Act Like You Know (5 page)

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Authors: Stephanie Perry Moore

BOOK: Act Like You Know
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I didn't know Penelope, and, yeah, we were sorors, but I could convince myself that my relationship with Cody was a professional one. I told Malloy there was absolutely no way anything was going to happen between Cody and me. But then Cody came over to me and said, “You'll be on time tomorrow for our session, right? I really want to see you there.”
I hung on his every word. I simply nodded, and he walked away. Malloy hit me harder in the ribs that time.
“I'm serious, Alyx. You cannot talk to him. Y'all got something going on; I clearly see it. I hope Penelope doesn't see it, because you talking to her man would be a serious breach.”
5
GASP
O
h, I had to admit Malloy's boyfriend was fine. I was sitting in the stands at the New York Giants NFL game, which was a whole different world from my little Texas country one. Malloy was cheering on her man, and Torian and Loni were on the other side of her cheering on their feet, too. I was sitting down. I mean, I didn't know Kade. He had gotten us game tickets and flight tickets to come out there; plus, we were chilling at his place. I was a fan, but I was just relaxing. I was taking in the sights. I was at a pro game. It was so cool.
All of a sudden, the crowd screams died down, and a hush came over the crowd. Malloy screamed out, and Torian put her arm around her. Loni's face displayed sadness.
Without thinking, I said, “What the heck is wrong with y'all? This is a football game. People fall down all the time.”
Loni said, “Shut up! Quit being so insensitive. Her man is hurt, for real.”
I could have slapped myself when I stood up, looked over the crowd, and saw number fifty laid out on the ground, not moving. I didn't know much about football, but I remembered my uncles and my brothers always saying when the trainers and folks from the sidelines came out with a stretcher, it was not good.
“I gotta go down there and see him. I gotta figure out what's going on. This is horrible. Oh, my God! He's not moving his legs!”
“He's gonna be okay,” Torian said, holding her girl up.
How do you know?
I thought, but I realized Torian had said that because she was trying to be there for her sister.
“Let's go. We're gonna go down there,” I said.
Malloy panicked. “They're not gonna let me down there to see him. I don't have that kind of pass. He needs me. This is so bad.”
“Yes, you do! You have the pass for after the game. That's enough to get someone to tell us something.”
“I'm not his wife or anything like that,” Malloy said as she walked to the aisle and tried to keep herself together.
“I'll go down there and take you,” a lady behind us said in a worried tone.
She was white, and she had the biggest ring I'd ever seen in my life. She was decked from head to toe.
“I'm Karen, the quarterback's wife. You're Kade's girlfriend. He might need you right now. This looks pretty bad.”
Malloy hugged Karen. Then we followed Karen up the stairs and then down a private elevator. Everyone knew who she was, and it was obvious why: her husband had it going on.
Malloy was a complete wreck, and Torian and Loni had her back, holding her up, rubbing her arms, telling her over and over it was going to be okay. When we got off the elevator, the lady said something to some guards, and the next thing we knew we were in a waiting area that looked pretty private and official while Karen was outside trying to get information.
“He worked so hard for this moment,” Malloy said as tears dropped down her face. “People didn't wanna draft him because they said he was injury prone. He'd done so much to prove them wrong. All preseason he'd dominated, and now in the second game he goes completely down. How can I encourage him?”
Karen came in and over to Malloy. “He broke his ankle, and he's out for eight weeks. He's pretty devastated, but he wants to see you.”
“I can't go in there,” Malloy said, shaking. “I can't tell him it's all right. I know he's upset—”
“No, no, you can tell him,” Torian said. “You can be strong. You can get him through this.”
“Yes because his training's going to be crucial,” Karen said. “A positive attitude will make all the difference.”
Loni said, “And you know that's why you're here.”
“I'm here for us to enjoy this weekend together after the game. Now we'll be at some hospital.”
Torian said, “But you'll be there together.”
I whispered, “And you're here because you support your man. Don't let him see you all down and out. Help lift him up. You can do this.”
“Okay, okay, I can do this,” Malloy said as she wiped her eyes and then left the room with Karen.
Torian and Loni just hugged each other like they were going through this as deeply as Malloy was. I could feel Malloy's pain. It was a surreal moment. I was in awe of their friendship. It was major.
 
Kade was all settled down in his apartment, and Malloy was content with taking care of him. Torian and Loni were okay with that, but I had come to New York to have a good time. Sitting around watching a football player recover wasn't my idea of fun.
“Why you sitting there looking so ticked?” Loni asked me.
Unable to be convincing, I said, “No reason.”
“You wanna go out?” Torian said. “We are in the nicest apartment in New York, and you want to hit the town! Go on and admit it. We know you, girl.”
“And if I did? What would be wrong with that?” I said as though I had to defend myself.
Malloy came out of her guy's bedroom and said, “Don't worry. Kade hooked it up.” She dangled his car keys in front of us.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, completely confused. There was no way she could be trying to play hostess to us when she was playing nurse to Kade. “You're not gonna be able to leave to take us anywhere. And as bad as I want to party, I wouldn't even ask you to.”
“You do know New York though!” Torian added, licking her chops. “You've been up here all summer with your clothing internship and stuff.”
“No, no, no. I'm not leaving.”
“Well, I'm not going anywhere by myself. Thanks for his keys and stuff, but nuh-uh,” Loni said, making me roll my eyes. I couldn't believe some of my sorors were such wimps.
“Where is the club? I can find it.” I stood and went over to grab Kade's car keys.
“Uh, no,” Malloy said, stepping in my way. All of a sudden the doorbell rang. “We got some fine gentlemen ready to take you guys out on the town.”
“I'm not going out with strangers,” Loni said.
I hit her in the side at the sight of the fine specimens who had come in and now stood in front of us. “C'mon, where's that adventurous spirit? And look at these guys. They are his teammates.”
“Oh, teammates? Oh, yeah, yeah. I—I—that's fine. Yeah, give us a second. We gotta get ready,” Loni said, completely changing her mind.
Torian and I just burst out laughing. Malloy knew how to do it. The three of us were all giddy as we talked about having a night on the town with some other Giants players. Unfortunately the camaraderie went out the window when we realized there weren't enough men for the three of us. What could we do with two brothers?
So I asked, “Where's the other one? In the bathroom? I mean, there's three of us. One of us will be outnumbered.”
We all looked at Malloy, and she looked over at us like,
I'm sorry.
She said, “Ladies, this is Onyx.” He was the tall one with wavy hair and muscles nearly ripping out of his form-fitting shirt.
I said, “You are the starting cornerback who got the interception and first touchdown today.”
“Yeah, that's me. Who are you?” he said, looking me up and down, showing his tongue.
“These are my sorority sisters, Alyx, Torian, and Loni,” Malloy said, pulling me back and allowing Onyx to check us all out.
However, the stud did not look at the two of them. His eyes did not move from me. All of a sudden the room got hot, and I could sense the hate.
“And this is TJ,” Malloy said, introducing us to Kade's other teammate.
TJ was a light-skinned brother sporting the cutest little dreads. He had a very nice frame and was prettier than most women I knew.
He took my hand. “I didn't score a touchdown. Go on and say it.”
“Yeah, but you're a fullback. You made some nice blocks out there.” I took my hand back and gently rubbed his face.
TJ asked, “A football fan, huh?”
“Uh, it's not my favorite game, but my family loves it, so I guess some of what they like rubbed off on me.”
“Darnell was supposed to come with us,” Onyx said as he stepped in front of TJ, “but it'll be just the two of us. Is that all right?” He held out his arm for me to put my arm through it. It was just an innocent little gesture, so I did.
“Oh, wait a minute, dawg. This one's for me,” TJ teased as he tried tugging me away from Onyx. Before we'd even left the place, I had two new enemies in Loni and Torian, and as I walked out to the limousine, arm in arm with two hunks, I knew my sisters were behind me calling me everything unsisterly. But you know where they were saying it? Not to my face. I was ready to party. They could roll with it or be pissed all night. Their choice.
 
When we got to Top Flight, I took the party straight to the dance floor. Onyx, TJ, and I turned the place out. I didn't mind getting a little loud. I had two shots in the car, and I was loose. Shucks, all the tears and tension we'd had—making sure Kade was going to be okay—I was ready to unwind, and if Torian and Loni couldn't handle that, they should have stayed back at Kade's place.
“You guys are gonna have to dance with my girls!” I said to the two of them three songs later when I felt hands on the top of my body from Onyx and the lower part of my thighs from TJ.
TJ looked over at the dull chicks and said, “Your girls need to loosen up.”
I rubbed his chest and said, “Well, maybe y'all can help them with that. For real, for real—do me a favor. Play with them.”
“And if we play with them for a little while, you think we can get with you a little later?” Onyx asked, touching my neck.
“ ‘We'? Oh, you think I roll like that?” I backed away from them both, knowing they wanted to get kinky.
“I don't know. You seem like you know how to have fun.”
“Where's the money for the drinks?”
“Why should we give you that? What's in it for us?”
“And to think Kade said y'all were gentlemen. Y'all tryin' to give me ultimatums and stuff. Don't you know if I wanted to get down like that later, I would? But if you gonna pressure me and stuff, we might as well end all the fun now.”
“Oh, naw, naw. Here, here, we are gentlemen,” Onyx said as he reached in his pocket and gave me a hundred.
“Go on over there and drink, and we'll dance with your girls for a second. Then we will be there to get you,” TJ said. TJ was wearing a sports jacket. I reached over and put my hands where no one could see them, slid them down the back of his pants, and gripped his buns real tight. “Oh, see, now you playin',” he said.
“What? What? What she doing?” Onyx asked.
“Nothing I won't do to you,” I leaned over and whispered to him as I let my tongue slide out to his ear. “Now go get my friends.”
As the three of us walked over to Torian and Loni, they looked so mad. If looks could kill, I probably would have been six feet under.
“They want to dance with y'all,” I said in a foul way. I was trying to do them heifers a favor. I never needed any help getting a guy, but I always had to help somebody else get lucky.
“The three of y'all seemed like y'all were doing just fine,” Loni said coldly.
“Girl, you better get up out of that seat and go dance. You know you want to.” I grabbed her arm, pulled it tight, and swung her into the arms of Onyx. I didn't have to say nothing to Torian. She was on her feet and quickly went over to TJ. I sat alone and ordered a couple more shots.
These two handsome Mexican dudes came over to me and sat on both sides of me. I said nothing, but I could tell they were eyeing me.
Finally one of them said, “We thought we'd never catch you alone. You know the black dudes can't really make you happy.”
“And all these shots you drinking are not going to make you feel good,” the other one said as he opened up his jacket a little, showing me some fun in a plastic bag. “We got a table right over there. You gonna join us?”
To keep the peace with my girls, I thought,
You know what? Why don't I just let them have those two fools?
I wasn't into anything crazy, I was simply messing with Onyx and TJ so they'd do what I wanted. To squash all that, I decided to hang out with my kind. I was trying a little something of everything.
Minutes later, after the drugs set in, my head started spinning, and my stomach started aching. Maybe it hadn't been the best decision to take drugs from strangers, but I wasn't happy here.
Torian and Loni came over to me. “We came to get our girl,” I sort of thought I heard them say.

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