My Addiction (Second Chances Series)(7)

I turned and found the girl who yelled throughout the entire game heading toward me.

“Are you thinking about joining the team?” she asked.

I frowned and looked in her direction. The moment my eyes fully met hers, my frown disappeared. My mouth suddenly went dry, and I swear my happy guy, who had been getting happy a lot lately, perked up. I looked away from her and stepped back a little, instantly shy for some reason, and I wasn’t the shy type.

“I don’t know; maybe. Why?”

She studied me for a minute, which didn’t do much for the now full boner I had. Shit, what is it about this girl?

She was brown skinned with some milk chocolate eyes that seemed to unnerve me and turn me on at the same time. She wore a skullcap on her head so, at the time, I couldn’t see her hair, but she was thicker than most of the girls at the school; not obese, just thick. She smiled at me, showing me a set of dimples that almost made me stumble off the bleachers.

She said to me, “Because the team could use you.”

My interest intensified. “How do you know I can play?” I asked her.

She shrugged. “I’ve seen you play at the park around the corner from Montgomery Elementary. I don’t live too far from there, so I hang out at the park all the time.”

I frowned again. I didn’t live too far from that school either, and I was always there, but I didn’t remember seeing her there at all. “Were you hiding or something? I’ve never seen you there.”

The moment I saw her smile and look away, I actually stumbled on the bleachers. Wow, I made her blush.

Ignoring my blunder, she added, “You seem to need more practice on your footwork though.”

I gathered myself and shook my head at my clumsiness and lack of finesse. “No, I don’t. My footwork is fine.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, care to show me? Play a little one-on-one tomorrow?”

“Play one-on-one with you?”

She pushed me on my shoulder. “Yes, you idiot, play with me; that is, unless you’re scared to play with a girl?”

“Don’t do it,” a voice said behind me, and I turned around in enough time to see the guy, Terrence, walk by me.

“Oh, shut up, Terrence. Go work on your game.” She shook her head and looked back at me. “Twin brother…”

I nodded but didn’t reply. How could I? I was stunned to silence.

“So, do you want to play or not?”

I should’ve said no. Seriously, what did I look like playing basketball with a girl? As I continued to look at her, my happy guy started to take over my thought processes. I couldn’t control my head from moving up and down or my lips from telling her, “Okay.”

Her smile broadened, which made me smile in spite of myself. “Great. See you there at ten.”

My smile quickly dropped, and my eyes grew. “Ten? Are you kidding me? It’s a Saturday.”

She backed up from me. “Yeah, it’s a Saturday. Why spend it in the house when you can be outside? See you then, Larry Bird.”

I was not ashamed to tell you that that Saturday she took it to me the first two games we played. She talked so much shit that I couldn’t believe it. I wasn’t ready for her, I’ll admit it, but, by the third game, I caught on. We played hard for hours. We hung out and talked about basketball, who our favorite players were, and the games we watched on TV. I’ve never had so much fun with a girl in my life. She wormed her way into my life that day and became one of the best and closest friends I ever had.

I ended up playing basketball for the school that year. We did okay for the season, and, I kid you not, every game I played I’d hear her voice in the stands saying, “Get your head in the game, Mills.”

“Get your head out of your ass, Franks. I told you to have the order placed two days ago. Now we have to wait until next week.”

I almost choked on my beer as the voice that I knew all too well filled the bar. I slowly looked up and saw the woman that had been giving me grief for decades standing in front of the bar with her hands on her hips.

My shock quickly turned to concern. The woman I once knew didn’t look the same. It had to be at least five years since I’d seen her, and back then this woman had hips that could rock you, and I will say they did just that. Her ass was round and plump, and it still was, but I could tell she lost a lot of weight. However, it wasn’t the kind of weight loss that made you healthy. No, it was the kind of weight loss that made people think something wasn’t right, the same way I was thinking now.

My phone buzzed, and I looked at it and smiled. My brother, it seemed, got my text on where to meet me. He texted back and said he wanted to go somewhere else, but I returned his text and told him, “Too late. Already saw her.”