Show Me Love

8. Vulnerability (Spencer's POV)

"Are you going to shoot the ball or not?" Chris asks as I toss it to him. "You've been acting real strange. What did you and your girl get into it?"

"First of all, Patience has a big ass mouth. Second of all, she's not my girl." I tell him as I grab the rebound with authority.

"What do you mean? I thought y'all were vibing and shit!"

I sigh. "Yeah! I thought that too. But she left for her book tour today."

"So what? You can't handle a career-driven woman?" He counters. "You're the only one that can bring in bread?"

"Nah, I can handle that just fine," I answer. "But she's going out with her ex when she gets to New York. And I don't even want to think about what else they'll be doing while she's there."

"Damn!" Chris mumbles. "That is fucked up!"

"What's more fucked up is that after dinner, I was going to ask her to be my girl. Like officially."

"Why didn't you? Maybe she would've changed her mind?" He counters.

I sigh as I think about all of the things I could've done. And everything I could've said last night to make things better for the both of us. But I didn't.

"I'm sure she would've. But I don't want to be the reason she doesn't pursue something she wants." I say and Chris shakes his head.

"What do you mean you're she would have?"

"She said she wouldn't go out with him, if I didn't want her to. And I told her it was cool."

"What the fuck were you thinking?" He asks and now I feel even more stupid. "You like her, right?"

"Isn't that obvious?" I counter with an attitude as my chin drops in disappointment.

"Then you should've stopped her!" He tells me sternly. "Yall two haven't really solidified y'all's status, correct? Then she was probably just looking for some reassurance before she left. And you let your ego get in the way of your heart."

"I mean, why would she even want to go out with him in the first place?" I ask as I throw the basketball off of the wall in frustration. "I thought we were building something."

"I can't tell you why women do half the dumb shit they do, bro. But if you set that pride aside, you can ask her that yourself!"

"I didn't think about my exes while we were vibing. She's flying across the country for hers." I say as the gym doors open and Orlando walks in with sunglasses and a bottle of Advil.

"Call her right now and tell her forget about that lame! Let her know you're the only man she needs." Chris makes his case and I'm apprehensive.

She left my place last night and I didn't really have much to say. I played it cool as we finished dinner. Then she needed to leave so she could pack. I told her to have a safe trip. But what I really wanted to say is to have a safe trip, but don't go out with your ex.

I slap the padding on the wall of the gymnasium and take a deep breath.

"I just hate she did that! I really cleaned up my act for her ass too." I say as resentment creeps into my voice. "A lot of calls from other females got ignored because I didn't want to jeopardize what Olivia and I were building. But she takes the first call her ex makes and goes out with him."

"Wait? What did I miss?" Orlando asks as he walks over.

"Just last week Olivia and I shopped for groceries. And I can't tell you the last time I've bought groceries! I mean, like healthy stuff too, bro! My refrigerator looks Martha Stewart and Snoop is about to film their cooking show." I joke and they both chuckle. "For real! And I started reading more books!——- I even told Liv shit about my brother that I never tell anyone. I really thought what we had was special."