Private (Blake Griffin)

Seven

Seven

I woke up to the sound of water running in the bathroom. Rolling onto my side, I stretched across the bed and sighed. As I looked at the bathroom door I could see that the light was on. Blake must be getting ready. I squinted to read the clock and let my eyes adjust before the red numbers became clear. 8:15. Blake busts through the bathroom door in just a towel around his waist. I just look at him as he brushed his teeth as well.

"Morning." He says nonchalantly as he grabs an outfit from his suitcase and walks back into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. I sat up and then walked over to the dresser to look at myself in the mirror resting on the surface. I let my hair down from the messy bun it somehow got into, and put my slippers back on. Time was catching up and it was getting late, so I need to start getting ready. I knock on the bathroom door.

"Yeah?" Blake answers.

"I'm going back to my room to go get ready. Text me when we have to leave." I say.

"Okay." He says and I grab my key and phone.

I got ready and wore dark washed skinny jeans with a few rips, a boxy white t-shirt, my white converse, and my black raybans. My music was playing from the bluetooth speaker I brought. Blake knocked on the door just as I finished getting changed and I let him in.

"Nice to see you again." I smile after letting him in. He sat on the edge of the bed while I finished my makeup; just some foundation and mascara. My hair was down in its long curls with two front pieces clipped to the back.

"You ready?" He asked, poking his head through the doorway. We locked eyes in the mirror and he flashed me a smile before licking his lips and eyeing me up and down subtly. "You look great, by the way."

"Thanks. You too." He was wearing black jeans, white converse, and a black and white striped top. His sunglasses were tucked in the neck of the shirt. "C'mon," He laughed, "You don't need anything else you look great already." He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the bathroom and to the door while grabbing my purse with his other hand. He let go once we were outside the door and we headed to the elevator. The hotel was beautiful; I had only been to New York twice before. For college tours and a vacation one time.

The elevator was made of glass and created a view of the entire city. The clouds were low today, and the sun was shining, reflecting off of the glassy buildings. The elevator dinged as we reached the bottom floor and Blake let me out first, following behind. I put my sunglasses on before walking out of the lobby and onto the busy sidewalk. We were scheduled to meet on the corner of the street where our driver would be to take us to the offices.

The black SUV was parked on the corner, with a tall, large man standing beside it. He wasn't quite as large as Blake, but both of them were huge compared to my small stature.

"What's up, man?" Blake says as he does that man-hand shake hug thing with the man. He turns toward me and gestures toward me, "Joey, this is Valentina. She's a very important person in my life as well as a new employee for the Player's Tribune."

I smiled and put my hand out to Joey to shake, "It's nice to meet you, sir."

"It's nice to meet you too." He smiled before looking at the busy road, We better get going, the traffic is pretty bad."

Joey walked around the car and carefully got in on the driver's side while Blake opened the back door for me to slide in. He followed in right after and we both clicked in our seat belts. Joey, Blake, and I had some small talk while being stuck in the thick traffic. Once the conversation died down, I looked out the window at the city. Blake always promised he'd take me here at some point. It's one of his favorite places in the country.