I bet you are,” someone said, but we didn’t see where it was coming from.
“Anyway,” I tried to get her attention away from it. “I’m thinking I might order a huge steak.”
“You might as well, you're already eating with a cow.” The voice said again. Then we heard some people sitting behind us burst out laughing.
One of the girls then said, “You need to be quiet.” But then someone replied, “Girl bye, I could have had him.” That’s when Simone whipped around in her chair.
“Wait a minute.” I tried to stop her but she shook her head. She was going to say something and there was nothing I could do to stop her.
“Excuse me.” She called out to their attention. They stopped laughing and turned to her. It looked like they were nervous. Maybe they thought that she would never say anything to them. They thought wrong.
“Listen, if I wasn’t around, you wouldn’t be here. If I was skinnier, you wouldn’t be here, and if you gain the weight, you wouldn’t be here. To make a long story short, he would have never been into you. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.”
She turned back to me. “Now, I’m ready to order.”
*****
“Okay, are you ready?” I asked her. I was covering her eyes. I didn’t want her to see her surprise. With basketball season not a concern for me, I was concentrating on Simone. Every other day, we hung out and did something fun. One day we went to the movies and the other we went to an amusement park. We just loved to do something fun and today, I was excited to show her the surprise.
"Don't peek," I told her as I held my hands over her face. I couldn't wait for Simone to see what I had in store for her. This surprise was the least I could do because she'd been so supportive of me through this time. Basketball was my life and without it, I don't know what to do, but luckily for me, I had her to keep my mind occupied.
"Fine, but I swear if you walk me into a wall, a pole, or I fall down and hurt myself, I'm going to have to beat you up." She joked smiling.
"Alright." I shook my head with a smirk. "I was going to walk you into a pole, but you were going to be dancing on it." She elbowed me in the ribs and I laughed. "I was joking." I chuckled.
"I thought so."
"But if you wanted to...." She elbowed me again.
"I was joking!” I laughed some more.
I finally got her to where her surprise was. I was so happy that it was happening. I was kind of more excited than her and was just anxious to see her reaction. I sighed and finally took my hands off of her face.
"Okay now," I told her. I stepped back and watched her. She opened her eyes slowly so that she could adjust to the light. She looked around and was confused at first, but then she realized where she was.
"Oh my God."
I
brought her to a sewing class. The teacher was watching us smiling. There were sewing machines everywhere as well as fabrics. She started to gasp and then laugh.
"Wow. I can't believe I'm here." She seemed shocked.
"Are you surprised?"
"Yes." She admitted. "I thought you were bringing me to the movies."
"Again with the movies." I sighed. "How many movies could we see? But I know how much you love fashion and wish that you could sew better. I thought that this could help you with that."
"So, this is really happening?" She looked around. "How can you afford this?"
"Don't worry about that. I've always saved my money and besides I got a deal for this."
"But..." She drifted off.
"But what?"
"You got so much going on."
Now that I was temporarily suspended from my team, my scholarship status was up in the air. I may or may not lose my scholarship, which meant I would have to either get a loan to pay for school or see if I qualified for financial aid. I tried talking to the coach, but he still wasn't moved. He still was disappointed in the fight, especially now that a video has surfaced online. Someone in that restaurant was recording us on their phone. They got the full fight where you see that the other man made the first move. It proved once again that it wasn't my fault, but I guess Coach was embarrassed. I couldn't do anything about it. At this point, it is what it is.
"Don't worry about that," I assured her. "This is not the time or place for that. Right now, it's about you and this whole sewing thing."
"I can't believe you did this for me."
"Why not? You're my girlfriend, right?"
That's when she kissed me. She grabbed me by the back of my neck and kissed me. She bit the bottom of my lips and I felt myself get excited. I backed away.
"Let's not." I laughed. "I already paid for this class and I'll be pissed if you missed out because I want to take you out of here and into my bed." I kissed her forehead. "Let's keep it rated G here please."
The class started and Simone took to it quickly. She seemed to really get the class. It's probably something she's been waiting to do for a long time. She's always said that she wanted to be more into sewing, but she could never find the time. I thought this little class would help her get into it more. The thing that she didn’t know is that the class was just a portion of her surprise; there was more coming.
After the class the teacher and Simone exchanged numbers. The teacher wanted to keep in touch with Simone because she saw a lot of promise in her. During the break, Simone shared some of her sketches with the teacher as well as showing her that the shirt that she was wearing, was one of her designs.
"Please don't hesitate to call me for anything. I know some places that are willing to give away free fashion design tools because they just get so much."
"Oh my gosh, that would mean so much!" Simone gushed. "I really want to get some pieces made so that I could sell them online. Just to see what kind of reaction I would get."
"Do it and when you, let me know."
They said their goodbyes and Simone came running to me laughing and smiling.
"You." She kissed me on my lips quickly. "You are pretty great, you know that?"
"Well, that's pretty obvious." I winked.
"No, but for real." She grabbed my shirt and pulled me close. "You don't know how much this means to me." She kissed me deeply and I wrapped one of my arms around her waist. I pulled her closer so that I could smell that wonderful perfume she always had on. Once the scent filled my nostrils, I was overtaken with her. I couldn't allow myself to get carried away because I remembered that I had one more surprise for her.
"Stop." I pretended to not want any more kisses. "Too much affection."
"You're so silly. But I guess I shouldn't let you have your way with me right here."
"I guess not."
"How about I let you take me back to my dorm?"
"What about your dorm director? I thought guys weren't allowed in the rooms."
"She's being super lazy now that her own boyfriend is in town. She's not bothering us."
"What about your roommate?"
"I told you already, remember? My roommate left to go back home. She got homesick. So as of right now, I don't have a roommate. I'm all by myself."
"That's right." I gave her a look. "Yeah, take me back there."
We made our way back to campus. We were walking hand in hand and people still looked at me. I thought it had to do with me and Simone. Maybe some people couldn't believe that we were dating, but it had been long enough that they knew that we were serious.
"Hey, I don't mean to disturb you but I just think that it sucks that you're not being allowed to play." One of them came up to me. "I saw the clip and you were just defending yourself." He told me shaking his head. "Keep your head up man." He reached out and we shook hands. "I think it's real messed up."
"It is what it is. You have to talk to the coach about that one." I told him. "But thank you for that, I really needed to hear it."
We walked through the halls where people came up to me saying the same thing. They all thought that I should be playing and were upset that I wasn't. It was nice to hear that they were on my side, but it just kept reminding me that I wasn’t playing anymore. It started to bring me down. By the time we go to her dorm room, I felt a little different.
“You see?” She said in a seductive voice. “No roommate. In this room, it is just you and me...all alone.” She smiled and I simply nodded. I didn’t feel so enthusiastic. All the people telling me that I should be playing took all the fun out of me. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” I shrugged my shoulders. I sat down on the couch. “You got anything to drink?”
“Yeah, but are you sure that everything is okay?”
“I’m positive.”
“I don’t know about that because you seem so different.”
“I’m alright Simone,” I lied.
“B-Wood,” She rarely called me by my nickname, so it made me listen. “I think that there is something that you’re not telling me.” I shook my head. “Is this because of what all those people said? Is this because you’re not playing ball?”
I instantly got quiet. I didn’t want to answer her at all. I was too upset to even talk really. I just grabbed my things and went to the door.
“Are you seriously leaving?” She asked, but I didn’t say anything. I just left.
After leaving Simone’s place, I went straight to where I felt safe; the basketball court. I threw on some old sweats and started playing ball. I first started out doing my free throws. I kept going until I sunk 200 shots back to back. When I messed up, I went back at it again. I started it all over again and didn’t stop until I got my 200 shots in. It took some time, but I finally did it.
When I was through with that, I didn’t stop. I started running up and down the court dribbling the ball. I was getting my endurance up. Just because I wasn’t playing anymore, it didn’t mean that I was going to slack up. I had to be in the best shape. I can no longer wait for the day that my coach was going to put me back in the game, I had to do it for myself. I can’t let myself get out of shape. Somehow someway, I was going to get into the NBA. If everybody thinks I should be playing, I was going to be in the best shape until then.
Finishing up running up and down the court, I was tired, but I took a deep breath. I just jogged to the water fountain and took a drink. I splashed the water on my face and got back to my workout. I started doing jump shots. I ran up to the hoop, found a spot and made a shot. I kept going until I made 100. I usually did 200 but I was tired.
“That’s all you got, superstar?” Simone asked, watching me from the stands. She had her phone out and it looked like she was recording me.
“How long have you been standing here?”
“Since you got out here in those ratty sweats.” She cringed. “I’m all for guys being just about the sports, but you’re dating a fashion goddess. Since
you are dating me, you have to get some new sweats.”
“Were you filming me?” I asked after I saw her put her phone away.
“Yes.” She told me flat out.
“For what?”
“You let me worry about that.” She had a slick smile on her face.
“What is going on?”
“You trust me?”
“I do but–”
“Then leave it all in my hands.”
I just stared at her. Despite the fact that I left her room, she still came after me.
“I’m real lucky,” I said slowly.
“Oh yeah? Why is that?”
“Because I was being to myself and you still came after me.”
“I’m guessing that the girls you dealt with before didn’t really treat you right.” She crossed her arms. “I’m not into bullshit and I know you were going through something so I came to check up on you.”
“But how did you know I was going to be here?”
“All you talk about is basketball, it would make sense that you would come back here. This is like your other home.”
I walked up to her and tried to hug her, but she moved away.
“What’s up?”
“I get that you’re trying to be sweet, but you stink.” She laughed and pinched her nose. “So how about you take a shower, and then we go back to my dorm?”
I smiled and headed towards the showers.
“I’m going to design you some new basketball gear!” She yelled in the background and I just shook my head.
*****
The basketball game was intense. It was another playoff game and my team was losing badly. I couldn't bear to watch it. It was not only hard to see them losing, but to know that I couldn't help them, made me feel worse. I saw Coach on the sidelines looking like he was about to lose his mind. He was yelling and screaming at the team, but they were lagging. They were so tired. Looking at them I could tell that Coach had been riding them hard during practice. He must want to get to the finals badly, but this was a bad look; especially since ESPN was covering the game.