Chuckling, he followed up, “So you down to play?” Then he turned towards Racquel to ask, “The game is at 11, right? At Bear Creek Park?”
The way her eyebrows shot up when she nodded told me she didn’t appreciate Lance handing out invitations all willy-nilly. But really, she had nothing to worry about since I honestly had no interest in playing, using the location as an excuse when I asked, “Who the hell is driving all the way out there?”
“We can carpool,” Lance offered, the way Racquel’s jaw clenched just slightly in response to that almost making me laugh as I asked, “I thought you had an away game this week?”
“I do. We play Thursday, so we’ll be back late that same night.”
Lance might’ve had an answer for everything, but I had plenty more excuses in the chamber until Racquel chimed in, “No pressure, Briyana. I mean, we tend to get pretty competitive, and I know that can be a little intimidating for some people.”
Does this bitch really think she intimidates me?
She might’ve had the muscles and the height, but it was obvious to me who was intimidated by whose presence, the whole thing truly laughable as I decided, “You know what? Count me in. It’ll be nice to get out and run around a little bit.” Then I took a step towards the door and said, “I guess I’ll see you both on Sunday,” issuing a parting smile before I headed for my car only to be stopped in the middle of the driveway when I heard Lance call out, “Yo, Yani!”
Turning back towards the porch, I was surprised to see him jogging my way, stopping just short of running me over when he said, “Thanks again for coming through.”
“I would say any time, but yourtrainermight not appreciate that,” I replied sarcastically, finally getting my laugh off as Lance shook his head and groaned, “Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?” I asked like I didn’t know exactly what I was doing, unable to hold in my giggles as I teased, “I mean, it’s pretty clear homegirl doesn’t play about her special client.”
“Anyway,” Lance sighed. “I’ll pick you up at ten on Sunday, aight?”
“Sounds like a plan,” I told him, surprised when he responded with one of his little looks like ol’ girl wasn’t in his house waiting for him to come back. And honestly, now that it was clear I wasn’t the only person he was sharing those kinds of moments with, I was a lot less fazed by it, slipping into my car for the short drive to my father’s house that gave me just enough time to remember I’d never responded to Darnell’s DM earlier.
Or maybe it was the fact that Lance was no longer distracting me that I remembered I’d never responded.
Either way, with everything that had played out since I’d accidentally pressed pause on our conversation, I was happy to open my Instagram app so that I could finally see what was up with him. And even though it was hours later, I was hoping he wouldn’t mind me sliding back into his DMs with an answer to his question.
“Dinner on Friday would be nice :)” - @BriBriTheeStallion