Ja didn't know how seriously he took Malia when she said she just wanted to be friends, but obviously it wasn't seriously enough.
Malia didn't tell him she was going on a date. Why would she, right? She doesn't have to answer to Ja so he wasn't surprised that she didn't tell him anything about a date.
Desmond told him, though.
Brooklyn told Desmond.
And Malia told Brooklyn.
So, Ja knew when she was on the date. He didn't know what to make of it, and didn't know what to do to keep the thought from his mind. Alcohol usually would've fixed something like this but the drunker he got, the more of Malia he wanted so he didn't drink.
Ja did something that was possibly worse.
He didn't contact her.
He didn't text or call her like he normally did. Ja wasn't going to lie and say his ego wasn't bruised because it definitely was, but he had a fool proof cover up as an excuse whenever someone asked him why exactly they weren't in contact with each other.
"Would you want the girl you fucking wit' talkin' ta' her ex?"
Jaren smirked at Ja before looking at Tyus who was looking at Ja. The point guard was practicing his ball handling skills but doing so in a manner that made it look like he never picked up a basketball in his life.
"You said that 15 times this week." Jaren retorted.
Tyus watched Ja dribble the ball as he struggled to do so, sweating and losing the ball every couple of seconds. "Ja, talk to her. She probably waitin' on your ass to say some shit and you in here on our off day forcin' us to watch you struggle dribbling a basketball."
Ja let the ball roll away from him as sweat dripped from his body. "Shut up, nigga."
"I'm serious." Tyus laughed. "Like I'm dead ass."
Ja ignored the man that essentially backed him up and pointed to the rim. "One of y'all tryna' throw me some lobs?"
Jaren decided he'd be the one to do that since Tyus was better at passing than dunking. The thing was Ja missed enough dunks in-game that frustrated him so Jaren could only imagine how he was gonna feel right now if he missed any easy dunks.
"Malia wonderin' why-"
"Not right now."
To finish Jaren's statement, Malia was in fact wondering why Ja didn't call. She had no knowledge of him knowing about he going on a date, and to be honest, she wouldn't even call it a date. She would call it two coworkers going out to dinner.
Ja had to know, Malia thought as she and Brooklyn picked up items to buy. There was no other reason he would just not text her.
"Brook?"
The other woman looked up briefly, an armful of clothing in her grip. "Yes?"
"Does Ja know I went on a date?"
"No."
Malia gave her a straight face. "Brooklyn."
"He knows."
"Brooklyn!" Malia said, giving her friend a look. "You told him?"
The bartender was very defensive but made sure Malia knew that it wasn't her fault. "I did not. All I did was tell my boyfriend something in confidence. If you wanna hurt someone, you go and hurt Desmond."
"No wonder he hasn't called me." She fumbled with her phone before going to Ja's contact. Malia made a few attempts to call him, none of which he answered. "Brook, are you serious?"
