"You're doing it again." Gianna carefully watched how Neve and Jalen interacted, not able to get that moment out of her head. "Doing what?"
"Looking at him. What's the story there?" Gianna nudged. "No story."
She didn't believe Neve at all but continued her work for the next few interviews anyways. After a long morning, their camera crew and media teams would be at the warm ups for the teams.
"Neve, I've been looking all over for you!" Pamela squealed as she attacked the younger woman into a hug. "Hi Ms. Pam."
"Hi." Gianna waved, "Gi, this is Ms. Pam, Jalen's mom. Ms. Pam, this is my friend and coworker Gianna."
"Nice to meet you. Neve I told you to call me mom a long time ago."
Gianna gave Neve a look and smirked as the older woman rambled on about the past. "I have to tell you, Janay is also here."
Janay was Jalen's on and off again girlfriend from college, "That's cool that they're still together."
"No it's not cool. I want him to let this girl go. I can't stand that wench."
Gianna couldn't help but snicker, Pamela was truly a character. "I'm serious, she reached out to me saying she wanted to reconnect with him after leaving him right after the draft. She clearly wants to be seen."
Neve tuned out the conversation. She had a lot of work to finish, and her notifications were blowing up from the media team posting a clip of her and Jalen's interview ahead of tip off.
"Oh this clip of you guys, it's so cute!" Pamela gushed, Gianna agreed. "Yeah, picture perfect."
Neve rolled her eyes, locking her phone and dumping it into her purse in the process. "Let's get ready for tip off."
Jalen removed his helmet before taking off his practice jersey. The west on his forehead dripped as he searched for his water bottle on the sidelines.
"Hurts, you have a guest." Looking up, he sees Janay walking over. "Hi baby, you missed me?" She asks attempting to kiss his lips. He politely dodged it, accepting the kiss to his cheek:
"Hey Nay, what you doing here so early?" "Kyn was still at the hotel, so I came over with her. Apparently your mother has been over here for an hour."
Jalen didn't have to guess where she was, he knew his mother was talking Neve's ear off, she adored her. Her feelings with Janay were not the same.
"Well there's a place in the back you can sit with the wives and girlfriends if you want." Janay's smile was larger than life, "Really? Oh I'm so excited, maybe I can sit with Jennifer."
Jennifer being Darius Slay's wife. She was a nice woman and one of few black WAGs on the team. "Yeah, I'll see you a little later" sending her away with a forehead kiss, he returned to the locker room.
"We are live in Philly at the NFC Championship to see the San Francisco 49ers face the Philadelphia Eagles. I'm your host Neve Morrison of Sports Daily. This match up is the fight to the finish as the winner will reign in this division, advancing to Super Bowl 57. The January weather treating us abnormally well as both teams make their way to the field."
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The Eagles players ran onto the field, led by Lil Uzi and his latest viral hit, Just Wanna Rock. Neve double checked her ear piece to make sure she could hear and report updates during the game.
Jalen couldn't help but sneak glances at Neve. Janay had been far from his mind even though she stood with his mother. There was something about Neve Régine Morrison, that always kept his nose wide open.
A woman with the most spirited smile and undeniable energy, he always wondered why she was single. Little did he know, she had been waiting for him. Neve adored Jalen and hoped that one day, he would open his eyes and realize she was the one.
"Turn the earphones off." Gianna pointed, Neve did as suggested, confused on the request. "What's up?"
"Can you tell me what it was between you two? He's been looking over here." Neve looked along the sidelines to see Jalen not hiding the fact he had been staring.
"Gi, I lie to you not. I don't think it was anything. He's probably just in shock that we're seeing each other for the first time in three years."
"That's not the look of someone in shock, it's deeper than that. He looked like that during the interview too. Like he has been studying you." Gianna pointed, "You're really telling me it's nothing?"
Neve knew that it was more, but as the hours went on since hearing his voice again, she couldn't stop thinking about what they once were. "I can admit, I cared about Jalen as more than a friend, but he always had someone. I couldn't tell him."
"And now?"
Neve glanced to the Eagles bench, seeing Jalen interact with his teammates. Her stomach fluttered, seeing him smile. She was falling all over again.
