Courtesy of You | Jalen Hurts

prologue

•••
two years ago
(music: no air x jordin sparks & chris brown)

Sapphire sat on Jalen's bed with her feet in his lap, typing away on her computer while he watched film and went over plays.

It had been a few weeks since Jalen was drafted by the Eagles in the second round as the 58th pick. He was super busy with workouts but he always made time for Sapphire.

"Ugh! I'm having the hardest time with this damn application." Sapphire mumbled to herself, pushing her laptop away from her. "Why do they even need all this!"

Jalen looked at her. "I wanna talk to you about something."

Jalen paused the film he was watching and sat up in the bed.

"Have you ever considered not going to medical school?" Jalen asked, tilting his head.

"Of course, I've thought about it every time I went in to take a chemistry exam," Sapphire laughed, grabbing her water bottle. "But once I get in there, I remember that I'm doing this for a reason. I remember that I'm going straight to Stanford and those thoughts usually go away."

Jalen tucked his lips in, trying to decide if he should let the words that were floating around in his head come out of his mouth.

"Why?" Sapphire asked, squinting his eyes. "Are you scared for the season or something? You need some reassurance?"

Jalen chuckled, shaking his head. "Nah, it's nothing like that. I was just thinking, about how there's a possibility we could end up on different sides of the world and go months at a time without seeing each other."

Sapphire furrowed her eyebrows. "Yeah, I've thought about that too but I know we'll make it work."

"I don't think that we can though." Jalen trailed off, causing Sapphire to remove her legs from his lap.

"Jalen, what're you tryna' say?" Sapphire asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I don't want you to go to medical school," Jalen blurted out, causing Sapphire to stare at him in shock. "I know you've been dreaming about this for years and I know you worked hard for it but if you go there's no way our relationship can work."

"It can if we really want it to Jalen!" Sapphire yelled, getting off the bed. "What the hell? You want me to miss out on my dream because you don't wanna try!"

"That's not what I'm saying. I'm more than willing to try but—"

"No! No, you're not! Because if you were you wouldn't have ever let those words come out of your mouth," Sapphire fussed with tears in her eyes. "Why is it that I can support you and push you to be the best version of yourself but when it comes to me you do the exact opposite?!"

Jalen stood up, walking to the middle of the room. "That's not what I'm doing at all! I do support you and I'm here for you Sapp, but I also believe that you can be the best version of yourself without going to medical school!"

"I don't wanna just be another pretty face Jalen! I don't wanna be a simple-ass NBA wife, I wanna be a doctor Jalen!" Sapphire yelled, grabbing her things. "You've dreamed of being in the NFL all your life and I never once thought that you wouldn't make it! I never asked you not to declare and I never asked you to not transfer! I was hurt when you left me! But you told me that it didn't matter how far you traveled because your heart would always be with me! So why is this any different?"

Jalen loved her and he loved that she wanted to become a doctor. But deep down, he selfishly didn't want her to pursue that career because then it would mean that she was leaving him and he wasn't ready for that.