Arielle Stevenson, a determined hairstylist with dreams of owning her own salon, finds her past colliding with her present when NBA player Jordan Poole walks into her salon for a hair appointment. Despite Arielle's attempts to keep her distance, Jor...
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✩ 𝐣𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐞 ✩ Medstar Health Performance Center
As I left the salon, this goofy grin just wouldn't leave my face. It's strange, but I've always been one to smile a lot—my friends back in college used to point out that whenever I was around Arielle, my grin would stretch even wider, my laughs a bit heartier. It was like she brought out the most genuine happiness in me, and apparently, she still does.
It's been years since we last saw each other, and even though she clearly doesn't have the same soft spot for me anymore, just being around her, arguing and all, I couldn't stop smiling.
What do you call that?
Now, lacing up my shoes, I was still carrying that grin, even as I half-listened to my teammates talking around me.
"JP," Kyle says, shooting me a curious look. "Why are you smiling so damn hard?"
Deni joined in with a chuckle, "Yeah, man, who's got you all lit up like that?"
Corey threw in his guess, "What? You met a girl at the salon or something?"
I shrugged, the image of Arielle, fierce and determined, flashing through my mind. "Technically, I didn't meet a girl, since I already knew her," I started, my smile somehow stretching even further as I thought about her. "But yeah, I...I actually saw my girl."
Their reactions were immediate. Deni's eyes popped wide open in shock, Corey's jaw practically hit the floor, and Kyle didn't hold back, exclaiming, "What the fuck, Jordan?!"
I couldn't help but laugh at their expressions. "Yeah, it's complicated," I said, trying to wave it off while still smiling at the joy of seeing Arielle again.
Inside, though, I was already planning our next move, wondering how we'd navigate this crazy idea of a fake relationship. And yet, despite the potential complications, I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe, just maybe, this could turn into something good.
For both of us.
As I observed my teammates' shocked reactions, I couldn't shake the feeling of the complicated situation I had gotten myself into. Corey, Deni, and Kyle weren't just any guys—they were my closest friends, the ones who knew me inside and out. They'd seen me at my best and my worst, and they could read me like an open book.
Their genuine surprise wasn't just for show. They knew me well enough to sense when something was off, and the idea of me suddenly being in a relationship, even a fake one, was definitely out of character. Keeping up the charade around them would be a challenge, to say the least.
I shared a special bond with Corey, Deni, and Kyle, and I knew that navigating a fake relationship, especially one that would eventually have to go public, would be tricky with them around. They'd see through any facade I tried to put up, and convincing them that my relationship with Arielle was genuine was gonna be a very tall order.
