“Nah, they’re perfect,” he answered, flashing me a grin as he said, “You did good, Bri Bri Thee Stallion.”
“Oh my God…”I sighed, covering my face with my hand as Lance teased, “I see why your shit is private now. I mean, thirst traps on thirst trapson…”
“That is so not true, and you know it,” I interrupted, only for Lance to argue, “Nah, what I know is that some nigga is out there with your profile pulled up in his left hand and his dick in the other.”
“That’s disgusting,” I groaned, lowkey wanting to prematurely block the few follower requests I’d already approved as Lance gave a shrug and muttered, “Just the facts.”
“Anyway,” I sighed, giving a nod towards the shoes that prompted Lance to respond, “I’m taking all these. Now hit me with another stack, bet?”
Considering how much commission I was already going to make off this sale, I was happy to tell him, “Sure,” before I headed back to the stockroom to grab a second stack of sneakers that included a pair of low top Nike dunks, a pair of Air Max 1 OGs, a pair of Air Force 1s, and the high-top Dior Jordan 1s that were the hottest, most expensive shoes we had in stock.
They were also Lance’s favorite style of shoe of all-time, and I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if he already owned this particular pair. But according to the excited look on his face when he saw the box in my hand, I was apparently delivering some good news, Lance grinning hard as hell as he commented, “Yoooo. You should’ve brought these out first. I’ve been tryna get my hands on these for a minute now.”
“Must be your lucky day,” I responded, standing back as Lance stared at the shoes like he was looking at a pot of gold. And honestly, considering how highly sought-after they were -and how much they went for on most resale sites- they kind of were like a pot of gold, his reaction lowkey making me jealous that I couldn’t afford a pair for myself.
“Maybe one day,”I thought as I watched Lance put his precious Jordans aside to check out the other shoes I’d brought him. And like before, he was very much satisfied with what I’d picked, smirking as he asked, “So you really do still know me, huh?”
“Just a little bit,” I answered, using my pinched fingers and a squinted eye to emphasize how minimal my knowledge was as Lance gave a low chuckle in response that made my cheeks warm.
“These Diors alone ‘bout to blow the budget I had in mind, but I feel like you’re kinda on a roll right now.”
“What can I say? Figured if I’m gonna be here, I might as well be good at my job,” I told him, watching him nod to agree as he casually mentioned, “Well I’m glad I stopped by to see you when I did.”
His word choice made me pause, my eyebrow piqued curiously when I cocked my head and repeated, “Stopped by to seeme, or…”
Before I could even finish my question, Lance gave another chuckle to insist, “You know what I meant.”
I actually didn’t know what he meant since coming to find some new shoes and showing up to my job to see me even though I hadn’t even told him I worked here were twototallydifferent things. But instead of obsessing over it to the point of making things weird, I slipped my hands back into my pockets and asked, “So you done, or nah?”
After staring at me for a moment, Lance smirked and decided, “Let’s press your luck,” that response sending me back to the stockroom for a third time. But when I returned to the store floor with a few more pairs of sneakers, I was a bit caught off-guard when I found Lance talking to Aubrey, a conversation that looked innocent enough even though it made me feel a way.
But I shouldn’t have felt a way.
I mean, since when did I care about Lance talking to other girls?
Of course, there had always been a certain level of protective instinct since Lance was quite the chick magnet growing up, and as his friend, I didn’t want him getting hurt by any ol’ broad. But there was never a moment I felt…territorialin the way that I did now, forcing a smile as I joked, “Aubrey, you over here tryna steal my customers?”
“I should be,” she responded with a giggle. “But no, I was actually telling Hawk that my brother was ready to burn his jersey if he would’ve ended up going to another team.”
“That’s weird,” I commented, Lance glancing my way with surprised eyes as I doubled down, “What?It is. I mean, it’s not like it would’ve been totally your fault. And to burn something as a means of saying fuck the person you were literally a jersey-buying fan of five seconds ago just seems kinda lame to me. Unless that person like, committed an awful crime or something. Then I’d at least understand the energy.”
“Well tell ‘em how you really feel then, Ya…”
I cut my eyes towards Lance just in time for him to correct, “Briyana,” his save making me smirk before I asked, “Aubrey, can you do me a favor and take some of these to the checkout counter, please?”
“Of course,” she responded, looking happy to get away from the scene as she picked up some of the shoeboxes while I waited for Lance to peep the final selections I’d picked out for him. But instead of doing that, he just looked at me amusedly, the shrug I responded with making him shake his head as he finally opened each of the boxes and gave his approval before we headed to complete his transaction.
Like I’d done with Darnell’s baby mama earlier, I decided to strike up some small talk to make the process of me scanning a dozen pairs of sneakers less awkward, casually checking the inside tags of each shoe to make sure they were the correct size as I asked Lance, “So is this like, your signing bonus splurge or something?”
“Nah, just a regular Tuesday,” he responded coolly, the fact that he was literally getting ready to spend thousands of dollars making it easy for me to quietly mutter, “Must be nice,”just as Lance groaned,“Aww damn. I’m trippin’.”
“What?”
“Forgot I drove the Lambo today, and my gym bag is already taking up most of the trunk space,” he shared, only to amplify his subtle flex when he said, “I’ma have to call somebody to come pick some of these up for me.”
“Or I can just drop the ones you can’t fit in your car off later,” I offered. “I mean, if that works for you.”
“Yeah, that’ll work,” Lance replied with an appreciative smile as he leaned into the counter to say, “And since you’ve made this shopping trip a breeze, how about you come and pick out a little somethin’ for yourself?”