As Long as there is Love-Chapter 20
“Ooh Nina I can’t believe you got Justin Timberlake for the fundraiser. That is freaking unbelievable.”
“Forget about him and get in the huddle!” She was yelling but obviously not loud enough because the girls ignored her as they watched Justin prepare on the other side of the court.
As Justin stretched, the girls gushed, “He has the cutest ass!”
“What ass? He doesn’t have an ass, he never had an ass.” Talking to a brick wall again. Nina decided that she would shut up now since she couldn’t hear herself talk over the gymnasium full of screaming fans. The turnout of the fundraiser was amazing. Once it had leaked that a celebrity was expected to be in attendance the bucks started rolling in like hot cakes.
“Girls if ya keep standing there in a daze the boys are going to beat us. Ya don’t want that do you? Good.” She smiled as they huddled around her, now interested.
“Y’all know the techniques and plays right?” They nodded. “And the boys are just cocky and y’all can destroy them, right?” They nodded again. “Are y’all ready then?” They nodded once more before arms went up in pure ecstasy and wild cheers followed.
Nina was experiencing a similar, but long forgotten sensation. The last time she had been on a court, anticipating the outcome of a thrilling and competitive basketball game while a crowd surrounded her, was five long years ago. Now, tonight, she was part of it again. She was able to live her dream again even if it was for this one moment.
“Ooh Nina the ref is calling you. You’re the point guard.”
“Yeah sure.” Nina mumbled nonchalantly though her heart was beating wildly beneath her left breast. She strolled to the center of the court where she met the referee and Justin.
“I’m not surprised to see you up here.” Justin smirked.
“Shut up.” Nina shot back just before the ball was tossed up between them.
Justin being the taller of the two leaped up retrieving the ball out of the air. The game had begun.
The ball was quickly passed back to Justin. He dribbled the ball against the floor, behind him, back and forth in between his legs before completing a crossover dribble teasingly close to Nina who was attempting to steal the ball from him.
She used her entire body to block any efforts at shots towards the hoop. Her hands waved in the air before him. Her legs accompanied by her feet allowed her to bounce from side to side before him. Her hip bumped his as she guarded him.
Justin smiled just before he drove past her completing a clean lay-up, “Swoosh.” He bragged in her face as the crowd roared. Nina just watched the board as the scores changed. The boys were winning.
The ball had been passed to one of her teammates; still Nina was being guarded, leaving her unopened. “Justin this is ridiculous! I don’t even have the ball!” She tried ducking underneath his arm but Justin halted her actions.
“Unh uh, nice try, but you’re the star player and they’re eventually going to pass it you.”
“You’re not giving them a chance to.” She pouted frustrated. He continued to move with her.
“That’s right.” He was having too much fun, which he hadn’t had in a while. And to see Nina sweat because she was losing was a treat as well.
“J it’s just for a fundraiser.”
“J? You haven’t called me that since we were 18. And I know it’s for a fundraiser but you’re the one that made it seem so much more than that. Recall saying you was gonna whoop my ass?” Justin bumped her aside just as one of her teammates approached.
“Justin that is a foul! You can’t touch me! Ref!” The referee looked over as quickly as he glanced away. He ignored her. “I can’t believe this. They in here treating ya celebrity ass like royalty. Do you shit gold or something? I mean let me know cause-”
“Don’t cuss in front of the kids.” He had never heard her talk this foul. It was somewhat refreshing though since he was so used to Michelle’s innocent persona. “And calm down it’s not like I grabbed your ass or something.” Justin dropped back a bit.
“Oh I liked to see you try.” Only he never got the chance. A teammate zipped a no-look pass to Nina, who completed a lay-up of her own. “How you like that?” It was obvious that she could show off too.
Justin only smirked. It was also refreshing to see Nina with her guard down. For once, she wasn’t mad at him, she wasn’t calling him names. She was just having fun.
“Ooh would you look at that, my girls just scored.” Nina boasted as she began guarding Justin again.
Third Quarter ended. Fourth Quarter approached.10 seconds left in the game. The boys were down by three.
“Alright this is it Nina say you’re prayers now.” Justin crossed the ball between his legs.
“Cause you about to lose! I’m serious, wipe that smirk off your face. I’m whipping you and you can’t handle it. Just bow down-” Nina suddenly knocked the ball loose. In a flash, she drove the length of the court and implemented a lay-up between two defenders. The crowd was hype.
The buzzer went off. The boys had loss.
Nina walked over to the bench and dropped down. She buried her face in a towel. Justin tapped her shoulder. She raised her head and grinned, “I whooped ya ass.”
“I let you beat me.” Justin replied.
“Oh come on! That’s crap. I was playing you just as hard as you were playing me.” That she was. He couldn’t deny that. Thank the lord that he worked out on a regular basis otherwise, he would be kissing the floor right now due to exhaustion.
“Good game Nina. I didn’t think you still had it in you.”
“I don’t know why you continue to doubt me.”
“Ooh mommy you beat Justin.” The twins approached with Ronnie, Travis, baby Travis, Tony, and Jon behind them.
Justin tossed Nina an inquisitive look that asked, ‘why are they calling me Justin again?’
This is what she told him, “I couldn’t have them calling you daddy in front of all these people so before we left I said, Nikki, Neece, tonight daddy is not daddy, he’s Justin, not daddy, ok? Remember Justin, yes, daddy, no. Thank God they remembered.”
Justin crossed his arms. He wasn’t sure if he should be angry with her or not. “Are you gonna tell them to call me Justin every time you don’t want someone to know?”
“Hey ya have no right to be going off on my sister.” Ronnie spoke up. Travis told her to calm down. She refused.
“No I’ve been waiting a week to talk to him so let me finish.” She moved closer to him; put her lips by his ear so that only he would hear.
“What do ya think you’re doing? Do you like playing with my sister’s heart or are you really confused? Do you not know if it’s my sister you want or Michelle? Because you can’t put my sister threw this, kissing her when you shouldn’t have. Yeah I know about the kiss.” She replied to his silent display of shock.
“So make up your mind okay?” Ronnie ended with a smile and managed a hug, belly and all.
Justin stood rooted his spot for a moment longer before walking away. Nina spent the next twenty minutes being congratulated by the attendees and her teammates. Soon Quincy approached.
He smiled at her, reaching for her hand as clammy as it was. “Nina, may I take you out to celebrate?”
Nina thought for a moment. This was what she needed right? And she had avoided him long enough. “Sure why not. It’ll be my pleasure Quincy.” She flashed a smile that dropped as soon as Ronnie approached her.
“Ooh so you’re Quincy, hmm” She took in his muscled stature. “…Nina you sure you can handle all that girl?”
~*~*~*~*~*~
“Nina get the phone!”
“I’m on it! Hello?” Nina breathed into the receiver.
“Damn you’re all out of breath. Shall I ask what you were doing?”
“If you must know Justin, even though it’s none of your business and I can care less about what you thought I was doing-”
“Nina get to the point already.”
“I’m going on a date.”
“A date?” Suddenly there was a huge lump lodged in his throat.
“Yes Justin a date. Ya know D-A-T-E?”
“Nina, I know what you mean.” He mumbled. Of course, I know what she means. I just can’t believe it. What he believed was that Nina hadn’t gotten over him yet, but she was about to prove him wrong tonight.
“So why are you calling wasting my time?”
“I wasn’t calling for you. I was calling to say good night to the twins.”
“Oh really? Well, let me go give them the phone. Hold on.”
Justin waited, absorbing the shock of what he just heard. Nina. On a date. With someone else. Unbelievable. It was amazing how difficult that was to imagine.
He had never seen Nina with anyone else but him so he just couldn’t envision her on a date, without him. Sharing her company with someone else. Sneaking food off each other’s plates. And sneaking in kisses. Eww. He didn’t even want to form that picture in his mind.
Justin listened as Nina woke up the twins. “Little bit, short stuff, wake up. Daddy’s on the phone.” Nikki was the first to get on the line.
“Hiya daddy.” She whispered groggily.
“Hi short stuff I just wanted to say good night.”
“Night night daddy, love you.” Then she handed the phone over to her sister.
“Hi daddy. I’m sleepy daddy. Bye daddy.” Okay so she wasn’t as eager to talk to him as Nikki had been, still he was satisfied. She was learning to like him, which meant he had one less person hating him.
“Okay Justin well I have to go, Quincy we’ll be here in-”
“Quincy? That brawny dude? What are you wearing?”
“What are you my father now?” Nina asked closing the door behind her as she exited the twins’ bedroom.
“No I’m you’re friend remember?” He replied sarcastically. “And friends tell each other these things…so I’ll ask you again. What are you wearing?”
“I can’t believe this.” Nina mumbled. “Ugh…I’m wearing a black dress.”
“How tight is it?”
“Justin!”
“What! I can’t let my kids’ mother go out looking all scandalous and what not.”
“I’ma let that slide. And the dress is my size.”
“How short is it?”
“It’s not.”
“Ah, so basically you’re saying it’s garbage bag tight and you’re ass is almost showing?” Justin asked but never received a reply, well at least not in words. What he received was a dial tone because Nina had hung up on him.
Justin snickered closing his cell phone. He didn’t mean to make her upset, just to tease her a little. Make her feel a little guilty for going on a date. He wondered if he had succeeded.
~*~*~*~*~*~
“Did you have a good time?” Nina looked over at Quincy nodding hesitantly at first then with certainty afterwards.
“Sure did.” She replied, though she wasn’t really sure. Only thing she was sure about was that she was nervous; had been since he showed up at her house. And when they were at the restaurant she was a wreck. Even the lord couldn’t get her hand to stop shaking long enough to eat her meal. She was sure Quincy had noticed which is why he had just asked.
“Good, good.” He paused to park his car in front of her house. “I’m glad, really ya know, that you had a good time with me.” Nina smiled at him.
“Because you had been avoiding me for so long…that you decided to finally go out with me was like wow! Ya know?”
Nina replied with a, “Mmm hmm.”
“So I guess I’ll walk you to the door?”
“If you’re a gentleman ya will.” She teased unbuckling her seat and opening the passenger side door.
“Oh most definitely.” Quincy rushed over to her side before she could fully exit. He helped her climbed down from the ledge of his SUV.
“Thank you.” Nina attempted to slip her hand away but he held it tightly, however not enough to cause pain. She noticed that he was leaning in close to her and used her free hand to stop him.
“Unh uh, we’re taking this one step at a time.”
“Okay.” He nodded thinking for a moment. “How about a hug as the first step? Is that cool?”
“That’s cool.” Nina smiled. He opened his arms and she stepped into his embrace.
“Step one is complete. See we made some progress.” Nina laughed at him even though his warm breath fanning against her neck as he spoke distracted her. That was prior to the kiss he placed against her jaw. She was more than distracted then. Back to being a nervous wreck.
Not known as one to advertise public affection, she felt extremely weird backed up against his car while he was kissing her. Wait he hasn’t kissed you yet--oops spoke too soon.
While she had shortly escaped reality, he had invaded her thoughts with a kiss that had her grasping onto his shoulders for support. He flicked his tongue against her closed lips asking if it was acceptable for him to initiate step two. She refused.
Nina’s hands flew to his solid chest. “Whoa. Oh, I am so not ready for step two.” She pushed him back.
“I understand, sorry about that. Can I ask you a question though?”
“What?” He better not ask me what I thought about that kiss!
“Why is Justin Timberlake standing in front of your door?”
“Huh?” Nina turned around so quickly that she almost tripped. Quincy had been right. Justin was indeed standing in front of her door and with his arms folded as if he was angry.
“Oh he’s probably still mad ‘cause I put a hurting on him.” She forced a laugh. How long has he been standing there?
“Well, I’ma let you go, okay?”
“Mmm hmm.” Nina waved and began strutting towards her house with Quincy watching her every move. Justin was watching her too.
He watched how the dress, which was neither too short nor too tight, flowed freely around her legs while her strappy heels clicked against the pavement. The mild wind blowing through her hair made it seem as if it had a mind of its own. The frown that masked her face was a strong contrast to the exquisite image.
“Hmm do you do that often?” He gestured towards the car that was pulling off.
Nina didn’t need to ask what he meant by that comment, she already knew, which also confirmed her suspicions of how much he had seen.
“Leave me alone.” She moved past him until Justin grasped her arm.
“I’m just asking. I mean do you always kiss him outside for whole world to see?”
“And I’m asking you what the hell are you doing here? And I’m telling you to go home.” She snatched her arm away.
“I came to tuck the twins in since you went out.” Justin replied.
“Justin I tucked the twins in before I left.” A hand immediately went to her hip.
“Nina, what are you trying to prove by going out with him?”
Okay that had came out of nowhere. “I thought I told you that my personal life does not concern you?”
“I mean is just seems weird that you’re all the sudden dating this guy. Are you trying to prove something to me? Prove that you’ve moved on?”
“Not that I need to prove it, but yes I have moved on.” It was funny how easily the lie fell from her lips.
“Mmm hmm.” Justin smirked skeptically. “You have huh? So when you told the twins that you loved me what was that?”
“It was exactly as it seemed. I can love you but I’m not in love with you anymore.” Another lie.
“Humph, really?”
“Yes really.” She was now staring up into his eyes while he had her cornered against the rough brick wall.
“I don’t believe that for one second. You’re not a very good liar Nina.”
“Unh uh, none of that.” Ronnie had opened the door, turned on the porch light, shoved the hell out of Justin, and pulled Nina inside. “Go home Justin and make up your damn mind on the way there.” She slammed the door in his face.
Defeated, Justin had no choice but to follow the rules. He was going to do a lot of thinking tonight.