more life / b.simmons (2)

23

one year later

kyra moves around her room, falling into her computer chair and sighing. she's sad and bored because both of her parents are gone and she's stuck at home with tahj and adrian. she can only play so much basketball, too.

grabbing her tv remote off of the desk, she turns on the tv and changes the channel to ESPN to watch bens game.

kyra grabs her phone and dials her mom, spinning around in her swivel chair. amari answers on the last ring. "hey, baby," she says into the phone.

"hi, mom," kyra says, a small smile on her face. she's been in chicago for four days while ben has been on the road for six. they both get back in 3 days.

"is everything okay?"

"yeah, i just miss you," kyra sighs. usually, she can deal with her parents being gone and doesn't mind it. but right now, it's bothering her and all she wants is for them to be here, too.

"i miss you too, baby! you might see me on TV tonight," amari jokes. ben has a game in chicago so of course amari is going to support.

kyra lets out a small laugh and drops her head onto her desk. "uncle tahj and dre are getting boring."

"call one of your friends," amari says.

"they're all busy doing homework. they should've done it earlier like me," kyra groans.

amari chuckles and sighs. "ugh, you have it so hard," she says sarcastically. kyra rolls her eyes and sits back up. "call daniel or bronny." amari suggests.

"danny is busy, and bronny has practice." kyra says, pulling the long ends of her cornrows over her shoulder.

amari scoffs and shakes her head. "then i cant help you, kid. you're just going to have to wait!"  amari says, grabbing her purse and heading out of her hotel. she walks down the hallway and steps into the elevator. the phone loses service as amari travels between the walls and kyra says "hello?" repeatedly.

"helloooo?" kyra asks, dragging out the vowels.

"i was in the elevator, girl," amari says, walking out of her hotel and to her car.

"oh. are you going to the game alone?" kyra asks. amari shakes her head.

"with hunter," amari says. she always goes to games with hunter when philly plays chicago and vice versa.

"when can we go to a game? i wanna see the pelicans," kyra says. amari scoffs.

"just say you want to see zion, baby," amari says, resting the phone in her lap as she drives. kyra loves zion because he's huge, but is a gentle giant. she's met him once and nearly freaked out.

"and ja, tyler, shai, marvin bagley," kyra trails off, listing her favorite players to look at. watching them is cool, too.

amari lets out a short laugh and shakes her head. "slow down," she says. just because amari was like that, doesn't mean kyra has to be like that.

"i just think they're cute. let me live," kyra says.

"talk about people you like to watch," amari says.

"easy. KD, kawhi, kyrie," kyra says.

"what's up with you and Ks?"

"we just hit different," kyra says with a shrug. amari laughs a real belly laugh and swerves into the lane next to her.

"you're something else," amari says, turning the direction to hunters house. she'd go home with zach afterwards and ben to amaris hotel. "but i'm almost at hunters house, so i'm gonna let you go, okay? call all of your friends or hang out with the guys. i love you, baby!" amari says.