3 Months Later.
"Boo." Ja mumbled into Malia's ear. "You up?"
Malia stretched. "Kind of."
The guard kissed the side of her neck. "I can't sleep and you ova' hea' sleepin' yo' life away."
"Temetrius. It's 2 o'clock in the morning and you have a game later." She turned over, climbing on top of him. "Please go to sleep. I have to get up at 7 for school."
Ja sighed, laying there quietly for a minute.
The point guard was about to play in an NBA game for the first time since April. That was 7 full months ago. To say he was nervous would be putting it very generally.
The entire NBA media was anticipating his return to the court and the game against Milwaukee wouldn't be easy one. While the Grizzlies started the first few weeks of the season without Ja, they had a 10-5 record to show for it.
Memphis had a tall task in front of them in the Bucks. Giannis and Jrue Holiday had the Bucks sitting at a league best of 13-2 and they were virtually unstoppable on both offense and defense.
"Malia."
"Babe."
The point guard rubbed her back. "What if we get the shit beat out us?"
"They won't, honey." Malia murmured, half awake. "JJ is getting like 6 blocks in every game and didn't Desmond have 30 in almost every game so far?"
"Still, tho'."
The school teacher laid still for a few seconds before sitting up to straddle his waist. Malia was tired and since Thanksgiving break was here, there were a lot of tests to grade and extra work had to be given out for students to get their grades up.
They'd given her a position at the high school that was a little closer to Ja's place so Malia spent a lot of time there. With a higher grade to teach, she had a lot more work than what she had with her younger kids last year.
She was teaching AP Biology like she wanted and Malia loved it so much.
"Babe." Her eyes stayed shut as she spoke to him. "What can I do to help you sleep?"
Ja rubbed her sides. "Just talk ta' me."
Malia forced her eyes open, looking down at Ja who was wide awake. "Well, I've learned how to talk a lot because I work with talkative teenagers."
"What they be talkin' 'bout?"
"Depends on the day." She says, stifling a yawn. "The boys are more talkative than the girls. I have to go in there with a plan everyday or there would be a lot of pranking classmates and flirting with me all day."
Ja chuckled. "You close in age ta' them so they feel like you one of 'em."
"True." Malia said. "I don't ever remember high school being that rowdy when I was in school, though. Granted I went to a private school."
"I feel 'lat."
She rubbed her eyes, holding onto his hand as she looked down at him. "Talk to me about something. Tell me about the night we met at Follies."
"Aight." Ja cleared his throat, pushing his dreads to the back. "Me and Trip and 'nem was lookin' fa' a chill lil' spot ta' get some drinks but we used ta' go out a lot and we ain't want people ta' think we was alcoholics or nothin'."
Malia smiled. "Right."
"We find this spot called Follies. It was a strip club and Desmond ass loved the women at that point in time so we went thea'." He explained, holding her steady as he sat up against the headboard. "I'm gettin' drunk as fuck then this bad joint clock in."
