I raised my hand and nodded, pleading to silence his bitching. My eyes kept catching on to the McNabb girl for some odd reason. “I got it. On behalf of my team, please accept my apology for our crassness.” I made my way toward the locker room. “Clearly, we’re not used to seeing athleticism that skilled in a girl. Salute to you guys for bringing in more talent.”
As I took off, I was sure Collin knew I was placating him to diffuse his bitchy-rage. I was also sincere in recognizing the girl, Tori’s, skills.
3
-Then-
“You still don’t have a phone?” I couldn’t miss the concern in his voice.
“I will.” My eyes rolled as I stared at the ceiling of my dorm room. “I’m waiting on that money from my mother.”
“Still?”
I exhaled. “Still.”
“You want me to send you a couple of dollars—”
“Save it, Gee-Gee.”
“Don’t call me that shit,” he fired back, voice seeming deeper over the phone. “And save it for what?”
“For your studio time. And didn’t you say you needed a new Gibson something?” I gazed out of the window to the parking lot. People were unpacking their cars and trucks of their dorm stuff to move in. I’d been hearing increased traffic out in the hall from more students moving in today. “When I need you, I’ll let you know.”
Ragee didn’t speak for a while, probably sick of me giving him shit for being kind. He’d always been kind since I’d met him years ago, when I was twelve. Although there were eight and a half years between us, Raj was the first guy to befriend me and it be purely platonic. He never flirted or gave me the gross eye men—and women—who were creeps did. We had our reasons for taking on a friendship that made us both feel safe and protected, even when others thought it was weird at first.
“I’mma hold you to that.”
“You can. I’ve got a job.”
“For real? Where?”
“Here on campus. I start tomorrow. The woman who recruited me, Trisha, got me a hookup in one of the cafeterias here on campus.”
He chuckled. “You gone be serving your friends?”
“Gotta have friends to serve them.” I twisted my mouth. “Anyway. The pay ain’t much, but good enough to help me get a few things. It’s not like I have a car to get a real paying job.”
“But you’re a boxer at the college level now. They keep a tight schedule—at least for men, they do. How are you going to have time to train, workout, go to class, study, and work?”
I swallowed, emotionally blown by the truth of his words. “I’ll have to make it work. It’s what millions do every day,” I grumbled. Even if under different circumstances.
“What’s it like out there?”
It had only been a few weeks, but now felt like forever since I’d last heard from him. Right now, Raj felt like home.
“Shit.”
He laughed, thick throat rumbling. “Knock it off, Tor.”
“I’m serious. It’s crazy boring out here. A waste of my time.”
“They giving you specialists to help boost your skills. How is that a waste of time?”
“Let’s see,” I exhaled. “…my boxing trainer is older than old man Cut, his assistant pours scotch in his morning coffee, I met the nutritionist last week, who’s got me on a damn schedule with my food, and I just started with my gym trainer this week. They got me looking like a fucking lab rat for the stupid football team, testing me and timing me. They take notes and have me doing exercises for experimental reasons. And they still ain’t say when my first fight is.” If I was going to be miserable, at least let me fight.
“You need to chill and give it a chance.”
“You sound like your father.”
“What do you mean?”
“He hung up on me the other day when I told him I was coming home—correction: he cussed me the hell out, wished me dead, then hung up on me.”
“What?”
Licking my lips, I explained, “I called to tell him I was coming home the other day. And he cussed me the hell out, saying I had to stay, and I’m not giving it a chance. He told me there was nothing he could do for me if I came back, and that I would be homeless.”
“I wouldn’t let you do that,” Raj assured. “You know you can stay at the crib. Grandmother won’t mind.”
“And how would I eat? Cut said he can’t get no fights with real money no time soon.”
“We’d figure it out, but I’m not saying you should come back.”
I laughed. “Because you can’t. What you make playing for those churches and restaurants can’t feed two mouths. Plus, aren’t you still looking for your own place?”
He groaned, I knew annoyed over the topic. “Yup. But most of these places want to do a credit check.”
“And you ain’t got credit.” Raj’s résumé was filled with mediocre paid gigs as a musician, nothing substantial or long term.
“Or a real job. But I’m faithful God’s gonna come through.”
I scoffed, “Tell Him to come through for me, too.”
If anybody could pray or knew God enough to talk to Him, it was Ragee.
“He will, kid. Don’t worry.” His tone was with finality. “I tell MyMy the same thing all the time. God will come through, not just to make ends meet, but to overflow our storage houses.”
His cousin, Myisha, was more protective over him than normal. It was so bad that, although she was older than me, but not as much as Raj, I had to put her little ass in a choke hold when she tried to tell me to get out of the front seat of his hooptie so she could get in…because she was his cousin. Even though I didn’t go full whoop ass on her, Raj had to pull her from my headlock grip. Since then, Myisha never bothered me again, but she hardly spoke to me now. Hearing him mention our names together for such intimate reasons reminded me of how territorial she is and, therefore, how awkward things were between us.
“Hey.” A thought hit. “You heard from Heather?”
“What makes you ask that?”
Raj’s ex was an odd mention. “Because the chick who gave me the orientation for the job reminds me of her. She acts like Miss Perfect, like she’s so innocent and better than everybody.”
“Ah, man…” He cried laughing. “Let that shit go. Besides, she’s happily married.”
“To Antwaaaaaaan?” I teased, clowning the new husband of his ex.
“I’m happy for her. Let them people live.”
“She still wants you.”
Ragee groaned again. “I doubt it, but okay.”
That made me laugh. Raj knew I hated his ex. She did him dirty, and because he didn’t hate her for it, I did the honors.
Suddenly, my mood turned dark. “Fucking Patty been around?”
Raj didn’t answer right away, but I knew why and knew he’d heard me, so I waited. As I did, I heard sounds by my dorm door. I wasn’t exactly alarmed because if this boring, annoying school was nothing else, it was hella safe.