chapter nine

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Seeing a guy in their element quadruples their attractiveness and boy – Devontae asked me to come watch him during practice, it was still a bit early and we're quite ahead with our project so I didn't mind what I didn't expect was that watching Devontae in action would make me feel all things that I only felt with him. A vibrator can only do so much work.

Usually, they train inside the gym, but they decided to do practice outside on the court. Many have stripped down to their basketball shorts and trainers, and they are all attractive, but my eyes haven't left a certain someone who has been leading the team during their drills. He passes the ball to Lucas who's at the front of the line and effortlessly dribbles the basketball, switching hands and manoeuvres through the cones.

Each of them does it swiftly and first at least four rounds until Devontae's the last one. He does it so easily and skilfully that it has me clenching my thighs again. Dammit. Coach Jackson blows the whistle and calls them over gathering around him as someone picks up the cones until I'm lifted out of my chair.

"Put me down!"

When he does, I'm seeing double of everything. I hold onto his arm as I sit myself down on the bench. "Was that necessary?" I scowl at Roman. "Yes. Now, what you doing here?" He asks me, opening his water bottle. "I'm waiting for your friend over there." I point to Devontae with my thumb.

He's busy talking to his coach and when he sees me pointing at him, he gives her a look to which I smile innocently. When I look back at Roman, I finds him looking at me already which makes me jump a little.

"What?" I ask, recovering from my scare. "So, you and D, huh?" I shake my head profusely, "oh no, no. There's no me and D."

Roman blows out a breath, "Kiana, I just wanna tell you to be careful, aight? I don't want you or D' get hurt, you're both my best friends, if you pursue anything more than a friendship." I tilt my head to the side, not understanding where this is coming from, "Roman, there won't be anyone hurting each other's feelings, we're just friends."

Roman sighs, "if you say so." He picks up his workout bag and slings it over his shoulder, gives me a side hug before leaving the court. It's my turn to sigh and I rub my temples. I turn around and find Devontae looking, "ready to go?"

"Yessir. Actually, do you mind us doing a detour, I might have something in mind." With his sports bag slung over his shoulder, he grabs my tote bag as well, walking at a slower pace so I can catch up with him. "Word?"

I nod excitedly at his openness to the suggestion, "how does coffee sound?"

As we get into his car, Devontae puts his stuff in the backseat, he gets into the driver's side and his woody scent with the mixture of soap invade my senses, I try my best to not close my eyes and inhale his scent like a fucking psycho, so I try my best to keep my face neutral. He backs out of the parking lot and follows my directions to the café we're headed to. I look at Devontae whose eyes remain focused on the road, "can I connect to the aux please?"

He nods and he gives me the details of his car's stereo and I connect via Bluetooth, "who do you listen to?" He's silent for a while, thinking, "Nipsey Hussle, 2Pac, Tech N9ne, Ski Mask the Slump God..." I nod, "luckily for you I listen to them as well so lemme pick one." Dre fist bumps me, "see, now we talking."

"What about K-pop?" He arches a brow at me. I shake my head, "I made an exception with BlackPink and BTS because of Amaal's little sister but not really, it has its own people and I'm not one to judge people's music taste." He smirks at me, "At least she's Amaal's sister imagine me with my own." I smile before typing in the song title, "You really love your sister, huh?"

"Yeah," he answers quickly, "she may be annoying sometimes but she's my number one. She's my favourite sibling." I laugh, "How did you even decide that she's your favourite sibling?" He makes a left, "when you have two idiots for brothers you'll understand."

"I do."

"No shit. For real?" He glances at me before turning his attention back to the road.

"Arman is my eldest brother then comes Trey."

He chuckles, "So you the only girl?" I nod, smiling, "you can imagine how happy my mom was when she finally had me. I'm sure she was sick of having two heathens for kids." He lets out a full-on laugh and I join in, "I guess that's how my momma felt like when she had me and my brothers." I shake my head, "I don't guess. I know."

"Touché." He shrugs, smiling.

...

After ordering two coffees and two slices of red velvet cake, I look at the menu for the hundredth time, even though I already know all the items on it considering the multiple times I've been there. I'm avoiding looking at Devontae cause every time I do, he's already looking at me. It doesn't need Einstein to know what his eyes are telling me because they say lot.

Things his mouth cannot say. I glance at Devontae to find him looking around the cosy café, with people seated around at tables, the room filled with the smell of coffee wafting through the air, "how did you find this place?"

I look back at the menu then put it down, "I decided to take a detour on my way to work but I stopped when I saw the cupcakes through the window."

He grins, "I guess we should try those next time."

Next time? I smile at him, "you gonna get real fat with me around."

He laughs and sits back in his chair and puts his arms behind his head, the action making his muscles flex. I turn my attention to look out the large glass window next as a distraction, "I'm the only one who knows about this place. Not even the girls have been here."

"I guess I'm special then." My eyes meet his dark mocha ones, I arch a brow playfully, "okay, now you feeling' yourself."

He laughs, "I don't need to." I open my mouth to respond but stop, when our waiter comes with orders, placed on the table.

"Jasmina!"

I immediately get up and engulfs the short elderly woman in a hug, "Hi, Mama Rosa."

"Ooh, look at you! You're getting so beautiful! I hope you're looking after yourself." She says, pulling an out of me hold and analysing me closely. I laugh, "I am." I believe I am. This lively woman has become a second mom to me since the day I walked into Rosa's.

She's a sweet and kind middle-aged lady with black-framed glasses that either sit around her neck or on her face, salt, and pepper hair with vibrant dark green eyes. Her welcoming smile and bright personality are what drew me to her.

And Ms Rosa welcomed with me open arms.

"How is the studying going? Is good?"

"It's going great. How're the grandkids?" I ask and her eyes light up in happiness, "Grandbaby number seven on the way." I clap my hands excitedly, "congrats, Mama."

Her eyes trail behind me, finally seeing Dre, who's already standing in respect for the elderly lady, "thank you, dear I know you. . .who's this?"

"Oh, Mama Rosa this is Devontae. Devontae, Mama Rosa." Dre steps in front of me, holding out his hand for a handshake but she ignores it and unexpectedly pulls him into a big hug.

Suddenly she gasps, "Ooh, no, no, no I feel only muscle and no fat. I need to start feeding you because Jasmina isn't doing that?" I choke on my spit and his eyes widen, "He's an athlete, he can't afford to get fattened up, Mama Rosa."

She ignores me, sizing up Devontae with a ghost of a smile on her face, "it was nice to meet you, dear."

Devontae clears his throat, hiding a smile, "yeah, uhm I'm just gonna wait in the car." Rosa hugs him one last time, taking both their coffees and my tote bag and walking out the door. I whip my body to the elderly lady, who looks at me nonchalantly, "Really?"

She simply bypasses me and goes to where Devontae and I seated before, "Corazon, I'm not blind. I may be close to retirement, but I can tell when someone is in love."

I look at her perplexed as she takes our leftovers from the table, "In love? We're not even together."

Is this woman just gonna ignore everything I say? Rosa walks behind the ordering counter, I stand by as she puts the desserts in a brown paper bag. "You say that now, Jasmina but I can tell by the way he looks at you."

I'm confused now and look at the café owner with narrowed eyes, "how exactly was he looking at me?" Rosa looks up from what she's doing and looks at me, all hints of light-heartedness gone, "you'll find out soon enough."

This is the second person today telling me this, I'm too exasperated to ask, "I'll see you tomorrow, Mama Rose."

"Bye-bye, dear." She waves.

I pull the door open and walks out of the café and pull open the door to Devontae's Porsche. His phone connected to the aux with 6LACK's voice filling the car. I slide into the seat and places the bag in between both.

"Sorry about Mama Rosa she can be a little ─ extra." For lack of better words.

He shrugs, "It's cool." I give him a grateful smile before buckling up, "I never got to ask you if you liked the cake." He nods, lifting his shoulders up and down, "It was aight. I was never a fan of red until today."

I put my hand over my chest as I gape at him, "what are you? An alien?" He laughs as he starts the car, "I just didn't like it." I look Devontae up and down, scrunching my face up in mock disgust, "You missed out for real." His sucks at his teeth, "girl, shut up." I snicker as I open the bag from the café and smiles when she finds red velvet cupcakes inside.

Mama Rosa gonna be the death of me.

Her delicious baked delights is what keeps me coming back and the reason why I gained five pounds this past month. I still love her though.

...

Well, we didn't even attend to our project, we made a pitstop for some ice cream where I ordered cookies and cream as opposed to my usual choice of cookie dough and Devontae ordered Rocky Road. We've spent the last twenty minutes eating the ice cream in the car. When we were done, he insisted on taking me back to my apartment when really, I think it was just an excuse to see where I live but I'm not complaining.

We walked slower than normal to my door and sometime during our walk, he slipped his hand into mine, my heart thrummed against my chest when he initiated it and I tried hard to not squeal so to keep my mind off it I ask, "just out of curiosity, how did you come to know that you liked basketball so much?" I ask him. Devontae chuckles, "correction: love." I roll my eyes playfully, "Okay fine, love."

Holding hands and our fingers intertwined, we walk at a slow pace, with the ice cream cones in their free hands, "I guess growing up watching my dad play also ignited the same passion, you know."

He sees my reaction and laughs before continuing, "I told him I wanted to play, I was around eight years old that time and he bought me my first ball."

I nod and suddenly the image of an eight-year-old Devontae with missing teeth and a crooked smile holding a basketball, the image has makes me feel warm inside and I can't help the laughter that erupts out of me at the thought. "He bragged to my mom that all his sons were going to be in NBA one day."

I bite at the wafer come of my cookies and cream ice cream, wincing when I accidentally chew on the ice cream, the cold dairy product hurting my sensitive teeth, "You ever thought about doing anything else?"

"That has always crossed my mind, but ball has basically become a part of who I am. It's become my life and I can't imagine my life about it." Devontae says, looking down at me as I lick my fingers from the ice cream that dripped down to my fingers as the sun melted it down.

He stops us and reaches out and wipes the corner of my mouth, which had a little bit of ice cream left on it. He wipes with his thumb and slowly brings his lips, not breaking eye contact, and sucks on his thumb.

The action is all but innocent considering the way his eyes are dead set on my face, not even flinching. It seems as if the time has slowed down and everything in my body is screaming at me to do something.

My eyes flicker down to his full lips as he does the same. My throat is suddenly bone dry and I swallow my saliva down, trying to gather my emotions together. Devontae's eyes search my face, I inhale a shaky breath, putting much-needed distance between us but not letting go of his hand. "Okay, quick question, who's the best basketball player in history?" Then I add, "Besides your dad."

At the mention of his dad, he frowns, and I do the same thing, getting the feeling that I touched on a sensitive subject. He snaps out of it and answers without a beat, "I can't pick just one."

I pout then correct, "Okay, your top three." He arches a brow at her and adds, "In no particular order."

"Kobe, MJ, and Curry." My brows raise, "People still hating on LeBron's ass, huh?" He laughs, "I ain't hating' that's my preference." I nod, pursing my lips together, "how are they like in person?"

"Really chill, to be honest. Kobe is more laid back." I nod slowly, coming to a stop, "okay, so this is me." I point my thumb to the door of 32B behind her. He hands me stuff back and rolls his neck.

"Why is your bag so goddamn heavy?" I slap his chest, "I don't like the idea of sharing or borrowing book, okay? I don't roll that way." I defend.

"You're a germaphobe." He answers and I shove him, yet I have no effect on him because I'm pushing a literal brick wall. He leans against the wall of my apartment, crossing his arms over his chest as he looks down at me.

"You know for someone so short, you're abusive." He says. I glare at him, "I'm only 5'3." He holds out his arms for a hug and I stubbornly ignore him, opening the door to the apartment.

"C'mon, I was playing."

I ignore him still and he rolls his eyes, grabbing my hand, and spins me to face him just like the way he did the night we danced together, only this time I don't crash my face into his chest. I look at him before looking away to hide the smile that's already making its way onto my face, and I hugs him loosely.

Devontae pinches my side, I yelp and scowl at him, "Since when do we hug like that?" I make a sound of an annoyance then throws my arms around his neck as he wraps his arms around my waist. His body relaxes under my touch and then I hear him sniff. "Did you just smell me?"

"Ah no." He lies.

I let out a muffled laugh as I lay my face in his hoodie, "It's okay, I smell you too." He groans before letting go, leaving my body craving his touch. "Tomorrow?" I ask, like I always do, placing my hand on the knob of the door.

"You know it." And he winks at me and that makes me flush, and he grins. I wave goodbye before stepping into my apartment. I shut the door, and lean against it, holding my bag to my chest, and then I remember that I forgot to give Devontae his leftovers from the cafe. It's when I open the brown bag that I finds a note.

'I know how you love red velvet so you can have mine. You owe me cupcakes though.' When did he even write this?

Then I remember.

"The vendor forgot the napkins; I'm going to get some. You need anything else?" I ask him. He shakes his head, "nah. I'm good. I need to do something anyway."

A large, goofy smile paints my face and I hold the bag even tighter to my chest and that's when I realize, the cupcakes won't be the death of me, he will.

...

𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝!


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