"Aight boys, don't forget, practice early morning tomorrow, 7:45," their coach reminded them as they left practice for the day, making most of the boys groan. Due to certain boys, practice ran late that evening and it got pushed an hour early on a Friday morning, and he was already tired just thinking about it.

Their first game of the season was approaching, it was this weekend coming. It wasn't out of state like he told Jailyn, it was at home, against LSU. All the guys were excited and ready to play, including Armani. The first game never felt like pressure to him, it wasn't until semi-finals and championships when he started to feel it.

"Dawg, them freshmen always doing stupid shit," Duck grumbled as they exited the court.

"I don't even know why they allowed to practice wit' us, Coach knows" he rolled his eyes as they made the short walk back to their dorm, immediately freshening up and heading straight to bed. It was already 9:30 on a Thursday, early morning practice would kill them both if they didn't get some rest.

Armani scrolled aimlessly down his instagram timeline, liking pictures from his sisters and his cousins. He answered a DM from one of his friends back in the city before he started watching some stories.

One he watched was from one of his freshmen teammates that actually had some sense, Caleb. He told everyone to call him Tripp, though, since his initials were triple C's.

He posted a story of his girlfriend walking ahead of him with one of her friends and tagged her, but the voice sounded extremely familiar, and when he watched it a second time, he realized it was Nayeli. A small smile graced his face before he decided to be nosy. He went to Tripp's girlfriend's page, and since her account was public, he watched her story, and sure enough, Nayeli was posted on there cheesing in the mirror with Bri, shaking their pompoms in a boomerang.

Oh, so they made it...he thought to himself with a smirk. All that meant was that he'd get to see her Saturday, and every game after that and for some reason that left him happier than what he was when he got home.

Duck saw his friend just smiling at his phone screen but decided against harassing him, because he was too exhausted to do so.

The next morning at 7:30, Duck and Armani were entering the gym early, as instructed, and were greeted by their coach and a few other players, luckily since they listened and came early, they'd probably be spared. At least a little.

"Wassup Tripp," Armani yawned, sitting on the bleachers by the younger boy. He liked Tripp, he was from New York too, so they instantly had something to relate on, since Armani lived there for most of his life.

"Hey bro," Tripp said. "If these niggas late I'm gon lose my shit, deadass," he rolled his eyes pulling out his phone. Armani agreed and did the same, checking his texts, from his sisters.

jojo🌼: good luck on your game tomorrow jefe 🥰

: thank you conejita🖤

mila🌷: I miss you mani

: i miss you more princesa 💕 call me later?

mila🌷: Yeah after school 😊

He continued on his phone until the rest of his teammates arrived, on time, thankfully, and they got straight to practice.

Saturday came quickly, and he woke up that morning, ready for his game. He followed his usual morning routine, and got completely ready for he and Duck's morning workout, which they always did before games to blow off some steam and loosen up.

"You ready, bum?" Duck asked, brushing his hair.

"Been ready," he chuckled, and they left. They were greeted by a few people on their way. Football easily the bigger sport at Grambling, as it was in many schools in the south, but the crowd for their games was always full, and many people knew these two, as well as the other boys on the team. Armani had a love hate relationship with this fact.

He was never the type of person that loved crowds, or enjoyed being "popular", he just was. He attracted people his entire life. Whether that be through basketball, or just in the neighborhood, people wanted to be Armani's friend. Being alone or just with Duck and his other few close friends was what he preferred. When he had a girlfriend, all he wanted was to be around her and a few of his friends.

After he and Duck finished working out they got something to eat, and by then, it was already 4 and the game was at 5. They went back to the dorm to shower and grab their uniforms and warmups, before heading down to the court.

"Y'all boys ready to whoop some ass?" their coach smirked as they got changed in the locker room.

"Yessir!" was the resounding answer from the boys. The energy was up all the way until the boys were introduced, since it was the first game, the arena was completely full with students and parents, and others who just wanted to see the game.

As Armani ran in, he ran past all the cheerleaders who were waving pompoms and cheering along with the crowd, and he caught a familiar pair of eyes toward the end, Nayeli's smile grew a bit wider when they locked with his.

This was Nayeli's first game cheering, and she was quite nervous. Her coach and both captains assured her she'd be fine, and made sure to let her know she was fantastic at what she did. She grasped the routine for halftime quickly, and they were impressed by her. They could tell she was a dancer by the way she moved, and they believed it helped her along in her cheering.

Nayeli, like her parents, loved basketball. She went to her uncles games very often, and she was excited to be at her first college game.

Armani was a basketball player, and she had no idea. As soon as she saw him she started blushing like crazy. She was shocked when she saw him watching her dance and she was immediately nervous, hence why she didn't have too much to say.

She thought he was handsome, and his smile was extremely kind. That's what prompted her to introduce herself to him, he smiled at her once and she was moved.

"Look at my friend! You look so cute in this uniform sis!" Samara squealed upon seeing her roommate. They had grown extremely close, Nayeli had come to love Samara through the short month they had known each other.

"Aw you came! Thank you Lea," Nai grinned

"Of course I came guh! I don't know nothing bout basketball but I hope we win. There go your boo, too," Lea nodded towards Armani who was shooting around.

"Oh stop it," she waved her hand at Samara. She joked with her about the fact that Armani watched her dance since she came home and tell her about it that day.

Of course Nayeli had liked boys before, but she never prioritized boys in high school. She was all about dancing and her grades. The most she'd ever had was a prom date, and he was one of her friends from school who just happened to ask her. He was cute, and they took cute pictures together, but they didn't kiss or anything, so as far as boys went, she was mostly innocent on that front.

She never minded it, she wasn't pressed to kiss just anyone, and she wasn't pressed to have sex. She figured when it was meant to happen, it'd happen, and it'd happen with exactly who it was supposed to happen with.

She strongly believed in soulmates because of her parents, and she knew if she went looking, finding him would be harder than it needed to be, so she was gonna let him find her.

As the game went on, she found herself extremely invested, and watching Armani, who was number 19, which was funny to her, since her birthday was January 19th. He was good. Watching him was surreal, he was floating around the court essentially untouched. He had 20 points alone by halftime. She was counting.

When halftime came around, she said a silent prayer, and got in position for the routine. As she was a shorter girl, she was a flyer, which she loved. She had fun running through the routine, it was precise and perfect, just like they practiced, and the crowd was loving it.

She caught Samara recording for her, and she smiled at the camera on purpose, waving at her, causing her to wave back wildly.

Toward the end, she looked over at the players, and saw Armani. He was watching her, just like she was watching him.

Once the game ended, the Grambling State Tigers beat the Louisiana State Tigers 103-100. The game was great and Armani scored 35, and Duck scored 32 by the end of the game. Even though they were only sophomores, they were two of the highest scorers on the team.

"Good job tonight ladies!" Coach Sky called to the girls. "Especially our newest members, you four looked seamless," she nodded, making Nai smile.

"Thanks Coach," Nayeli smiled, standing next to Aubrielle. She and Lea were gonna join Bri and her boyfriend at the team's celebration dinner. A lot of the boys from the team were going to be there and a few other cheerleaders were as well.

She and Lea met back up in the parking lot, and they took Nai's car to the restaurant they were going to, which was about a half an hour away.

"I wonder if your boo is coming," Samara said slickly, smirking while typing on her phone.

"You worried about me, who you over there texting huh?" Nayeli poked back, making her friend laugh. "Mhm, I be hearing you on the phone when I get back from class. Who is he?" she teased.

"Just some boy I met on my way to get some food," she shrugged, trying to suppress her smile.

"Yeah, okay, whatever you say," Nai chuckled.

The rest of the ride was comfortably silent, and when they arrived to the place, Nayeli expertly backed into a spot next to Bri's boyfriends car. They went in together, and easily found the table. They were heard before seen, since there was a pretty large group of them.

Luckily, Bri saved them seats by her. One next to her, which Samara took and the other one was across from her.

Next to Armani.

Nayeli narrowed her eyes at her friends who both smiled innocently as she walked around to the other side of the table. He was talking to Duck, who was next to him, so he didn't notice anyone came in until she sat down.

He turned to see who took the empty seat and was pleasantly surprised by who he saw. She was looking over the menu of the diner they were at, eyes scanning over it quickly.

"Hello again," he spoke out, immediately waking up the butterflies in Nai's stomach. She lifted her eyes from the menu and turned to face him.

"Oh, hi," she smiled, pushing some hair behind her ear. "Congratulations on the win, y'all played good," she said, speaking up to the best of her ability. She was an inherently quiet girl and he made her feel even more shy than she already was.

But that wasn't a problem, he was only paying attention to her anyway.

"Thank you," he smirked. "I seen you watching me from the bleachers," he continued, and she immediately started blushing.

"I was not," she waved him off, picking the menu back up to hide the fact that she was about to start cheesing.

"You ain't gotta lie to me," he laughed. "It's aight, I won't tell nobody,"

"Well I saw you watching me too," she sassed back, raising her eyebrow.

"Hell yeah I was," he said, making her blush again. "You was good out there,"

"Thank you, Armani. So were you,"

"Preciate it," he smirked down at her as the waitress approached. Everyone put their orders in, and the rest of dinner went well, Nayeli continued talking to her friends and to Armani, who made her laugh over and over again all night.

When it was time to go, she hugged Bri goodbye, and she and Lea were about to get in the car as well when she heard her name called. She turned around to see Armani jogging toward her from what he assumed to be his own car.

"Yeah?" she answered, leaning on her car, beginning to fidget with her hands. She couldn't seem to break out of the nervous habit.

"I'm not gon keep you long, since it's late. But uh, I was just wondering if I could get your number, so we could—you know, stop seeing each other on accident," he smoothly said, making her smile a little bit.

She was nervous, yes, but she figured it couldn't hurt. He'd been a really nice guy to her so far, and even though she only met him the week before she was determined to break out of her shell.

"U-uh yeah—yeah sure," she nodded. A small smile appeared on his face and he unlocked his iPhone, handing it to her. She quickly typed her number in and saved it under just her name, handing it back to him.

"Cool. I'll uh...I'll hit you later?" he asked, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck again.

"Yeah, later," she spoke, before hopping in her truck and waving. He did the same, and retreated to his own car, patting himself on the back.

welcome back :)

i hoped you all enjoyed this chapter. not too much happening in this one but it's still cute lol.

we can see how nai reacted to meeting armani for the first time last chapter, and she finally saw him in his element. well one of his elements.

leave me some thoughts or questions! love y'all 🥰

till next time ❤️