"Tell her, nigga." Jaren pressed. "It's Malia. She'd try to understand anything you do."
Ja rubbed his eyes. "Not this, though."
"In a way you gotta understand why she would be pissed at that. You waitin' til after y'all got together to tell her that shit." He told Ja. "Knowin' Malia, she would've tried to find a way to understand but if you hid it, now she'a prolly figure that it mean something to you."
"I'on know why I can never do right by this fuckin' girl."
Jaren wrapped his pasta around his chopsticks. "I'on know, man."
The longer Ja waited to tell Malia, the worst he felt. Malia was at a very good spot in her life and the two were having a good start to their relationship. Selfishly, Ja didn't want to be the one to ruin it. He'd already done enough.
The more he fucked up, the more Ja felt that they shouldn't be together in this life. It was only now was he feeling the true weight of the consequences of his actions. It was only gonna get worse from here.
Ja unlocked Malia's front door, hearing her laugh coming from the couch.
"Tuesdays and Thursdays work perfectly." Malia said, peaking over the couch to wave at Ja. "When should I come in for Lesson Planning prep?"
Ja removed his shoes and walked into the kitchen where Malia had food cooked. It was spaghetti and even though Ja just ate, he was gonna eat again.
"I can definitely come tomorrow morning." There was a short pause then Malia laughed again, making Ja glance over his shoulder at her.
He retrieved a plate from the cupboard, projecting his voice over to Malia. "Tell whoever that is, it's free ta' see how hollows feel."
Malia narrowed her eyes at Ja, still trying to focus on her phone call. "See you at 9. Alrighty. Bye, sir."
"Who that was?"
She stood, approaching the guard in the kitchen. "It was my boss so you don't need to threaten anyone with a gun, honey."
"Mhm." Ja kissed her forehead. "You goin' to help at the bar?"
Malia sighed. "I might. There's a big party there tonight and it's gonna be super busy."
Tonight, there was a big party happening at Follies. Some athlete was having a party there and a bunch of other athletes were invited. Malia's old manager offered her $1,000 to be there just for the night so she thought about going.
"You dressing?"
"I was just about to go shopping." She says. "Brook's on her way here."
Ja's dreads hung down into his face as he shoved a forkful of spaghetti into his mouth. "That's what's up."
"Chewing with your mouth full and standing up with your eating." Malia noted. "I'm a little confused."
The point guard sat down, mouth still full. "We gotta talk about sum'."
"Sure, honey. Just give me a-"
Brooklyn's knock on the door interrupted the conversation. Ja wasn't sure why he was trying to tell her right now but he couldn't hold it back any longer. He felt like shit and he felt even more like shit knowing he was about to make her feel like shit.
The opportunity wasn't there because before he could grasp his thoughts, Brooklyn and Malia were on their way out the door. It was almost 5 and the party started at 8 so they had to hurry to find outfits.
Ja left soon after, going to get ready at his house. He met his teammates at Tyus' house and they went to the bar together.
The group got a VIP table in the packed bar, greeting all the other NBA players here. There were also football players but Ja didn't talk to very many of them because he didn't know very many.
