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"ZIA RAHOMES, WHAT A PLEASURE."
Lamelo ball came up to her during pre-game warmups with a charming smile plastered on his face.
Zia furrowed her eyebrows, accepting his handshake hesitantly. "Back atcha Mr.Ball."
Still engaged in the conversation, she absentmindedly played with the black elastic of her Nike sports bra and watched as the words effortlessly rolled off his tongue in an attempt to flirt. Zia simply wasn't buying it.
Zia wasn't interested in relationships at the moment, and most importantly, nobody in the league. Lamelo kinda went in one ear and out the other as he spoke cocky words at the girl. A small smirk formed on his face.
"It’s not nice to stare ma? And why won’t you answer my dms?"
i wasn't staring at you and i don't want to answer you.
"I thought you aint run it?" She joked, earning a proud laugh from Lamelo, " Good one."
Zaharia awkwardly chuckled, snapping out of her judging trance because frankly, Zia wasn’t interested. Cocky people really rubbed her in the wrong way. She forced a smile and awkwardly scratched the back of her neck, "Uhm."
"Soo, can i get them digits?" Lamelo asked, causing Zia to mentally facepalm. She exhaled, looking around the room for a lifeline. "I’ll dm them to you."
In the middle of the court, stood Moses Moody shooting threes. Zia excused herself, patting Lamelo on his shoulder. "Bye Lamelo."
"Bye ma."
Zia cringed at the nickname Lamelo had called her now twice before she sped away. She had practically pounced onto Moses’s back, clinging on him for dear life. "Ahhh help me! Mullet man won’t leave me be." Moses had chuckled at the nickname the team had given lamelo on the plane ride.
Moody stepped back and shot a 3, shimmying a little as it swished in. "He needs to move around. Juan told me he was in your comments," He spoke.
Zia began working on elbow floaters, "Yeah, twice!” She exclaimed as she sadly bricked a shot, making her curse under her breath.
"You know flashy players like him can’t control themselves, he prolly wants that NBA head."
Zia's eyes widened at her teammate's words as she chucked the ball at him. "Noo! Don’t do that now."
"Zia, I’m not wrong." He placed his up hands he moved to the corner.
Moses wasn’t wrong. The number of men in the league that had hit her up recently disgusted her. All of the blue checkmarks in her dms didn’t sit right with her.
The two shot a bit longer before heading back to the locker room and quickly changed into their simple blue-away jerseys.
Zia grabbed her hairbrush and began slicking her flyaways back down. She laced her LeBron 14's up.
Jordan made a strange noise, gaining her attention before pointing down at his own shoes which were an exact match. The same colorway and everything.
"We're twinnin, you're waves are spinnin, the dubs stay winnin." Zia playfully rhymed and ran down the tunnel alongside Jordan as he laughed. “Please girl never do that again. “ He picked up a ball and began her layup lines.
The hyped Charlotte crowd cheered as the lights dimmed and they began to announce every individual player. “ And the 6’8 guard from Chino Hills, California, Lamelo Ball!”
The crowd got 10 times louder as the tall boy ran out to the court, his arms flopping lazily as he joined the back of the layup line.
Curry, Poole, JTA, Draymond, and Moody gathered to the court as Charlotte’s starting 5 followed. The ref threw the ball up and they played some basketball.
-
Jordan and Zia walked shoulder to shoulder into their shared hotel room and began exhaustedly laying their things down. “ Rock, paper, scissors pretty girl. “ Jordan groaned as he propped himself on Zia’s bed.
Zaharia got up, crisscrossing her legs as she agreed to Jordan. “Rock, Paper, Scissors..” They said in unison as they moved their hands to the corresponding motion.
Shoot!
Jordan picked rock and Zia picked paper, earning an exciting cheer and disappointing whine. She stuck her tongue out at Jordan before happily rushing into the bathroom.
In about a span of 30 minutes, both bodies were out of the shower and cuddles up on Zia’s bed as they watched Moana on Jordan’s Ipad. Zia laid flat with 2 pillows supporting her neck as Jordan laid on her chest, holding the device upright.
“Has anyone ever told you that you look like a black Moana?” Jordan sleepily asked.
“Nuh-uh.”
“Well, you do.” He stated with a little more bluntness than anticipated. “Thank you, Jordy, you remind me of Heihei.”
Jordan gasped at her statement, poking his neck up, “You’re ruthless.” He muttered, adjusting himself under the covers. He was so glad to have him as a friend.
About 1/4ths in of the movie, Zia found comfort from the boy snoring lightly on her chest. It got her thinking.
Here Zia Rahomes, the most dysfunctional person with relationships, was, letting a boy she just met lay on her chest. Not like they were anything more than friends, but it was crazy how she trusted him so easily.
After her freshman year of college, she was done with relationships. Just the sickening thought of what her ex did to her made Zia absolutely sick to her stomach. And once she was out of the hospital, she went to her mother’s grave to make a vow.
Zaharia Rahomes would not deal with any more boys, but here she was with Jordan Poole laying in her arms.
