Ja tried talking to Malia.
He actually tried talking to her a couple different times, but she wasn't willing to take him back. Malia reiterated to him a couple of times that they could be friends and that's it.
After a long week by herself and visiting her father, Malia took time to think about Ja.
She adored the point guard as a person and as a friend but every time Ja stepped out of her line of sight, Malia didn't know what he was doing. Was he drinking or doing something that overstepped the boundaries of what they had going on?
The only thing that kept Ja within arms length of Malia was the fact that he didn't cheat on her. He neglected to tell her about something that she could've easily forgiven him for had he been up front. It was his bad, but Ja was still trying to understand.
Ja was only 23, Malia had to tell herself. He should be able to drink and do whatever else he wanted to do without fear that someone would be mad.
That's not to say she didn't like him anymore, because Malia still did like Ja. But- right now was not for them to be together.
The pair was still friends and hung out a lot, but not to the same degree as they normally would. No sitting on each other's lap, no hand holding, no kissing and no laying in each other's bed.
"So basically, it's like summer school tutoring." Sean explained. "You're gonna have maybe 3-4 students every Tuesday and Thursday."
Malia nodded in agreement. "I like that idea."
He patted the desk. "That's great."
"So, I start next week, right?" She asked. "Tuesday?"
"Yup." Sean stood along with her, shaking her hand. "I'll send any other details I can think of but the rest is in the email I sent out to you."
Malia smiled. "That's great."
As she prepared to leave, Sean called after her, not sure how stupid he sounded. "Um, Malia? Are you busy this Friday?"
Sean wasn't a big social media guy and liked to focus mostly on his work, so he knew nothing of Ja Morant. He didn't know that they'd just broken up, or that they even dated at all.
All Sean knew was that Malia was beautiful and he had been wanting to take her out to dinner since he'd met her.
"I'll be out of town with my friends." Malia said honestly.
He nodded. "Oh."
She smiled softly, feeling sorry as he tried to mask his disappointment. "But, I'm free next Friday. If that works."
"That works."
Malia wasn't sure why she agreed but was certain it was out of kindness. She didn't feel romantically towards this man at all so it was wrong but it was too late to take it back now.
She wasn't going to tell anyone that she agreed to a date with a coworker. Malia wanted to tell Brooklyn, but Brook would tell her slam piece and Desmond and Ja spent a lot of time around one another.
Malia also didn't know why she didn't want Ja to know so bad.
Maybe it was because they'd only officially broken up two weeks ago and Malia didn't want it to look like she was moving on. Then again, maybe she should be doing that.
After she left work, Malia went to her apartment where she quickly changed into sweats and a crop top. She had to get shopping done really quick.
Her friends, that included half of the Grizzlies basketball team and Brook, were coming over for another cooking night. Desmond just got back from a visit at TCU and Ja took Kaari on a beach trip for a few days. Tyus just got home from vacation with his children as well and Jaren just wanted to hang out.
