First to the long table was Susu and her three siblings, next was Rylie with Ryan and Roman, and Nova with Julian and Susana was last. I introduced Susu to everyone and she introduced her siblings before we changed our seating so that we girls could sit together and the siblings all sit together. When we were all settled the waiter returned and took the drink order of the rest of the group. Because we had reserved so much seating we had a table between us and our siblings which worked perfectly for a little privacy and a place to stack our dishes.
We talk about which appetizers and wing flavors to choose so that when the waiter returns we have our order ready. After the waiter hands out the drinks he takes our order of three nacho appetizers, three mozzarella stick appetizers, and one hundred twenty five wings of various flavors. I ask him to wait about twenty minutes before placing the wing order after we receive our appetizers. As soon as he leaves conversations break out along the table.
"So, how is everyone," I say with a beaming smile.
"I'm good,' Rylie says and everyone else follows with the same reply.
"I know I haven't said much to anyone today. I'm just trying to keep as low a profile as possible.
Although it's pointless because of Mekhi's social media I just don't want to attract any more attention. Plus if this relationship happens to end I don't want to be known as the ex-girlfriend who was always looking for attention," I say to them.
"We understand where you're coming from. You could've told us though," Nova says sympathetically.
"Yeah, it's not like we don't know the situation you're in," Susu adds.
"Or the amount of pressure you feel being in your position. We're your friends we can share that burden with you," Rylie says intuitively.
"Thank you guys, really. I'm sorry for making you guys feel unimportant. I just don't want to keep dragging you guys along with me," I say to them apologetically.
"It's alright, just remember that you don't have to go through these things alone," Nova says as the waiter comes back with our nachos.
They're served on a large pizza pan and every chip is covered with something. He comes back with appetizer plates, napkins, and wet naps for our group. Unwilling to continue with the current conversation I grab the first nacho I touch and stuff it into my mouth. It tastes so good with chunks of chicken, chili, cheese, tomatoes, and beans before I grab another I use a spoon to scoop some guacamole and sour cream onto an appetizer plate for myself. I see the same look of satisfaction up and down the table as everyone's taken their first bite of nacho and feel that tonight it is going to be a good one.
"I forgot how good these nachos are," Rylie says reaching for more.
"Same," I say nodding my head and reaching for more as well.
"We've gotta start coming here more often," Rylie says.
"Definitely," Nova says after taking a sip of her drink.
As we are eating our nachos the sports channel shows our school's basketball team warming up on the court as the commentators are talking about the upcoming game. I look up at the screen and see Mekhi smiling as he's shooting around with his teammates. I smile seeing how carefree and in his element he looks.
"There's your man," Rylie says a little loud.
"She knows, I'm sure she sees him like the rest of us," Nova says feigning annoyance.
"You know she's just being extra," I say to Rylie as I watch my man on the screen.
"Have you spoken to him today," Susu asks.
"Yeah, twice. Briefly though," I say unbothered.
"That's good," she says.
"We should make plans for spring break midterms are officially less than two weeks away," Nova says.
"Other than sleeping in, I've got nothing," I admit unashamed and shrugging my shoulders.
"Nothing at all, not even spending time with Mekhi," Rylie asks.
"I mean…I'm not saying that I won't be spending time with him or you guys for that matter, but I want to get some undisturbed rest," I say before stuffing another nacho in my mouth.
"Forget sleep! Let's go to the beach," Nova says excitedly.
"Yeah! Let's do that," Rylie says backing her enthusiastically.
"I'm game! I already took the time off of work," Susu says looking at the others and they all turn to
face me with great big smiles.
"Fine, let's do it," I say to them not wanting to be the party pooper especially because this will be our first trip with Susu.
"YES," Nova says dancing in her seat.
"Guys or no guys," Rylie asks.
"GUYS," we all say at once and start to laugh uncontrollably.
"Hey, sis we have a few more people here," Jackson says as he watches us laugh and giggle like a bunch of little girls.
"Okay, that's cool," I say and signal the waiter to take the order and to add more wings to our existing order. If anything I'll just pay for the bill since it was my idea to bring everyone out.
"Do you think Mekhi will be able to come along," Susu asks.
"I'm not sure actually, I guess it depends on how the rest of this playoff series goes," I say unsure. It's not that I haven't thought about spending time with him over spring break it's just that this trip is so unexpected that I haven't had the chance to ask him. Not to mention we did just start dating, even though we're close it's still too early to tell he may want some space.
"Either way, we're going. If he can't come it can be a girl's trip since the guys will accompany us in the summer anyway," Nova says making it perfectly clear that this trip is happening.
"I'm definitely going whether he's able to come or not," I say confidently.
We begin talking about a place to go for spring break when the game finally begins. The lights dim in the arena on TV as the announcer works the crowd and the commentators add their two cents. When it breaks for commercial our first round of wings have arrived. At this time we have decided the location of our trip for spring break and plan to drive there. The game comes back on and a few points have already been scored on both sides. I try to pay attention to the game simply because Mekhi is playing. It's not as exciting as being at the actual game but, having someone to root for makes a difference. His playing style is as graceful and lethal as it was at the game I attended last Saturday. It takes two players to guard him and he still makes most shots flawlessly.
At halftime there's a ten point difference in the score and our school is up. We take this time to ask for refills and sides of carrots and celery to accompany the rest of our wings. We also take turns going to the bathroom. Amidst all of this I take a selfie of us all at our long table one candid shot and a few where everyone is aware of the picture being taken. The girls and I take a few more selfies together and post them to our social media accounts. After a few minutes of scrolling I put my phone away and begin watching the second half of the game. The game is more intense this half. The score changes lead a few times and Mekhi even loses his cool as he's close to fouling out the game.
As the time ticks away on the game clock the lead changes quite a few more times all the way down to the last minute where we're ahead by three points and one of players are fouled. He's given the chance to shoot two free throws; the first one rolls around the rim and…finally sinks in. The restaurant and half the stands erupt in celebration until he gets the ball back and begin to bounce it and lifts it to shoot releasing it perfectly for it to sink in leaving a deafening swish of the net. At this point we're all going crazy as the opposing team makes a mad dash for the rebound and recovers the ball. They get the ball down the court and are able to make a layup which cuts our lead down to three. We grab the rebound and strategically move the ball down the court taking up as much time as possible. A few seconds left in the game the ball is passed to Mekhi who bounces the ball twice and pulls up into a beautiful jump shot and the ball goes right through the hoop and net with simple swish as the final buzzer goes off. The crowd goes wild, our bench empties onto the court as I'm jumping up and down hugging Susu as she's the closest one to me.
"We won we won," I yell jumping up and down like a school girl. Seeing the crowd around me in the restaurant react the same way makes me feel less awkward and more in tune with everyone.
"Your man was on fire the whole game," Rylie says high fiving me.
"He was so cool," I say grinning from ear to ear.
"Let's take a picture," Nova says and we pose for pics excitedly. I send a few to Mekhi with a congratulatory message and put my phone away as we watch his after game interview.
"He is so handsome," I say out loud accidently as I'm watching him talk.
"Yes, we know! You don't have to rub it in," Rylie says giggling.
"I wasn't supposed to say that out loud," I say giggling as well.
"It's alright, we all crush on our men from time to time," Nova says.
"Exactly, if we aren't crushing on them every once in a while are they really even our men," Susu adds.
"True, true," I say as we call for the waiter.
He brings the bill which totals up to almost one hundred fifty dollars. We argue over how to split up the bill and I end up paying seventy-five dollars and the other three cover the rest plus the tip as well. We clean our tables as best we can stacking dishes and placing all discarded food in one place. Once we're done we gather all of our belongings and head outside to say our goodbyes and go home.