Sasha has always tried to play it safe, to keep her life as simple and risk-free as possible. Things change, however, when she garners the interest of a handsome, charming, younger man from a completely different world than hers. As she starts to qu...
"Hey, I'm trying to apologize here. Relax." His voice was calm and harbored a hint of humor, making Sasha wonder what the heck was so funny. Relax. Easy for him to say. "Just watch where you're going next time." With that, she slipped past him and exited the aisles, muttering under her breath while scanning the busy area for her wayward son. Almost on cue, he came barreling over. "Got the batteries," he announced between labored breaths. "Ready to go?"
She fixed him with a glare. "What took so long?"
Tyson, or T.K. as he preferred to be called – put on his most innocent face. "I was checking out a book for Mia." He wasn't about to admit that he was at the magazine section skimming through the latest editions of VIBE and The Source and lost track of time, she would whip his ass. But everyone at school had read them already, and he didn't want to feel left out during conversations.
"Boy, I always know when you lying, remember? You have the disadvantage of being light-skinned, so your ears turn slightly red." She gave him a look, and he had the decency to hang his head. He'd almost forgotten about his mother's ability to pick out a lie before he even opened his mouth. "I'm sorry, ma." He hadn't meant to; he only wanted a peek of the magazines. Besides, he knew she wouldn't buy them for him anyway. There were more important things to do with the little money they had. Plus, his mother was probably the only black woman on the planet that disliked rap music.
"You better be," she tossed back, rolling her eyes in exasperation at the ridiculously long queue ahead of them at the check-out. In reality it was only about five people but when you were running late, five felt like fifty.
"Mom, that's Roman Reigns," T.K. said, his voice dropping to an excited whisper.
They'd finally reached the front of the check-out and she was busy ruffling through her bag for her wallet. "Who?"
"Over there." He pointed. "That's Roman Reigns from The Shield."
She had no idea what he was talking about. She looked up and followed his pointed finger, her stomach dropping when she spotted the big burly man she'd mouthed off to, walking out of the supermarket with a bag of groceries. "Yeah, so?"
"You don't watch wrestling mom, he's from The Shield, in the WWE," T.K. informed her. "They're the coolest, ma. Their ring gear is so dope." His eyes were still following the man when they left the supermarket. "Can I go get a picture?!"
"Tyson you are late for school." Sasha looked out for the bus.
"Please? It'll only take a minute. I promise I'll be quick. Pretty please, Ma?" He then widened his eyes in that familiar, puppy-dog fashion that Sasha had never quite been able to resist in his seventeen years of existence. With great disinclination, she rolled her own eyes. "Fine. Hurry up. If you miss the bus you gonna be walking five miles to school."
T.K. grinned in yet another triumph over his mom. "Thanks, Ma!" In a flash, he switched directions towards the parking lot. So he's famous. Just great, she thought. On the bright side, Tyson hadn't asked her to tag along, sparing her from another awkward encounter with the stranger.
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