Arise | Jordan Poole

99 | isle of refuge

7 weeks later...

The last months and some change had been restorative. Jordan would be back on the Warriors court the beginning of next week. It would be what everyone needed. He spent a lot of time in Milwaukee with his family and the team stood behind his absence. The fans had no clue what was going on and there were mixed emotions behind it. It weighed on him but he knew he needed to focus more on getting back and less on what naysayers were talking about.

Jordan's need for physical touch and attention had heightened. His usual drive to be around Amaria sexually was almost non-existent the past two months. But for the last week he had been on her every chance he got.

"Girl why you walking like that?" Mrs. Green asked.

A girls' brunch with Hazel and Ayesha was something that they all needed. It seemed like it had been a long time since the three of them got together to talk about. It started off with those three, and over the last four years of knowing each other this outing felt like a rebirth to that core.

"Jordan has been wearing the poor girl out." Ayesha giggled, she knew that walk. Due to Steph having a history of injuries, when he was on the cusp of returning to the court, his sex drive was always more heightened than usual.

It was like motivation to get back out there and be the superstar that he was. And in this case, that was exactly what Jordan was going through. He had leaped into widespread energy that he wasn't able to perform in front of millions of people on national television.

"Every. Damn. Day. He just cannot keep his hands to himself. He wants to do everything under the sun. He has all this time in the world that he's about to lose, because he's going back to work next week. I have time of course, but I'm trying to finish my hard edits for the script, and getting ready to shop it around to these studios. I barely could remember my opening statement because I am too busy yelling 'oooouuu don't stop' twice a day."

"You're a hot ass mess!" Hazel cackled, "But it's good that y'all are doing good. Ya know?"

"Especially since we've been rooting for you since day one, it seems like even with the bumps on the road, you're happy!"

Happy. What a subjective thing to say and exist with. Everyday Amaria woke up feeling different. Some days happy, some days just happy to be alive. She didn't take any of it for granted because tomorrow wasn't promised.

"Yeah, I'm getting used to living in the now and just embracing things without it feeling like imposter syndrome."

Many times Amaria would feel like she shouldn't be where she was even though with her work ethic, she deserved to be. It was strange honestly. Living in a shell and then watching yourself come undone in a third party experience. This was the time, the time was now.

"When does your flight go out?"

She would be heading to Philly first and then out to Bora Bora. Her parents wanted to see her before her birthday. They thought it was important to have that moment. It has been ages since celebrating a birthday either her and it was only right. Months of the unknown and they were finally able to pull to the surface for a breather.

"I leave Friday from Philly. Gotta see my mom and dad before I go. You know they wanna claim they celebrated with me first."

"How's your mom doing?" Ayesha inquired. "She's doing much better. Homegirl gave me a heart attack."

"You are a soldier, I would've been falling apart." Amaria shook her head, she did fall apart. Had it not been for her friends, family and the love of Jordan, she wouldn't have been able to survive the ordeal. It was finally a moment where she didn't have to fake being strong and wield herself together. She could exist and the ones around her would pick up the pieces.