Naomi Black
One Month Later
Naomi Black
February 6th.
"I'm not trying to be mean—but you aren't fitting into this dress NJ." I groaned, angry at Sloane for saying that. "Try harder to zip it!" I exclaim as she chuckles. "It's a Valentino! If it rips—I rip you!" She responds, walking around to the front of my body.
I nod, breathing out.
"I'm sorry—I'm just stress eating and I'm putting on weight. This new job, the new hours, Matti being gone—everything sucks." I whine as she chuckles. Before she could respond, Reese clears his throat.
We both snap our vision towards him—the new edition of Vogue, laying across his chest as he smiles at us.
"I for one—like a woman with more to grab. So—keep putting on that weight, baby. The more—the easier to grab when I'm fucking—" Sloane cuts him off by chucking one of the makeup bags at him.
I let out a laugh, as he catches it and sticks his tongue out at Sloane.
"Careful—you heard what Blake said— I'm such a whore that I'd let any tongue I'd see inside of me." She teases as I roll my eyes.
He was such an ass to her.
"Ignore him—he wouldn't know bread if a loaf was sat in front of him," Reese focuses back to the Vogue magazine in front of him as Sloane works her magic—walking back towards me.
She gives me a good stare down, frowning and that's when I wanted to smack the shit out of her.
Sloane was living her best life—but I knew deep down she was getting worse and worse, I could tell. I didn't want to address the fact that her collarbone was now more visible, or the fact that she couldn't wear the crop top to the party, because her ribs were becoming more visible.
It was horrifying watching her do this to herself again.
But you can't throw a person into rehab because they relapsed unless they themselves wanted the help.
"Here—Reese, come squish my stomach and I'll suck in. This dress has to fit for the draft next week!" I state as Sloane snaps out of her staring phase. Reese groans, pulling himself out of the bed, but I knew that he was sore.
Uncle Bud—as I called him, was running the shit out of them at practice.
I knew this because he called me today asking if I could come to help with the team evaluations because I was a trusted nurse.
As soon as Reese pushed on my stomach, he gasped. "Yo—this shit is rock hard. Almost as hard as my abs, way to go NJ!" He cheered as Sloane quickly zipped up the dress, and walked away.
I knew why she was walking away.
I just didn't know how to approach her about it.
"Tell me you secrets—you're buff as fuck." Reese continued to gush as I chuckled—spinning on my feet to walk towards my mirror. I looked—pretty.
Pretty fucking wide.
I groaned.
I knew I couldn't speak on how I felt, but I knew the look on my face gave it away. Reese rolled his eyes and walked up behind me, giving me a hug from behind. "Quit looking at yourself like that babydoll, trust me—you look good." He pats my head and then walks away from me, out of the room.
I turn to the side looking at my body up and down.
I didn't feel pretty in this dress—I just felt stuffy.
Like a stuffed chicken breast.
My phone vibrates from my bedside table, I walk as fast as I can without ripping the dress, grabbing it and hitting the accept.
The Facetime loads for a second, before his face pops up.
A huge smile appears on his face. I will return it.
"Hey," He spoke to me as I nod back to him. "Hey." I replied.
He chuckles for a moment and I watch as he lays down on a hotel bed. I chuckle, "Tough day? What is it? Like five there?" I ask as he slowly nods.
"Yes—it just turned five, and it was a very tough day. Griffin and I are head to head—do you know how fucked up that is?" He groans as I frown. "Head to head?" I clarify as he sighs.
"I don't think I'll be the first pick—I'm leaning more towards the second however, I'm not complaining. My dad and my agents thought—they're stressing me out." I slowly nod, grasping what he's saying.
"So Detroit over Pittsburgh then?" I ask as he shrugs.
"By the looks of it—Griff will take Pitt and then Detroit will call for me." He explains as I give him a small smile. "But this is what you wanted right! How cool is this! You're going to be drafted! It's your dream!" I cheer for him as he frowns.
"I miss you." I pouted my lips at his response.
"I miss you more." I chuckle–as he smirks.
"What are you wearing? Hubba hubba." He comments as he sees the black straps. I giggle, "My dress came in for next week!" I exclaim as his eyebrows raise.
"Next week?" He asks as I pause in concern.
"Next week—like your draft day?" I try to make sense as he slowly nods.
"Naomi—I don't know if I want everyone there because what if I don't make it." He complains as I frown. At least he was being upfront about it.
The old Matti and Naomi would've just stood each other up.
I slowly nod. "So you want me to avoid coming to NYC?" I ask as he chuckles. "Nat is going to be here—just come. I don't think Nat is going to the draft either," He shakes his head.
But I knew for a fact she was going—we picked out dresses together.
I wanted to yell and say that this dress cost me an arm and a leg of my trust fund—but I rationally decided to take a deep breath. Let's be honest, the fucker didn't fit me anyways.
"Okay—deal." I agree with him as a smile appears on his face.
"How much was the dress?" He asks as I frown.
"Don't worry about it." I say to him as he shakes his head through the phone screen. "Nope—tell me. I want to know. I'm sorry," He apologizes as I pretend to zip my lips and throw away the key.
He chuckles, shaking his head.
"Okay—well. I guess I'll just deposit ten in your bank." He threatens as I narrow my eyes. "No ten is way too much." I try to reason with him as he chuckles.
"Fine, maybe five then—but we'll have the best time in the city together, and you can't bitch. I'm taking you to the best restaurant, so bring the dress." He states as I make a mental note to bring the dress.
If it would even zip past my stomach.
"How was last night's shift?" He asked intrigued as I chuckled. "I handed out many lollipops and four bunnies to NICU babies." He gave me a big smile as I giggled.
"And—there were twin brothers, Nico and Vinny. They both came in because they were scared of the wind, so they slept together in the same top bunk. They both fell out of the bunk and both broke radius and tibia!" I tell the story as he does a round of applause.
I didn't need a round of applause though— I needed a pinching.
Everything seemed surreal—it was too good.
My dream was right in front of me—I was doing my dream.
Everything was literally falling into place for me, happiness included.
"NJ—I'm proud of you." He smiles at me through his words as my heart flutters, because it feels amazing to hear him say that to me.
But it also hurt—because he wasn't here to celebrate with me.
"I'm proud of you too." I respond as he shrugs.
"I've been doing what I love—you just started. I love watching you talk about the hospital and babies more than I love releasing a ball from my grip." I chuckle at his play on words as he nods.
"Listen—I love you, best friend. I'm going to get some food with the boys, then come back for a long nap." He says goodbye as I mentally frown. That was so fast.
"Okay—well. I love you to the moon, the stars, and back. Have fun—I'm probably going to have some drinks." I hang up the phone call as I sigh.
It was so boring without him around—It was like I needed someone to come keep me occupied. I walked over to my dressers and pulled out my cute Penn State shorts, and a hoodie that he had left for me.
"Finn! Can you help me take this off?" I yelled out into the hallway beings that Reese and Sloane were nowhere to be found.
I walked back over to the mirror as I heard her door open, as soon as she walked in—I chuckled. "Is that barbecue sauce?" I ask as she nods. "Yeah—the Bryce Jordan center had left overs from the basketball game—I took a few." I giggled.
"A few?" I emphasized as she busted out laughing.
"Okay—maybe like a dozen. Let me go wash my hands, and my mouth—hold on." I smiled at her as she turned around and left my room without touching anything.
I pulled up my hair into a bun while waiting so it wouldn't get caught in the zipper.
She walked back in—without barbecue covering her anymore. I nodded, "Much better." I clapped as she bowed.
She walked over to me and stood behind me reaching for the zipper. She tugged it down, as my body literally fell out of the dress. She furrowed her eyebrows.
"Um—I'm not trying to sound mean or anything—" I cut her off with a chuckle.
"Yeah I know—I'm gaining." I answered her question as she stared at my front in the mirror. Clicking her tongue to the roof of her mouth, she nodded. "You got your period?" She asked as I groaned.
"Yeah. Came the day after Matti left. So that means I'm due for another one soon." I reassure her as she releases a breath.
I raise an eyebrow. "Not—not saying it's a bad thing, I just was double checking homegirl." She joked as I flipped her off with a smile.
"Baby factory is still closed." I teased as she nodded, walking back to my bed as I threw on my clothes.
"So like—you guys are the end game then?" She asks as I shrug.
"I would hope to be—I think we will be. He left and we still talk everyday. It wasn't a part of the plan but we can't be without each other." I explain as she giggles. "I mean—the rock is still sitting up there." She pointed to the Sapphire box and then swooned. I chuckled—reaching for the top of my dresser and grabbing the box.
I walked over to her and sat down next to her, opening it.
It was pretty.
It was a bigger engagement ring than one that I could ever predict myself wearing.
It was probably the most expensive thing I've touched.
Beside Matti's multimillion dollar legs.
"Have you talked to my brother since he beat you?" She teased as I laughed. Shaking my head I respond. "No—I haven't. Coach kicked him out of the captain's house." She nodded.
"Yeah—I heard about that one. That's crazy shit, isn't it? When my parents found out what he did, jesus. I thought my mom was personally going to write you a check for a couple grand or at least throw some hundies at you." I shook my head.
"No need–it was an accident." I reassured her as she shrugged. "If I wasn't blacked out, I would've cunt punted him back to Maryland. Trust me–" She winked as I snorted.
Mimi jumped up on my bed and into my lap—she had grown almost inseparable from me since Matti left. It was almost amusing. If she wasn't in my bedroom at night—she would scratch and meow at the door until I would let her in.
She would then find her inner peace by laying all over top of me—and I'd wake up in the morning with cat hair everywhere.
She was just—too much sometimes.
"Awe–hey furry little fuckers." Reese spoke barging back into my room.
And Finn froze.
And then I froze.
"Is that my barbecue?" She asked—voice calm. Reese looked down and contemplated his answer before nodding. That's when I shook my head at him, mouthing the word 'run'. Finn bolted off of my bed and chased after the new QB1 of The Pennsylvania State University.
"Finn! It's Bachelor night! I will literally buy you thousands worth of Barbecue! Just calm down!" I heard him scream at her as Sloane was howling with laughter.
I shook my head.
I was extremely tired–the hospital had been kicking my ass. If I wasn't working–I was either on the phone with Matti or I was sleeping. Or I was literally face first in Mint Chocolate Chip Ice cream.
Matti would always get ice cream and we could eat it together over FaceTime—it was our way of having a 'friendship date'.
I missed him dearly, but I will be seeing him next week. Thank the lord—and then after next week, he would be off doing scrimmage season and training seven days a week, but he would be making millions.
Since I did receive $100,000 out of the $500,000 that is in the Trust for me, I did try to pay Matti back. I also tried to play Blake back, but neither was having it. Matti laughed at me when I asked for his bank routing number and Blake ripped the check up right in front of me.
A knock on my door sounded.
I pulled my head up to look at the person who knocked and it was Sloane, I gave her a small smile as she walked towards me—climbing under the blanket with me. I giggled as she cuddled me.
"What's up?" I ask as she sighs.
Was she going to tell me?
"I have to tell you something, and you have to promise to not freak out." She states as I nod, crossing my heart and swearing to die, pinky promising her.
She sucked in a breath and nodded.
"I put out roomie applications to fill up our fourth room." She spat out the information as I paused—letting the news sink into my mind before I continued thinking.
"You–put up flyers for someone to move in with us?" I tried to make sense of it as she gave me a slow nod.
I raised my eyebrows, "Why in the hell would you do that?" I asked as she sighed. "Because–it's not the same here without Nat and I thought, maybe we could pull a freshie? Show her the ways around the valley?" She squealed at the end as I looked at her as if she were nuts.
"You want us–to take in a freshman? For next semester?" She nodded.
"Yeah, pretty much. I mean you guys will be close in age, I don't see the big deal." She shrugged as I groaned. "Did you talk to Finn about this?" I asked her as she shook her head.
Oh god.
"So you just put up the flyers without even asking us?" I asked as she chuckled.
"Yep, pretty much." I rubbed my tired eyes, "Fine. Whatever—but freshman is on your watch, but Finn and I's conditions." She squealed, throwing her arms around me, thanking me profusely.
I chuckled.
What an idiot.
"Okay—get out. I need to go to bed. And so does Reese!" I yelled so he heard me. "It's seven thirty, NJ! Quit it!" He yelled back. Sloane let out a giggle.
"We have football at five thirty!" I yelled back to him as he groaned.
He knew I was right, and he was a leader now—a captain, he had to step up.
"Okay–get some rest. I love you." Sloane kissed my forehead, and climbed out of bed with me. She left my room, shutting my lights out—leaving me to dream about the life I had wished I had with Matti Williams.
✧
February 7th.
I slam open coach's office door, coffee in my hand.
Coach jumps from his chair, grasping his hat and heart. "For fucks sake Naomi Jade—going to give a man a heart attack!" He yelled at me as I chuckled.
"That's what my grandma did to my grandpa." I chuckled as he frowned at my morbidness.
"A joke—coach. It was a joke—take it." I state as he slowly nods.
"Right. Okay, well. I can't play favorites today—however, the red shirts don't need to pass second string, so just make sure Blake, Reese, and Peter's group passes." He talks to me as if I wasn't his niece as I furrow my eyebrows at him.
"Oh thank you Naomi—for doing this for free, you're the best great niece the world has to offer." I mock him as I walk out the door, before he could apologize for his grumpy old man attitude.
And then he blew the whistle.
"Little lady–get back here! I don't like drama queens in my field or in my family." He hollered at me from down the hallway as I flipped him off and continued to walk towards the dome.
The dome was just another field house just covered by a roof so that there was no snow on the inside.
At Least one hundred football players with all different color jerseys stood in different groups, and I was going to have to make my way through them all—today.
By myself.
I groaned, walking over to the medic station.
It was my day off, and I really wished I had brought a chair to sit down in while doing these.
"Watch out!" I dropped my clipboard, and bag at the last minute, catching the ball that was flying straight at my head.
I groan, I had just gotten over that damn black eye and concussion—I didn't need another one.
Footsteps ran up to me, and it was an unfamiliar, tall boy.
A very cute one.
"Hey–I'm sorry. I thought he was open, but he turned in a different direction." He tried to explain himself as I giggled. "No worries." I handed him back the ball and he gave me a smile.
"I'm Naomi Black." I put out my hand for him to shake it.
But before he could respond, we were interrupted.
"NJ—This is my freshman year for next semester. His name is Mitchell, but everyone calls him Mitch." Blake's voice booms, as he throws his sweaty arm around me. I groaned, trying to throw it off, I could feel the droplets on me.
I looked up at Blake, his eyes bright, his dark hair wet, and his tattoos were gleaming from the sweat.
I chuckled.
"Mitchell, nice to meet you." I smile at him as he nods at me. "Right–well. Why don't I just start with the incoming freshman first then?" I ask Mitch and Blake as they both nod.
Blake gives me one last squeeze before giving Mitch a lovely stare down, before punching his shoulder and walking away. I gasped as Mitch hunched over. He held up his hand to me. "Don't worry, it's normal." I let out a giggle as he stood back up to his full height.
He follows me, carrying my bag and the football with him as I carry my coffee and my clipboard to my station.
I unpack everything and decide to get started.
"Okay Mitchell, last name?" I ask as he chuckles.
"Hudson." He smirked at me as I wrote down some things on his paper. I cleared my throat, "Height?" I ask as he smiles. "6'3." He responds as I nod.
"Position?" I ask as he winks at me.
"What do you prefer?" I raise my eyebrows and turn back to my notes.
"Actually—you know what. I must have the wrong person because nowhere on this paper do I have a flirtatious asshole written on it." I glare at him as he chuckles.
"You're cute," I nod at his complement as he smiles at me. "Quarterback." I perk up at that. How could I not have known that attitude?
"Thanks but you're eighteen and my uncle would kill me. And if my uncle didn't kill me—I'm pretty sure that Blake would." He winks at me again as I nearly gag.
He thankfully lets me get through the entire spiel before running back over to practice.
Actually, all of the freshmen let me get through their physicals quite easily, no troubles whatsoever. However, I was digging deep into Reese's shins when a girl younger than me brought coach a coffee.
What?
"Reese—who is that?" I ask as he looks at coach and the girls' interaction.
He shrugs, "I got no clue baby—but keep rubbing. My shin splints on fire today and that feels good." He moans as I chuckle, standing up, but getting an immediate head rush—feeling extremely dizzy.
"Woah—calm down." He states as I chuckle. I hold onto the table to steady myself. He gets off of the chair and leans down next to me, "You okay, babydoll?" He asks as I close my eyes, gripping the table harder.
That's when another set of heavy cleats approaches us.
"Reese—what the fuck did you do to her?" I hear Blake bitch as I groan, opening my eyes.
"I'm fine–I stood up too fast. I just think I need a water break." I try to calm down the situation as they both pause before chuckling at me. "A water break? You're doing paperwork?" They make fun of me as I frown.
But before I could respond, another wave of dizziness hit me, and I was gripping onto the table again.
"Hey—hey, hey. What's wrong with her?" I heard Uncle Bud's voice in the back of my ears but they were ringing so loudly, it was almost as if I was in a tunnel.
I shook my head–feeling a cold sweat come on top of me.
I pointed to the ground as Blake and Reese got the memo, they gently laid me down on my back, and I opened my eyes.
"Here." Blake thrusts my water at me as I lean up, with his help because my arms were shaky. "NJ—what's wrong?" Coach leans down as I shake my head.
"Nothing–I just got overheated. I'm okay." He frowns but nods again.
"Okay. Holler if you need anything kiddo." I give him a small smile as I lay back down.
Blake sighs from above me, I try to look anywhere but at him at the moment. But my main focus landed on my feet. My extremely swollen ankles.
I bit my lip.
Maybe?
No.
A chance?
Unlikely.
I gasp as my hands fly up to my eyes, that already had water pooling in them. Blakes hand clamps against my arm. "What's wrong?" He asks urgently.
I uncovered my eyes and tried to form words, but it literally wasn't coming out.
Oh god, maybe he was right.
He would be so mad at me for not listening to him. I was so stressed out—I had a lot going on, holy shit. This couldn't be happening—I should've seen the signs.
"Blake." I state his name as he hovers over me with a 'no-shit' look. I chuckle.
"What?" He asks.
"I need to go to the doctors." I suggest as he raises an eyebrow, dropping his helmet on the ground next to me.
"Now?" He asks as I whimper, feeling the tears coming on again.
I nod, "Now." I repeat as he frowns.
"But—what's wrong?" He asks as I pause. How do I tell him this without telling him this? Knowing he would probably be the most insane person to tell about this theory.
"NJ?" He asked again, voice heightened.
I looked back into his eyes, but he froze.
Did he know?
His eyes narrowed at me—into a glare.
Oh shit, I think he knows.
"You aren't." He states as I bite my lip closing my eyes, digging my head further into the turf.
And then I released a chuckle, as he slapped the ground next to me.
How could I of been so careless and dumb? How could I have ignored the signs? This was not how this was supposed to go, but then again—no part of my life has ever gone the way it was supposed to go.
"Get up. You're not going alone." He whispers as he walks away from me.
Hey besties!
Thank you all for showing me love and support yesterday after I got a few mean comments.
I love you all. I cant wait to hopefully see everyone soon!
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