Sterling
THIS WASN’T MY first time here at Arthur Ashe stadium but I had to admit it was the most fun.
I was nervous for my girl. Nervous not because I didn’t think she could do what she was about to, but because I wanted it as bad for her as I knew she wanted it for herself.
Seeing her train the way she had to get back from her injury inspired me.
Living and being friends with professional athletes gave me a newfound respect for how much time and effort went into what they did to maintain the standards of excellence they had.
My workouts having re-contoured my body was driven home when I started to tailor my dress and my custom dress form was no longer the correct measurements because my dress was loose even after altering it.
Since Aldrich knew about my family, I didn’t feel weird having some of my jewelry sent down and the diamond teardrop earrings were the perfect complement to the halter neck style I’d reshaped my dress into.
Everyone had given me a warm welcome and despite my missing Aphrodite since she was already in New York, I’d had fun spending time with the MVP wives and catching up with Carine and Rachelle.
We had so much fun at the gala that we made plans for a long weekend for the first game. Which is why we were here.
“I feel like I’m about to throw up.”
I gave a knowing smile to Yzabel who had to practically ditch her husband to make it tonight.
I hated that Porsha wasn’t able to come tonight because her man had an event for his label.
I was amazed that so many successful Black women were able not only to be friends but to truly support one another and be genuine about it.
The guard I’d held up before the luncheon had crumbled and was basically gone.
I could laugh without fear of judgement and be excited without thinking someone would make fun of my joy.
It was foreign but the good kind of foreign.
Porsha and her husband would be in attendance for the game tomorrow because I’d asked them to come once we saw they would be in New York as well.
Porsha said she was going to be in attendance with or without her husband.
She really thought that man was going to let her out of his sight and I found that hilarious.
“I know. I want to be all confident like I just know she’s going to win because I don’t doubt her talent.
But this is still a game after all. Anything can happen.
I need to channel my inner Billy.” My hands were sweaty as if I were the one getting ready to play this point and I tried to keep my thoughts positive.
“Willa is about to shit her pants too. She wears that poker face better than anyone, but you can always tell when she starts to touch her hair or does that thing with her brows when they get tight that she’s fighting to keep calm.
” Yzzy looked like her sister but not carbon copies.
She favored their mother more with her green eyes but had the same big curly hair as her sister.
I watched as Billy ran a hand through her big hair again, tousling the curls around her shoulders despite her face remaining confident.
“She needs to give lessons.” I had a poker face but it wasn’t nearly as good as hers.
Yzzy laughed quietly so as not to disturb the quiet of this break. “I think it’s got to be genetic. Mama has it too. Me? I wear all my emotions on my face. I can’t help it.”
She wasn’t lying because I felt like she was going to gnaw the corner of her lip raw.
“There’s so much going on this weekend that I think we’re feeling all the weight of that too.”
Yzzy nodded and crossed her legs continuing to fidget. Her engagement ring and wedding band flashed tastefully in the lights of the stadium and I had to grin, remembering Samp’s words about kids.
“True. We would have another person we love involved in another sport. I don’t know what we were thinking.
Aphrodite has been around for so long I don’t even think about it, but now with a brother-in-law that’s on the team, another brother-in-law that’s a rodeo athlete and a husband that is a fanatic for both sports, I understand how people can become overwhelmed with it.
” She shook her head and I could tell it stressed her out but she loved it too.
“You could always just not go to the games.”
She shot me a look like I’d lost my mind, which confirmed exactly what I was thinking. “You really might not be my friend thinking like that.”
I laughed and turned my focus back to the game.
One thing I could say was that everyone had been on their A-game with outfits for this event.
It wasn’t something that I was concerned with, judging them for what they were wearing, but they put this shit on.
Every woman wore clothing that fit her personality but it was Lyric’s outfit that was my favorite.
She’d worn a floor-length men’s style button up maxi dress.
She left it unbuttoned with a thick gold link choker, a white tennis skirt and designer sneakers with a fitted half tank underneath.
She wasn’t trying to change her style but it looked like something everyone would be copying.
My eyes were focused back on the game grateful that Aldrich’s mother didn’t mind looking after Ami in our hotel room.
She said she missed her anyway and she didn’t make me feel guilty about not skipping the match to stay with her.
I’m sure that she realized things between me and Aldrich were different just by how he spoke to me over the phone.
She’d overheard our conversation but just smiled like the idea of us made her happy.
It was strange that I was still getting deposits to take care of her but things had shifted between me and her father.
Aldrich refused to stop paying me, which made me feel slightly out of place.
Aphrodite served the ball over the net her feet shuffling as she waited for the ball to be returned.
Aphrodite’s serve was returned and she could hit it to a spot on the court where her opponent couldn’t get to it.
As soon as the announcer called the game we were on our feet cheering for her.
You could see the look of wonder in Aphrodite’s eyes as the realization of her win washed over her.
The media flooded her and somehow they knew we were there for her and pointed us out.
We started to holler even louder hyping her up and she waved with tears in her eyes.
I understood how she was feeling. We both lived lives that placed high expectations on both of us.
Not only that, but having friends wasn’t something that was in the cards for us.
Her because everyone was competition on the court and me because they felt like my money made me a threat on the marriage market I didn’t give a fuck to be on.
I didn’t need to glance around to see that we were all tearing up because you could feel the joy for Aphrodite in the entire stadium.
Her win was historic and I prayed this set the tone for the rest of the weekend.
We were going to make sure that it was amazing.
I knew that Aldrich had a lot to prove to the critics that had talked shit about him and how his off the field life was going to interfere with his game.
He had a point to prove and since they might consider me a distraction; I wanted to absolutely make them eat their words.
But right now, I was about to celebrate my girl making Black History.
This was probably a terrible idea.
There was no probably about it, it is definitely a terrible idea.
But I couldn’t help but be me. And maybe that was the fucking problem.
I needed to be a little less Sterling right now and a lot more…
hell, anyone else. But there was one thing about me and that meant I wasn’t about to go out anywhere and embarrass my ancestors.
I had to show up dressed to impress and so did baby girl.
I’d sewn up a custom onesie for Ami to wear with her father’s number on it and a custom white and blue tutu to match her jersey.
Her curly hair was put into two pigtails and with those two deep dimples in her cheeks that matched her daddy she was ready to go.
I’d gotten her blinged-out headphones to match her outfit just in case the stadium got too loud.
I’d had a bunch of confidence while we celebrated Aphrodite last night but somehow in the light of day today it had waned.
Maybe because I didn’t have the shield of my friends around me to confirm everything would be good.
Maybe because I didn’t have Aldrich to say he’d handled it.
I had a lot of people counting on me to ensure everything this weekend was going to work out and I didn’t want to let anyone down.
I’d thought about just wearing a laid-back outfit or something that didn’t show my affliction with anyone on the team.
Aldrich asked me about my game outfit before he met the team plane like he knew I was trying to fade into the background.
When he saw what I suggested, he told me it wasn’t at all enough.
And then he left something for me to wear that would remove all doubt about who I was in his life.
Putting it on today made me suddenly nervous.
It was a loud statement, a declaration, a giant middle finger to anyone who had questions about him or about me.
I wasn’t upset about it and it made me proud to be claimed but I was still nervous.
Having avoided scrutiny from the press my entire life I wasn’t interested in courting their attention now.
Too fucking late.