Page 6

"Aight," I nodded, grabbing my sneakers before heading toward the door. "Let’s get this work in."

By the time practice was over, sweat dripped from my forehead and my muscles ached. The gym was damn near empty, and I had just finished my last set of free throws when my phone buzzed in my duffle.

Mama.

I grabbed my phone, stepping into the locker room before answering.

"Hey, Ma."

"Baby, you sound tired. Coach running y’all ragged?"

"You know how it is," I muttered, leaning against the locker.

"Mmhmm. You eat today?"

I sighed, shaking my head with a small smirk. "Yes, Ma. I ate."

"Don’t be sighing like that. You know I gotta check on you."

I did know. Because I was hundreds of miles away from her and Pop, and I was still her baby, her only child.

"You ready for the tournament?" she asked, a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Yeah. We locked in."

"That’s what I like to hear. Your grandpa wants to talk to you."

I barely had time to respond before I heard the shuffling of the phone switching hands.

"Boy, you gettin’ your extra shots up?"

I grinned at the sound of Pop’s voice, deep and firm as always, his southern drawl seeping in every other word.

"You already know."

"You better. Ain’t no damn excuses when the scouts are watching."

"I hear you, Pop."

"Nah, you don’t hear me. You listenin’."

That was Pop for you. No bullshit. No sugarcoating.

"We proud of you, Creed. You keep your head right, you hear me?"

"Yeah, Pop. I got it."

"Aight. Now let me pass the phone back to your mama before she has a fit."

I chuckled, hearing him mutter something about "women always needing the last word" and my mama telling him to “hush old man” before she got back on the phone.

“I’m back, crazy old fool always talkin shit.” She muttered, causing another laugh to escape my lips. “I saw Gianna, she mentioned y’all hadn’t spoken in a while.”

“Just been busy Ma, that’s all.” I sighed before thinking about my girlfriend Gianna. It was crazy for me to be having a long-distance relationship, but somehow we made it work or at least I did; I couldn’t tell you what shit Gianna was getting into.

“You sure that’s all it is?”

I shook my head and placed my fingers on the bridge of my nose. This was a normal conversation for us but honestly I was tired of having it. No matter what, the expectation was that Gianna and I would be together at the end of it all. It wasn’t really my choice, we sort of got forced on each other. Being that our mothers were best friends since they were younger, it was their dream for us to be together, have some babies and grow old together. That wasn’t the life I had wanted for myself.