Playtime Rules

Rule #4 Never Chase a Man

How many days should she wait before she pounced on JeVonte?

She waited two days after she got his number before she texted him to meet her at the gym. She wanted to book a session with him, but he said he was booked for the rest of the week, but that she could come in and he would squeeze her in.

Squeeze her in?

He must not know who he was dealing with.

She dressed in red boy shorts and a cropped tank over her black sports bar. She sucked in her stomach. Okay, yes, she needed to get serious about leaning out. Maybe JeVonte was the man to do that.

She looked damn good. She oiled her legs and arms well and did her makeup like she was going out for the night.

Soon as she walked into the cardio area, she saw him there, working with some young, little, skinny white girl with dark brown hair in a ponytail. Pretty girl. She was flirting with JeVonte the way she smiled and giggled at him as he talked her through her treadmill work.

She rolled her eyes at them. Decided to try the bike today. When he had a moment he would come to her. She never chased after a man, she didn't have to.

She had no idea what she was doing on the stupid bike thing. If she wanted to sit and ride a bike all day she would have ordered a Peleton. Then she would workout from the comfort of her home, maybe work while she worked out

While she struggled JeVonte came over, grabbed the chair of the bike, and started fiddling with something under it. He was close enough to her she could smell his fresh deodorant, and feel his strong arm against her thigh.

"You have to adjust this to your height," he said to her, still fiddling between her legs while she watched him.

"Well, you're such a gentleman." She smiled sweetly at him. "Do you help all the damsels in distress?"

He grinned back at her. "It is my job."

With that, she wondered if this was his thing. Pull in the ladies by "helping them" as they worked out. He sure had his pick of the wealthy white ladies in there. Besides herself and Tamyra, she was the only Black female face she saw. She wondered if that's what he preferred, dating outside of his race.

If that was his preference, more power to him, but the way he kept looking at her, she knew otherwise.

"So this is what you do all day, help the ladies and play ball. Nice. Best job in the world, huh?"

"I don't mix business with pleasure." He leaned over her bike while she just sat there. "And if you become a pleasure, there won't be any business to discuss."

She felt womanly parts thump at her.

"You mean, you can't train me if I ask you out?"

"Correct."

She jumped up from the bike so fast. "Okay, then sir...Mr. Man, let's discuss when I can see you somewhere other than the gym?"

He chuckled at her. "Let me get back to my client, but you go ahead and warm up and then I will come over and give you some exercises to do so that you don't waste away on cardio. And it's a freebie. No charge, so we won't have to mix business with pleasure."

Why was this man making her forget she was supposed to be the player, not him? She made her dating rules and she suddenly forgot rule number four in the dating game. Don't chase a man, let him chase her. Here she was willing to play herself for a pretty face.

After twenty minutes on the bike, she got off and went to see what JeVonte was doing. The cardio area was always bare, but the weight training area was where it was at.

There were lots of people there, but she barely spotted JeVonte and that young white girl. He seemed to be all about business with her, but that did not mean she was. Imagine coming to the best gym in town to stay in shape and then finding out there was a hot young trainer. Who would not jump on that with every trick in the bag?

She was not dumb. She possibly had competition for his attention. Women slipping their numbers to him for an after-gym workout, late at night.

She wondered how good was it.

She took her mind out of the gutter. She was acting as if she could not get any man she wanted. Always had been the case since she first became attracted to boys. At age eight, her first crush in her third-grade class was Antonio Grant. She would just watch him from afar.

Then he shared his lunch with her one day and they were inseparable. Till junior high and other girls noticed him. That's when she learned early she had great taste in men, but with that, every other girl would want them.

Her second boyfriend, her real true boyfriend anyway was Tayvon Jordan. Pretty little bi-racial boy with long curly hair he wore in cornrows. Could not tell her anything walking around school with him. Then just like the rest, fell for another girl willing to do all the things with him.

The final straw as far as dating for her was Allistar Ryan, one of the few hot white boys at her school. He was all that and knew it. She fell for him hard, before he even noticed her. He was a year ahead of her when she was a freshman. She watched him afar...maybe stalked him a little.

She knew when he would get out of class, where his locker was, and where he parked his car. She knew where he lived and would walk down his street for no reason. She did that for about a semester before he finally noticed her when she made it a point to sit near him at an assembly one day.

She was not much to look at back then. Her hair was not stylish like all the other girls, no cute clothes, her mother shopped at thrift stores to save money. She had braces as well, and bad acne. Still, the cutest boy in school noticed her and it changed her life.

Allistar did not even date Black girls before her, she was his first. He was her everything. They were great together, she played basketball, and he was on the football team and a wrestler. She became popular because she was his girl.

She became Fancy Yancy because all the girls wanted to be her. She worked a part-time job after school so that she could buy in-style clothes. Life was good.

For three years it was good until he went off to college to play football and left her behind. Never officially broke up with her, just ghosted her. She would try calling and texting him and he ignored her. When he came home for Christmas Break, she surprised him and went to visit and he was home with another girl.

A new girl. A Black girl, prettier than her. He did not even apologize for dumping her that way.

She vowed after that, never to chase a man.