From Infinite to Kamikaze: A Novel

JANUARY 2001 - LEX (Part 2)

Marshall's words had been replaying in my head for the last two weeks. "So he's fuckin' other girls?".... "If you think it's an accident that you guys haven't talked about being exclusive yet, then you're not as smart as I thought you were"... "I'm just lookin' out for you"...

It's not like I was worried about Allen cheating on me. Was it even cheating if we weren't technically together? Honestly, I couldn't give two shits if he was or if we were. I didn't love him. I really only mildly liked him. He was just a distraction. Someone to hang out and cum with. I wouldn't even call him a friend with benefits cuz I wasn't sure if I liked him enough to consider him a friend. He wasn't exactly someone I could have real conversations with. All we ever seemed to talk about was sports, which I liked but...come on, I had other interests. Lots of them. But he wasn't interested in any of them. He'd pretend to listen to me when I told him about adding an open hi-hat on a downbeat in the studio, but he had no fucking clue what I was talking about and, more importantly, he didn't wanna know. He liked to listen to music but didn't care about how it was created or the history of the artist. He fell asleep during every.single.movie we watched. We didn't even like to play the same video games. He had tried to get me into racing games like NASCAR and Speed Demons but I was way too addicted to Donkey Kong and Pac-Man to expand my horizons like that.

Maybe I was spoiled cuz I already knew what it was like to be with someone who shared my interests so fluently. Someone who knew how to speak and breathe and listen to music with me. Like, really listen. And someone who I actually loved with my whole mind, body, and soul...

Bzzzzz!!!! "And that's the game!! 76ers 102, Pistons 96!" The buzzer and announcer snapped me out of my own head and back into the courtside seat I had been sitting in. I was on the Sixers' side, only cuz that's the seat Allen had gotten for me so I could see him up close as he played. I had felt a little bad sitting behind my team's opponents, but...these were courtside seats! How was I gonna pass that up? And I still wore my Pistons jersey...and a Pistons hat too. Allen had looked super peeved about that but, shit...I wasn't about to switch teams for anybody, let alone him.

I gathered up my purse and Pepsi with its melted ice and waited for him at the entrance to the locker rooms. He and his teammates shook hands with my Pistons before making their way to the tunnel.

"What's up beautiful?" he smiled, kissing my cheek and wrapping a towel around his sweaty neck and shoulders. "You see how I schooled your boys out there?"

I rolled my eyes but forced a smile. "Yea, yea, yea..." I humored him. "Get your ass to the showers so we can get outta here," I smiled suggestively at him. Even though he could sometimes annoy the fuck out of me, he was pretty damn good in bed. And I was about to leave for an 8-week tour so...I needed to get one in.

---

A couple hours later we were at my place. We ate the lasagna we had picked up from Giovanni's at my kitchen counter on paper plates. I was leaving in a day and a half and wanted to keep dirty dishes to a minimum. Lasagna was Allen's favorite food and he discovered early on in our...relationship(?)...that Giovanni's was THE spot in Detroit for the best Italian food. So anytime he was in the city now, he'd get it. After a couple beers, we made our way upstairs.

"You send me a copy of your tour schedule yet?" he asked as we changed out of our clothes and into more comfortable garments. Him in sweatpants and no shirt; me in a raspberry pink satin teddy.

"Oh...um, I forgot. I'll ask Cassie to send it to you while we're on the plane," I replied, climbing into my freshly laundered bed.

"You sure? I only want it so I can see if we're gonna be in any of the same cities at the same time...so I can come see you," he explained, crawling towards me. He kissed me sensually.