tyler sinks a three from the wing and side shuffles to the top of the key, catches the ball that the athletic trainer, corey, throws to him, and sinks that one as well. he keeps his eyes focused on the rim the entire time, his goal to make it every single time he shoots.
"i see you, T!" jimmy yells as he walks into the gym, his gym bag and a white towel slung over his shoulder. he had just come back from the locker room from an after practice shower.
tyler smiles as he shuffles over to the other corner and sinks the same shot that he has been shooting for the last thirty minutes. practice has been over for awhile, but he wanted to get extra shots up to prepare for the season that starts in two weeks. he was. rookie coming off of the bench, but he wanted to be talked about.
"that's enough for today, tyler. you're doing good," corey says, tossing the ball in his hands. tyler wipes off his forehead with the sleeve of his practice shirt and nods at corey.
"thanks, man," he says and daps him up before grabbing another ball and walking over to jimmy, who is accompanied by myers leonard and kendrick. "wassup." he greets, shaking them all up and dribbling between his legs.
"kendrick telling me you found yourself a little miami honey," jimmy says, a glint of mischief in his eyes.
tyler waves him off. "been had those," he says nonchalantly, and it was truth. lets just say he was covered, if you know what i mean.
"snow bunnies don't count," jimmy says, earning an affirmation from kendrick. tyler looks at myers who holds his hands up in surrender.
"i'm married with a kid, man," he states, chuckling lightly.
"nah, she wasn't a snow bunny, i'll tell you that," tyler says, dribbling the ball skillfully behind his back. a surprised look arises on jimmys face, looking at kendrick for confirmation. "tell him." tyler says, nodding at kendrick.
"he ain't lying, jimmy," kendrick says, chuckling to himself. it's not that tyler couldn't bag women—he rarely was ever turned down, now—but him going for a black girl was unexpected.
"hispanic?"
"no."
jimmy squints at tyler and strokes his beard, trying to think. "black girl?" he asks, finally.
"yessir," tyler says and jimmys eyes widen with amazement.
"no he did not," he says to kendrick, clasping him on the shoulder and shaking. kendrick shrugs and nods at tyler.
"he did; she was fine as hell too. but he didn't bag her," kendrick clarified to tyler's dismay. i mean, he had to tell the truth sooner than later.
jimmy sucks just teeth and looks at tyler, all of the amusement on his face washed away. "cmon, bro. you had one job," jimmy states, shaking his head at rookie. tyler sucks his teeth right back.
"i had her! then i dont know what happened," he admits, putting his hands on his hips and tucking the ball underneath his arm. "i've been trying to look for her instagram all week, but i can't find her." he adds, making jimmy shake his head in disappointment. tyler usually never missed when it came to women, so for him to fumble the bag with azure sounds like news to jimmy.
"you get her name?" jimmy asks, praying that his friend was at least smart enough to ask.
"azure," tyler says, licking his lips. he thought they had a good thing going, but maybe he came on too strong.
"how you spell that?" myers asks. tyler opens his mouth to tell him, but to his dismay, he forgot—even though he literally asked her when they met.
"i forgot," tyler says honestly, scratching the back of his neck. they all collectively groan like a wii sports crowd and jimmy throws his hands up.
just in walks derrick accompanied by bam. "dj!" kendrick yells, making a 'come here' motion.
"whats up?" he asks, dapping all of them up.
tyler licks his lips and sighs. "whats azures instagram?" he asks. derrick laughs and smirks.
"what you want that for?"
"stop playing. what is it?"
"hold on," derrick says. he opens up his phone and goes to his instagram and types in her name and clicks on her account. he doesn't know if he should actually give it to tyler, doesn't know his motives. she was like a little sister to him.
derrick clicks out of instagram and goes to his messages with sadie.
derrick: tell zure that she got an admirer 🤣🤣
sadie: who that white boy?
derrick: fa sho
sadie: what he want?
derrick: ig
sadie: give it to him
"you're lucky," derrick says to tyler, who has been anxiously waiting for him to hand over the @. "it's @azzzure with three Zs." he says finally.
"yuppp," tyler says, typing in her username and finding her account. she was private, but had a lot of followers; 870. he clicks follow and puts his phone in his shorts.
"don't fumble the bag this time."
"never that, my man."
-
azure lays on her bed, phone suspended in her hands a few inches from her face. she scrolls through twitter aimlessly, nothing significant.
an instagram notification pops up on her screen.
nolimitherro has requested to follow you!
azure frowns and clicks on his account and rolls her eyes. how'd he even find her?
"sade!" she yells, dropping her phone onto her stomach and rolling her head to the side.
sadie comes out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around her chest. "yeah?"
"look at this," she says, sitting up and scooting to the end of her bed. sadie walks over to azure and the dark skin girl shoves her phone in sadies face.
"accept him," sadie says with a shrug. azure gives her a look and rolls her eyes. she didn't want anything to do with tyler—she wasn't feeling him and hasn't thought about him in the last three days.
"hell no," azure says locking her phone. she didn't delete him completely, because what if she changed her mind?
sadie bites the inside of her lip and looks at azure. "derrick told me he's been asking about you," she says, catching azure off guard. he was asking about her?
"don't play."
"i'm not. you got yourself a lil admirer. give him a chance," sadie says walking backwards towards the bathroom. azure lets the thought mull over. he was thinking about her.
after sadie is in the bathroom, azure opens her phone again and goes to her follow request. nolimitherro stares back at her. she clicks on his account and goes through his photos. she didn't know that he went to UK for college.
"fuck it," she mutters after looking through his posts. she goes to the top of his account and quickly clicks 'accept' and follows him back.
things were about to get interesting.
——
A/N: hope y'all are enjoying quarantine
