Page 100 of Anything Goes

Clearly, God wasn’t on my side. He was determined to torture me.

“You good, Unc?”

Caught off guard, I turned around to face Keyon. “Huh?”

“I said, are you good? You’re staring at Coach Jeffers like she’s a snack or something.”

“Man, get out of grown folks business. You should be over there practicing that damn handoff.”

“How many more times do you want us to practice it? We’ve done it like ten times already.”

“Yeah, well, do it ten more. I don’t want any mistakes.”

“I don’t make mistakes,” he said, confidently.

Given what happened a few days ago, I was glad to see Keyon in good spirits. That shit with Reggie had him shook for the first day or so, but he seemed to be coming out of it okay. He didn’t shy away from talking about it whenever I checked in with him, which meant that he was dealing with his emotions, and that was important.

Surprisingly, Tokyo hadn’t seen or heard from Reggie since that night. He didn’t even come back to get his things. My guess, he was probably waiting for the right moment. I couldn’t say that I blamed him. Almost getting your throat slashed will definitely make you think twice before you step into someone’s presence again.

Noticing Broderick walking towards us, I said, “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you, have you made any final decisions about what college you’re attending?”

“As a matter of fact, I have. I’m going to go to Huey with my boy,” he said, looking at Keyon. “They deserve to get a double dose of amazingness.”

Laughing, I folded my arms over my chest. “Oh yeah? Is that what this is?”

“Most definitely. We can’t be stopped.”

“Are you still thinking about the Olympics?”

Broderick nodded. “Yep, and I’m trying to convince Keyon to consider it too.”

“Nah, I’m good. I’m only doing this running thing to help pay for college. After that, I’m done.”

Alauni called Keyon and Broderick to the center of the field.

They hurried over, and my eyes followed. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to stare at her from another angle.

The moment we made eye contact, it felt like everything stopped.

Neither of us moved, and the urge to find a way to get closer to her consumed me. But as soon as I talked myself into making a move, she broke away from my gaze and began her conversation with the boys.

Don’t do it,I told myself. Just stay your ass right here.

At this point, I was just pathetic.

I was obsessing over a woman that I’d made the decision to end things with, which was ridiculous.

Running my hand down the back of my head, I turned around and tried to focus on something else. Thankfully, Jarvis, one of our hurdlers, had fucked up and knocked over a whole line of hurdles.

I mean, it wasn’t a good thing that he damn near killed himself, but it was something to do, and I needed that at the moment.

After giving him some assistance, I checked on the rest of the team, ran a few more drills and ended practice a little early. I didn’t want to risk getting caught staring at Alauni again.

On my way home, I received a message from Tokyo, inviting me over for dinner. I was a little hesitant, but I got the feeling that she wanted to talk, so I accepted.

“Hey,” she said, stepping back to let me into her apartment.

“Hey. It smells good in here.”