Chapter Forty-Seven
Bee
As with anything concerning my emotions, my mouth was moving faster than my brain could keep up.
We were down in Kansas City playing against the Buffalos during a three day away game streak and we had already secured two wins against the Midwest team.
After a Buffalo player airballed a three at the top of the paint, Farrah in-bounded the ball to Nola who was getting pressed by Sarah Alcott, before she even made it to half court.
I knew from our college days that Sarah would do anything it took to prove she should be taken seriously on the court.
She always had a chip on her shoulder and while Winnie Chen had the ability to soften her not-girlfriend, Sarah had been playing aggressive since game one.
So aggressive that in tonight’s game she was already one foul away from getting ejected, and it was only the third quarter.
I was watching Sarah make Nola work for it, trying any way she could to tip the ball out of her hands.
But if there was one thing I knew, Nola was stronger than Sarah and the defensive arm she was holding up was enough to bounce Sarah back a few feet before she came back in Nola’s face.
I couldn’t hear what they were saying but I could see they were going back and forth.
I had run defense enough times on both of them to understand that Sarah was talking dirty and Nola was talking cocky.
While that was happening I ran around in the paint, keeping Winnie on her feet and too focused on where I was going while Gia started to set a screen under the net for Winnie to get trapped around.
But before I could make it to the other side of the net, I watched Sarah make another attempt to tip the ball out of Nola’s hands while simultaneously giving her an elbow to the jugular.
Nola went sprawling and somewhere around me a ref blew a whistle. I was already running over when I saw Sarah stand over Nola while she was getting back up.
I saw red.
“Have you lost your mind?!” I screamed at Sarah’s back while her and Nola got in each other’s faces.
“Oh fuck off, Bee, this isn’t about you.” Sarah tried to blow me off. “Young needs to be humbled.” She poked my girlfriend’s chest and the red shifted to a full black out.
“Don’t tell her to fuck off.” Nola bit back at the same time I screamed in my college friend’s face, “Don’t fucking touch her!”
Somewhere in the building whistles blew and people were yelling.
I think I might have told someone to go choke while I was swatting a hand out of my face.
A ref stepped in-between the three of us and someone was tugging on my jersey while I swatted their hand away.
Winnie held Sarah back with the rest of the Buffalos behind her, and then suddenly my six foot frame was off the ground and I was being carried away.
“Who the fuck is picking me up like a child?” Slowly my senses returned to me as I was dropped back on my feet.
“Me!” Nola spun me around to face her.
“She could’ve crushed your windpipe! What the fuck was she thinking!” My eyes were wild and roaming, as I focused on everything around me. The crowd was going wild, the referees were at the table reviewing the cameras. Farrah checked on the both of us before going to check on Winnie and Sarah.
“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 we haven’t been 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 least look like 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.
“Could we get a picture?” The girl with cornrows asked.
“Sure! I can jump out real quick if you want individuals.” I started.
“No! With both of y’all!” Box braids quipped before turning her body to take a selfie.
I rested my hand in Nola’s lap and leaned in closer to her space.
I fought the urge to sniff her jacket or neck from this angle.
But what could I say, I loved Nola’s smell.
Even from this far back the lights of the bars provided good lighting.
Box braids put her phone down and checked on the pictures.
“Ah! This picture is so good! Y’all look so good together!”
“Thanks.” Nola nodded and then the two girls were off and it was just back to being us.
“How do you think she meant that?” I asked immediately. I wasn’t bothered, but I just needed to figure out if I should expect more hits tonight on my alerts.
“You’re being paranoid, honeybee.”
“Hyperaware,” I corrected.
“Well if you’re so hyperaware I kind of feel like we should head back to the hotel before our team does…” Nola whispered in my ear in case anyone was eavesdropping.
“Who’s going to be hyperaware of their location back.” I countered but not with much opposition.
“Whoever wants to come-”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” I interrupted and then we’re packing the food back up.
“You know my favorite thing about you.” Nola asked me like it was a pop quiz while her tongue licked around my ear, distracting me.
“What?” I managed, unbuttoning her jeans and slid them down past her hips.