Breakthrough

Game Day Crazies

After Blake left I felt like I had some major thinking to do. As I walked him out and locked my front door I felt like falling on the floor. I've known him for barely a week and he makes me feel like there are butterflies in my stomach going ninety miles a minute. He makes me question every face I make. He makes me feel more alive when I feel his touch. This lips on my cheek or his thumb grazing the side of my face. He is sweet and tender and I want him to want me. I've never felt the desire for someone to desire me as much as I ever have before. It is foreign to me but oh so exciting. It was nearly 3:00 pm and the game started at 7:30. Which meant I needed to leave my house by 5:00, 5:15 at the latest. Downtown was going to be nuts and I didn't want to be sitting in traffic for nearly two hours. Blake said that my tickets and VIP badge would be at will call. I grabbed the two shirts Blake gave me and went up to my room to pick out exactly what I'd be wearing. I took the red jersey out and went into my closet to find a pair of black distressed skinny jeans and some sort of shoes. Casual Sophie. Casual. I quickly took my nude flats and Nike Free Runs off the shelf and set them near my bed. I then went over to my vanity to see what accessories I would need for tonight reminding myself this is just a basketball game. I am just going to a basketball game to watch basketball and then go over to Blake's house and hangout. We're just hanging out and eating food. I began looking through numerous statement necklaces, dainty studs, and dangly earrings finding nothing that satisfied me. Everything was either too much or not enough. That's when I decided to go with a simple pair of rhinestone studs and my gold Michael Kors watch. I then went and hopped in the shower thinking about what in the world I was going to do to my hair. After I was done I threw on my jeans, jersey, and free runs while my hair was toweled on top of my hair. After taking it down, drying the ends a little more, and brushing it out I thought that going with high pony was my best option. This way I could encourage the natural wave in my hair. After throwing my hair up and putting on my makeup I was ready to go with fifteen minutes to spare. I locked up everything and jumped in my car ready to watch some basketball. I never considered myself a sports fan let alone a basketball fan but my parents, they were basketball fanatics. It was almost they knew I was thinking about them since that's when my mother was calling me.
"Hello," I said putting my phone on speaker and setting it in my lap.
"Sophie dear what are you doing? Your father misses you and wants to see you."
"Mom, I told you I'm coming over tomorrow for dinner ok. I'm busy right now."
"Are you driving Sophie? What did I tell you about using your phone and driving!"
"You're the one who called me mom. And I'd appreciate it if you'd stop yelling at me."
"I'm sorry Sophie it's just tha--" and that's when I decided to cut her off.
"Mom, listen I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow," I said as I hung up my phone and pulled into the parking garage. It was 6:15 and the first two floors were already full. After I finally found a parking spot and got into the arena I was walking toward will call I could see the people swarming the doors to get inside. I didn't think people got this crazy over a damn basketball game. I mean it's a bunch of guys getting all sweaty trying to throw a ball through a hoop. Big whoop. But that was just me. When I got to the little window I was greeted by an older woman that had a name tag name that said "Rita."
"Hello, how may I help you ma'am?"
"Yes, hi I'm here picking up a ticket my friend left me, Blake. Blake Griffin. My name is Sophie." She gave me a warm smile and flipped through a little stack of papers in front of her sliding her index finger down a long list of names.
"Ah, here you are Sophie. Here is your ticket and here is the pass to get you back into the post game interview. And to get to your seat you are going to go down those little set of steps to the right and then through the first door on the left. Someone will show you to your seat," She said sliding the two items under the little cut out of the window.
"Thank you so much."
"You know he was quite happy today when he came and told me to put your name on the list. When I asked him about you all he could do was blush."
"Oh my goodness," I could feel myself starting to blush a little too.
"He's a good guy sweetie. Now you enjoy the game," she said giving me a the warm smile before I walked away. I slipped my ticket in the outside pocket of my bag and put my VIP badge around my neck. Before going to my seat I grabbed a beer from one of the concession stands and by then it was about 6:35. Following Rita's directions I went down the set of stairs and through the first door to my left. That's when I realized I was near the court.
"Excuse me ma'am. Can I see your ticket?" A man around the age of 40 asked me. Shit did I miss a door or something?
"Uh, yeah. I think I'm in the wrong place," I said handing him my ticket out of my bag.
"Nope, you're in the right place. Let me escort you to your seat."
"Um, ok," I said following him as we grew closer and closer to the court. I could see a few players warming up as we made it to the very first row behind the Clippers bench.
"And here we are," the man said pointing toward an empty seat next to a woman who looked not a day over 25 with a little boy on her lap. As I took my seat she gave me a warm smile and the little boy stood and looked at me with confusion.
"Who are you? No one ever sits in that chair," he said concerned.
"I'm sorry. Is this where you usually sit?" I said chuckling to myself.
"Please excuse him. He's just used to his little routine. I'm Jada, and this is my son Chris."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Sophie," I say shaking her outstretched hand.
"Ah, you're the girl he's been talking about," she said smirking and nodding her head. What the hell has he been saying about me? It better be good things.
"You are the second person who has said that in the past twenty minutes."
"I'm Chris Paul's wife, Blake and him are pretty good buddies and therefore he is at my house a lot. And let's just say I like to eavesdrop a lot," she said raising her eyebrows causing me to laugh.
"I gotcha. Well I just hope whatever he said were all good things," I say taking a sip of my beer.
"All was well, I promise." After Jada and I chatted for a couple of minutes with little Chris chiming in every once and a while. I felt someone staring at me. I quickly turned my head toward the court taking another sip of my beer and saw that Blake was on the court with few of his teammates gathered around staring at me. As I looked their way they all started whispering in their little circle which made my heart drop into my stomach a little. I then looked away like I didn't notice them taking a huge gulp of my beer and holding it it my mouth for a minute. That's when I thought it would be the perfect time to excuse myself to go to the bathroom. As I got up and grabbed my purse and headed toward the door that's when I could have sworn I heard a familiar whiny voice shouting my name. I looked around really quick and shook my head thinking that there was probably more than one Sophie in this place tonight and continued my way to the bathroom. As soon as I reached the bathroom door I heard someone calling my name again followed my the loud clicking of heels coming down the hallway. I stepped away from the door to get a better look into the hallway where I saw the last person I wanted to see at the moment, my mother.
"Sophie! Sophie honey didn't you hear me calling you," she said nearly out of breath.
"Mom? What are you doing here?" I said confusingly. What was she doing here?
"You know your father and his basketball. I think the more appropriate question is what are you doing here? Did you get a little lost on the way to Nobu? And where did you get that jersey?" Good lord could she ask anymore questions I thought.
"I'm here with a friend, someone I met at school. Jada," I lie to her. I've always been horrible at lying but my mother has always been horrible at staying out of my damn business. I could tell she was having a hard time believing my sorry lie but there was no way she was finding out about Blake. At least not today. I had eventually forgotten about fleeing to the bathroom so I decided to walk back to my seat.
"Wait. Sophie, I thought you were going to the bathroom."
"Well, the game is about to start so I better get back to my seat," I reply.
"Well here, let me walk you. I want to meet your friend."
"No, that's alright. She's kind of having a rough night so maybe another time," I lie to her for the second time.
"Ok fine. Next time. What section are you sitting in? I'm sure your father would want to come visit you at halftime," she says tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
"I'm sitting behind the Clippers bench."
"Well off course everyone on that side it. But what's the number of your section."
"Um I think 102," I said looking confused.
"102. That's right behind the bench. Court side? Soph what a fortune you must've paid for those tickets. Honey why would you pay so much--"
"I didn't mom! My friend. Her husband works for the Clippers. Now I would really like to get back to my seat if you wouldn't mind," I bark at her.
"Alright fine, enjoy the game and I'll see you in a bit," she said walking back to her seat. As I arrived at my seat the lights were dimmed and the game was about to start.
***
Blake finished out the game with 34 points which led the team to a win against the Lakers. As he began to leave the court he shot me a wink and mouthed "wait for me." I wasn't sure where to go and meet him but I was hoping this little VIP badge would get me somewhere. Somewhere preferably far from my parents.
"Are you gonna wait for Blake? They usually take about and hour or so with showering and their post game interview," she said grabbing little Chris' hand.
"Yeah, I want to wait for him. Can we go now?"
"Absolutely. Might as well get out of here before it starts to get crazy." We make our way down a long hallway where we show three different people our badges. After we reach the media room we decide to just sit and wait in the back. I was checking my email when Jada nudges me a little to get my attention. When I look up I see him. He is wearing a white tshirt and an open plaid button up with jeans and white converse. His hair was still wet and his cheeks a little pink from the shower. I felt as if I could almost smell his heavy scent of mint and sandalwood all the way across the room. I could see that he had his phone in his lap waiting for everyone to get settled in their seats. I couldn't help but stare at him. My phone vibrated and I saw that I had a text from him that's said. "Nice choice on the jersey ;)." I began to laugh a little to myself and shake my head as I responded "I know...someone has great taste." A few moments later after everyone had been seated the media was given the okay to ask any questions. Blake was looking back at me smirking and making other faces and continued when questions were being asked. I heard Blake's name being called when a man in the front asked the question and I could tell he wasn't paying attention.
"I'm sorry man, was that question for me? I was a little distracted. Can you repeat the question?" He said smirking at me. Blake answered a few more questions that lasted about 15 minutes and then he was free to go. As he began to get up and motioned toward the door I said my goodbyes to Jada and little Chris and scooted my way out. When I got outside I could see him leaning up against a wall looking at something on his phone.
"Hello there stranger," I said giving him a little wave.
"Hey you, did you enjoy the game?" He shad slipping his phone into his pocket and putting his arm around my waist pulling me in close to him. My heart my began to beat a little bit faster but I soon felt myself relax into his arms.
"I did. You didn't care to tell me that I was sitting court side did you?" I said teasing.
"Well I did tell you I could get you good seats didn't I?"
"You did, you did."
"I saw you talking to Jada. How did you like her?"
"She's super sweet and little Chris is good entertainment."
"Yeah he's a trip isn't he? And why did you scurry off when I was showin' you off to my boys?"
"Oh you mean when you had them all in a little circle? Yeah I had to get out of there. Do you know how intimidating that it? It's like a goldfish being put into a tank full of sharks. Terrifying."
"Oh, I never really thought about that," he said laughing a little and releasing me from his arms.
"Yeah, and then I ran into my mother who interrogated me."
"Did you tell her about me?"
"Of course not. I lied to her and told her I was with Jada and that her husband worked for the Clippers which wasn't a complete lie."
"Why didn't you tell her about us?"
"Us? That's the thing. I don't know exactly what this is. What are we?"
"I'm not seeing anyone else if that's what you're asking," he said looking down at me.
"Neither am I. But what are we? What am I going to tell my parents?"
"You can tell your parents whatever you want but I just want you to know that I like you. I like you a lot. And I hope this lasts. I guess you can say that we're dating. Is that ok with you?"
"Yes, it's ok with me. I'm just I don't know. But I really like you too. Like i don't think I've been into someone this this much in a long time."
"Well again, I'm glad to me the exception. Now let's get out here I'm hungry," he said grabbing my hand and lacing his fingers with mine as we walked toward the parking lot.