"Thank you for attending today's lecture students and for our next lesson I expect you all to have done this task."Professor Fisher said whilst tapping the white board with his marker pointing to what was written on the board.
'Nature vs. Nurture.'
I groaned as I began to pack up my stuff and place them into my tote bag.
"Broad essay question right?"I looked up at who was starting up the conversation and I saw a tall medium toned black guy who had locs and a studded nose ring.
"Uh, yeah it is broad but I think we can get 2 pages."I politely responded as I looked up at the guy with a small smile.
"Sports injury?"he asked as he pointed at my visible black wrist brace.
"Uh, yeah. Reason why I only made the second session of the lecture so I didn't get most of the notes."I replied as I gave him a small smile, in which he returned showing off his lower teeth braces.
"He recorded the session so don't worry and I can maybe share my notes if you need to."he said scratching the back of his neck.
"I don't even know your name, stranger."I joked as I took my glasses off and placed them in my case.
"I'm Quincy Woods."he nervously said as he stuck out his hand with a small smile.
"Oh, nice to meet you. I'm Imani James."I politely said as I shook his hand with a small smile.
"I know. The boys in that corner wouldn't stop talking about you and they just kept saying how beautiful you are. I just gathered up the courage to come here."he muttered as pointed to the corner whilst we made our way out of the lecture room.
"I'm flattered and I admire your courage but--"
"Hey baby. You ready to go?"Damon asked as handed me my matcha latte and he held out his arm in which I allowed him wrap his arm around my neck.
"I'll see you around, Quincy."I said as I gave him a small wave before I walked off with Damon.
"Who's that?"Damon asked possessively as he gently intertwined his hand in mine.
"Some guy from my class. Thank you for the matcha."I simply answered whilst shrugging obviously not caring about the whole encounter.
" How was your class?"I asked as I took a sip from my matcha cup.
"Not bad. I still have to work on that assignment we have to find black stories and conduct a presentation. I'm in a group with Simone and Thea. I was supposed to meet up with them but Thea canceled and she said she found a book and she assigned us parts."he said after he read out his assignment that he had written down in a sticky note that was on his notepad.
"she assigned you parts? It's group work."I stated as I continued to walk but Damon abruptly stopped which inevitably made me stop as well.
"What?"I asked as I looked at him weirdly which made him chuckle in response and take my wrist that had a wrist brace around it in his hand and he chuckled again which made me look up at him and he had a prominent smirk on his face.
"You went back to Dr Brown without me?"he smugly asked as he gave me a smirk which made me take my wrist away from him.
"I went this morning before my lecture, yeah. I won't participate for the tournament in LA."I simply stated shrugging my shoulders.
"I'm glad you listened to me."he said as he continued to walk which made me sarcastically laugh at him.
"You? I listened to you? Damon you were going to go to LA with me and my sprained wrist."I stated as rolled my eyes whilst giggling.
"Reverse psychology is a thing, baby."he stated which made me laugh as I nudged him.
"You're stupid, Damon. Go meet up with your group members and leave me alone"I said whilst giggling which made him laugh too.
"There's Simone right there."he said as we walked towards Simone, Keisha and Nate.
"Hey, hey."I greeted as I hugged all of them.
"Look at this."Simone said as she showed me Nate's phone and I saw the infamous Yard Yack IG page.
"Damn, Simone."I said as I looked at the picture of her and analyzed her outfit.
"I am an athlete. I've got stuff to do."she said shrugging her shoulder and looked between Damon and I for support.
"I'm sorry, Simone but your athleisure is supposed to look good too."I mumbled which made her roll her eyes.
"Clearly I've taught you nothing."Nate said as she looked at her in disbelief, I then felt my phone vibrate in my pocket which meant that I had my physiotherapist appointment.
"Oh damn. I need to go."I said as I looked down at my phone switched off the alarm I had set.
"I'll see yall later."I said as I hugged the girls and gave Damon a peck before I jogged to the my appointment.
"Imani. You're just in time."Doctor Brown said as she let me into her office.
"Alright, sweetie. I'm going to make this a lot less tighter."she said as she gently took off my wrist and loosened the belts of the brace.
"Alright. Here's a ball and I want you to squeeze it and release when I tell you to, alright?"she sweetly asked as she gave me a bright smile.
She repetitively told me to do many wrist exercises that kinda felt good for my wrist. She also massaged my wrist with a serum and then after our hour session she began to write notes.
"Your wrist isn't hundred percent yet but we will get there when we need to."She said as she continued to write down her notes.
"I'm just curious, why didn't you ask your mom to look for a physiotherapist. You did say she was a surgeon."she said not looking up from her notes.
"My mom is a mom. She won't treat me like her patient or client. She over analyzes everything. I love her for that but she does a lot and I don't want to get in the way of people that actually have serious injuries and illnesses."I stated as I fiddled with the wrist brace.
"You couldn't have said it any other way. She is a mother."Dr Brown said whilst laughing as she looked up at me.
"Let me show you out baby."she said as she walked me toward the door, she opened the door before she said her last bye and let me leave.
I reached for my phone in my pocket and dialed my mom's number since I haven't called her in awhile. After a few rings she picked up.
"Hey baby. How are you doing?"she excitedly asked.
"I'm good mom. College is hectic."I honestly responded as I looked down at my wrist.
"I did tell you that the work load is insane. I have a surprise for you."she said in excitement.
"I can actually make the LA tournament and I can fetch you from campus!"she excitedly said which made my heart sink.
"Why? What happened to that meeting you were telling me about?"I asked as I stopped in my tracks.
"I actually told them that I got something important to do that day and so I am free to watch and I am so excited. I knew that you competing without me there wouldn't be the same so I made the time baby."she said whilst laughing in excitement.
"Yay. Mom that's great."I said under my breath as I looked at my wrist.
"I can't wait."I mumbled as I listened to her talk excitedly about the tournament.
After I hand hung up with my mom I rushed back to my dorm to get changed into my usual gymnastic gear and grabbed my training equipment along side my laptop and went to the dance studio. Since I had practice in awhile I told myself that I'd practice until midnight so I could get ready for the tournament.
I began to practice the usual Bessonova’s Swan with my hoop and everytime I moved my hoop to my wrist I winced but ignored it until I finished moving my body to the rhythm of the music that was playing. I repetitively did the dance until I felt that I had perfected it.
I looked down at my phone and noticed that it was almost 3am and I had many missed calls and texts from Damon which I ignored.
I packed up all my gymnastics gear and grabbed my laptop, I decided to pull an all nighter to finish my task . I submitted the half baked task within an hour or two. I yawned as I grabbed all my belongings and headed to my dorm where I slammed my body on my bed and slept. I didn't even bother setting my usual 6am shower alarm.
I got woken up by my phone vibrating many times and a knock on my door. I yawned as I jumped out of bed and made my way towards the door where I saw Nate who looked at me in disbelief.
"Oh thank God. You're alive. We've been calling you all morning."she said as she handed me a coffee cup.
"Thank you, I pulled an all nighter."I tiredly said as I took a sip from the cup.
"In your leotard?"she asked as she made me look down at my outfit.
"You came here to judge my life choice?"I joked as I took another sip of the coffee.
"No, I came to check up on you. Someone said they saw you at the dance studio at 4am. What's going on?"she asked as she sat down on the office chair that was tucked underneath the study desk.
"My mom is coming to watch me in LA. She's missing an important conference just for me and I don't want to disappoint her by not going."I stated which made her nod her head slowly.
"Did you tell her about your injury?"she asked which made me kiss my teeth in response.
"Oh she's going to kill you."Nate said whilst laughing in amusement.
"Girl. Call your boyfriend he won't stop bothering us."she said whilst chuckling which made me roll my eyes as I drank the rest of the coffee and fell back on my bed before I released a sigh.
After I felt my phone vibrate a couple of times once again I rolled my eyes and looked at the caller ID: 'Mama Bear.'
"Mom--"
"Do you know how far and long we're driving baby?"she asked which made me sigh heavily.
"I'll be there right now."I said as I began to tiredly pack up my stuff and wear my closest track suit.
I was then interrupted by a knock on my door which made me groan and mumble to the person that it was open.
"Imani. I've been so worried."Damon said as he made his way into my dorm room.
"Where are you going?"he asked as he watched me pack up my belongings.
"Tournament."I simply stated as I grabbed my duffle bag and made my way out of my dorm room and shut the door behind Damon.
"Tournament? Baby you're injured."he said as he followed me.
"I've done many things with this wrist injury. I can compete, okay."I said as I continued to walk but my vision then became blurry which made me slow down.
"You haven't even trained your body. You need to listen to your body, Imani."he warned as I continued to walk and make my way towards the parkings where I spotted my mom's car.
"Damon. Gymnastics is all I know and that is all I'll ever know in my life. So just leave me alone or wish me luck."I stated as I continued to walk but my vision became even more blurry which made me stop in my tracks.
"Your wrist will be worse, Imani."Damon snapped.
I don't remember what happened next but I just remember my vision going from blurred to dark.
"She's just exhausted and she hasn't eaten yet."I groaned as I shifted around the coach once I heard my mom speaking.
"Oh and there she is."Nathaniel mumbled as I opened my eyes and looked around the room, I realized that we were in Professor Amara's living room.
"Professor Amara, I'm so sorry."I said as I sat up but my mom gestured me to relax and lay back down on her lap.
"Sweetie don't worry about it. Your health is the only thing important right now."She said as she handed me a glass of water.
"Thank you, What happened?"I asked as I looked around the apartment to see everyone there.
"You fainted baby. Nathaniel tells me that you were seen at the dance studio at 4am. Why didn't you tell me about your injury baby?"she asked before she gave me a kiss on my forehead.
"I didn't want to worry you."I simply said as I looked up at her.
"I was going to worry baby but you need to tell me these things."she said placing her hand on my cheek.
"Your health is important to me. Your physical, emotional and mental. I need you to tell me these things baby."she said kissing my forehead once again.
"Now, I'm going to need you to focus on your injury and your work. Gymnastics is waiting for you, it will always be waiting for you."she continued as she pulled me in for an embrace.
"I love you, mom."I mumbled into her shoulder.
"I love you too baby. I need to book you a physiotherapy appointment now."she said before she pulled away and took her phone out of her bag.
"I've already got one mom. Damon here got me his physiotherapist and she's very nice."I said as I held Damon's hand.
"Oh, you're the Damon Sims?"she asked as she gave Damon a small smirk.
"Uh, yes ma'am."he politely said as he nervously gave my mom a smile.
"We are having dinner tonight. I want to meet this young man."she said as she winked at me.
" Mommy."I mumbled under my breath which made everyone else in the room laugh.
"Damon must be busy with baseball practic--"
"No, I'm free."he enthusiastically said as he gave my mom a smile.
"Alright then. Dinner at 7."My mom simply said before she kissed my cheek one last time and got up to thank Professor Amara and Keisha's dad for helping me before she left. 1
"Mrs James is hot."Keisha said which made everyone agree.
"We see where, Miss James gets the looks."Simone smugly said as she nudged me whilst laughing which made me roll my eyes.
"You, need to get ready for the dinner you enthusiastically agree to."I said as I tapped Damon's shoulder as I got up and hugged Professor Amara.
"Thank you so much."I said as I looked between her and Keisha's dad and walked out of the apartment with Damon right beside me.
"Look at you, 2 weeks of dating and you are already meeting my mom."I sarcastically said as I held his hand.
"I honestly don't even know where that came from. Listen, Imani."he said as he held both my hands and made me look up at him.
"I don't want to ever see you faint like that or see anything happen to you because that scared me."he said placing his arm around my waist and pulled me in for a kiss.
"I promise I won't and I'm really sorry."I mumbled looking down at my shoes like a little kid.
"I was thinking that we could have a study date tomorrow afternoon or tonight?"he asked as we continued to walk.
"Not you asking me out like a high school boy."I teased as I held out my hand for him to hold in which he took.
---
"You're very funny, Damon Sims."My mom said whilst laughing as she looked at him in disbelief.
"Thank you, Mrs James. I try my best."he chuckled which made me playfully roll my eyes at him.
"Listen, baby. Damon has something to tell you."My mom said in excitement which made me look between them.
"Well, Mrs James and I have been trying to set this all up for you because you deserve a better date than what I gave when I asked you to be my girlfriend so I'm going to try again."he said which made me look at him in shock.
"Damon, you did enough before and I loved it."I said as I gave him a small smile.
"I need to do it again. Imani James. Will you be my girlfriend?"he asked as he took out a red rectangular box that had 'Cartier' written in gold on top of it.
"Open it."he said as handed me the box with a smile, I looked at him in shock before I took the box and opened it.
Inside I saw a shiny golden ring, I smiled as I looked down at it in shock.
"Of course."