I finish helping to set up. I see Blake and Deandre struggling to set up a table. I walk over to them. "You guys need help?" I ask. "Yes, please." Deandre says as he starts to look up at me. Blake is still trying to get the table to open. "Ohh! Girl from the club.. Aaliyah? Right?" He says. "Yeah." I smile. "You're looking rather spiffy." Blake says. "Thanks." I chuckle. I simply unhook a lock and the table opens. Blake and Deandre look at each other in disbelief. "Wow, I feel dumb." Blake laughs a little. "You're here for the same reason we are?" Deandre asks. "If its handing out school supplies, then yes." I reply. "Cool. You look bad ass in your uniform though." He compliments. I thank him before I get called back over to help the other marines.
After a long day of standing and handing out school supplies, I'm ready to call it a day and head home. As I'm walking back to my truck I hear a whistle. "Hey!" Someone yells. I look around and I see Blake and Deandre on the other side of the parking lot. I walk over to them, they meet me half way. "Where are you off to marine?" Deandre asks. "Home." I reply. "You want to grab a bite to eat with us?" Blake asks. "Yeah, that sounds cool." I reply. "Um, alright. We're headed to huckleberry. You wanna follow?" He asks. "Okay." I reply. "Alright. We'll see you there." He says as they walk to their car. I get in mine and they wait as I pull up behind theirs. I follow them all the way to huckleberry. We park and walk in together. We find a spot in the back. A waitress walks up and gets out orders and gives us beverages. "So whats it like being a marine?" Deandre asks. Blake immediately looks up from his phone to me. Kinda nervous now. "What do you mean? It's a bitch." I joke. They chuckle. "What was the hardest thing to do on your journey becoming a marine?" Blake asks. "Yeah, because I heard some things." Deandre adds. "Heard some things? Like what?" I ask. "Just some shit about the boot camp." He replies. "Yeah, boot camp was a bitch. I wanted to give up so bad but, at the same time I knew I couldn't, because I wanted to make my mom proud." I tell them. "What was the worst thing about boot camp?" Deandre asks. "Like, I went from just this life of relaxing and peace and quiet to fucking a drill Sargent screaming in my ear at the top of their lungs the whole time I was there. They made us scream too. Lost my fucking voice the second week I was there. So it'd probably be the scary ass drill Sargents." I laugh. "Do the drill Sargents get to lay hands on you guys?" He asks. "Yeah." I reply. "Has a drill Sargent ever layed hands on you?"
"No, there was this time though we had to low crawl through barbed wire, we couldn't lift our heads up, but I did anyway cause I wanted to see where I was going and a drill Sargent came up and slammed my head back down and I got sand in my mouth and all over my face. There's a point where we have to stay up for two and a half days. Who knew you could sleep running?" I chuckle. Blake and Deandre look at each other shocked. "Damn that does sound like a bitch." Deandre says. "Yeah, you're a thug." Blake jokes. I just shake my head and laugh. "Bet the last part of boot camp was the hardest." Deandre says. "Not really. I mean yeah, we had this last test called the crucible. It is horrible, but the whole time you're thinking 'I made it this far, this is the last test and then I'm officially a marine.' So that motivates the hell out of you. Then after that you have a ceremony and all that good shit. Take pictures with your family you haven't seen in three long ass months. Cry with em, laugh with em. It was the best part of my life I'd say." We get our orders. Just realizing how hungry I am. "Don't people in the military have to go in a gas chamber?" Deandre asks as we're eating. "Ahem, yeah, we did. Um, that was terrible. We had to do push ups, say the marine creed, and run around in that bitch. This shit is just burning your lungs and your skin. It attacks moisture, they had us sweating in there the whole time. Had to take cold ass showers after. I don't know I'm glad I got through all that shit." I tell them. "Tough as nails, huh?" Blake chuckles a little. "Yeah, I definitely think you could probably take one of us. Especially, Blake." Deandre jokes. Blake nods in agreement. I just laugh a little. "Enough about me. Tell me something about yourselves." I say as I take a bite of my delicious turkey sandwich. "Just look us up on Wikipedia and Google us." Deandre jokes. "Yeah." Blake sarcastically agrees. "Nah, I'm joking with you." Deandre chuckles. "Um, obviously, we're ball players in the NBA. We're human too, shocker, I know. Um, we're actually headed to Vegas tomorrow. Kind of excited for that." Deandre tells me. "Basketball camp?" I ask. "Yeah, we're trying to get qualified to play in next year's Olympics in Brazil." Blake says. "Ohh, that's awesome. Good luck on that. I hope you guys get to play. Represent for your country and shit." I say. "Yeah, tell us about that." Blake says sarcastically gesturing to my uniform. "Yes, I'm a marine." I say annoyed. They laugh. Our waitress comes to the table and asks if we need anything else. "Yeah, could I actually get some of those whole wheat chocolate chip cookies you guys have?" Blake asks. "Sure can." The bubbly waitress says. "Anything else?" She asks. Blake looks at me and Deandre. "No thanks I'm good." I say. "Me too." Deandre says. "You sure? You guys are missing out." Blake says. We stick with our previous answers. "Okay, I'll be right back with those cookies." The waitress walks off. I hear a phones notification sound go off. It's Deandre's. He reads the message and texts back. Soon enough Blake's phone goes off. What the fuck? Are they texting each other? "Well excuse me, I'm gonna use the bathroom before we leave." Deandre excuses himself. It's just me and Blake now. "Ahem" Blake clears his throat. Wow I hope this doesn't get awkward. "So, um, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out again sometime? Maybe when I get back from the mini camp?" Blake asks. What? "Um." I chuckle a little. "I have to see if I'm available then." I reply. Damn I just got nervous as fuck out of nowhere. "Do you think I could get your number? So like whenever you find out you could let me know." He says. Ummm... "Okaay." He hands me his phone and I type in my name and number. "Alright cool." He looks at my number. "This isn't a fake number is it?" He asks. "No, its a real number. It just ain't mine." I joke. He laughs. "Ahh, damn, that was cold." He says. "I'm kidding, yes that's my number. You could text it right now if you want to be sure." The waitress brings Blake's cookies he ordered. Deandre comes back from the bathroom. He sits back down and gives Blake a look. "Bro you want one?" He offers him a cookie. "Nah bruh. Can't be having all this junk." He says. "Aaliyah, you want one?" Blake offers me a cookie. "Yeah, I'll have one." I say as a grab a cookie. "See, DJ she gets it." Blake looks at DJ and smiles. DJ shakes his head. "Yeah bro but, you don't have to get sweets every time we stop to eat." DJ tries to warn him. "Sweet tooth bro, can't help it." Blake says as he eats a cookie. I get a text from Nicki asking where I am. Shit. "Ahem, well it was nice having lunch with you guys. Thanks for inviting me but, I should probably head home." They both rise as I get up from my chair. "For sure. It was nice talking to you." DJ says as he gives me a side hug. "Can I walk you to your car." Blake asks. "Yeah, that's fine." I say. "Alright, well I'll see you around." DJ says as he walks to his car. I nod. Blake and I continue to walk. "Them cookies were good huh?" Blake says. "They were alright. I've had better." I say jokingly. "What? Where?" He asks. "My kitchen." I look at him at smirk. "Can you make me some?" He asks. "I'll think about it." I joke. I unlock my car door. "Ha. Alright. So yeah, text me and let me know what's up." He says as he opens my door for me. "Okay." I get in my car. "I'll see you.. Soon." He closes my door. I nod and start my drive home. What did I do? Why did I have to give in so easily? Shit. I walk in my house and see Nicki and Desi laying on the couch. "Bitch where were you?" Desi asks. I walk to my room, they follow behind me. I throw myself on the bed and bury my face in a pillow. "What? Tell ussss Aaliyah!" Desi demands. I pop my head up from the pillow. "I had lunch with Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan today." I tell them. "What?!" Nicki shouts excitedly. "Tell us what happened. How'd you meet up with them?" Desi says. "I had to help hand out school supplies to kids, just so happened they were there doing the same thing too. But not much. We talked about my time coming into the marines and all that. Blake Griffin asked for my number. He said he wants to hang out again." I tell them. "What?!?!" Nicki shouts as she jumps on top of me. "Did you give it to him?" Desi asks. "Ugh, yeah. He said to text him and let him know what's up but, I'm just now realizing, he never gave me his number." I look at my phone as if his number is gonna pop up. "Hmm, maybe he'll text you." Desi says. "Maybe, they're going to Vegas tomorrow for a mini basketball camp. I don't know how long that's gonna be." I say unsure. "Well maybe when he texts, you can ask him." Nicki says. "I don't know guys? What did I get myself into?" I ask them for some sort of advice. "Bitch. Just go with it. Have fun. It's not everyday a fuckin NBA star is feeling you enough to ask for your number personally. Sober at that. Not in a club or whatever." Desi tries to reassure me. "But that's the thing. He entertains his lil groupies. Like what the fuck? He's a ladies man. Or what have you." I say as I scroll through my twitter news feed. "Just do it Al! Have fun with it. Let me live vicariously through you." Nicki chimes in. I give her a scowl. "Don't look at me like that. But really though. Just have fun, you work yourself too much. When is the last time you had dick anyway?" Nicki asks. "That's none of your business." I look at her and shake my head. "A year and a half ago." Desi says. "Aaliyah." Nicki says with a shocked look. I sigh annoyed. "Im done talking about it. Let's go do something." I suggest. "Let's get something to eat, you ain't got shit in the fridge or cabinets." Desi says. We grab a bite to eat and go shopping. I get groceries and other things for my house. We get back and the girls help me put the groceries and stuff away. We're exhausted by the time we're done. We sit around the couch and look for a chick flick in Netflix. We end up watching The Kids Are Alright instead. As usual Nicki is asking crazy ass questions as the sex scenes are playing. "Think you could be in a girl on girl relationship?", "Have you ever done that position before?", "Who smokes cigarettes after sex? Is it really that good?" Are some of the questions she asks. A text notification goes off on my phone. They both turn their heads to look at me. "Is it him?" Nicki asks. Its an unknown number that pops up on the screen. I open the text. "Aaliyah?"
"What's up?"
"Hey, this is Blake."
"Oh hey. Excited for Vegas tomorrow?"
"Definitely. What are you up to?"
"Nothing watching Netflix with my girls. How bout you?"
"Nothing, just got done packing. Just chillin out now. Lol. So when do you think you'll have your answer for me by?"
"Soon."
"Ha. Ok. I hope we can hang out again. I really enjoyed lunch with you earlier."
"Yeah, it was nice. But I don't know."
"You don't know? What do you mean?"
"I don't know if I want to take whatever this is any further. I mean I'm fine just being friends or whatever."
"But why though?"
"Because I already seen how you be goin in when you're up in the clubs."
"Man. Ruined it for myself? Look I don't get down like that all the time."
"But you enjoy entertaining it."
"No, I was just trynna have fun for that night that's all it was."
"Exactly. I'm not a groupie or whatever you call them. I have morals, I respect myself. I have goals. I don't do one night stands. So if a one night stand is what your looking for then it ain't here."
"I understand. And I can respect that. No I'm not looking for a one night stand. It's me trying to get to know you."
"Ha. Ok. I'll still have to think about it."
"Okay. Well don't let whatever you seen in the club give you second thoughts. I was just drunk and trying to have fun. Good night Aaliyah."
"Good night Blake."
I look at Nicki and Desi. They run over and sit next to me. I let them read the texts. "Ooohh shit just got real!" Nicki exclaims.
