Broken Mirrors | All American

forty six

"Chris."
Spencer called.

"Look, not now, Spence."

"I just want to check on you, man. Coach was pretty tough before."

Chris huffed, stopping to turn to Spencer.

"Well, don't! I ain't doing this tonight, not with you."

He wanted to isolate himself before he caused something he couldn't come back from.

"How you throwing shade at me when you didn't look my way all game?"

"I may have if you hadn't sat out the first half with a shoulder cramp."

"It was the first quarter."

"Right. How 'bout you play 4 quarters before trying to fix my game?" Chris angrily spoke.

"Look, I know you ain't trying to hear from me right now, but I just talked to coach, and he--"

"What? He gonna bench me?"

Chris didn't care. He wanted to be left alone but he couldn't even get that.

Spencer softly shrugged. 

"He ain't decided yet. Chris, I can help you, man, but you got to tell me what's going on. You got a chance to hold your spot, and you're just gonna walk away? This ain't you, man."

"Don't tell me what is and ain't me."

"What the hell is going on then?"

"You want to know what messed me up so bad that I just give up?" Chris questioned, feeling his anger max out.

"Yeah, I do." Spencer said, taking the bait.

"You did!" Chris shouted.

"The last game I took a hit in was you. You put me in the hospital, and I try not to blame you for that, Spence, but I do. That's the truth. And now, every time I walk out on that field with you as my teammate, under those lights, I remember watching them from a stretcher, not knowing if I'd walk again. You know how to fix that, Spencer? Huh!?"

Spencer sadly stared at his friend, shocked to know he felt that way.

"Chris, I'm sorry, man. I didn't--I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't."

Chris scoffed, leaving the player where he stood.

Spencer's saddened mood didn't welcome in Grace's happy one. He slightly smiled, listening to his mother cheer.

"Crenshaw! Crenshaw! Whoo! What, cereal? Is that all you want after the game you just played?"

"I'm having more than one bowl, for sure."

Grace scoffed.

"Wrong. We celebrate in this house by eating real food. How 'bout my famous grilled cheese sandwich? With bacon and tomato?"

"Now, why would I ruin a perfectly great grilled cheese sandwich with some tomatoes?" Spencer questioned, smiling as she opened the door.

"Ha ha! Hey, stranger."

"What's up, Ms. Grace?" Coop greeted the mother.

"Where you been hiding?"

"I was about to ask our boy the same thing. You good?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Spencer softly replied, finishing his cereal.

"I'm gonna go recruit Dillon to help me with these grilled cheese sandwiches. Good to see you, Coop."

Spencer put away his dishes, stepping outside to find Coop.

"Yo, since when you stop checking for me after the game?" She asked.

"I thought you was with Patience."

"Well, my bad, alright? It just seems like... I'm only seeing you on the field these days. I got to say, you look good, though. The talk doctor's paying off, huh?"

"Yeah, we still working on it. I felt good tonight, though."

"That's good. At least one of us did. I got into it with patience during the game. She used Mo to get her out of J.P.'s contract."

"So that's how she did it." Spencer plainly said, hoping Coop would leave.

"Right, then came at me like I don't have a right to feel betrayed, saying I don't know myself unless I got somebody to fight, like what? Come on. You believe that?"

He sighed, knowing his wish hadn't come true. It was time to tell her.

"Yeah. I can.."

"Yo, come on. That ain't me. Sure, I protect my people, but I ain't-"

"Maybe your people wouldn't need so much protecting if you weren't getting involved in battles that ain't got nothing to do with you."

Coop scoffed, huffing as she crossed her arms.

"Yo, what is going on with everyone tonight? This got to be some mercury retrograde nonsense!"

"Coop, how many times did I tell you not to get involved with Shawn and that gang? Not to get jumped in, not to go after Tyrone? Over and over, I told you this wasn't your fight, and you wouldn't listen, and now I can't trust my own damn body."

Coop took a step back, tilting her head.

"Hold up. Wait. What? Are you trying to say that I'm the reason you got shot?"

"Yeah, I am." Spencer painfully spoke the words.

"No, you said-- No, you told me that this wasn't on me! You said there was no one to blame but Tyrone!"

"Yeah, well... I was wrong."