And you're right, we're too old to be playing games. I want you.
I didn't even bother telling my mother about my first game today.
The game was so last minute, and knowing my mother she would probably need two weeks to come up with an excuse so she could fly out here. I couldn't lie though, seeing all these parents on campus for the first game was definitely a sight. There was nobody to blame but myself--I chose not to tell her myself. Alisha's mom was in town, so she was going to be busy up until it was time to meet in the dressing room before the game. Adele was doing last minute shopping for an outfit for tonight, so the only other person I had was Nia. It wasn't an issue because her and I never really had a chance to bond. So when she asked me if I wanted to get breakfast at the cafe, I couldn't help but oblige.
"It's packed on campus, isn't it?" Nia questioned as she looked out the window at the hustle and bustle of Howard's campus.
"Just imagine how packed it's going to be at two o'clock when the game starts. I heard tickets sold out pretty quickly." I mentioned, thinking back to the email Coach Liz had sent. She had warned us about how quickly they would be selling out at our first practice, but she had held a couple tickets for people who needed them for family reasons. "But Bisonettes get a whole two rows to themselves so..." Nia mentioned with amusement in her voice.
"Oh please. As if we are really going to stop dancing to watch sweaty dudes play basketball." I responded jokingly, but Nia looked as if she was dead serious.
"Coach Liz and Carmen may have scared you, but they haven't scared me. If I don't get me a man, I'll get me a boy toy to call when these college nights get cold." Nia announced with a smirk on her face. It sounded pretty bold from Nia, but then again, her and Alisha had always been the more flamboyant ones of the group. "Sage don't act like you're not doing the same! There's five hundred plus likes on that picture of you on Colby's page." Nia spoke once she sensed my hesitance at her response. I groaned and placed a hand on my face. "Really? It's not that serious, right?" I questioned Nia. Despite the fact that I've been avoiding bringing Colby up at all, I felt like I needed to tell someone. Was I overreacting? Was I underreacting?
"Well, what's not serious? Is there something going on between you too?" Nia asked as she leaned closer towards me, taking a long sip of her apple juice.
I bit my lip.
"I mean if 'something' means the kiss we shared yesterday, then yes."
"Kiss? Girl. You kissed the Colby Towers. He's supposed to be getting drafted after this semester. You're like big balling out here." Nia exclaimed, and I placed a hand on her shoulder before checking around to make sure no one heard us--well, her. "That's not the issue. You don't think its a little soon? I mean, I met him literally a week and a day ago."I questioned. Nia shrugged. "People have sex with people on the first date. It's just a kiss. I think you're overreacting." Nia responded, which calmed my nerves a little bit.
"But I see him after the game today, Adele invited me out to go on this 'double date' with her and Leo, and I'm a little nervous because I practically ran away from him after the kiss." I revealed. Nia sighed. "That's not my battle to fight. You talk to him about it." Nia stated as she twirled her drink with her straw. I sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't say that. I was kind of just thinking to ignore the whole thing unless he asks about it?" I confirmed. I was always really good at hiding my emotions, and I thought that would be the best bet when it came to Colby. But from the look of Nia's face, she didn't quite agree with it.
I tossed my empty platter into the trash can.
"Thanks for the advice." I mentioned as I gathered my stuff from the table.
"You're leaving?" Nia questioned, and I sent her a sad nod. "I have to pick up something from Coach Liz. You're good right?" I responded and Nia nodded.
"Good luck. You know--with everything."
I thanked her, and made my way towards the studio. I had to pick up a ticket from Coach Liz, and if I didn't get it now, it was pointless. In honor of it being game day, the campus was filled with people in Bison gear. The campus was practically painted blue and grey.
I was getting nervous just looking at the crowd, and I could only imagine how the actual players were feeling.
Colby and I's conversations had been rather short since the kiss, but I doubt that it would hurt to send some luck his way. Pulling out my phone from my pocket, I type in a message that I hoped sounded sweet, but not oblivious at the same time...if that even made sense. I reread it once, and then clicked send before I had time to back out of it.
I pulled open the door to the studio, and my foot steps echoed through the empty room. Coach Liz's office was situated near the back of the studio. It was far enough that she wasn't easily disrupted, but close enough that she could snap on dancers for any given reason. I knocked on her door and waited patiently before Coach Liz opened the door. Coach Liz was definitely a beauty. She was a beautiful mix of Nigerian and Argentinian, and her feautures definitely showed that. From what I knew, her dancing days didn't begin in the studio like most of ours had. In fact, curiosity got the best of me and I found myself on Lipstickalley.com searching up her name. She started college late--four years late. Three years prior to her attending Howard University, she was stripping, and went by the stage name Dalai Mama. Her body was definitely made for that--her barely-there waist and protruding assets. It made me wonder how she could even fit all of that in the tight spandex the Bisonettes were once required to wear.
"Sage. You're here for your tickets?" She questioned.
"Yes ma'am."
"Please, come in." She motioned, and I found myself stepping into her office. This must be how people feel when they meet the President. Coach Liz was literally the Lizabeth Torres. Captain of the Bisonettes '00-'03.
I glanced at her office.
Most of the pictures on the wall were of her. I found myself walking towards one of the pictures. It seemed to have been an action shot from a performance at a game or something. You could see Coach Liz in the front, smiling as if she was having the time of her life. And knowing how passionate she was about dancing, she probably was.
"That was at the first game in 2000. My first time being captain. I was a nervous wreck." Coach Liz reminisced. She toyed with her finger nails.
"Coach Liz nervous? Never thought I'd hear that." I joked, but Coach Liz claimed it proudly. "Oh yeah, I was a mess. I remember throwing up just minutes before the game, and my coach at the time was ready to pull me out. But hell no. My daddy ain't raise no quitter." Coach Liz recalled as she let out a laugh. She paused, turning to face me. "I can see a lot of me, in you." She whispered, as she placed her hands on my shoulder. "I trusted you with your position tonight. This could be the beginning of many, many, many oppurtunities. Things bigger than captain." Coach Liz whispered never once taking her eyes off of me.
"You think Martina out there has never done something other than this? She's been in music videos, TV shows, movies. I see the same in you.
"But this is business. And as much as I hate to say it, you're weak. There is going to be people who are going to do some bad things to stop you from getting your spot. And I'm not just talking about in the next five, ten years. I'm talking now." Coach Liz concluded. She stepped away from me and handing me the single ticket I asked for.
"Good luck, Sage." She spoke with a smile.
"Thank you." I replied before turning away and heading back towards my campus.
Coach Liz definitely gave me some insight, and now I was left with deciding how I was going to take it.
"You got me tickets to the game?" Claire questioned once I handed her the ticket. I nodded. "Yeah. I know you wanted to go but you paid late, so I took it upon myself. Don't worry about being alone either, you'll be sitting with Alisha's mom, Adele's sister...you'll have plenty of company." I responded. Claire smiled, and embraced me in a warm hug.
"You really didn't have to do it. I would've been fine with staying home and binge watching Supernatural." Claire mentioned, but the look on her face said other wise. "Well, now you don't. Game starts at two, so be there around one, okay?" I confirmed before turning back to the packing of my bag. Once again, I was afraid of overpacking and underpacking at the same time. I mean, I practically packed all my hair products, half of my perfume, and now I was deciding if I should bring two or three bras with me. Sighing, I took a step back and examined my bag. I needed to feel confident in decisions before I could be confident in myself, and doubting what I was going to bring to the dressing room was not confident at all.
"To hell with it." I concluded, before tossing one more bra into the mix.
I zipped up the bag and grabbed my water bottle from the refrigerator.
"I'll see you after the game, Claire!" I called but exited the dorm before she had a chance to reply.
"Well if it isn't Sage herself."
I turned my head in the direction of the voice and found myself glancing at Carmen. I sent a small smile in her direction before I continued my journey. I didn't want to be stuck in this elevator with Carmen, but it seemed as if this was exactly what I was going to get stuck with. I pushed the down button on the elevator, and leaned myself against the wall as I waited for the door to open. Carmen hadn't said a word to me since her little greeting, and I was hoping she'd keep it that way.
"Are you nervous?" Carmen asked.
"What makes you think that?" I snapped back giving her a look of annoyance.
She glanced down at my feet which I had been unconsciously bouncing this entire time. I halted it. Carmen let out a little laugh as the elevator door opened. She walked in before me, and I situated myself on the opposite side of the elevator, watching as she clicked the first floor.
"So, you and Colby are good friends?" Carmen asked. Her eyes were focused directly ahead, but I knew she was talking to me--there were no other people in the elevator. I refused to answer her question. Carmen seemed to have an agenda for everything, and who knew what she had up her sleeves for this question. Carmen scoffed. "What you're mute now, trick?" Carmen barked loudly with a flip of her hair. "I don't want to talk you." I responded hoping she'd get the message. "Is that the way you want to talk to your future captain?" Carmen questioned, and before I could say anything, she was out the door. I rolled my eyes and kept myself intact as I headed towards the dressing room. Carmen was just trying to intimidate me, and though it actually worked because, damn was she scary, I wasn't going to let it show.
I had a dance to perform, and that's all I needed to worry about.
Twenty minutes later, I was applying another layer of Cocoa Butter to my legs while Alisha was trying to keep the loose curls she had made in my hair intact. Adele was stretching her splits, and Nia was finishing last minute touch ups on her make up. Coach Liz was pacing back in forth in the dressing room making sure everything and everyone was uniform. Martina had been done for what seemed like hours now, and she was going over the dance moves with people she had placed on her 'Worry List.' Naturally, we weren't on it.
"Okay ladies, today's the day. We spent a whole week preparing for this. I expect nothing short from perfection." Coach Liz spoke as she walked towards the center of the dressing room. Soon, by her sides were Martina and Carmen respectively. Martina looked calm and at ease, and Carmen just looked...mean.
"We're going to start this off in a prayer--Martina."
As a group, we bowed our heads and closed our eyes all while linking hands with each other. Alisha squeezed my hand next to me, and I glanced at her sending her an encouraging smile.
"Father, we thank you for giving us the strength and the determination that was needed to get through this tough week. We've all been waiting for this moment, and we've been preparing for this moment. Give us the strength we need to go out there and do our absolute best all while serving you. Let this halftime routine go smoothly and without any mistakes. We pray..."
"Amen." We chorused.
"Bisonettes on three--one, two, three."
"Bisonettes!"
"Let's head out there on our stands ladies! Remember, we always smile." Coach Liz warned as we began to make our way out of the dressing room. Coach Liz stopped me. "Good luck, make me proud." She smiled as she let me continue on with my journey. Just as we were heading out, the basketball players were heading out just as well. Nia nudged me, and then eyed Colby who was having a last minute conversation with Coach Dyer--the basketball coach. He spotted me, and sent me a smile.
"Leo!" Adele called as she dashed towards her basketball player lover and wrapped him in a hug. I suppose I was the only one who was really worried about this whole 'No Dating' rule. Colby stepped aside from his group and walked towards me, his eyes lingering over our risque dance attire. "Wow." He muttered. I rolled my eyes and cautiously pushed a strand of hair out my face.
"Thanks for the good luck text today. I never got around to responding because you know...basketball stuff." Colby informed me and I shrugged it off. "No, you're fine. I've been busy myself. You know...dancing stuff." I joked mockingly and Colby laughed, finishing his chuckle with a bite of his lip. "Go out there and kill it, okay Sage? I'll see you after the game." Colby added, and then wrapped me in a warm hug. His scent was so delightful and I found myself inhaling as much as I could, despite how weird that sounded.
"Thanks." I replied. Colby looked good in blue--and that silver accent around the neck? To die for.
"How cute." A voice cooed and I didn't have to turn around to know exactly who it was. Colby glanced in the direction of the voice and sent a small smile before giving me one last encouraging touch. I watched him jog off in the direction of the arena before I turned around and faced Carmen.
"How cu--"
"Save the bullshit, Carmen. I'm not here for it." I snapped, before I walked away from her. The last thing I needed was Carmen getting in my head before the game. She could tease me and harass me all she wanted during practice, but right now, I didn't need it.
I walked into the stands where we'd be doing our dancing until it was time for the half time performance. The arena was packed with Bison fans, and they were all wearing blue...and Colby's uniform number?
"A lot of Colby fans we have, eh?" I questioned Martina, as I situated myself in my position behind her. She nodded. "Oh yeah. He's a hometown fave. Everyone loves him." Martina spoke, looking at me directly when she spoke the word 'everyone.' I ignored her, and glanced back at the crowd of people.
Taking a deep breath, I faced the front of the arena again and placed a smile on my face.
"Introducing, the Howard Bison!"
Here we go.
There were two minutes left until halftime, and Martina was marching us down to the arena floor. If we weren't nervous before, we were definitely nervous now. We were beating the Jaguars--the opposing team by twenty points nearing the half mark in the game, and yet the dancers were nervous. Adele, Alisha, Nia, and I had pushed ourselves towards the back. The rest of the girls were doing their pre-performance rituals, and the four of us were attempting to think of one.
"What about we rub elbows?" Alisha questioned.
"That sounds like stupidest idea ever." Nia added, and I had to agree with her.
"How about we think about it later, and then we can have it ready for the first game?" I suggested as I glanced at the timer. There were forty five seconds left and I didn't want to spend this time choosing a ritual. "I like that idea." Adele confirmed.
"In order ladies!" Martina called and we snapped out of our conversation and filed into our spots in line. Martina glanced at all of us before giving us a bright smile and a thumbs up. "We got this ladies!"
"And that ends the first half of the Bison versus Jaguar game! Bison continue to lead with a twenty one point lead..." The voice on the intercom trailed on and at this point I just wanted him to shut up so we could dance. On the other end of the arena were the Jaguar dancers. They seemed pretty intrigued to watch us dance. I'd be intrigued too--I've watched them from their stands and they could definitely used this learning opportunity.
"Our very own Howard Bisonettes!"
The crowd's cheers increase and we walked onto the floor smiling and jumping,
Coach Liz stood very intimidating near the sidelines her infamous clipboard in her hand. I replayed our conversation over in my head. I wasn't just performing for me, but for Coach Liz, and whoever it was that was waiting to see me smile. I spotted Claire in the audience and she was jumping up and down right next to Alisha's mother and her alleged ex. I had yet to meet him, but Alisha had spent all day with him so he had to be something special.
I shook the extra thoughts out of my head as the music began...
"That was amazing ladies! You guys looked so good out there!" Coach Liz cheered once we were in the comfort of our dressing room. I had never done drugs before, but this must be what being high felt like. For once, everyone was jumping up and down and happy versus how drained we've been all week. "When I said you guys look good, ya'll looked good." Coach Liz spoke happily as she finished her sentence off with a really cute happy dance. "Martina you did your thing of course. Alama, your turns were amazing..." She glanced around the room before pausing and looking at me, "Sage..." She spoke, giggling. "You took the challenge of being in the front like a champ. You were the star of the show." Coach Liz announced.
"Awww." Adele and Alisha cooed and Nia damn near jumped on back in excitement.
"She was okay. I thought she was a little off on some of the counts." Carmen added, and just as quickly as the excitement arrived it all exited. I sighed at the comment, and turned my face away from the crowd.
"Good thing nobody cares about what you think, right Carmen?" Coach Liz snapped. She took a deep breath and sent an apologetic glance in my direction. "Eight minutes until halftime is over ladies. Get some water, use the rest room, fix your hair. You won't be able to do any of this again until after the game." Sending one more look in Carmen's direction, Coach Liz exited the dressing room.
"You're such a hater." Alisha spat, as she sat up from her squatting position on the floor. Carmen looked at her and since no names were spoken, it was clear that she was indeed the hater. "Hate on what, freshman?" Carmen spat with a flip of her hair as she focused on attempting to reapply the peach lip stain she had on her lips. Her response was mediocre, so honestly, there was no point in me even snapping on her. I gave the girls a look that told them to let it go, before I made my way towards the bathroom. I didn't need her opinion. The only person's opinion that I needed, was Coach Liz's and she gave me one.
I definitely was not going to let Carmen bother me.
The game ended much how we expected--the Bison one with a blowout. The score was 115 to 90, so of course the crowd in the arena was absolutely hype. I couldn't help but feel bad for the other team. Their side of the arena wasn't as packed as ours, and they definitely didn't have that good of a dance team (or cheerleading team) that we had. Everyone was making plans to go out to celebrate our first performance, and though I would've loved to join, Adele and I had our own plans to attend to. Adele recommended that I packed my outfit in my bag, so it would be a quick change out of my dance uniform.
Adele went the easy route, and changed into this beautiful burgundy dress. It complimented well with her beautiful skin tone, and her fit body was honestly to die for. She changed her make up, and added a few more curls to her hair with a wand curl.
Despite the fact that I spent hours looking for an outfit, I still wasn't sure about the outfit I had chosen. I had fallen in love with these abstract printed wide leg pants, and at the last minute, I decided to pair it up with a yellow top. And though the outfit looked rather cute together, perhaps I should've just chosen a dress like Adele.
"Leo said that we should wait by the car--he's parked in the front." Adele spoke.
If I was going to change my outfit, I definitely could not anymore. I found myself brushing through my hair once more, and reapplying my lip gloss before we locked up the dressing room. We were the last people to leave the dressing room, so of course we checked to make sure everything was in check before we exited. Everyone else was making their way to the carnival that would be open all this week, and next week. I definitely had to make time in my scheduele to check it out--we never really had carnivals like that in Alabama.
"Nervous?" Adele questioned as she essentially led the way to Leo's car. I had no idea what type of car he drove, but Adele promised she'd know when she saw it. "Not really." I said in response to her question. It was the truth--I wasn't nervous. More so excited. Despite my glow up occurring in high school, guys definitely weren't my forte. Perhaps it was my naturally shy nature that made talking to guys ten times harder. Because of that, I never really got to experience an actual date. Of course there were those small times when I'd be out with a group of friends, and another guy and I would stray away from the group, but nothing ever led to anything else.
This was a lot different, and I actually was a little bit curious to see how this was going to play out.
Adele was right--it was pretty obvious to tell which car was Leo. For one, there was a big bumper sticker with Leo's name and basketball number on it, and on the dashboard of the car were plenty of Bison gear, once again with his number on it. Leo's car was nice though. It was a Honda that sat five people and was this really pretty silver color.
"Nice right? He got it his sophomore year." Adele mentioned as she let her hands trace the exterior of the car.
"He's not a freshman?" I questioned. I guess I kinda assumed everyone I met was a freshman. It never really occurred to me that I could be interacting with upperclassmen. Adele shook her head. "No, he's a junior." She mentioned, glancing at me. I nodded, not really knowing what to say.
Our conversation wouldn't have lasted long anyway, Leo and Colby came practically running out of the stadium. They had (thankfully) changed out of their sweaty uniforms, and into something more classy and date worthy. Leo kept his signature look--a nice shirt, and a jacket on top of it. This time it was a Letterman jacket etched in Bison colors. He sashayed his way towards his car, lifting up Adele and placing a kiss on her cheek. In almost embarrasment, I found myself looking away.
"Come on you guys, really?" Colby mentioned as he shook his head at the two 'love birds' on the hood of the car.
Colby sported a button up short that had patterns from what afar looked like tiny dots, but up closer appeared to be small birds.
"I think it's kind of cute." I spoke, more so trying to assure myself as the not-really-couple continue to coo at each other.
"It's cute, but it's also wasting time. We don't have all day." Colby muttered, and then opened the door for me as he motioned me to enter into the back seat of the car. Leo and Adele were going to sit in the front, primarily because it was Leo's car, and he was the designated driver. Leo looked annoyed with Colby's statement, but it managed to get both him and Adele in the car.
We were on our way.
"I hope you guys don't mind, Colby and I chose to hang out at the arcade." Leo mentioned as he pulled out of the stadium parking lot. Despite the fact that the game had been over for quite awhile now, traffic leaving the Bison stadium was absolutely terrible. I was actually glad that we were going in the opposite direction of downtown DC where most of the traffic would be heading too.
"Can we not listen to all this ratchet mess?" Adele scoffed as she fiddled with Leo's phone that was hooked into the AUX cord.
"Okay what do you want to listen to?"
"You got Jodeci?" Adele questioned, as she scrolled through what looked like his Spotify playlist. Sighing, I scooted myself into Colby. If he was bothered by it, he didn't say anything about it.
"Man, all you bitches want is Jodeci, what the fuck?" Leo claimed which earned him a smack from Adele. Leo didn't say anything when his phone began playing the catchy tune of Jodeci's Come and Talk to Me. Despite the fact that I was attempting to play it off like I wasn't really into the song, this song definitely reminded me of my childhood. I was a '97 baby, but my grandparents' taste in music was definitely evoked in my everyday routine growing up. Jodeci brought me back to the summer days when I'd sit on the porch with Pawpaw, and Nana would be in the house playing all of her old vinyls.
"You look so sexy, you really turn me on." Colby sang quietly into my ear. I doubt that anyone could hear him over the sound of the music, and Adele's slightly off key singing, but I heard him. I'm not sure if it was the proximity of his lips to my neck, or the actuality that his voice was decent enough to make me swoon, but his attractiveness went up at least fifty percent.
"I'm a single man, I hope that you're single too." He added in.
I let out a small laugh, and gently pushed him away from me. Not enough that he actually moved, but enough that he thought I was playing hard to get, you know, despite the fact that if he told me to bust it open right now, I probably would.
"Oh, I see ya'll back there!" Leo exclaimed, which caused Adele to do damn near a whole 360 degree turn to look at us, and send me a 'Look at you!' look. I rolled my eyes, but didn't really make an attempt to move from his embrace. He smelt good--like men, if that made any sense.
The arcade we arrived at was pretty packed, but Leo managed to sneak us past the line at the register so we could purchase some tokens to play games with.
"Alright, we got hundred tokens--fifty tokens per couple." Leo mentioned as he dealt out the tokens as if it was drugs or something. I rolled my eyes at what a character Leo was. In all honesty, Adele and him were actually kinda made for each other. Though Adele appeared very innocent and quiet, the time that I've spent with her has proved that she's actually quite the opposite.
"Let's meet back here in say...forty five minutes so we can eat?" Colby questioned as he glanced down at his wrist where his Apple watch was located.
"Sounds good with me. Gives us plenty of time." Leo responded with a wink in our direction before dragging a giggling Adele with him.
Biting my lip, I found myself turning around and facing Colby who just so happened to be glancing in my direction as well.
"So where to next?"
Perhaps fifteen minutes had past, and Colby and I had managed to spend a good half of our token on one game. It was similar to Flappy Bird, but instead of pressing a button, you actually had to jump. The game used this two VR headgear, and since it was two player, it made everything a lot harder.
"Colby you messed it up that time and you know it."
"Sage, how could I have messed it up when I jumped at the right time? You're the one who was behind on the counts."
"I was behind? Colby I made the counts."
Colby chuckled before placing the VR headgear on the designated platform. "Okay, if I admit that I'm the one who made us lose, can we move on to the next game?" Colby questioned. Deciding that it was a pretty fair deal, I nodded.
"Okay let's go. I'm suppose to be winning you a big bear or something."
"I thought that was only at carnivals?" I questioned, but apparently I was wrong. There was this one basketball game, and if you got to one hundred consequtive points, the prize would be this big fluffy teddy bear. I wasn't going to lie, the teddy bear was pretty cute. It came with this cute little tuxedo outfit and I couldn't help but squeal like a little girl when I saw it.
"If you win me this I'll literally marry you."
"Pinky promise?"
I giggled, but Colby looked dead serious as he stuck his pinky out. Smiling lightly at the gesture, I found myself locking my pinky with him before he went ahead and entered five tokens into the game.
This game shouldn't be that hard--I mean he was the Colby Towers.
"So are we going to pretend like we didn't kiss?" Colby mentioned. I'm assuming he had been waiting all day to ask that question. I could see it in the way his eyes slightly lingered over my lips when I was talking, or how he was somewhat hesistant with his subtle touches.
"I mean, it happened." I was short of words to say. I wasn't quite sure how I was suppose to respond to his question. I focused my eyes on the scoreboard as the numbers went up. He was doing pretty darn good.
"Was it too soon? Should I have held my horses?" Colby questioned, and from the corner of my eyes I could see him look at me. I thought back to my little meeting with Nia. Not talking about it would make everything between us awkward, and I definitely did not want to ruin whatever chances I had with Colby, because I refused to talk about something so small. This wasn't high school, and I wasn't a little girl anymore. Kisses were bound to happen, I shouldn't be this worried about one.
"No, it's not that. It just kind of caught me off guard, that's it. I mean, you're Colby Towers, you know?" I responded. Colby rose an eyebrow, but continued to shoot his free throws. He was at seventy nine now.
"What's that suppose to mean?"
"You're kind of a big deal, and I'm not looking for a pity party when I say this, but I'm the complete opposite. I'm sure you've had your share of kisses with girls and what not, and I'm also pretty sure they really didn't mean anything to you.
I hope I'm not sounding clingy when I say this but I don't want the kiss to be just a kiss, you know? I don't just want to be another check on a list or anything like that. It's getting to the point where we're both too old for games." I finished feeling quite happy that I got that off my chest.
I looked at Colby, and he opened his mouth to say something, but the sound of trumpets and other musical instruments interrupted him.
He had hit 100 points.
With a swift move, the large teddy bear fell out of its container, and a copious amount of tickets were spewed out into the open.
"Woah, how many tickets is that?"
The voice came from behind us and it belonged to a little boy who appeared to be at least ten or eleven.
"I don't know--a hundred, I think?" Colby questioned. The little boy obviously knew who Colby was--he was wearing his basketball name and number on his Bison t-shirt. Despite the fact that I had seen plenty of people wearing similar apparels at the stadium, we were about forty five minutes away from Howard, this was kind of a big deal.
"Wow, you're amazing." The little boy mentioned.
"You want them?" Colby questioned, as he stuck his hands out, offering the hundred tickets to the little boy. I didn't want to ruin the moment by spitting out an 'awww' but the smile on the little boy's face definitely called for it.
"My friends are going to be so jealous. Colby Towers just gave me his tickets!" He yelled before he ran off into the distance.
Colby then turned to me, and handed me the bear.
"You gotta give him a good name now." Colby mentioned. "But make it something good because I don't want my son growing up with a corny ass name."
"Who said it was a boy?"
"I won it, didn't I?" Colby added with a laugh.
"What about Kyrie?"
"Now you know I'm a Warriors fan."
"Steph?"
"Nah."
"Andre?"
"I think I want to save that name for our second child."
"I'm not about to keep playing with you, Colby." I giggled. "I might as well just name him Cage. It's cute right? It's a mixture of both of our names."
Colby looked as if he was actually pondering on the idea.
"Alright, Cage Towers, welcome to the family."
Despite the fact that I had been a little hesitant on going on the double date, I actually enjoyed myself. In fact, I enjoyed myself that leaving the arcade was actually a little painful. I managed to keep Colby interested, which was the one thing that I was worried about. Little Cage Towers was buckled up all neatly next to Colby, so when it was my turn to get out the car, Colby insisted he 'helped' me take our 'son' up to my dorm room. Leo tripped about it for a little bit and essentially Colby had to tell him that he'd walk himself home.
Leo was okay with that, and once Colby and I were out of the car, he sped off with Adele in the passenger seat.
"I doubt Adele's going to her dorm tonight." I spoke as I led Colby inside my residence hall.
"Probably heading over to Leo's apartment. I feel bad for Vance because he's gonna have to hear all that."
"Lucky her..." I muttered.
"Well if you want the night to end that way, I guarentee it can end that." Colby added and I rolled my eyes at his comment.
We stopped in front of my dorm room door and just as I was about to open it, Colby stopped me.
He placed yet again another kiss on my lips, but this time I didn't push him away. This time, I let the kiss linger, and I allowed myself to feel what I was so afraid of feeling. I liked Colby, like really liked Colby, and the date, along with the kiss really just sealed the deal.
Colby pulled away first, and almost immediately a sigh left my mouth.
"That wasn't just a kiss for me, Sage. And you're right, we're too old to be playing games. I want you." Colby whispered. His body was against mine and despite the fact that it was hot ass hell in this residence hall, I found myself not bothered by the extra body heat he was radiating on me.
"I want you too." I let out.
It was out there in the open, and now there was no telling where this was going to leave the both of us.
Colby smiled.
"Good."
And with that he placed one more tender kiss on my lips, before we parted ways.
I didn't expect for Claire to be up, and I didn't expect for her to be so mad at me. I really just wanted to hop into my bed and relive the kiss I just shared with Colby, but Claire was definitely not allowing me to do that.
"Why would you sit me next to Alisha's ex and not tell me? You don't think that made me feel weird?" Claire spat as she threw a pillow at me. Thankfully, I dodged the pillow, but it hit one of the frames that I had hung up on my side of the room causing it to fall loudly to the floor.
"One, you're not going to be throwing shit at me. I'm not going to tolerate that. Two, why does it matter? It's just her ex." I responded as I stripped out of my clothes, and hopped underneath the covers in just my bra and my underwear.
"She didn't tell you..." Claire spoke as she let out an aggravated sigh as she nodded her head. She was standing in front of me now, and she looked extremely pressed at the whole situation. Her face was literally red, and she was bouncing her leg in either anger, or annoyance.
"She didn't tell me what?" I questioned, now actually curious to see where this was going.
"We kissed, Sage. Not just kiss, but full on made out."
Now this, just got interesting.