Fireworks 1 and 2

Jungle: Chapter Thirteen

    Drake was an ambassador for the Toronto Raptors. He served as representation for the team in a role meant to garner enthusiasm and excitement for the team. As such, he attended the majority of the games. He often spoke to the team before they went on the court, if his schedule permitted. This was one of those nights.

    Before the game started, he and Mia were escorted to the away team locker room where the Raptors were prepping for the game. Several of them hooted and hollered at the sight of Mia. A few of them openly leered, even though Drake had his arm around her. This was her first time joining Drake during one of his locker room visits with the team.

    Drake tensed whenever one of the players gave her any bit of attention. She only noticed it because she was so close to him. When he spoke to the team, he was nothing but cordial, polite, and with a few of them, friendly. He gave them encouraging words, shook hands and dapped a few of them, and gave a warning look to the few that were staring at Mia.

    "Is that you, fam?" one of the players asked. "Is that you? If that's you, I'll back off."

    A tall, brown-skinned player with the name DEROZAN on the back of his jersey, threw a white towel at the first player. "Of course that's him. What the fuck? Do you live under a rock? That's Mia. As in Mia's Song, nigga."

    "Oh, shit," the first player said, running a hand over his low fade. "My bad, Aubs. You know I ain't shit."

    Drake laughed and shook his head. "You can make it up to me by winning tonight," he said, pointing a finger at him. "We need to find our seats, but you guys got this. All right?"

    The players shouted and chanted as Drake turned and walked Mia out of the locker room.

    Prior to dating Drake, Mia had been to a few San Antonio Spurs basketball games in her day, but none of those experiences compared to the experience of accompanying Drake to a sports game. Seeing the team in their locker room. Having a personalized escort lead them throughout the stadium, guiding them to their seats.

    Close to a year ago when he had taken her to her first Raptors game, he had explained to her that the stadiums had VIP box seats. "But since I'm the ambassador, I like to be up close and personal to the game. I like to be front and center so I can cheer them on - especially at away games. At away games, most of the fans in the building are going to be fans of the opposing team. Hopefully if the Raps see me on the court cheering them on, it makes them feel like they have someone in their corner. It probably sounds silly, but a few of the players say it helps." In response, she had told him that it didn't sound silly at all. She'd only gained more admiration for him. Not everyone would think that deeply about what could be done to help the team. At times, he could be considerate - almost to a fault.

    The short, stout female Staples Center guide led them down a narrow corridor, and the roar of a crowd could be heard off in the distance. Several teenaged boys ran past them waving humungous foam fingers at each other. One of them stopped in their tracks and whirled around. "You're Drake!"

    "Oh my God, it's Drake and Mia," one of the other boys said, brushing back a lock of short, dark hair.

    Drake reached up and adjusted the hat on his head. "Hey, how's it goin'?" he asked, slowing his steps.

    "Shit, I don't have a pen or paper on me!" one of the boys, a tall lanky blonde, mumbled.

    "A pic! We can take a pic with them!" the dark-haired boy suggested.

    Mia laughed for the first time in hours. The stadium guide was polite enough to take a photo of Mia, Drake, and the boys with one of the boys' cell phones. Then the boys wanted a photo of just Mia and Drake. Drake's arm was tight on her waist and she leaned into him while they posed for the photograph. Big smiles. The more time that was passing, the more real her smiles were becoming. Her faith in him was still shaken a bit, but she could understand what he meant when he said that he associated Vanessa with Trevor. So did she, and the last memory she wanted to recall was of Trevor's attack on her, the attack that had caused her to nearly lose her life in a hotel parking garage. So he and I are going to enjoy these few days that we have together. Hopefully we can get past this negativity and just enjoy each other. And when he gets back from touring, we'll be able to reconnect and with time, I'll be able to trust him again.

    The corridor opened up into a walkway lined by stadium seats. Fans were standing in their seats waving banners and streamers and foam fingers and all sorts of random merchandise they'd purchased. Some of them hung over the railings and started screaming when they saw Drake and Mia. Camera flashes went off, cell phone cameras went into record mode, and by the time Drake and Mia found their seats, at least ten videos had been uploaded to Instagram.

Video caption 1: "Oh my God, I'm at the Lakers/Raptors game and Drake and Mia just walked in."

Video caption 2: "Drake is here with his girlfriend to support the Raptors. I love Drake's music. It's a shame that my Lakers have to crush his team tonight."

Video caption 3: "So I'm at the Lakers game with my sister and we're just talking and I casually look over and who do I see? Drake! I mean...just Drake, no big deal right? #YeahRight #ItsAHellaBigDeal #IMeanItsFuckingDrakePeople #ICouldAlmostReachOutAndTouchHim #TotallyDyingRightNow"

Video caption 4: "Drake and Mia at the Lakers vs. Raptors game. If Drake isn't careful, Imma' have to take his girl away from him. Mia looking fine af. That dress is DEFINITELY fitting her right. Let me show you how a real man does it, Mia. One night. Just give me one night."

    Even once they were in their seats, photographers came up to them asking to take their photos. Mia smoothed a hand over her hair to make sure it still looked presentable, and posed with her megastar boyfriend. When the photographers moved on, Drake glanced around the stadium. He grinned. "Hey, I see a few Raptors jerseys in the crowd," he said.

    "Yeah?" She turned around and scanned the fans standing and waving their banners. "Aww, someone is holding up a sign with the Canadian flag on it."

    "And the Raptors logo, see the sign with the Raptors logo?" he asked, moving to stand behind her. He wrapped his arms around her from behind as he pointed out the fan holding the Raptors sign.

    The fans saw him and started screaming their heads off.

    He raised a hand to them and waved.

    "This is so crazy," Mia said softly, also raising her hand and waving. "I always think that I'm going to get used to it all. But I never do. It's just as crazy as it was the first time. Even the fiftieth time."

    "It's probably the thousandth time for me, and it's still crazy to me." He ducked his chin down and rested it on her shoulder. "I don't know how I'm going to leave you in two days."

    I don't know how I'm going to watch you walk away in two days, she thought, leaning back into him.