Quentin's Way

Chapter 18

            Watching my team playing against the Charleston Southern Buccaneers without me was more stressful than I thought it would be. Orlando was in my spot and while he wasn't doing a terrible job, he just wasn't me. He missed a few passes and he got tackled way too many times by the Buccaneers' secondary defense players. Our other starting wide receiver Anthony was nowhere near as good as me, so our quarterback barely threw the ball to him. That left Reggie and Jacen, and neither one played their best that night. Our team ended up losing to our rivals 35-21. Instead of rubbing it in, I decided to take Demi's advice and support my team.

            "Y'all played good out there," I told them as we returned to the locker room after the game. "You came back on them in the fourth quarter and even though we didn't win tonight, that shows we got heart."

            "Q is right," said Reggie. "We did the damn thing tonight."

            "It was a tough game," said Coach Reeves. "I'm proud of you guys though. Now go hit the showers."

            Orlando cleared his stuff out of my locker since my suspension was now over. It felt good having my big front and center locker again with my name and number above it. Since I couldn't play that night and I'd already taken a shower and was wearing regular clothes, I waited on them to take their showers. When they finished and got dressed, I left with Reggie, Jacen, Orlando and a few others and headed to King so that we could all party. Cedric was waiting on us at the club and it was his first time kickin' it with us since he got injured.

            "That bitch over there is checkin' you out," Orlando said to me while pointing to the girl.

            "Bruh, I'm good," I told him. "You can get at her though."

            "Nigga, she ain't lookin' at me. She lookin' at you."

            "I'll get her into our section but you can have her."

            "Thanks, Q. I owe you."

            "Nah, take it as a thank you for keepin' my spot from goin' to another nigga. Most dudes would've tried to keep me from comin' back but you didn't even trip once my suspension ended tonight. You could've easily gone to coach and told him you didn't think I was ready to play next week."

            "You know I wouldn't do that, man. Besides, I'm not sure I can take another full game of hard hits like I took tonight. How the fuck do you do it, man?"

            "I don't know. I just do."

            I stood up and told the security guard standing in front of our VIP platform to let the girl come up. Orlando immediately started talking to her while I stepped down to go to the bar so that I could get something to drink. While I was waiting on my pink lemonade, I spotted Brandi walking with a group of girls. She broke away from them and as she was passing me, I grabbed her arm.

            "Quentin," she said immediately.

            "Wassup, shawty," I said back. "You look beautiful tonight."

            "Thank you, but you don't need to kiss up to me to get on my good side. I know you had nothing to do with Malcolm and Demi's breakup. I do have something to say to you though."

            "Yeah, what's that?"

            "I'm sorry for being a bitch to you all semester. I thought I knew what was best for my best friend but I was clearly wrong. Do you accept my apology?"

            I hopped off the stool I was sitting on and smiled as I said, "Come here, girl." I hugged her and not a second after the hug ended, I got slapped in the face. But it wasn't a slap from Brandi. It was one from Latoya!