I'd Rather Be Single 2 by LaShonda DeVaughn Page A

what’s the deal with you? Like foreal, foreal.”
    He laughed . “Nothing is going on with me, babe.”
    “Oh it’s funny. I can take my bag and get out of here.” I grabbed my purse and rose from my seat.
    He reached across the booth and placed me back down by my arms. “I’m laughing because you are so pretty when you are mad.”
    “I’m not in the mood to laugh, when we got serious shit to talk about.”
    “Stop being so sensitive . I said I’m sorry. I was sick, what do you want me to do?”
    “I want you to keep it a hundred with me , that’s what I want.”
    “ Keeping it a hunnet is all I know, boo. Look, from here on out, if I fuck up, you can leave me. Cut a nigga some slack though. Every relationship has issues. We ain’t gonna be on the same page every time. We discussed it, and I apologized. Let’s just move forward, okay?”
    I sighed , turning away from the table. I really did miss him, but I wasn’t tryna accept his apology and then set myself up for more apologies ahead. “Look, I don’t want no more games, Courtney, okay? I’m not used to this shit!”
    He put his hands up. “No games.”
    I crossed my arms and nodded. “What am I gonna do with you?”
    He raised up to sit on my side of the booth and he hugged me and kissed all over my face.
    “I missed your pretty ass , girl.”
    “Stop Courtney.” I was still mad.
    “Shut up.” He said , turning my head to his. He pecked my lips and then stuck his tongue down my throat.
    “You’re my boo , Tyra.” His eye contact was intense. “I’m not letting you get away.” He kissed me again, and this time, I was into it because I had missed him.
    “Break this up, break this up. Courtney, here are your cupcakes.”
    Ms. Laura placed the red velvet football shaped cupcakes on our table and Courtney rubbed his hands together, anxious to dive in. He bit a piece and then fed me the rest. I had to hand it to him, he was definitely smooth, but I was still keeping my game face on. I worked too hard at protecting my heart to be played. I had to sort through this shit and find out what was real and what was fake. For some reason, I just couldn’t put my finger on what it really was with us. But I was determined to find out.

     
     

     
    Things with Courtney were back on track for the most part. The only complaint I had was that every so often he would take an hour or so to answer some of my text messages. That shit got my nerves, but I tried not to harp on the issue too much, because he was starting to complain that I was sweating the small stuff. So I tried to be the “understanding girlfriend”. In the back of my mind, I was hoping that the things that I accepted weren’t the things that I would regret.
    I had Tuesday off , and Courtney invited me to come to the training camp to see him practice. It was scorching hot outside, but when I arrived at the park, I noticed the heat didn’t bother the fans much. They enjoyed watching the football players practice. Fans wore Patriots jerseys, some of their faces were painted, and they were screaming Court’s name every time he made a play. I smiled proudly.
    I stopped inside one of the shops to buy some Patriots memorabilia. I planned to rock them during the season when I go to watch him play foreal. I bought a few pink Patriots hats, Patriot baby doll tees and some cute Patriots sweatpants. I was able to change in the back and put on my new fitted Patriots T-shirt, matching blue Patriots hat, and it went nice with my red lipstick and popping eyelashes. I came representing my baby to the fullest. I gave the gentleman at the front of the park my name and he gave me my VIP pass and told me to proceed to Tent #7.
    When I arrived at the tent, it was apparent that the other player ’s wives and girlfriends knew each other, because when they saw me, their faces were frowned like I was some groupie coming to see their man or something. I put my black Versace shades on, grabbed a soda from the cooler