Chapter 15 Amelia
amelia
I loved a good reality TV moment.
The drama, the shade, the insane displays of wealth that were often harbingers of financial woes… messy, messy, messy.
Sucked for them, obviously, but great entertainment for me.
We’d only been there for maybe ten minutes when I got an introduction to one of his agents, Nicole Richardson, who I could feel the approval radiating off of.
It was a great note to start on, but then things started to whirl a little.
It was a lot of people, a lot of noise, just… a lot, honestly.
Calvin pulled me into a marginally quieter spot, his beard tickling my ear as he leaned in to ask if I was okay.
I smirked, and stepped away from him, planting an imaginary camera crew in my head and ready to break the fourth wall for my first confessional.
“Do you see this dress? Do you see how I look in this dress? Do you see everybody else seeing how I look in this dress? I’m in my element, okay?”
“Wait – am I the producer in this scenario?” Calvin asked, grinning.
“Yes!” I answered, excited that he’d immediately picked up on it.
“Heard you,” he countered. “Okay… so you’re in your element… not at all intimidated by the level of talent and fame in this room?”
“When everybody in the room has notoriety, it levels the playing field – why would I be—Oh my God, is that Aurora Martin!” I shrieked – quietly – immediately dropping my supposed reality TV game.
Rori Martin was an absolute inspiration for me – another Black woman in tech who’d built her app, BabyBee, into a massive success.
I’d studied her.
… the fact that she’d bagged two different professional athletes herself was purely coincidental.
“Yeah – she probably came with Tate,” Calvin said, referencing the second of the athletes – the first was not worth mentioning. “You want to meet her?”
“What?” I asked, eyes wide. “No, this isn’t… this isn’t that type of thing, and I’m sure she doesn’t want—”
“Nah, she’s probably bored out of her mind,” Calvin said, grabbing my hand to pull me along anyway.
Straight to where Rori was standing, with Sierra Ward.
I was going to pass the fuck out.
“Crossover Calllll,” Sierra greeted him warmly, with a hug that let me know there was genuine love there.
“Hey Si-Si,” he returned the greeting. “This is Li-Li.”
“In front of people?!” was out of my mouth before I could help it, and my surprise at not being able to control my tongue must’ve been written all over my face, because the group laughed before I could fix it.
“My bad,” Calvin said. “Sierra, this is Amelia.”
“Hi Amelia,” she gushed, grabbing my hand. “Calvin… she’s gorgeous. Why haven’t you brought her to the house?”
He shrugged. “I had to bargain and beg to get her out to this – she only came for the goodie bag, really.”
Why would he say that?
“Cause he always thinks something is funny,” Sierra answered, making me realize I’d said that out loud.
Fuck.
“Don’t worry about it girlie – I’m just here for the gift bag too,” Rori spoke up, and my heart moved from my throat to my ass and back as she extended a hand to me. “Aurora Martin.”
“Are you kidding? I know who you are!” I squealed, excitedly accepting her hand.
So much for keeping my cool.
“Amelia Robbins,” I told her, and her eyes went wide.
“From Proxy?”
Don’t scream.
Don’t scream.
Don’t scream.
“You know who I am?!” I screamed, making her laugh.
“Well, I recognized the name – my team is supposed to be reaching out to you soon about a partnership opportunity for BabyBee. We’re thinking a subsidized discount on diaper deliveries, arranging breastmilk donations, and so on.”
“I love that,” I gushed, then immediately tempered myself as I remembered why I was here.
I glanced at Calvin, who’d just been standing there quiet, half expecting him to look annoyed over this diversion from him. Instead, he looked kinda… proud?
He inclined his head, like he was prompting me to turn my attention back to Rori, which was enough encouragement for me to get right back to it. “We have to talk details.”
“Absolutely,” Rori said, squeezing my hand – am I really holding hands with Rori Martin and Sierra Ward right now?! “I’ll have my people move that up the priority list since I know for sure that you’re interested.”
This is so much better than a gift bag.
“Glad you think so,” Sierra laughed, and I didn’t even have time to be embarrassed by that before someone else had walked up—a trio of men I soon realized were some of Calvin’s Brawler teammates, boisterous and excited to see him.
It was so annoying.
But.
This wasn’t about me, it was about him, so I was cool, especially knowing I was going to have that interaction with Rori to keep me warm at night for the rest of my life.
There were several more interactions like that – meeting Calvin’s teammates, friends, and fans. I played my role in each one, knowing my only real requirement was being fine.
I was too overwhelmed to lean into my “character”.
Especially when two – fine ass – men came up to Calvin to pull him aside after offering me a friendly greeting.
Their security made two things clear – they were real celebrities, and I was not part of whatever conversation they were having, leading me to believe these must be the team “superstars” – Kevion Ward and Thierry Baptiste.
All I knew is they were fine.
Matter of fact, damn near everybody here was, which made Calvin’s words about remembering I was his – for the night, at least – hold a little more weight. There were most certainly people here trying to choose and be chosen… which was the perfect backdrop to my next interaction.
Getting approached by a trio of ringless baddies who offered no ambiguity around them looking me up and down to size me up.
“Where did Cross find you?” one of them asked, prompting me to glance at where he was standing a few feet away, still engrossed in conversation.
I looked back at her with a smirk.
Rehab?
The strip club?
The maternity ward?
There were so many hilariously scandalous options I could go with, if I wanted to go with maximum trolling. But, because I didn’t want to risk something that could wind up in the rumor mill, I went with—
“The clearance section,” I answered, rolling my eyes.
“Yeah, we can tell,” one of the friends chimed in, setting off giggles between them. “The dress?”
“Wait – is this… are y’all trying to… bully me?” I leaned in, whispering that last part in disbelief. “I really thought that was some TV shit, but y’all are actually about that life? Wow.”
“What? Okay bitch you’re weird,” the third friend yapped.
I put a hand to my chest. “Y’all came over here to press me about my nigga and I’m weird? Okay,” I said, looking around. “Where is the camera, actually? Did Calvin tell y’all to do this?”
“What?! Nobody told us to come talk to your ass!”
“Sure,” I winked, still looking around for a camera, a boom mic, something. “I’m sorry to ruin the prank, but this is just… way too corny to not be scripted.”
One of them sucked her teeth. “Let’s just get away from this weird ass girl,” one of the friends said, and they immediately saw their asses away from me.
Good.
Cause literally… what?
Of course I knew nobody planned that – they were just bitches.
Bitches who were either too stupid to realize what had just happened, or they would play the interaction in their head over and over, trying to figure out where their attempt to bully or intimidate me had gone wrong.
Either way, I won.
As they walked off, I caught eyes with Calvin. He gave me raised eyebrows that I interpreted as an unspoken check-in, so I nodded, offering a smile in return.
I wasn’t really bothered by that encounter – I was exhilarated, actually.
I motioned Calvin back to his conversation, and saw my way to the open bar for a cute lemon drop, then found myself an empty seat.
To drink my cute lemon drop and mind my business.
Until… I heard Calvin’s name.
Even though my ears perked up, I made a point of not looking in the direction the conversation was coming from immediately, turning on a level of nosiness Kae would’ve been proud of.
“I know man, that shit is wild – he must be fucking somebody in the front office too, cause ain’t no way that got rid of a whole coach to accommodate this nigga.”
“Right? And niggas talking about some damn stats. He got a MVP three damn years ago, and not again since then – he ain’t that good.”
That was the comment that made me feign something happening with my earring so I could glance behind me – I needed to see who was talking.
I know that ain’t who I think it is.
My eyes narrowed, looking a little harder.
And it was, indeed, who I thought it was.
Two of the men who’d interrupted the conversation with Sierra and Rori to speak to Calvin.
The very ones who’d been grinning from ear to ear to get in his face – if I remembered correctly, they were his teammates.
Damn.
This is some real hater ass shit.
“What?”
“What?!” I repeated back, eyes wide.
Both men were looking straight at me, forcing me to come to the quick conclusion that my declaration about their behavior had been an outside thought instead of an inside one.
Oh.
Damn.
Anyway.
“Were you talking to us?” One of them asked, moving closer as he bit his lip.
I didn’t even try to stop my nose from wrinkling up. “Why would I be talking to you, first of all,” I said, standing from my seat – I did not feel comfortable with them towering over me. “With that said though… if the shoe fits…”
“Aye – mind your business, bitch,” the other one said.
“Well you were talking about my man, so it kinda is my business… bitch,” I countered… fully ready to run away screaming if I needed to.
Instead… I found myself face to face with Calvin, who had come out of absolutely nowhere.
“Did I forget to tell you to stay out of trouble?” he asked, smirking like there wasn’t a nigga behind him looking like he wanted to smack me across the face. He grabbed my hand, fingers sliding between mine as he leaned into me. “I could swear we covered that.”
“Yeah, control your bitch, man.”
Immediately, any sense of amusement left Calvin’s face, and he turned around, looking not at either of the men who’d been talking about him, but the third one that had been with them earlier, and just walked up.
“Ay – you’re my teammate, these are your guests.
They’re wilding right now. Control your bitches. ”
Oh.
Oh.
That was really, really nasty.
I loved it.
They… did not.
Calvin laughed as they immediately got irate – and immediately got removed by security before anything could really pop off.
“See how you almost got me into trouble?” he asked, shaking his head as he led me away. “This isn’t supposed to be this kinda thing.”
“But they were talking shit about you!” I defended myself, and Calvin smirked.
“Oh, so you were protecting me? I’m honored,” he laughed. “Next time could you do it in a way that won’t mean I’ve gotta beat somebody up?”
“But… I want to see you beat somebody up. It would be good for the show.”
“The show? You’re damn fool,” he chuckled, slipping hands around my waist to pull me close – there was music going, and I quickly realized he’d led me to a dance floor.
I grinned. “You like it.”
“I do, actually. We almost had to cut the cameras. Still might,” he flirted, with an exaggerate eyebrow wag I couldn’t do anything but laugh at.
Even after such heavy tension, just a moment ago, he had me right back in the best of moods, so, so easily.
It was honestly crazy.
I found myself grooving with him – having a blast, actually, for another half hour before he leaned in again.
“Let’s get you of here.”
My eyes went wide. “Seriously?” I asked. “Isn’t it a little early? Did I get us in trouble?”
“Man, I’ve successfully showed my face at this shit and now I’m ready to go,” he answered. “A little bit because of you. Just a little though.”
I gasped. “What’d I do?!”
“What didn’t you?!” he laughed as he led me back out front to approach the valet.
A very familiar looking valet, who licked her lips, rubbing her hands together as soon she saw me. “Amanda, right? You looking real good. Real good,” Jeanie said, fully ignoring Calvin.
“Right in front of me? This is some bullshit,” he said, prompting Jeanie to shoot him a scowl.
“Sir, I’m trying to have a conversation if you don’t mind,” she said.
He scoffed. “I do mind. What’s your pronouns?”
Her eyebrows went up. “You know – thank you for being respectful. Primarily, she and her, but really I’m good with any. I’m a very fluid individual.”
“Right, right,” Calvin grinned. “Miss Nigga, can you go get my shit and stop trying to press my girl in my face please?”
She put a hand to her chest. “That is so disrespectful!”
“How?” Calvin questioned.
“I ain’t figured it out yet, but as soon as I do, you’re getting cancelled, nigga.”
“Cool – in the meantime, it’s the black on black Range.”
“You and every other unoriginal ass athlete in this bitch, I’ma need more information than that.”
“Jeanie! You cannot talk to the clients like that!”
We all looked back to find a white woman with an asymmetrical bob and a blazer with the valet company logo embroidered on the lapel standing close by, looking scandalized.
“Ah hell, I can’t lose another job. My ol’ lady gone put me out for real this time,” Jeanie groaned, and Calvin blew out a sigh.
“Ay – we’re all cool ma’am, just banter between friends – we’ll keep it more professional moving forward,” Calvin told the woman – clearly the manager – who gave a stiff nod before shooting Jeanie another warning glare.
“Good looking out,” Jeanie said, once the coast was clear. “Amanda – you keep good company, I like that.”
“Amelia.”
“Who the fuck is that?” Jeanie asked, already walking off. “Let me go get this lil wack ass Range Rover.”
“Why my shit gotta be wack?!” Calvin called after her, then looked at me. “See what I mean? Trouble, wherever you go.”
I gasped. “How is this on me?!”
Calvin smirked, grabbing my hand to pull me closer. “Isn’t it always?”